I would like to introduce a new forum software package that I have been working on.
It’s an open source forum that I have been developing for about a year now. I am getting very close to the final stages of development. A few features need to be finished in the admin section but the overall front end is finished.
The goal of this software is to offer a free and open source forum, but with the features of a commercial package.
I will soon be adding a new template for the design.
I have done as much testing as I can, but there is loads more testing that needs to be done, which includes the moderator features. I’d like to see your comments on the features.
Thanks and I look forward to hearing some of your thoughts.
That would depend on the server being ran, and the options the admin chooses. All file sizes are relativly small. For example I use PDO in favor of writing a seperate class for mysql, mysqli and mssql. I also add the ability to turn on memcache for those users who arent on a shared server. But there is also page caching available. Query count has been kept to a minumum, which is why i show the query count at the bottom during testing. Compared to rivals, my software seems to be faster so far according to GTMetrix.com
It is very clean and neat. The UI is pretty (something I suffer seriously from a lack of skill :mad: )
Forum software is an admirable undertaking considering the number of competing products that exist!
I am sure you can garner a good set of testers from a well worded request posted here on Sitepoint.
Thanks for the reply. I need testing done on a large scale. As i said I have tested much myself but not as thoroughly as a new user could. I will be promoting the next 10 registered users to the BETA Tester group so they can test out the moderator features.
Took a while to find the activation code in my junk folder - you might consider placing some more text into the email to make it less likely to be mis-identified as spam.
Once in it was easy to get into one of the forums but not so easy to figure out how to go from there to a different forum. Some navigation links beyond just having the home tab at the top might help.
I couldn’t post these suggestions in the forum itself as there appear to be no links for creating or replying to threads.
Thanks for the reply. the emails are just basic until i finish the language class. as far as replying goes, must be a problem with the permissions, i will fix it asap. the template is being redesigned by a graphic designer friend so i havent done too much in that respect. once he is done though, i can add the navigation trail and the final customization options to the admin panel. once thats done i will start the insyall wizard and release it foe download. estimated release is january 3rd.
Is it free ? Or will it be paid sometime in the future ?
At the minute I’m not sure about database conversion. That thought process will begin when I finish with the main forum. As far as them template goes, I have created a template system unique to ASF. Users can access much information using a set of predefined variables. For example, if they wanted to print the current logged in username they could use <asf: user[username]>. I have also created a hook system which means users can inject content into any part of the page without having to change the actual template file. This means that their changes wont be lost when i release updates to template files.
Addons will be an option as I feel this is an important aspect to customization. However that thought processs still needs to be considered.
ASF will always be free and advert free. I may release premium support packages aswell as premium modules and custom templates.
No problem, happy to answer any questions. I hope ASF will be a success given the time and commitment i have added to it. If anyone has any suggestions then let me know. I added a topic regarding making ASF fully AJAX’ed. let me know your thoughts.
I was thinking of implementing AJAX across the whole site. No page loads when clicking to view topics or profiles etc. Something like twitter and facebook
Thanks for the report. I have fixed that error, simply removed a character that shouldnt have been in the URL lol. As far as the error goes, since the project is open source its not really an issue if people know the table layout. I use PDO queries so they will never find out the values, only the structure. Ive kept errors like that in so people can help with testing, rather than just telling me a database error occurred.
The email sends the standard headers. I think it may be to do with Hotmail. If you recieve an email from someone you have not added as a contact it goes into the junk. I will add some more content to those emails which may make them look less like spam to hotmail.
I think i have fixed most of the bugs now. The avatar upload has been fixed, aswell as a new avatar cropping feature. Private messages should now work also. Let me know if you find anything that I have missed. I will be finishing up the admin section now.
Oh and I added a new feature (it was in the first version of A Simple Forum). The admin can choose to prevent double posts. They can leave them on, which means the users can double post, they can turn them off, or they can choose a merge option. With this option the user will be able to create a new post, but if it will be a double post then the script will merge the posts and indicate that it has been updated.
The use of fixed metric fonts across the default skin makes it hard to use for me – though you APPEAR to be declaring %/em in most places, by saying ‘13px’ on body you’ve COMPLETELY broken the reason to use %/EM, since EVERYTHING is based off that!
The markup is also problematic – paragraphs around non-paragraph elements, lack of tables on obviously tabular data (a sick trend I’ve noticed in recent forum skins), and endless pointless CLASSes, ID’s, DIV, and P that could be pitched in the trash if you used semantic markup.
… and that’s before we talk the jquery bloat making me ask “FOR WHAT?!?” – static scripting inlined in the markup… When you’re blowing 22k of HTML to deliver less than 5k of plaintext, somethings awry…
