I think you’ve got a great project going, but like deathshadow has pointed out, the code could be improved. Most forum applications lack good frontend and backend code which is unfortunate because good code is an important quality feature, next to providing solid security. I think you could set yourself apart from the competition as the quality frontend code feature is almost categorically ignored by forum developers, big or small, so it’s something to consider.
As for the design; I like it. It’s great that the layout isn’t fixed width and colour scheme is well chosen.
A few minor quibbles:
a) The neon green you’ve chosen for a set of members is too bright. I have to squeeze my eyes because it’s too aggressive.
b) The descriptions underneath forum titles have to low contrast.
c) The date is not aligned (drops) in single forum posts.
d) In your navigation, it should say “FAQs”, not “FAQ’s” as it’s not a genitive but a plural.
Just had a quick look at your website and welldone for keeping layout and design very simple. Do the above mentioned and you will be on the right track.
My suggestion is change the “<<” on the left hand side to a tag/button as this is a nice feature but not noticeable.
Thanks for the replies. I am currently working on a newer version to supersede this one. When I have enough of the basic features done I will upload the files to a new directory while keeping the old version intact.
Forums tend to be quite slow and “clunky” so I am optimizing everything for speed and efficiency, whilst keeping all of the current features and adding some more. This means rewriting the forum from scratch. But like I said the old one will stay up until this version is complete enough to replace it. I have already got most of the core coding completed aswell as a new api which makes pulling information easy and efficient.
Im also using memcache for this version. I realise that is a bad idea for people on shared hosting but I will be looking to provide my own server for people who want this module. But if they do not then i will be providing the option to use disk caching if they choose to disable memcache.
That’s where modular code can come in really handy – since you could just write two separate .php files containing the same functions or classes – one using memcached, one not.
Out of curiosity, what’s your skinning system like? Will it have the ability to completely redo the markup? Is it going to be real php code for themes, or one of those goofy ‘templating’ systems like SMARTY? (please say the former, it’s why I stick with SMF and you couldn’t pay me to skin myBB or most other forums at this point)…
Also, if you’re looking to speed it up, maybe you could get some of us here on the forums to help you out with the markup and functionality; right now you’re current version takes 22k of non-semantic HTML for 3.4k of plaintext – that could probably be cut down to 10k or less using semantic markup and easing up on the ‘classes on everything’ routine. Severing the ties to the “jquery for nothing” could easily get rid of 40k (100k or so uncompressed) given how little you’re actually using it (or worse, how the scripts you have with it could be the same size or smaller WITHOUT it).
Also your CSS appears to be generated by PHP? BAD idea all around in most cases. It might be cute to be able to edit it, but that really should be dumped out to a static file for serving to the end user; it also seems excessively large given how simple the layout is – though I suspect some of that is again, the throwing classes on EVERYTHING.
… and don’t let my previous post or this one mislead you – I really think we NEED another forum software out there given that the current ones ALL have major failings in terms of speed, code, ease of skinning, or the default skins on which most people base them.
Oh, and hopefully you won’t be revealing query internals on the production copy? (Joke, I assume that’s debugging info)
Thanks for the comment. The caching system is one class and will use either memcache if enabled or disk caching if not.
In the old version I do have a template system, I wanted to make ASF easy for anyone to edit. However I have now done away with it and kept it simple by using php inside the markup.
I agree the HTML and css on the current version is a huge waste. The CSS file alone is over 3000 lines long. This is due to rushing things and not planning properly. This next version is a lot more lightweight. The css is generated with php because the admin can change the skin of the forum one color at a time, and to any color they want. Meaning you can have a unique design without having to code things.
The queries are there for users to help me debug. Its easier for me to fix the problem if the end user can tell me where it happened and not just say I got an error. Since ASF is open source theres nothing too bad with revealing database table structure, and the values in most queries are hidden.
Just a little update for you. I have now finished the Api core. With this api it is easy to get information on any aspect. For example if you want to get the name of a topic with the id of 1 you could use:
Works on user information too, although most of it is hidden when called from the uri. This is to protect passwords and such.
It will also convert strings passed into the u_uid param for you, so you can query user ids or usernames
Just to let you all know, I will be releasing the BETA version of the new forum. This one has been redesigned from the ground up and includes alot of speed enhancements and improved coding. It will be released tomorrow night (Sunday) and will be replacing the current version sometime next week depending on BETA tests. I realise it’s taken quite some time to get the forum completed, and if you followed A Simple Forum from the start you’re probably as frustrated as me. This, however, is the final version. It will be released without modules such as post liking and reward systems. These will be released at a later date as addons. My main priority is to get the forum fully functional and released so people can play with it and let me know what they think.
Looking forward to seeing the Beta :> Personally I didn’t like the design of the current version at simplyforum.co.uk too much, it felt a little bulky and unresponsive… Maybe the beta will improve this?
Sorry for the late reply. I have been very busy with work and haven’t been able to focus much on A Simple Forum. However, I will be uploading an improved version with more features (which work) and will be looking to release updates on a fortnightly basis.
The new update will be released on wednesday (around 12pm GMT), so I look forward to hearing your comments.
A bit off topic, I am looking to change the way forums work. They have been the same for many years now and I feel they need to be re-vamped for the modern generation. If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions on this then please let me know.
(Joke, I assume that’s debugging info)