UseBB Community

This is a list of what should be put in UseBB 2.0 (my opinion):

- OOP PHP 5 code
- MySQL 4.1 based
- Larger permissions system
- User groups
- Subforums
- Automatic ranks
- Better search engine
- Better syndication possibilities
- More moderation options
- AJAX usage
- New template system (with more template logic)
- Use database for session data
- PM system
- Polls
- ...

Might I suggest using an XSLT based template system?

Quote

Opera does not support XSL formatting objects, and neither does it natively support XSLT transformations. XML documents transformed server side will be parsed and displayed by Opera just like any other XML document.

This will be a problem then, or am I misunderstanding something?

I would be careful on ajax integration, but for many things which have an impact on the database it should be used. No one knows that with ajax, the use of XML decreases SQL queries and server stress load by a HUGE percentage. It would also allow for some things in the board to not have to ask for a HTTP request, which increases browsing speed by a big margin. A generic page is bad, thus we need to maintain some features that need reloading. But, having a look into the badwidth aspect, we will need to inspect what specific pages will have a higher load. A forum search engine is a great example, imagine what AJAX can do for that, and how about for calendars, etc.
PHP5 is still not prime, but we should at using its OOP features, although if we know how Perl can advance features, we can learn to exploit PHP5's uses, otherwise PHP5 to us would have no use, it would be the same as PHP4.3.X(12) if not for Perl know-how.
Another nifty feature we can do with AJAX is collapseable categories and posts(?), its never been tried. But how about for quote and code boxes, possibilities with Ajax(never having to refresh specific pages) is endless.

You don't use the browser to parse the XSL, you use the server... (PHP)

dave wrote

I would be careful on ajax integration, but for many things which have an impact on the database it should be used. No one knows that with ajax, the use of XML decreases SQL queries and server stress load by a HUGE percentage. It would also allow for some things in the board to not have to ask for a HTTP request, which increases browsing speed by a big margin. A generic page is bad, thus we need to maintain some features that need reloading. But, having a look into the badwidth aspect, we will need to inspect what specific pages will have a higher load. A forum search engine is a great example, imagine what AJAX can do for that, and how about for calendars, etc.

I think you misinterpreted a bit. It actualy can increase the server load and it has to send a http request to get the xml data (only you don't see the page refreshing). It just doesn't need to generate the whole page and just the xml data.
But if handled correctly it decreased the number of queries used at once and can increase the user experience.

dave wrote

PHP5 is still not prime, but we should at using its OOP features, although if we know how Perl can advance features, we can learn to exploit PHP5's uses, otherwise PHP5 to us would have no use, it would be the same as PHP4.3.X(12) if not for Perl know-how.

Actualy php5 is based more on the OO system of java. And by the time usebb 2.0 comes out, it should be mainstream.

dave wrote

Another nifty feature we can do with AJAX is collapseable categories and posts(?), its never been tried.

Why would you need ajax for that? You just use DOM for that. (and it's been done a lot)

dave wrote

But how about for quote and code boxes, possibilities with Ajax(never having to refresh specific pages) is endless.

Multi quoting is again only javascript and I don't know what you mean with code boxes.

[quote=The Wolf]You don't use the browser to parse the XSL, you use the server... (PHP)

But that stresses the server more. First you have to generate xml and than parse it too html instead of just generating (x)html.[/quote=dave]

I wouldn't use AJAX for everything... I don't know if that's worth it, not every browser can handle it btw. Just those nifty features of for example doing moderation could use AJAX, but only if there's a PHP backup ofcourse so you can do the action even when Javascript is disabled.

For using XML, I don't know if it will be very usable. It does indeed take quite some time to parse it as Slicer said, and I don't know if we can use the template logic system then (while loops and if statements and such).

Oh well, time to start studying after my exams: PHP 5, decent Javascript (I barely know Javascript), XML, XSLT, ... I'm running behind the new technologies.

I haven't really used Drupal (Open Source CMS) but I'm charmed by the way everything is centralized (functions though, not OOP) in the code. Such a design in OOP should really be used for UseBB 2.0. Currently you can sometimes find duplicate code in it. The methods of the objects should make it able to call the object to perform tasks, for example delete a post or move a thread. It would also be a lot easier to write mods.

For the curious: http://drupaldocs.org/api/head/function

FYI
Another nice coded CMS is the MAMBO project. Don't remember exactly if they now use objects or not. It has modules, components and I've seen classes.

angro wrote

FYI
Another nice coded CMS is the MAMBO project. Don't remember exactly if they now use objects or not. It has modules, components and I've seen classes.

Nicely coded, but for users like me its a beast.

Well, how about this: instead of forcing the admin to use a specific type of template, just hand them the xml and let them choose. They could use XSLT, or they could use SimpleXML and some for loops.

Oh and stay away from MAMBO, thats honestly one of the worst CMSs ever developed.

The Wolf wrote

Oh and stay away from MAMBO, thats honestly one of the worst CMSs ever developed.

Well, for CMS e107 is the best for me, it is not a beast like phpnuke... and the 0.7 cvs beats phpnuke features. However its forum sucks, I already asked tem to make useBB plugin.

I hate CMSs with 'forum' plugins, they should just make better forums.

I used to use e107, but I'm not a fan of systems like that.

The Wolf wrote

I hate CMSs with 'forum' plugins, they should just make better forums.

I used to use e107, but I'm not a fan of systems like that.

For a medical student with lack of web design abilities it's perfect to create a little site.

I like Drupal the best of all CMSes. And it's Belgian too.

PC_Freak wrote

I like Drupal the best of all CMSes. And it's Belgian too.

I have never heard of Drupal, but Mambo I have. I searched for "drupal" for it and it looks alot better IMO.

PC_Freak wrote

I wouldn't use AJAX for everything... I don't know if that's worth it, not every browser can handle it btw. Just those nifty features of for example doing moderation could use AJAX, but only if there's a PHP backup ofcourse so you can do the action even when Javascript is disabled.

For using XML, I don't know if it will be very usable. It does indeed take quite some time to parse it as Slicer said, and I don't know if we can use the template logic system then (while loops and if statements and such).

Oh well, time to start studying after my exams: PHP 5, decent Javascript (I barely know Javascript), XML, XSLT, ... I'm running behind the new technologies.

I know that *some* things of AJAX will not work on some browsers but for that we can use browsercam.com to view the forum and site, and revert it. But instead, we can do those other nifty features that don't work well in AJAX with iframes which works on every modern javascript enabled browser.
Ajax is not 1 technology, but a bunch lol which are integrated together, so lol, I suggest you get it hehe.

I hate iframes.

PC_Freak wrote

I hate iframes.

Ditto. Iframes are the worst thing to come from HTML.

As far as AJAX integration, I feel it would be easy enough to have separate standard and AJAX frontends, allowing the user to pick between them. And In-Line moderation really is the way to go.

Dietrich wrote

This is a list of what should be put in UseBB 2.0 (my opinion):

- OOP PHP 5 code
- MySQL 4.1 based
- Larger permissions system
- User groups
- Subforums
- Automatic ranks
- Better search engine
- Better syndication possibilities
- More moderation options
- AJAX usage
- New template system (with more template logic)
- Use database for session data
- PM system
- ...

Maybe a poll system?

Added it.

attach file to your post maybe?

Might I suggest using a input/output class in UseBB 2.0? Right now, you are calling all post variables just by calling the superglobal arrays ($_GET, $_POST). However, it is far more secure if you call these via an input/output class, that validates them immediately. An example of how I do it:

require_once 'context.lib.php';
$context = new Context();
$var = $context->loadVar('testvar', 'get', 'string');

In the loadVar method, the Validate class is called, whereby the variable gets validated according to a specific pattern (in this example, it would check whether or not the variable is actually an alphanumeric string).

Something like this would really benefit UseBB 2.0 in terms of security

Dietrich, I would be glad to help with the coding of v2 of UseBB. Rowan/The Wolf told me you could use some help, so I thought why not post it here.

I am fairly knowledgeable in (OOP) PHP and have quite some experience with medium-sized PHP applications. I also recently developed an XSLT templating system in PHP, which works really well and provides many benefits to the user. (Provided that the user knows XSLT, but this isn't all that hard to learn.)

If you wish to contact me further, you can do so via IM. I live in the Netherlands, which is the same timezone as Belgium (obviously). You can view my MSN Messenger contact information at my profile page at this board.

I think 2.0 sounds quite far away at the moment but is there a thread like this but 1.0 would like to see what's planned

I tend to disaggree when it comes to using XML-based parsing as a template engine. The first version of my forum k4bb (not advertising ) used SimpleXML as the template parsing agent and then compiled templates. It happened to be entirely PHP5 OO using SPL. Back to the problem; using XML functions to parse templates has its advantages and disadvantages:

a:
- The templates need to be 100% XHTML/XML (this is both an advantage and disatvantage)
- there are XML classes built into php5 so there's no real pressure

d:
- If you want to use things such as the <DOCTYPE> tag, it needs to be surrounded in <![CDATA[ ]]>, and many other things too (including any javascript)
- It's fast, but it's far from being the fastest. From experience, either using preg_split() to split all tags and deal with them, or preg_match() to match all tags is the fastest.

However, there are probably instances where I am wrong. The conclusion should be try as many ways as possible and don't settle on XML just because a few people think it's the best. Once people thought the earth was flat, look at what we know now