How to release a plugin?

[mfields]

Utkarsh, That looks pretty nice + it has a single signup feature that integrates with the WordPress login. Hmmm, might need to seriously consider it. Thanks!

[Kim]

Here's my experience with Vanilla:

- First and foremost, it's seriously bloated and a resource hog on a server.
- There is no way you can extract your data to move it to another forum program if you decide you don't like it (no converters). Once your data is in it, you're stuck.
- It does not have the bare-bones forum functionality, i.e., no user moderation other than editing posts or banning, etc.

That open source project that I mentioned that I was setting up FluxBB for? We're using Vanilla now and we hate it.

It's going to be extremely difficult just to try and convert the member list over from Vanilla to FluxBB. Not sure we're going to be able to move the posts at all without serious mySQL foo.

The Linux Action Forums used Vanilla and switched away from it:

http://www.linuxactionshow.com/forum...cussionID=2439
http://www.linuxactionshow.com/forum...cussionID=2391

They ended up having to leave the Vanilla forums read-only, create the new forums, and start over with no posts.

This is just my opinion (and a few others that I listed) but you might reconsider using Vanilla at all.

[Utkarsh]

Kim, were you using Vanilla 1.x or 2?

Vanilla 2 is a complete rewrite of Vanilla 1 (I tried it few years ago)

[Kim]

We're using Vanilla 1.x. I've looked at Vanilla 2 and I'm not impressed with it either. It's not a forum in the traditional sense, it's a way to house discussions. Still too much missing for my tastes.

[Ryan]

@Kim - You are incorrect. There is a Vanilla 1.x -> phpBB2 converter. I used it myself a few years ago. Then you can use the phpBB2 -> phpBB3 converter and from there you can usually port to anything you want, including bbPress, which you will be able to port to the new bbPress plugin or Justin Tadlock's forum plugin when they're ready for production use.

I'd guess there's probably a Vanilla 1.x -> phpBB3 converter now too, although I haven't heard about it.
I don't know about Vanilla 2.x converters, but I'd guess there's one of them for phpBB3 too.

All roads lead to phpBB. It's the standard hub for converting between obscure forum packages.

[Ryan]

From what I can tell (I haven't installed it), it looks like FluxBB doesn't even support themes. Maybe there's a way to modify them via a plugin, but it appears that the intended way to theme is simply to modify the CSS which IMHO puts it clearly in the "utterly useless" basket.

[Kim]

I stand corrected on the converters - last time I checked there weren't any. Do you have links to the converters you're referring to for a Vanilla 1.x forum?

The fact that I have to convert the forum 2-3 times to get the data into the forum software I want to use still makes Vanilla difficult to get away from if you choose to switch.

FluxBB calls them styles, and it is very easy to create one, much easier than any other forum software that I've done themes for. You can copy an existing stylesheet, rename it and modify it to your liking. One stylesheet + 5 template files and you're done. It took me less than 2 hours to integrate a FluxBB forum into a WordPress theme and have it look like the rest of the site.

Each of us has our own preferences for forum software, so I guess we will just have to agree to disagree about this.

[mfields]

I think I'm liking the sound of FlexBB more and more. I read through their site a bit and they appear to have a really nice product. Am looking forward to trying it out. Hopefully I will have some time by the end of the week.

[Ryan]

I stand corrected on the converters - last time I checked there weren't any. Do you have links to the converters you're referring to for a Vanilla 1.x forum?

I could swear I didn't need to do raw SQL queries last time, but the following seems to require that ... http://sourceforge.net/apps/wordpres...-phpbb-2-0-23/

FluxBB calls them styles

I was under the impression from reading the code that "styles" just referred to modifying the CSS.

One stylesheet + 5 template files and you're done.

Are these the template files that are in the root folder, or are they some place else? All I could find in the source was some files that looked like theme files sitting in the root, which seemed an odd place to put them and would essentially require hacking the core files to modify the markup. I guess if hacking core files is considered part and parcel of using FluxBB then it would be okay. I like the fact that it falls somewhere between bloaty applications like phpBB and SMF and too lean applications like bbPress and Vanilla.

Each of us has our own preferences for forum software, so I guess we will just have to agree to disagree about this.

I'm easily swayed. I didn't do anything more than skim through the source code and am quite keen for you to convince me I'm wrong about the template files issue.


The only thing I've never liked about Vanilla was the lack of php based template files. I can't be bothered learning a new templating language for every application ... which is a big bonus of using bbPress since it essentially behaves the same as WordPress.

[mfields]

The only thing I've never liked about Vanilla was the lack of php based template files. I can't be bothered learning a new templating language for every application ... which is a big bonus of using bbPress since it essentially behaves the same as WordPress.

That would kill it for me. I've been pulling my hair out try to get phpDocumentor to behave correctly. Smarty templates.... yuck!