Firefox PHP

Phorum 5.1 Roadmap

Posted by Brian Moon 
Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 23, 2005 06:32PM
(OUTDATED, Phorum-5.1-alpha has been released)


With 5.0 out there and doing well, it is time to shift to 5.1. Here is our
roadmap for 5.1. I welcome comments and possible additions.

For the latest, see the Milestone: [phorum.org]

Major changes:
===============

Completely new template from scratch - Promopixel, creator of the Eugenol template, has expressed an interest in doing a completely new template. I recently used the Eugenol template and was impressed with the CSS/HTML structure. There are two goals here. 1) Better CSS/HTML structure that will move closer to allowing pure CSS templates like [www.csszengarden.com]. Phorum's dynamic data will not allow full CSS mastery (absolute positioning would be though), but the less HTML fiddling the better. 2) Feature more of the things that Phorum has to offer users. Things like post counts are buried in the profiles. Most people evaluating the software may very well believe that they are not there.

Data Caching - This will be optional caching that will cache data that Phorum uses. It will not cache HTML output. It would most likely involve caching the phorum_db_* function calls. User data is the first area that would eliminate lots of queries that return the same data over and over.

Default Forum Options - Many users moving from other apps have found Phorum's admin is too liberal with allowing (or requiring) you to configure each forum individually. You see the questions all the time in the forums. They change foo in the General Settings and are confused why it does not change everywhere.

(done)MySQL Fulltext Search - faster, better, cooler. This is already in play on my Phorum install at dealmac.com. There are hurdles to moving it into the tree however. For one, the default minimum word length is 4 for a standard install. That means any search terms under 4 characters will be skipped. On my server we have set it to 1. I will need to put in an extra step to scan for these terms before the FullText query. See: [dev.mysql.com]

Virtual Roots - This was thought up by Thomas and is brilliant for sites that want to have lots of forums for different sites served by one server. You would assign a point in the hierarchy as a Virtual Root. That would then become a top level folder. The structure outside of that would ignore from that point forward. Does that make any sense? Perhaps Thomas can explain better.

Folders "Enhanced" - If you have had a look under the hood, you know that folders are nothing more than forums with a property set. We are leaning toward removing the folder assignment and simply allowing forums to have sub-forums. thoughts?

Inheritence of Forum Settings - We have had many requests to have the option to set a parent folder with options and have the forum children inherit those options. Having parent forums (see above) would make this even easier.

Enhanced Private Messaging - Folders is the big option here we want to add. Also maybe built in email when you get a PM. (done)Also, we will put it in that you can reply to a normal message via PM. other things???

Super Stickies - There is just a little code that is stopping these from happening. These would be stickies that appear on all forums.

The rest of this is just todo stuff. No long winded info needed:

* link from list page to the first new message of a thread.

* Put a link on the followed thread page to the last post in the thread.

* check for forum being down and give the admin the option to down the forum.

* make announcements have a better reason that you can not reply to them. (message just says closed right now) (done)

* Reply (post-form) in separate page (optional)

* more moderation functions:
--thread-split/thread-merge
--move a message to be its own thread
--others??

* preview when editing message

"mark thread read" in read-view (done)

* support for more db-layers (goal we will need help with)

* better attachment workflow

* allow attachments to be in the fs or db.

* enhancements to user admin: send password, remove subscriptions, more?

Brian - Cowboy Ninja Coder - Personal Blog - Twitter



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2005 03:04PM by ts77.
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 24, 2005 09:04AM
I have to add ... everyone has a lot of workload.
If you think that you can contribute with implementing one of the stuff from above (may it be even as small as a simple message) feel free to do so and send us a message / patches.
This will allow to bring phorum-5.1 faster to birth :).

Oh and about the virtual roots:
my aim is to have all things that would work with "all forums" work only in a given set of forums if a virtual root is enabled.
I.e. "search all forums" would only search in the forums in the current virtual root, announcements would only show up in the forums in that vroot and so on.


Thomas Seifert



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2005 09:06AM by ts77.
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 25, 2005 12:28PM
please bring back the "edited x times" message to the text of the message.
Why should it be stored as meta data.
As a admin I don't want to look stupid and have to admit that I've edited my messages.
Grin......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2005 12:28PM by bossie.
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 25, 2005 05:05PM
It is stored as meta data so you can't fiddle with it. =)

Brian - Cowboy Ninja Coder - Personal Blog - Twitter
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 25, 2005 05:47PM
Yeah I know,
but why isn' it stored as text in hte actual message, linke in Phorum 3?
Thats my question.
Thats easier, to fidlle with.

Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 25, 2005 06:06PM
brianlmoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> With 5.0 out there and doing well, it is time to
> shift to 5.1. Here is our roadmap for 5.1. I
> welcome comments and possible additions.

Any opinions about message list link opening the first list page instead of the one that was viewed before.


---
-=[ Panu ]=-
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 25, 2005 06:11PM
bossie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yeah I know,
> but why isn' it stored as text in hte actual
> message, linke in Phorum 3?
> Thats my question.
> Thats easier, to fidlle with.

It wasn't that way in Phorum 3 because we had no choice. There was no meta data in Phorum 3. We only store the data in Phorum 5 - the edit count, user and time. that allows for translation of that data for multi-lingual Phorums.

Brian - Cowboy Ninja Coder - Personal Blog - Twitter
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 25, 2005 06:14PM
Panu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Any opinions about message list link opening the
> first list page instead of the one that was viewed
> before.

I take it you mean the old Phorum 3 feature Go To Topic?

Brian - Cowboy Ninja Coder - Personal Blog - Twitter
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 25, 2005 07:38PM
brianlmoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Panu Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Any opinions about message list link opening
> the
> > first list page instead of the one that was
> viewed
> > before.
>
> I take it you mean the old Phorum 3 feature Go To
> Topic?

I'm not sure. I'll try to give an example.

If I'm on 3rd list page and decide to read a thread on that page, then when I click messagelist link on the read page I go to the first list page (instead of th elist page I was before.

I think it would be an easy fix, I can provide a patch propably ...




---
-=[ Panu ]=-
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 26, 2005 03:46AM
Heh, I don't think it would be an easy "fix".
you would need to give the current list-page to the read-page and use that number there.


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 26, 2005 09:53AM
Hmm, easy to "change"... :) There might not be any elegant or efficient way to do it and if dev team considers it a waste of time I'm not going to arque.

---
-=[ Panu ]=-
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 26, 2005 10:26AM
Ok, wanna know a secret? I wrote a module that does this. It is working on forums.dealmac.com. The users there revolted over Go To Topic when we upgraded to Phorum 5. That forum is very busy, so if you only come once a day, you have to read 5 pages of list.php to get it all.

I will see about either making it a released module or putting it in the core.

Edit: here is the funciton I wrote:
function go_to_topic($thread)
{
    $PHORUM = $GLOBALS["PHORUM"];
    $conn = phorum_db_mysql_connect();

    if(!$PHORUM["threaded_list"]){
        $sql="select count(*) as count from phorum5_messages where sort=0 or (parent_id=0 and sort=1 and forum_id={$PHORUM['forum_id
']})";
        $res=mysql_query($sql, $conn);
        echo mysql_error();
        $count=mysql_result($res, 0, "count");
    }
    
    $sql="select count(*) as count from phorum5_messages where message_id>$thread and forum_id=$PHORUM[forum_id] and status=2 and pa
rent_id=0";
    $res=mysql_query($sql, $conn);
    echo mysql_error();
    $count+=mysql_result($res, 0, "count");

    if($PHORUM["threaded_list"]){
        $page=ceil($count/$PHORUM['list_length_threaded']);
    } else {
        $page=ceil($count/$PHORUM['list_length_flat']);
    }

    $url=phorum_get_url(PHORUM_LIST_URL, $PHORUM["forum_id"], "page=$page", "thread=$thread#mark");
    header("Location: $url");
    exit();
}

Brian - Cowboy Ninja Coder - Personal Blog - Twitter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/26/2005 10:31AM by brianlmoon.
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 26, 2005 11:09AM
blm, I don't think that this works with float-to-top ;).


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 26, 2005 01:07PM
About templates: todo.txt says that you want no caching of templates. Why? Isn't it the fastest way (bound with compiling to PHP)?

About templates and databases: maybe you should look at Smarty templating engine (http://smarty.php.net/) and ADOdb database abstraction layer (http://adodb.sourceforge.net/). ADOdb would allow many databases other than MySQL, and it has a binary PHP module that fastens it yet a bit.
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 26, 2005 01:28PM
> About templates: todo.txt says that you want no caching of templates. Why? Isn't it the fastest way (bound with compiling to PHP)?

no, only to *ALLOW* not having cached templates. some people still have file-permission issues.


smarty/adodb are both much too heavy and would slow us down like hell.


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 26, 2005 02:17PM
huh :)

they are both advertised as ultra fast...

i was thinking of using them in some php things.
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 26, 2005 03:51PM
the can't be as fast as calling the internal php-functions.
i.e. they add the OO overhead and multiple function calls, conversion-functions, abstraction-layers ... .
they might be fast in comparison to others but not as fast ... oh I told already ;).


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 27, 2005 03:09AM
Considered pear Xipe for templating?

[pear.php.net]

Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 27, 2005 03:33PM
Ok me thinking about the following:

Usergroups:
- A integrated usergroup file unlike that what we have now. Standard in forum. Since we have usergroups in Phorum I only think it would be sound to have a public accesible file for this as well.

- Admin usergroups; I love the virtual thingy and believe that it would be very nice to have admin usergroups so that you can "delegate" forums/admins without letting someone see the complete admin properties.

Private messages:
- Limit the size of one's messagebox? I dont know if this is relevant or having any impact on the performance of the system with or without it.
- With PM's read receipts? Again could be made as a mod? Same questions as with the previous point when it comes to performance and usability.

Usernames:
-Disallow usernames?

FAQ:
- A page that comes with forum in any language on "how to use Phorum" for the user end.

Anyways, this is what comes to mind. I am more then sattisfied with Phorum and the work you guys did. I can help with the template since a clan member and I are working on a new template. So let me know what you decide on that.

My 2 cents ;-)


Sergej

------------------------------------------
^AU^ Assassins United
[www.assassinsunited.com]
------------------------------------------
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 27, 2005 03:43PM
> - A integrated usergroup file unlike that what we have now.

what do you mean?

> - Admin usergroups

Hmm, we already have group-administrators

> - With PM's read receipts?

huh? you can see in your sendbox if its read or not.

> -Disallow usernames?

what do you mean?

> - A page that comes with forum in any language on "how to use Phorum" for the user end.

Heh, you are funny "in any language" ;).
If you feel like that just write it up and we will see how many people jump on the train to translate it.
We are coders, not really "documentors" ;).


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 27, 2005 03:46PM
There is a file in the "hacks" forum that shows the registered users and their usergroups.

PM's; no like a PM notification that the other guy read it or not.

Disallow usernames that are vulgar etc.

I translate: Speak 6 languages ;-) I will do it.

Sergej

------------------------------------------
^AU^ Assassins United
[www.assassinsunited.com]
------------------------------------------
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 27, 2005 03:48PM
> PM's; no like a PM notification that the other guy read it or not.

oh, you want to receive another pm that he read it?

> Disallow usernames that are vulgar etc.
you mean that? [phorum.org]


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 27, 2005 03:53PM
PM's: I dont "need" it, but I dont know if its usable. Its just an idea. I dont want it to become a "outlook"system where you get a message back with "hey I am on holidays PM me next week" :-p

Usernames: Yea that would be cool. On the gaming forum I run I get a lot of n00bs pushing the limit with rascist names etc.

Sergej

------------------------------------------
^AU^ Assassins United
[www.assassinsunited.com]
------------------------------------------
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 28, 2005 06:18AM
ts: yes i know that every function call will slow everything down, but i think it would be easier to integrate phorum into a cms along with some php things like counter, ads management, etc if it uses some sort of database- and template-abstraction.

by the way, do you use phpAccelerator or some other accelerator?
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 28, 2005 06:21AM
kAtremer, I don't think so. you can add ads like usual. and its probably no use for better integration as nearly each system/cms/whatever has its own db-/template-abstraction.

Yeah, we are using some accelerators (but not in the code ;)).


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 28, 2005 10:16AM
which accelerator(s) exactly?
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 28, 2005 10:20AM
I'm currently using eaccelerator 0.9.2a (successor to mmcache).
phpa wasn't enhanced for a long time, apc seems unmaintained too, zend-accelerator is expensive ... so what else would be left? ;)


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 28, 2005 10:44AM
will try it right tonight, found it just before your post. googling is a skill, not everybody does it well...

any other apps that a php developer should use?
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 28, 2005 10:47AM
depends on what you want to do.
I use the Zend-IDE for development but nearly every text-editor with syntax-highlightning will do.
nothing else should be needed.
oh and a webbrowser for sure, at least for search php.net for function-calls ;).


Thomas Seifert
Re: Phorum 5.1 Roadmap
February 28, 2005 10:59AM
that's obvious, although as a windows user i prefer chm help.

i mean, any php extensions/compilers/whatever, mysql caching (if it's possible) or anything else that is not so easy for us mortals to find?
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