Thank you, it worked like a charm.

K I need some assistance.

Here is my board:
http://blackfootcountry.com/modules/newbb/

Here is a snapshot of my template manager:


The template manager said it couldn't find these files.

My forum index page dissappeared. No idea where it went. My theme is montisarts videoscoop. you can navigate my forum thru the drop down menu at the top of my site to see what is wrong.

Any ideas?

Quote:

I was a part of that team too. Things just never got off the ground. The old userpoints module could be used as a basis too for this or something from scratch. Nevertheless a karma feature/module is desperately needed.

In fact, I did save the documentation from our forum discussions regarding this if we need them.

Count me in. I'd very much enjoy having a hand in this projects development. I can offer my graphics artist skills oficially, and unofficially I have great ideas on achieving a great "forum feel".

Invite me whenever you do put together a forge space.

Mith:

Thanks for the dialogue.

phppp:

What is your current development situation with CBB (If you don't mind me asking)? Are you the sole developer? If you are what kind of help would you need to make development progress at an accelerated pace? Would a fee developent model similar to AMS help expedite your development of CBB?

I am not trying to rush you, but on the contrary I want CBB to be given every chance to succeed as I feel that it is a crucial component to the community going forward.

Quote:

1) Sorta kinda. I think they use javascript to achieve the fader. Would be cool for this to be a module in Xoops. To show either a AMS or News headline in a fader as a link. It seems that theirs doesn't use many resources. This is more of a toy rather than a tool. But a cool toy.

2) Yeah, I saw your post on profile enhancements. I am looking forward to them.

3) Yeah, for me the whole DHTML drop down menu thing kind of doesn’t do it for me. I’d rather glance across a post and let my eyes “soak up” info from the post. IM icons, gender, avatar, the post itself, etc. To me the DHTML menus hide this info from my eyes. Plus they’re too blocky to be attractive. Also if you are using an 800-600 theme you cannot incorporate all the dropdown menus or else the post overflows to a second line that make it look like cr@p. Simple attractive buttons add color, use less space, and are more easily moved around inside a post layout.

4) This would be nice as the default option inside the admin menu.
5) Yes true, calendar module. But which one? That’s an entirely new debate tho. :)

6) Not only as a block or better yet as an understated display option inside CBB’s main page near the bottom. Also, an e-mail to your members saying “Happy Birthday” would be a classy touch.

7) I agree this is a hot button issue. Each of the WYSIWYG developers have done a fantastic job laboring on each or their incarnations. To me tho, all I want is an editor such as what SMF uses. One that properly places tags in their correct places in firefox and does the job and nothing much more.

8) True, again a cool toy to have.

9) Not to sure what you mean here.

10) :)

11) Yes, again would be nice as the default rather than as a template hack

12) Yes, a new can of worms indeed. But the benefits I can foresee from this would be enormous from a noob end user perspective.

13) I guess what I mean by this is more features that I can shake a stick at activating/deactivating. To go into depth here would prolly involve a new, more specific thread.

14) I’ll give you two examples from two of my sites. Forum main page Example 1: Site A / Site B. Forum post example 2: Site A / Site B.

15) Improvement is always good. I can remember spending 2 hours on custom rank icons. I could have cut that down to ¼ of the time with this type of rank icon implementation, and done a better job at them as well.

16) This from the SMF site: Description: This Mod will allow you to give visual warnings to your users in FOUR stages: 1 - A basic warning - nothing more than an instant message and a green warning mark next to their name. 2 - Post Moderation - all users post must be approved before they are seen. 3 - Mute - an instant message and the inability for the user to post polls/messages. 4 - Ban - user is gone.

17) Yes, I am aware of this hack. Somehow (I don’t know how) SMF make it seamless from one visit to the next to appear online, even if you’ve been gone for a few days. All this without clicking any type of login button. I can understand security issues may arise from this but it does make it much better for the end user this way.

18) Yes, but the default look can be improved upon.

I take no offense to your opinion. I am enjoying this dialogue.

Certainly.

Materials that you'll need:

1) Purchase Dreamweaver
2) Purchase Xara Menumaker or Webstyle

Install Xara plugin to Dreamweaver. Once you have plugin installed goto your theme.html file in your favorite theme's directory amd open it in dreamweaver. Inside the theme.html file there should appear to be a table structure. Here you may insert and or manipulate where you would like to insert your drop down menu's. Do this and then publish them.

This may sound simplistic, and it is, but to delve into any more detail would be tedious. If you have any further questions regarding this please PM me and I will gladly answer any questions regarding installation.

Mith:

Thank you sincerely for taking this seriously. I have been harping for at least a look see into this possibility. Your time is appreciated by me.

Why do I love SMF. I guess it goes back to an old board that I had called YaBB. YaBB was a board that, although it had security issues, was just a dream in its end user experience. Its beauty was in its powerful simplicity, both for the admin and end user. Also it seemed that the minutest of detail was never overlooked. As YaBB development discontinued SMF was born from its ashes. I will try to be as technical as possible in defining what it is about this board software that is so attractive:

(in no order of importance)

1) News fader
2) User profile features
3) AOL, ICQ, MSN, YIM online/ofline status indication
4) Subforum displays as single simple link, thus not taking up space.
5) Integrated calendar with predefined holiday/special days.
6) Birthday notification for users who input birth date.
7) Almost perfect WYSISWYG editor. Doesn’t try to do too much.
8) Buddy list (I believe this is a mod)
9) Very attractive/succinct member list.
10) Forum stats
11) Category/Board/Child Board layout is very flexible and attractive.
12) Package manager
13) Extensive admin features
14) Somehow the colors seem more vivid. Somehow.
15) Flexible star icon display for user ranks.
16) Warning Mod
17) User login is seamless from each visit to the next.
18) I love how the forum thread display seems so tight. It packs so much info into each post (and they don’t even have to use DHTML to achieve this).
19) (I am missing much but this is a good start)

I will briefly attempt to explain each. The news fader is handy because it is so simple to adjust its output. The user profile is a very big part of SMF’s allure to me. The current status online/offline indicator is nice. The entire layout of the profile is very easy on the eyes. It almost seems that its profile display doesn’t “waste” as much space as XOOPS profile, the same can be said for the forum display. The sub forum or child boards are displayed in a very nice “understated” manner in the main forum display. You know they’re there, but you don’t have to waste so much of the main forum display on them. A nice touch is the IM online/offline indication in the member list, user profile, and even individual posts. The calendar integration is sweet, and as a bonus they’ve even put in North American holidays for you. The birthday notification really adds to a sense of community. As I said before, the WYSIWYG editor is superb. The only addition I’d ask for is instant text effect viewing rather than bb code tag insertion (which are inserted correctly in their proper places). This is splitting hairs by me though. I don’t need FCK, SPAW, Tiny, Koivi or whatever. If XOOPS could pull off a default WYSIWYG editor such as this one then everyone would be happy, guaranteed. The buddy list mod is very nice. Click “add to buddy list” next to a person you like and you will always know when they are online. The stats that they have available are not too verbose, yet are always interesting to view. The mod “package manager” installer I think is revolutionary. It is a feature that SMF has that allows you to add any mod at the click of a button. No need for FTP at all. This feature to me isn’t crucial, but I find pretty cool. The admin features are very detailed and allow for great flexibility. The SMF boards are more attractive. I think the dhtml in each post were ill advised. It’s nice to glance at a post and to a trained eye extract as much info as possible from it. The dhtml menus hide much of this. This is what makes for a lot of the forums unattractiveness. The flexible star icon display for user ranks is perfect. How they do it is that all you have to have is a pic fro one star, and depending on how advanced a poster is to a board depends on how many stars are displayed. No need for a separate pic for each rank, just one star. And as for administrators you just need to color the star differently. The warning mod they have is excellent, it allows for many levels of end user warnings before being banned.

Phppp:

If I can make a couple suggestions to you. Develop CBB as if it were a stand alone project. I’m not saying to do all the front end installation stuff but in your mind develop it as if it were stand alone. Secondly, I might even suggest following Brash’s lead on his AMS mod development. I would not mind at all paying for a module. Especially one as important as CBB will be to the future of Xoops. Let me say it here since nobody else has; NewBB is dead, CBB is the new forum software for Xoops. I feel that if you are going to be doing this module, getting paid for its development is crucial to a fully realized product that will benefit all of the XOOPS community.

Heed my feature list up top.

I would love to help you in any way I can develop this module (I’d offer my help for free of course).

I am going to stop my ramble there, I’m sorry if it seems fragmented but I had so many ideas flowing I wanted to get them out before I forgot them.

P.S.
Oh and lastly I would like to extend an offer to both mith and phppp an admin account to a production site board I put up recently to see all the SMF features I talk about. Just try not to mess up the place too much.

If you are seeking a "module" for drop down dhtml menus, there isn't one. If you would like something similar to my site menus (see link below), I'd be willing to give you pointers on how to achieve them.

I believe my opinion on this is already known. I love SMF as well. I would be willing to donate money to the development of a bridge. I already have a couple sites using smf solely and its users absolutely love the forum. Out of the box it is an absolute joy.

It is here where I can see casual enthusiasts choosing Mambo over XOOPS simply because Mambo already has this. This is not a poke at Xoops, but more of a smack on the back of the head. I say this out of love for my XOOPS community.