03-17-2019, 07:03 PM
Hello! We as staff have been talking about changing from SMF to MyBB for a bit now, but wanted the opinions of the member base to finalize it, so I'll go through some pros and cons of doing so, as well as an explanation as to why we've decided to think about this, so that everyone can get a better understanding, and then feel free to discuss how you feel about the change!
With SMF recently updating, we would have to consider updating the site, and in doing so our plugins will break. It would be possible for the time being to stick with 2.0 if need-be until replacements arrive, but there is no guarantee of that with all of our plugins, but switching over to MyBB could solve those issues. With it's larger community, it is updated more often and it has more plugins that are available for the updates that are easier to configure and are updated consistently.
MyBB is an open source software, and has an easier search system and is more mobile friendly than SMF. It also allows more customization and features in general, and a lot of things that are on this site will remain the same, such as mentions being the same, and all threads and posts will be transferred over.
There are some issues with transferring however. At this point in time staff is unsure as to if templates will be able to transfer over as they are, though will be offered, as well as subaccounts having to be re-linked to the main account, but that is something that is easily done by yourself or staff. The awards that people have would have to be re-given as well.
Some examples of different themes we could potentially use are here here and here. The themes have customization options on them so that they won't all look like what is pictured there, but it does give a general idea, and some sites that are currently using mybb are here here here and here. The layouts of Mybb sites make it easier to keep track of things, as well as know where to get to things because they are organized in a way that makes sense ( such as the user panel and the layout for the site options ).
With SMF recently updating, we would have to consider updating the site, and in doing so our plugins will break. It would be possible for the time being to stick with 2.0 if need-be until replacements arrive, but there is no guarantee of that with all of our plugins, but switching over to MyBB could solve those issues. With it's larger community, it is updated more often and it has more plugins that are available for the updates that are easier to configure and are updated consistently.
MyBB is an open source software, and has an easier search system and is more mobile friendly than SMF. It also allows more customization and features in general, and a lot of things that are on this site will remain the same, such as mentions being the same, and all threads and posts will be transferred over.
There are some issues with transferring however. At this point in time staff is unsure as to if templates will be able to transfer over as they are, though will be offered, as well as subaccounts having to be re-linked to the main account, but that is something that is easily done by yourself or staff. The awards that people have would have to be re-given as well.
Some examples of different themes we could potentially use are here here and here. The themes have customization options on them so that they won't all look like what is pictured there, but it does give a general idea, and some sites that are currently using mybb are here here here and here. The layouts of Mybb sites make it easier to keep track of things, as well as know where to get to things because they are organized in a way that makes sense ( such as the user panel and the layout for the site options ).