The Irish Mitsubishi FTO Owners Club

I want to consider the option of upgrading the forum to PHPBB3, its currently running PHPBB2. Support for this version will run out at some point in the near future i.e. no security updates to prevent against hacking attempts etc.

PHPBB3 has a different look and feel (some say more refined) to PHPBB2, from an admin perspective, its more feature rich and allows for greater control over layout etc.

In advance of making any decision on an upgrade, I want to request feedback from regular users. I appreciate that a lot of users are used this forum in its current guise, it hasn't changed significantly in 6 years. That said, its not a case of change for change sake.

Some PHPBB3 based reference sites for your perusal:

http://phpbb3test.com/

http://demo.tovisit.org/

http://forum.phpbb3now.com/

CJ

I like the PHPBB3 look - would be keen to continue with current layout though.

I prefer the look of the 2nd two.. Im sure with a bit of tweaking it could be made to look more familiar.. In either case as long as the functionality is the same and it's not heavier to download I'm sure it'll be fine..

Cant have peeps hacking the site...

Not exactly with the forum a long time, but if I'm to throw in my 2 cents, I prefer the 2nd one, it looks fairly tidy and uncluttered.
I think Janus makes a good point, the main content of this site is text based, and I wouldn't choose fancy graphics over download speed.

TBH I don't see much difference to what have now, other that the colour.

So if it makes things easier from an admin and security point of view, I say go for it.

+1 on the 3

gives the forum a refresh

As bernard says if it makes it easier and safer go for it I think, it doesnt look too complicated. Well the first 2 look very close to what we have at the moment, the 3rd one has a look of stuff on the 'news' page which i think might be a bit offputting if you're coming in for a quick browse with a hope to join up.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Its very likely the forum will be upgraded at some point either on its own or as part of a site redesign, watch this space.

CJ

Looks very like going from Win2k to WinXP.

I haven't really looked at phpbb3, any new toys or bells and whistles that might be interesting to use, a good list creating feature for example? I'm not a fan of adding your name to the end of a list with a quote, so hopefully v3 adds something to do that.

I like the look of the second one, I'm all for change, this forum is in dire need of it.

optical illusion wrote:this forum is in dire need of it.

You don't pull your punches Laura!

I agree that a change is needed, hence the current initiative...

CJ

The RX8 Owners Club in the UK change theirs to PHP3 recently... it's great now but had alot of unexpected teething problems from what I could see.

http://www.rx8ownersclub.co.uk/forum/index.php

Nice look and feel, maybe I am getting old (32 ) but I think this one is just fine....

CJ wrote:

optical illusion wrote:this forum is in dire need of it.

You don't pull your punches Laura!

I agree that a change is needed, hence the current initiative...

CJ

Ahhhh but I luff ya.

Heads up, the forum style will change at some point in the future (upgrade date to be decided), in the interim, click on the link below to demo the look and feel of PHPBB3's standard template. I can appreciate that some people may not like the change to the new format. Theres are a number of technical reasons why the packaged template is the way forward, users will adjust in time!

http://www.phpbb.com/styles/demo/3.0/

CJ

will there be any info loss ? or this would't affect the database.

CJ wrote:click on the link below to demo the look and feel of PHPBB3's standard template.
CJ

My work filter blocked it as a malicious site.

Sebastian wrote:will there be any info loss ?

There will be no information loss but the forum photo album (and possibly avatars) will be lost. No pain - no gain!

I'll give people plenty of notice so as they back up pics and avatars if required.

CJ

Does that mean that post with links back to album pics wont show the pics as well?

Dragonheart wrote:Does that mean that post with links back to album pics wont show the pics as well?

Yes, I'm afraid so. Its unavoidable due to the fact that the album mod is not compatible with PHPBB3. I would suggest that members start using the likes of Photobucket or Tinypic for picture hosting going forward.

CJ

Ya I just started using photobucket, least there wont be that many threads being cut off I suppose.