Site Changes - Thoughts and comments

[Mopar1973Man]

Ok Gang. We've been in a problem state with vBulletin 4.2.0 with the IE10 bug. I'm been researching the idea of moving to another software either freeware or commercial. So I'm still studying different name brands and platforms to see what will fit the best.Problem is some of my plugins (addons) are not got to be present in the new software so I'm looking to rid the site of these addon's on simply it the best I can without losing to much of the function and layout. The biggest one will be the point market and experience which never seem to hit well here. So like with the Download thread I talked about pulling the limited membership and the premium membership because those are tied to the experience addon which used experience points to change users membership automatically for me. So that whole function will end up getting removed. Since the site will end up being changed software wise in the long haul might well discuss it and get feedback on how people would like to modify or change the way the site is to fit them maybe better.Feedback and questions welcomed!

[Killer223]

how many users here use IE10? maybe promote Firefox or chrome. i know there is a plugin you can add to the VB side or the web server side to track the browser type and OS and what not.i don't know what loosing the auto upgrading of members is going to do to you. more work? or will we all be equal?

[Mopar1973Man]

how many users here use IE10? maybe promote Firefox or chrome. i know there is a plugin you can add to the VB side or the web server side to track the browser type and OS and what not. i don't know what loosing the auto upgrading of members is going to do to you. more work? or will we all be equal?

I've got Google Analytics and majority of the people here are IE users. Here is the visitor stats for this last month period. IE10 ............. 3,303 IE8 .............. 1,657 IE9 .............. 1,259 IE7 .............. 227 IE6 .............. 11 Yeah I've got a serious problem that really can't wait for vBulletin/Internet Brand to fix. What it is that the CKEditor of the posting box is out of date and has been a known issue now for 1 year! Yes it been on the bug reports for a year now. This is what is forcing me to look for other solutions that can keep up with updates and keep my down time to a minimum. I hate to force members to use another browser just to post but currently that is the only solution since Microsoft IE10 is the only browser with a issue. Firefox, Opera, and Safari all work fine. Well as for dumping the experience plugin I would have to because when I move over to a new software that plugin won't exist there. So I'm force to downgrade back to basics and simplify the site for now. The basis on the upgrades was to reward the people that hung around helping other and giving them a bit more freedom to do things on the site. This was the original idea. Limited member was exactly that limited to just the required needs to post and get help. As you helped other your automatically upgraded to standard member at 20 posts. Then if you stayed active them it bumped you premium membership if you 50% or more active. Then of course donating members got the 3 different categories to fall into. Silver (0-24 Dollar donation), Gold (25-49 Dollar Donation) and Platinum (50 and above) This part most likely will stay without issues but I'm willing to revise or redesign this if need be or if a better idea was to be discussed. Kind of like the TOTM that Rogan does here and me posting the pictures in the background. This was a discussed idea and its now going. So looking to get through the growing pains of the site and possibly redesign or change the way things work to keep people happy and things fair for the members. The only way I can do that is talk to the family here and see what they think.

[CSM]

Mike, no comments that haven't been made in the downloads thread. However, please continue to do whats best for the site and family.

[War Eagle]

Ya, make it easy on yourself. I am not here because of the point system.

[sngsht]

Jeez,I can't believe that many people are using IE at all?

[Rogan]

Yeah, I never use IE, and I don't think I've ever looked at my points..

[Mopar1973Man]

Ok. So that takes care of the point system it on its way out. As you can see this is the last month of usage for the site and you can see all the browsers used. IE10 is my biggest used browser because of Windows 8. What worst is IE11 is around the corner and coming out soon.

[ISX]

Thing is, you updating stuff constantly is actually the problem. The 3.8 version or whatever all the other forums won't upgrade from works fine on all web browsers no matter how new. So since you like upgrading I would dump vbulletin since they are just heading further into incompatibility.

[Mopar1973Man]

Problem. vBulletin 3.8.x is no longer supported. Also the coding is almost out of date. (PHP/HTML). Why is place like CF.com and other still there? Because most of these site are commercially owned and have huge programmer groups behind them to keep modifying the code to meet today's standard. I'm just a single man hosting a web forum and have limited programming skills so I'm not skilled enough to be able to modify the software to meet today's standards and then meet today security practices. Even vB anounced a long while ago the vB3 was EOL (End-Of-Life) and no longer supported. Like a future standard coming to being... HTML5 http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_intro.asp Softwares like vB 3.8.x will not be able to meet these browser requirements so they will require the hidden team of programming guru's to update the code to meet the browser requirements. I know none of the vB 3.x.x line is mobile friendly unless a plugin is used (tapatalk or forumrunner). This why vB was in such a hurry to produce vB5 Connect. It was suppose to fill all the gaps in the mobile realm but the coding was poor. So now all the programming power went to the vB5 version while vB4 is left in the dark without any updates for current browser changes. Like eventually I will be updating Joomla to the 3.5 when it released because of the updated coding and security. Just like Windows XP was a the awesome OS of its time but eventually we have to move forward with technology and can't hang on to out-dated software just because we like it so much.

I would dump vbulletin since they are just heading further into incompatibility.

I plan on it. I'm getting out the vB line completely but I'm trying to make sure the when I do it makes the smallest impact to the site as possible for search engines, users (front-end), and well as the staff (back-end). Then I want to be sure the software will continue to grow and meet the requirements of today in a timely fashion not year or two later. Then wrap that all up in a price tag that not excessive. Like I played with the PHPbb idea for a while and it meets the site and programming requirements but its short on support and some of the newer technologies. So that got me surfing Admin sites and talking with other Admin's world wide trying to see where forum and web site software is going. Right now there is 2 programs that are well liked and supported is Invision Power Board and Xenforo. These two software meet the web standards at a fair price but the IPB tend to meet all of our current requirements the best. On a personal note: You got to remember I have to keep up with the diesel realm, PHP programming, HTML programming, forum softwares, security issues, Linux servers, etc. Just to keep our site going let alone the other 8 sites I help manage.