IntegraMOD

A little info... First off, two years ago we set out to write Kiss Portal, a replacement for IM Portal... The aim was to upgrade to phpBB3 when it became available...

Although I got an early start (two years now) I did not have the option of porting mods, i.e. it is not possible to port a mod to a beta system as someone keeps moving the goalposts. However we now have a complete portal and all that is left is updates and mod additions... All of the major mods will be available soon after the release of phpBB3 RC1 of that I am certain... Upgrading integrmod to the next stage is not so easy but can be accomplished in two or three steps. But will take time. The basic forums, sub-forums, posts, attachments and several other bits can be done quite quickly... Other sections, especially those that use some of the larger mods will either take time or not be possible...

phpBB3 is 2 ot 5 time faster than phpBB2, most of what we call mods are already install in the core so even a heavily modded forum with phpBB3 will blast any other back-end out of the water... (IMHO)

Templateing is so much easier... firstly you don't need the admin section (phpBB3 uses it's own) and secondly the creation of a theme based on the default requires much less time. The new structure and layout is initially complex but after time you will find it much easier... On the point of everyone creating themes... this has always been the case at least since I got involved with php so the future is probably not going to be different and even if there are more template builders who's to say they are going to be any good...

From my point of view the future is looking good even if it does look a little busy <img>
Mike

Good point <img>

And Mike, I thought of something last night while looking around at phpbb3's templating system.
I have found a way to make complete blocks with rounded corners with using just one div. It is extremely quick and requires no images whatsoever. The good thing about it, is you can add one image to make it gradient without worrying about it stretching or any other of the usual problems

I've experimented with it a little on my premod site [url=http]View Example[/url]

The two containers at the top that house the index link and post's since visit etc

I'm going to make a complete phpbb2 theme using this next, then once mastered, a phpbb3 one
(Should be really really fast)

I actually got amazed of the permission system... pFFF... Still need to figure out the bits but got the basics and already started creating my own presets/roles. Just amazing! (especially keeping in mind the "copy permissions" feature

Anyhow... Aside form the new template system being a little annoying while getting used to, I'm convinced it will surely become a lot easier when used to it! I converted my current theme for 75% now and it only took a couple of hours <img>

Frost... nice one, how did you do it and did you write your blog code ?

nGAGE you have the right idea... If someone paid me to make a phpBB2 theme I don't think I could bare to... Too complicated

Just remembered some mods that are part of phpBB3 that might be of interest. As I cop on to them I will post info... Basically I've be working on phpBB3 for so long I don't remember if something is a mod or part of the core in relation to phpBB2... : <img>

Here is one of the mods I have made: (an image should do the trick)

I have kept the images small as the page gets screwed up if they are big...

[quote=""Michaelo";p="25365""]
Basically I've be working on phpBB3 for so long I don't remember if something is a mod or part of the core in relation to phpBB2... :

michaelo I have a vanilla phpbb2 running on my server that you're free to mess with to help you out if you need. Let me know if you want the admin user/pass and such.

One mod that I find interesting that they have is the User/Mod/Admin actions mod. It logs everything that all users, mods, and admins do. It's a mod I always wished IM had.

One thin that amazes me about PHPBB3 is that it would basically be considered a highly modded phpbb2 otherwise. Layout is pretty similar, but it has tons of mods that phpbb2 doesn't have including the attachment mod. But the amazing part is that on my server it runs about twice as fast as a vanilla phpbb2. Interesting? It's rocket-fast. I think when we have E-Tegra running on PHPBB3 it is going to be an amazing speed difference.

Lots of hosts are gunna lose some money with all the downgrades <img> lol

Zac

Now got a phpbb3 forum installed to play arround with... didn't complete the theme conversion though. Still got other stuff to do with higher priority! Will attend to that later

Problem! <- Michaelo wrote that, I swear.

I'm not crazy

Ok, I decided to test the rounded corners thing some more on a system I'm more familiar with

It's so light, i could make a google template out of it <img>

[url=http]See Screenshot[/url]

I've now got a little phpBB3 forum up with 90+% theme conversion.
Will be using it to discuss mods and stuff... will put up another for testing before applying it, but I must definately say... the phpBB3 system for themes is (once you get used to it) a LOT better!
The way thinks are setup you'll be able to swap stuff over from one theme from another without even changing any of the html-code in the templates, as the final path will always be the same and that also works for the CSS files. None of the path will change, nomatter what theme you use

Here some screenies and links to my two sites )

[url=http]Main Site (IntegraMOD)[/url]
[url=http]Screenshot Main Site (IntegraMOD)[/url]

[url=http]iMOD Site (Olympus)[/url]
[url=http]Screenshot Main Site (Olypus)[/url]

Hope you guys are alright with me using "iMOD" for my IntegraMOD stuff and "iMODÂÂÂ ³" for my phpBB3 stuff. Don't know if anybody already uses it <img>

Looking good! Keep it up <img>

Frost your post above has gone... my fault, I may a pressed edit instead of quote... yikes! never happened before... sorry <img>
It was saying you use nifty...

Anyways, I sat down today, and finally forced myself to look into making themes for PhpBB3.

Yea... you were right lol. Although it has it's flaws, it's actually a much better setup than before. I always installed a phpbb3 board, looked at it for about 5 minutes and moved on. But today, I looked through most of the settings and I have to say.. it's pretty good stuff. I love the speed as well

Spent a few hours earlier and this is what I have so far http://dark-frost.com/

If you go past the first page, you'll see how much work I have left to do <img>

I'm going to make a thread on this, see what people think

Shit! that's cool... love the thingy tracking my mouse... Gota keep an eye on this style... <img>