Discuss: phpBB 3.2 Rhea is upon us

[koraldon]

Best solution I found is just to create a copy of DB using phpmyadmin, and than create a copy of the board itself on the server. This allows you to update the "real" site. Of course don't forget to point the config.php at the right DB.

[janus_zonstraal]

Of course don't forget to point the config.php at the right DB.

And purge the cache folder !!!

[Kinsman]

Simple answer: yes, of course there will be a 3.1.11.

Cool

[RobertCailliau]

However… Will a number of GUI issues for the administrators and users be fixed?
There are numberous user issues that have been hanging around for years,

You're welcome to hop onto our tracker and bump each one of those numerous reported user issues that still need looking at.

Hi DavidIQ,
Sorry for late reply: first I was ill, then on several trips, and then I installed the new version to look at it before answering. It took 5 months, but this is now done. Sorry also for misspelling "numerous".
Please note that I am running a few phpBB boards for small communities, I'm not a full-time moderator. There are probably a lot of phpBB administrators like me (at least that's the impression I get from the help asked for). That's exactly why I think the ergonomy of phpBB is so important and also so bad. Here my comments, and they are in the chronological order in which I ran into the issues. And no, I'm not going to put them individually on the tracker site.

1. backup to file from phpbb itself should carry the date and time instead of a meaningless set of numbers.
2. help/support: too many recipes that do not carry the latest info, making one feel unsure as to their validity.
3. in the process of moving to another host or upgrading:
   1. Save and restore of DB works with phpMyAdmin files, no need for bigdump.
   2. Remove the limit of 2MB(exactly), it is not understandable.
   3. need to clear cache folder before moving to another hosting, but this is not mentioned, found it on an obscure old post.
   4. In the recommended upgrade page
      https://www.phpbb.com/support/docs/en/3 ... upgrade31/
      the list of items to be deleted is not in alphabetical order (dangerous if one works through the list from top to bottom).
   5. Explicit instruction to log out is missing.
   6. Language packs: knowledge base how to install has date 12 November 2011. How do I know it is still valid? I'm not interested in when it was written.
4. Images are still gif format
5. UCP:
   new private message goes from UCP but has no reason to be in a control panel, better would be: accessible from the user menu (add to the existing three of UCP,profile,logout)
   overview is not a control panel, it's just info.
6. Moderator/administrator
   Can they subscribe anyone to a new forum? Useful in boards for small groups when the group decides on a new topic and all should be watching it (at least at creation time)
   Can we have subscription to all levels: topic, forum, category. and manage hierarchically. Again useful for boards used by small groups.
7. Example of confusion:
   I wanted to look at the bb codes defined.
   Log in as administrator: quite obvious.
   click on Posting, that's where I expect them to be.
   But there is always one item highlighted, and in this case it was BBCODES. It's displayed in bold and has a little symbol in front, and in addition it was at the top. So I did not spot it: I scanned the non-bold items…
8. Another example: it's easy to reorder forums, it's not easy to reorder topics in forums (at all!), and it's very confusing how to move a post from one topic to another. Unless again you do this every day. You have to click the topic, then click the "i" on ANY post (not the one you need to move) then click "View topic" above "Post details", then select "Move posts" from teh desired actions menu and click the Submit button next to it, then you can't select a destination topic name from a list, you have to fill in a number (or get it, but by clicking "Select for Merge", not the topic's name!), then you have to mark the post to move, and then click the same submit button again. Sorry if that is not confusing enough.
9. I still have not got my head around the permissions. Hugely confusing.
10. "Board Index" is at top right in ACP but top left elsewhere
11. Cannot upload videos as attachments? They could just be files, but no… Why can I put an image inline but not a video? There may be technical reasons why it is a little more complex, but I can do it easily on a website, and phpBB is just a site after all.
12. For addressing a privage message, it would be useful to be able to double-click in the list Add groups.
13. Where have colours gone in composing message? In the "drop"… and grey of course. Took me a long time to find. Before it was a coloured square. But fashion has dictated that I shall surrender to working with grey on grey...
14. in the French language pack: gere forums → gerer éléments
15. too many upgrades too frequently.

I would seriously suggest phpBB gets someone whose sole task is to design the human interface.

Best,
Robert.

[AmigoJack]

If I assure you the following is neither a personal insult, nor a rant, and not unconstructive either, then let me add my perspective/experiences:

3.4 not in alphabetical order

For me they are. Are you used to a different alphabet/sorting?

5. UCP: new private message goes from UCP

This website uses 3.2 as well, and on the topright you have "Private messages" - so it's right there for me.

6. subscription to all levels: topic, forum, category. and manage hierarchically

Categories are forums. Forum subscriptions aren't recursive - just like with topics one has to subscribe to every of them. By "manage hierarchically" you most supposely mean not having a flat list like now, not bound to where topics and forums come from. To me this would be a step backwards, as then I wouldn't be able to have a list of all topics/forums anymore to see which of those have new replies.

7. Example of confusion:
and in addition it was at the top. So I did not spot it

I've seen this phenomenom by many people already: for some reason they read websites like newspapers: from the center to the outer sides/corners. Never made sense to me: I always read websites like I read texts: in Z order (left to right, from top to bottom). For me it would also be a step backwards to not enter the first module of a category - you can reorder all modules at free will and come up with your own categories and menus (existing parallely).

8. it's not easy to reorder topics in forums
very confusing how to move a post from one topic to another

Topics can't be reordered - every user is free to sort topics by different criteria. Moving a post is new to me (in 3.0 it was only possible to either move posts into a new topic, or to merge existing topics - but not to move single posts into existing topics).

9. permissions. Hugely confusing

But highly configurable, thus very powerful. Setting them individually (per user) is the worst you can do - that's what roles are for. Assigning roles individually (per user) is questionable - that's what user groups are for. It all makes sense, and fiddling with them in your test environment will surely help to understand them.

10. "Board Index" is at top right in ACP but top left elsewhere

I see this as an advantage to not confuse the board with the ACP for various reasons. Why aren't you using multiple internet browser tabs/windows in the first place?

11. videos as attachments? They could just be files

They are - and as such can be attached.

Why can I put an image inline but not a video?
I can do it easily on a website

Drastically speaking nowadays you can (HTML video element), but still can't be sure which member's internet browsers are able to properly interpret it, let alone play back the video format. phpBB is a website when you want to edit its templates: there you can "inline" a video as easily as in what you seem to have experienced elsewhere. But as a member you're only allowed to input text, which is not HTML. I just assume you don't know that many picture formats - you definitly know GIF, surely JPEG, maybe also PNG and BMP. Do you also know TIFF, PSD, XCF, BPG and WEBP? And all their sub-formats? Likewise videos don't always come in MP4 and WEBM, and those files aren't even videos - they're container formats which can carry video. For historical reasons the major picture formats are supported because they haven't changed that much thru time and all internet browsers support them as well, but video formats are a different story. The HTML5 video element is used successfully in other websites and should be considered to make it available as BBCode, just like img is.

12. For addressing a privage message, it would be useful to be able to double-click in the list Add groups.

Why? One single click is enough to select one as recipient. And just like in any other list you can select multiple items. It's a list, not a file explorer. I don't know one single website that requires a doubleclick anywhere.


The reason for single tracker tickets is simple: different people can pick and solve different issues. Yes, I also miss a person who can be contacted to read a given topic/post and create tickets for those - that would be an ungrateful job, but it would close the gap of those unwilling to create tickets and those not creating tickets being detailled enough.