Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Modern forum software: Discourse
mouser:
infinite scroll has become a bane
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Few things disgust me as much as infinite scroll.
wraith808:
What strikes me about DC is that I go to other SMF forums, and it's night and day as far as the features.
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Can you elaborate? I can't tell if you're saying that DC is better or worse :P
-mouser (June 26, 2017, 09:51 AM)
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I'm saying DC is better. :Thmbsup: There are so many customizations that I take for granted - the ability to highlight and quote. The hyperlink popping up a dialog instead of just putting the tags in. Same for images. Non-image attachments. And those are just the beginning. You tend to take for granted all of of the custom code that's been put in the platform.
mouser:
Glad to hear that :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:
Tuxman:
there's now far more modern forum software
-urlwolf (June 26, 2017, 04:34 AM)
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"Modern" as in "broken"?
Forum software that deliberately does not let you read/write postings if you disabled Javascript in your browser is "broken by design". Forum software that deliberately gets rid of any sub-forum structure and just displays everything as a stream of unsorted data is "broken by design" as well. The success of Discourse makes me sad concerning the future of the Web. And it is viral: The formerly awesome Misago forum software has picked up all of Discourse's horrible ideas up in early 2017. :(
Last time I had to choose a forum software, I chose Woltlab Burning Board - and this was for very good reasons. (No, it's not even free to use. No, I don't care.)
So my remarks from 2015 are still valid: "Modern" approaches to bulletin board software always suck. Still waiting for an exception to this rule.
IainB:
I reckon @Tuxman makes a good point and one which he substantiates quite well, viz: If the more modern forum technology is broken ("sucks") in some manner, or (say) has too many technological dependencies, making it potentially flaky/fragile and thus non-robust in operation and unsustainable, or difficult to sustain in a dynamically-changing internet browser environment, then of what use is it really?
That is, whilst being "modern" as an objective may be (say) an apparently virtuous/desirable/aesthetic principle or objective for some, if the implementation of modern technology in practice is not satisfactory/effective (i.e., this is the pragmatic reality/outcome), then that would presumably make it less useful/desirable and possibly/probably even an unsustainable headache for the webmaster who was required to support it.
What exactly are we talking about when we use the words "modern"/"modernisation", anyway?
modern
· adj. of or relating to the present or recent times. Ø characterized by or using the most up-to-date techniques, equipment, etc. Ø denoting a recent style in art, architecture, etc. marked by a departure from traditional styles and values.
· n. a person who advocates a departure from traditional styles or values.
– DERIVATIVES modernity n. modernly adv. modernness n.
– ORIGIN ME: from late L. modernus, from L. modo ‘just now’.
Concise Oxford Dictionary (10th Ed.)
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So I can quite understand it when @mouser says:
...but I'm less interested in getting everything super modernized. It's not that I'm resisting modernization based on an aesthetic as much as the fact that with our limited resources, chasing modernity is a very low priority.
-mouser (June 26, 2017, 04:57 AM)
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Thus, if "chasing modernity" was even currently an objective of any priority for the DC forum webmaster, I would be very surprised.
Surely the pragmatic objective (for optimum user benefit) would be based on the principle of incrementally improving the existing DC forum CMS (Content Management System) to a steady/robust state and with a decent/usable and ergonomically sound GUI before considering "modernising" it further. We are already witnessing problems/issues around the recent implementation of the latest CMS changes - e.g., where making forum posts now seems to not work properly for some browsers or under certain conditions, whereas it worked fine before (e.g., using some Chrome-based browsers with the LastPass extension).
"Chasing modernity" for its own sake could be a mistake, especially if it could potentially risk adversely impacting ones' fundamental business outcomes. If we needed a sobering example of the truth of this, then we need look no further than Microsoft's Windows 8 "modern" Metro fiasco. What were they thinking? :tellme:
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