Traygon

I actually can’t believe I have never touched this on my blog but have posted my insight to this software elsewhere, seems bizarre to be frank! Anyway, Invision Power Board (or IPB), the third full instalment milestone for the forum software giant actively developed by Invision Power Services. I have been a customer of theirs for a good few years now and have been on the platform since the good ol’ InvisionFree days, which ran on version 1.3. Jumping from strength to strength, IPB has been at the headlines for incorporating features not seen in other software and setting standards such as the social profiles (which arrived in version two) to allow Administrators to bring the community closer and have a more open userbase.

Being set in the light as the main competitor to vBulletin, these two platforms have had fan boys battling it out on numerous boards for around three thousand years and still none have been proven right or wrong. I just want to get it out in the open that I am not a vBulletin fan, nor am I an IPB fan boy. I simply don’t like the vBulletin model on raising prices and the software is bare ugly.

The first thing that brought me over to IPB from MyBB and phpBB was the sheer scale of the software, the Administration Panel is like a separate program in itself, the social profiles look impressive with the custom fields you can easily create and comments can be posted, profile photos uploaded, plus an ‘About Me’ section is included. With the software looking very sexy even on it’s default template, the designers throwing out templates are incredibly talented and what was (and still is) being produced is to a high standard. The main hub I use for all my IPB skin purchases (they are doing vBulletin now too) is SkinBox.

Along with some great designs available for use, you have a whole new plugin system built into the newest version. Hooks for your sidebar and applications to increase functionality are just two examples of how you can customize the board easily with less file edits then before. With extending the board, upgrading and even the installation are both painless and simple to accommodate newer, less experienced Administrators.

Read more...

There is not much happening over in the world of MyBB at the moment, all is quiet infront of the doors of the developers. However, there is a nice little cheeky post about the features they are planning for versions; 1.4.5, 1.6 & the long awaited 2.0!

Version 1.4.5

Work is currently going to completing MyBB 1.4.5. It will contain over 100 various fixes, and include performance and stability improvements among other things. We want to put MyBB 1.4.5 through a 2-week beta testing phase before we release it to the general public. This is done in order to ensure we minimize any regressions from changes that have been made to the code since MyBB 1.4.4 and so you can have a smooth transition upgrading from MyBB 1.4.4 to MyBB 1.4.5.

MyBB 1.4.5 is deffinately going to be a support release, fixing a ton of fixes & bugs + stability improvements can never be a bad thing, expecially with all the software becoming all the more complex with every release, adding new features and using new technology.

Version 1.6

We are steadily and diligently working on development for MyBB 1.6. There have been 17 features/improvements officially “completed” and are in the process of Quality Analysis. We have several more near completion. You won’t be seeing any huge changes in MyBB 1.6 and we have taken steps to ensure that when MyBB 1.6 is officially released it will be a stable release. This is done so we can keep the impact on theme creators and plugin and mod authors down to a minimal level. This will lead to a smooth transition between MyBB 1.4 and MyBB 1.6 and I’m looking towards at least 60% of all plugins should still work with MyBB 1.6 with minimal changes (essentially just the “compatibility” indicator updated for most).

Everyone has been eagerly waiting for both versions 1.6 & 2.0, which will be major releases. Although stated that 1.6 will focus on stability & feature enhancements, they are keeping it backed to 1.4.5 to keep the ‘changes’ as low as possible to ensure that most of the plugins still work with the new release.

Version 2.0

We have been brainstorming, sharing ideas, sharing mockups, etc for the past few months. We will probably be brainstorming and trying new ideas for MyBB 2.0 for the most part all the way up to the general testing of MyBB 1.6 and then we will shiftgears to MyBB 2.0.

They are still hush hush about the whole version 2.0 release of the fostware platform, but we are sure we will be able to dig up some information on pre-1.6 release. We will update you guys with any new information as soon as it pops up.

Rich.

Read more...