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Did you miss your activation email? October 07, 2008, 07:27:06 PM
Did you miss your activation email? October 07, 2008, 07:27:06 PM
SMF Team Blog
Rant on features...
Adding new things and advancing a product is great. Before you ask for a feature, ask yourself this - is this a feature of a forum or a feature of another application? Remember, SMF is a forum.
What is SMF?
It is not a calendar. It is not an ad system. It is not a chat client. It is not an arcade. It is not a CMS. It is not a portal. It is not a email management system. It is not a site directory. It is not a search engine. It is not a wiki. It is not a blog. It is not a text editor. Last but certainly not least, it is NOT a toaster. It is a FORUM
It's only a little feature. Not a big deal to develop.
The developer has a lot to take in to consideration when putting a feature in to a product. The developer has to create the feature. The developer has to keep up with bugs. The developer has to keep up with security issues. The developer has to be concerned with performance. The developer has to be concerned with application size. The developer has to make sure that the it will work in all systems. Above all, the developer has to remember what this product is - a forum.
Less is more
Less time worrying about new features means more time making the things that SMF already has better.
</rant>
What is SMF?
It is not a calendar. It is not an ad system. It is not a chat client. It is not an arcade. It is not a CMS. It is not a portal. It is not a email management system. It is not a site directory. It is not a search engine. It is not a wiki. It is not a blog. It is not a text editor. Last but certainly not least, it is NOT a toaster. It is a FORUM
It's only a little feature. Not a big deal to develop.
The developer has a lot to take in to consideration when putting a feature in to a product. The developer has to create the feature. The developer has to keep up with bugs. The developer has to keep up with security issues. The developer has to be concerned with performance. The developer has to be concerned with application size. The developer has to make sure that the it will work in all systems. Above all, the developer has to remember what this product is - a forum.
Less is more
Less time worrying about new features means more time making the things that SMF already has better.
</rant>
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you forgot to open your rant with
<rant>
Well said, groundup! It's a forum, and that's a timely post.
Technically, this is a forum-based coding system, following loosely aside HTML 4.01, meaning you are required to have an opening tag of <rant> or <rant="VALUE" attribute=.......> for it to be proper coding. </rant>
One of my main attractions to the community is the absolutely insane things people manage to make SMF do. I give very high marks to the dev team for providing something so capable of being modified that people are able to turn a forum application into a CMS, a whole site, a blog of sorts, etc...
The way that people have taken SMF and truly molded it into what they want really is amazing and the way that it is done in SMF is even more amazing.
That being said - I think (in my mind) the difference between a feature request and a modification request is this:
"Does it add to the core functionality in a way that improves the user experience for the vast majority of people and is it truly required and/or help SMF, as an application, achieve its goals?"
If the answer is no then it is a modification. From what I have seen, most of the feature requests are better suited for the modifications request section.
<mini_rant>
Though I still think a random function in SSI.php is a legitimate feature.
</mini_rant>
ah now i know why my DVD drive died, i thought SMF had a toaster function
more features.. try Mambo/Joomla with smf in it
danke...
I am not saying that you have to opt out of posting your requests almost always, I am just asking you all to think about what you are asking for (and remember that code doesn't magically fly from our fingers, it takes time), so if you really figure you will want such and such feature, then do ask. But it wouldn't be so great if you ask for something that you never end up using, but it takes someone 5 hours to code.
Maybe a doc to elaborate on what is and isn't a feature request vs. what is and isn't a modification request? No... A FAQ perhaps.
Not to mention one nothing why some mods become part of Core and some stay as mods.
Oh...so that is why my bread is soggy!
I agree that some of the features don't matter, but if a feature , like a calendar, is wanted, it should be made. It does not hurt preformance, it will make the people happy and stop asking for it
I avoid asking for many features, simply because It doesn't need to be weighed down with anything that will slow it's performance.
But that's just me.
...I can't believe you won't put the Make Toast feature in! I'll never find the perfect forum *sniff*
If you were good at working a mule drawn barge, it wasn't a good thing once the railroads got fired up. If you were only good at running or repairing steam engines, it wasn't a good thing once long distance trucking happened. Being the best phonograph manufacturer on the planet isn't good for much these days. What's the best Gopher server? Best tape-based operating system?
Specialization is for insects, adaptability is for survivors.
Paul
yes yes I really need many features.
I tend to agree. I'm coming from a different back ground of course. While I agree SMF doesn't need every feature ever thought up it also needs features to be competitive and anything to make routine actions easier or better is always good.
Plus the software has to evolve and be competitive.
I think personally even little changes can make big differences.
I think its important that developers be willing to put a change in even if its small, as it improves the experience as a whole.
I'm coming from a Pro Boards back ground here and Just now looking at SMF. So this is an outside take on the issue of features . vs. mods.
I understand that SMF is part time but even the simple things can make the forum even better.
For example SMF has merge and split (I current don't have these in proboards) and these little features are a draw just by themselves.
Running lean is always good but you don't' want to be lacking features either.
Which is why SMF itself is becoming more adaptable. While our developers can focus on making the best darn forums, others can write bridges to tie SMF with their software.
Products that offer an array of varying features are like that portable stereo or all-in-one TV/VCR/DVD. They are designed to work tightly together and you can't break apart the components, but the functions they do are all mediocre and when one breaks, it could take down all the other functions. When the screen goes out in that TV/DVD combo, you lose the functionality of the DVD part of it.
SMF is like a component system. Sure, you have to deal with a few wires, but you can hook it into the best products elsewhere to make something that fits your needs exactly. You'll even be able to get the best quality for each part. You can get a CMS/Portal system you like, a link directory product, and tie these things all together (assuming they are as flexible as SMF) to build your site. If something goes wrong with one piece, you can always swap it out and not lose the function of the other pieces.
In addition, SMF has some pretty good framework-level abilities you can custom-code around. I'm working on making some applications for a website that use SMF's permission framework for user authentication and authorization.