[Darth-Apple]

I was ruming around the MyBB forums the other day. I've been pretty much MIA from the MyBB scene for a few years now, but I'd like to get back involved, so I was checking out the future of 2.0 and seeing where they were at. I was impressed at their proof of concept screenshots but it looks very much like an incomplete project. 

In my opinion, MyBB is probably the best forum software I've ever used just because of how flexible it really is. It's lightweight, but it's extremely easy to work with and to mold into the design vision of the forum administrator. And of course it's practical and user friendly on the front end too. 

Everyone probably can remember the MyBB 1.8 fiasco a while back. Really, 1.8 was a fairly small bump in the grand scheme of things, but they did add some really great features that were long overdue. Either way, it was years late and by the time it arrived, people felt (or some people, I should say), that it was already outdated on the day of its release. Personally I didn't mind. The update was welcome for me, but not everyone agreed. 

I have heard very little on 2.0. Supposedly they've gotten a lot done, but it doesn't seem like they are really all that close to release there either, and it's been years. And honestly, if they switch over to a completely rewritten software, I'm almost gonna miss the MyBB of today. The current software, while outdated, is so easy to work with that nothing else can really compete. 

Anyone heard anything about its progress or have any expectations on what's to come?

[Guardian]

I've already got it set that even when 2.0 comes, there's going to be a community fork keeping 1.8 alive and it going in a separate direction. That is, when 2.0 comes 12 years from now.

I can't blame them though, it's freeware.

[Darth-Apple]

I can't blame them either. Honestly it's fantastic software. We've contemplated using IPB here instead, but to be honest, there isn't even really all that much that IPB can do that we can't make MyBB do with some plugins and a little customization

And plus, I like being a part of the MyBB community as a whole. There is a lot of pride in the community of MyBB users that you can't find with every software option.

[Harry K.]

2.0 has been put on hold.

1.9, 1.10 etc.. will be coming first.
1.9: Responsive default theme + Twig Template conversion
1.10: Feature release with most needed features from 2.0 suggestions.

Staff still say 1.9 is way off! Will require php 7.1(or 7.2)
1.9 Dev Roadmap: https://community.mybb.com/thread-215212.html
Update: https://community.mybb.com/thread-215211.html

All in all, don't get your hopes up yet. MyBB is far behind. 1.9 will be way outdated(already...) same with 1.10. 2.0 Will probably eventually be trashed unless someone like effone, Shade, or Euan has the time to seriously pick up speed on development.

[Darth-Apple]

Hmm... very interesting, thanks for sharing.

Honestly it kinda seems smart. It would appear that in a sense, they are focusing on smaller releases and smaller feature bumps rather than overhauling the whole software at once? If so, they might hopefully be able to get releases out a little more often. On the other hand, I suppose the disadvantage to that is that administrators will have to worry about much more frequent updates that will break their plugins and themes every time (anyone reminded of Drupal?? Lmao )

I'm glad that they are making the theme responsive by default, and I do think that will be a very welcome improvement. I'm currently in the early process of converting the theme here to be responsive, and oh my word, it's horrible. I lack experience in that department and that definitely does not make the process any easier, but literally, the tables... I'd be d*** if they made this any harder by default

Nowdays responsiveness is more or less the expectation. What can I say?

[Harry K.]

Hmm... very interesting, thanks for sharing.

Honestly it kinda seems smart. It would appear that in a sense, they are focusing on smaller releases and smaller feature bumps rather than overhauling the whole software at once? If so, they might hopefully be able to get releases out a little more often. On the other hand, I suppose the disadvantage to that is that administrators will have to worry about much more frequent updates that will break their plugins and themes every time (anyone reminded of Drupal?? Lmao )

The team just aren't making that much progress IMO. You'd think 1.9 would mean that we could expect an update in the next couple of months? Ask the team youself, they'll obviously reply "ready when it's ready", but they won't say any less than a year. And it's right that it will be outdated by the time it's released. 1.9 Will be a big breaking update, I don't see many plugins that will be completely compatible, meaning we will be left with the bare-minimum MyBB, with next to zero themes. No one will want to upgrade = no contribution = (more of) no motivation from team to make progress on 1.9.X series. How many developers actively update their plugins enough to almost completely re-write some of them?

I'm glad that they are making the theme responsive by default, and I do think that will be a very welcome improvement. I'm currently in the early process of converting the theme here to be responsive, and oh my word, it's horrible. I lack experience in that department and that definitely does not make the process any easier, but literally, the tables... I'd be d*** if they made this any harder by default

Nowdays responsiveness is more or less the expectation. What can I say?

100% Agree with Responsiveness being necessary. I believe this is the reason forum usage is on the decline, over half of the internet is surfed using mobile devices and the like. I've recently been making responsive themes for MyBB, let me know if you need any help. Sometimes it's better to replace tables in MyBB with a simple grid system. However I remember reading an article on responsive tables that would uniform table cells to drop down into full rows. Let me know what approach you'd like to take and I'll try find that article.

[Guardian]

Good info Harry, thanks. I need to spend more time over at MyBB now that IB is going away.

I had no clue effone was part of the development staff now. Good stuff.

[Harry K.]

Good info Harry, thanks. I need to spend more time over at MyBB now that IB is going away.

I had no clue effone was part of the development staff now. Good stuff.

He has been for ages! Well.. He was for about a year, then left, then recently came back I think. He's on the MyBB's discord server.

[Electric2Shock]

I can't wait for the mobile friendly MyBB.

[Harry K.]

Lots of sites have made MyBB mobile friendly without the ever-waiting update. Forumonic, MyBBoost, WallBB there are a few pre-made responsive ones too.

[Martin]

They apparently want to get out 1.9 within a few months, hears hoping. Proper responsive templates are heavily needed because even if theme designers make them - they easily break with plugins.

It's important to get that out, then hopefully they will get support from plugin and theme creators regaining interest in a new version of myBB which might be more widely adopted. I think currently it has died off a little because it is far behind other softwares (even phpBB which is used to be far superior than). I think once it plays catch up a bit, throughout the 1.X series, it will increase in popularity and support again. At least, I hope.

[Darth-Apple]

They apparently want to get out 1.9 within a few months, hears hoping. Proper responsive templates are heavily needed because even if theme designers make them - they easily break with plugins.

It's important to get that out, then hopefully they will get support from plugin and theme creators regaining interest in a new version of myBB which might be more widely adopted. I think currently it has died off a little because it is far behind other softwares (even phpBB which is used to be far superior than). I think once it plays catch up a bit, throughout the 1.X series, it will increase in popularity and support again. At least, I hope.

Well said. I believe that in a sense, it's the community that has always made MyBB great. I've used phpBB and sMF both, and phpBB is too difficult to heavily customize (although they have changed this in recent years), and SMF is, well, oh my god, I don't even know where to begin. It used to be okay but now the whole community seems like it's kinda, well, trashed. (MS started on SMF. It took us all of about two months to switch over. ) 

The smaller the community of plugin and theme designers, the less that MyBB really has to offer. Hopefully 1.9 doesn't break too much. 1.8 maintained general compatibility very well for the most part, but then again, 1.8 didn't see a drastic change in the templates that the switch to a responsive design would require.

[Guardian]

The first forum I ever made was on SMF. Man am I glad I found MyBB.

[Darth-Apple]

The first forum I ever made was on SMF. Man am I glad I found MyBB.

Yep. It's the vbulletin of free forums. Everything as a whole, from administration to customization to the user experience in general, is overall harder and more cluttered than it needs to be.

[Harry K.]

The first forum I ever made was on SMF. Man am I glad I found MyBB.

Yep. It's the vbulletin of free forums. Everything as a whole, from administration to customization to the user experience in general, is overall harder and more cluttered than it needs to be.

I haven't actually tried anything other than MyBB and XenForo. I've been looking at other forum software's and trying to find one that would be good to invest some time in, but every single one(free) looks like it was designed in 90's, including the themes the community offers.

[Darth-Apple]

The first forum I ever made was on SMF. Man am I glad I found MyBB.

Yep. It's the vbulletin of free forums. Everything as a whole, from administration to customization to the user experience in general, is overall harder and more cluttered than it needs to be.

I haven't actually tried anything other than MyBB and XenForo. I've been looking at other forum software's and trying to find one that would be good to invest some time in, but every single one(free) looks like it was designed in 90's, including the themes the community offers.

Honestly, agreed. 

I think that phpBB is on the best track as of now. Out of the box it leaves something to be desired, but they seem to have a strong community and have completely modernized the backend of their software (synfomy, plugin systems, etc.). Unfortunately the front end looks like it always has and I don't think it's anywhere near as easy to use as MyBB. But some of the themes that have been put out for it are very good. They have great designers over there as well.

I've never personally been a huge fan of phpBB but I think it is decent software, and it isn't totally repulsive, which is good.

[Harry K.]

I've always wanted to stay well away from phpBB but I've been hearing some good things lately, so maybe I'll give it a go. We'll see.

[Darth-Apple]

I've been more and more interested in it as time goes on to be honest. Always tried to steer clear as well (hated it 5 years ago), but it is quite literally the only free option that even has a responsive theme out of the box. A lot of the major problems people had with phpBB have been addressed (such as not having an actual plugin system, not having good designs, and lacking a good framework), and the community is huge with a non-stagnant development team. I can't say I'm not curious. It definitely seems like they've done quite a lot to it in recent years.

Some designs people have done for it. Apparently it CAN look like something that isn't cookie-cutter phpBB by default.

http://preview.themeforest.net/item/milk...w/16119149
Or the ones at themeforest: https://themeforest.net/category/forums/phpbb