10 reasons why phpBB3 sucks!
I’ve been using phpBBv2 for a long while now, on quite a few sites for one reason and another. I like phpBB because it’s simple to use, for both users and admin. Things like the “ego search” are features I wouldn’t want to live without.
phpBBv2 was great, things like the templates, and installing mods was much to be desired, however workarounds appeared and we got used to dealing with them.
Upon the announcement that phpBB3 was coming out I got excited. Now usually I wait until the first bug fix release comes out before I start using the product, however I wanted to start a new forum, so instead of installing phpBB2 I decided to try phpBB3
This is what I found…
- Templates are now even more complicated
- A new language was invented in earlier phpBB for templating. You MUST learn this in order to create templates. Why use this, when there’s a perfectly good one that we already know? …called PHP!
- Templates are split into three sections now, templates, imagesets and themes.
- Editing files outside of the admin area is just asking for trouble, as any changes will not be noticed, as the system caches them. This means I can’t use my favourite text editor to develop this site.
- Flexibility simply doesn’t exist, you’re restricted by all sorts.
- It’s STILL not SEO friendly
- We were promised that there would be native friendly URLs in this version, yet no such luck.
- URLs are nasty, they could be so much prettier and descriptive.
- Carrying around the SID in URLs is UGLY! Everybody has a cookies enabled browser these days.
- Page titles are still horrible, including the “Index page”, very descriptive…
- There’s too many links per page, it just causes issues.
- No XML sitemaps?
- Modifications still aren’t any easier to add
- Still not automated!
- It’s now using MODX which is, instead of a bunch of instructions as it used to be, is XML based, which designed to be read by machines…
- I’m sure most people would like to add in all sorts of gadgets and widgets, yet phpBB3 doesn’t have any such support!
- Still no RSS feeds…
- RSS is a major part of “web 2.0″, yet phpBB 3.0 still hasn’t mastered them!
- RSS feeds ARE NOT DIFFICULT, it’s just XML!
- HUGE footprint, is it really justified?
- phpBB2 was about 2mb when it was extracted, this phpBB3 is about 5 times that at around 10mb, ridiculous!
- So there’s a new admin control panel (ACP), there’s a new default theme which looks a bit nicer, but really what’s changed that much?
- Too many whining copyright notices
- Shut up about copyright already!
- If you’re that bothered about it, why don’t you make it a commercial product or get people to pay to remove the copyright and gain support?
- You’re probably not really doing yourself any favours by having people link back, they aren’t exactly going to be quality links, because all the quality links remove it or use something else.
- Nobody really wants to keep these anyway…
- Quick reply
- A feature that vBulletin has, and does very well, yet phpBB doesn’t have it.
- This is a feature you’d have expected they would have added as a native option, yet again no.
- HTML is no longer accepted in comments
- Unlike phpBB2, phpBB3 does not allow the use of HTML tags in comments, forcing administrators of large phpBB2 systems with many pre-existing HTML links to choose between upgrading to the new software or preserving their existing links
- Unprofessional
- phpBB has never had the look and feel of a professional product.
- The general userbase of phpBB is unprofessional.
- phpBB is not taken seriously in the money making world of web development.
- There’s no option of professional support, it simply doesn’t exist!
- I hate it, but you love it!
- Unfortunately phpBB is one of the few notable forums out there, nothing else works quite like it.
- They pioneered things like bbCode which means users can add easy to understand markup to their comments.
- The search is fantastic, better than any other forum out there, even vBulletin, it just works very well. Egosearch is also very useful.
- It’s open source and GPL so it appeals to all the freetards out there.
- Has support for multiple database management systems, including MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Firebird, OpenLink Virtuoso, and other ODBC-accessible DBMS
- There’s quite a large community that offer mods, styles and support.
- It works! It really works! What can I say? I godda hand it to them for that.
Oh and also, It also sort of goes without saying that the spam situation since phpBB2 hasn’t gotten any better, but some kind of question appears to be the best solution to this, but it’s less than perfect.
In conclusion, I’m disappointed with phpBB3, I had expected more improvements, there was promises of search engine friendly URLs and automated mod installations, but we’re yet to see any of this… phpBB4 anyone?
Update: Don’t worry there ARE alternatives!
- Comparison of Internet forum software on Wikipedia
- PHP Forum software on the Open Directory
guest said,
May 1, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
but the most popular phpbb forum is out there —– http://www.warez-bb.com
hacker said,
May 1, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
Just f*ck your a$$ mate{ your own } i love phpbb
PS. I completely missed the point of this article, and am a complete idiot.
xul76 said,
June 7, 2008 @ 12:00 am
one of the improvements is the search, finally your able jump to the permalink of any given post within a thread (so your not lost anymore if the search found a thread that spreads over many pages).
you’re right on all accounts though…
Jadestone said,
June 17, 2008 @ 10:53 pm
Being a programmer and a MOD author for phpBB2 i am very upset about phpBB3. I have put off and put off coding on it until a few days ago. As a programmer i can say phpBB3 is terrible, they over complicate their code and make you just through hoops to perform simple actions. Their coding guidelines are retarded and i love how you have to add the /*** @ignore**/ after your header in the php files… retards didn’t even think about their structure properly, document readers would read the code if you didn’t put the ignore there..
I simply do not understand why they went this way… The system is not worth the changes. They have created an entire different product with less features in this programmers eyes. I will not make the switch and i will be supporting phpbb2 for awhile afterwards. I have copies of the latest release of phpbb2 and i do not plan on upgrading any time soon.
I can program in their new system, i just think they took a giant step back instead of forward. the no HTML is a sissy way to go.. every other product out there lets you use it… they apparently have no idea what they are doing… Its like taking fire from man, i am convinced their programming team is a group of monkeys. They have maybe 2 or 3 things useful in the phpBB3 version that was not in the phpBB2. I also deal with SEO as my day job, you are correct, phpBB is terrible with SEO. There are MODs out there that help with that but you can only fix something so much..
Now, since this is free software we don’t really have a right to complain… I, as an open source programmer, disagree. If you are releasing a product and stating how much better it is going to be, free or not, and you release a piece of garbage be prepared to take some insults.
Sorry i was just working on their phpBB3 system and it is terrible so i had to get a little of it out.
underground said,
August 19, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
it’s free what more can you ask for?
nls said,
September 20, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
I agree above and believe that PHPbb3 is not too long to stay on earth. Poor user friendly, outdated even after phpbb3 is introduced. all developers including founders should suck eggs of wordpress and blogger founders.
Softwares said,
September 22, 2008 @ 12:13 pm
I agree with all of your points,,Great article.
PHPBB ofcource SUCKS
Highway of Life said,
October 6, 2008 @ 10:22 am
1. Templates are now even more complicated.
This is because of the expanded functionality within phpBB3, there are at least four times as many features and options within phpBB3 than were in phpBB2. Thus making the templates by default, a bit more complicated. However, the templates in phpBB3 are much easier to work with than in phpBB2, they also follow a better structure and far more normalised.
This “language” is used for all MVC’s (Model View Controllers), Smarty is the most popular MVC, it has it’s own “language” but is far less efficient than the phpBB3 templating engine, and is also more difficult for most programmers to learn. Even the simplest of HTML stylists prefer the phpBB3 templating tags over using PHP or Smarty markup.
Templates are split into three sections for the following reason: If you design a new style, you do not have to create all new imagesets or themes, you can create a new style that perhaps is just a few changes to the theme, and it will inherit the template files from the default template set. This makes it far easier for style designers to only release actual changes to a style from the default, and only release imageset packs, for example, again, making phpBB3 far easier to use for style designers.
Editing files is best done on the filesystem NOT the administration area, however, editing these files is possible through the admin area, I do not recommend it. phpBB3 has a “template refresh” option which easily refreshes the templates. They can also automatically refresh with a config option set in load settings.
All of the above is done for maximum flexibility within phpBB3.
2. It’s STILL not SEO friendly
This is not entirely correct, first of all, phpBB never promised that there would be “SEO friendly URL’s” included in the phpBB3 package. Yet regardless, SEO is not restricted to ONLY SEO friendly URL’s.
SEO Friendly URLs are mainly for the purpose of human readability, the dynamic URLs are actually much easier as a navigator, and don’t affect search engines either positively or negatively.
SIDs in URLs are required for several reasons, first, if cookies are disabled, or if the admin cookie settings are incorrect, the board automatically appends the SID to the URL to retain the users session properly. The second reason is when performing actions such as logging in, or logging in to the administration control panel. The SID is added for extra security measures. If you view the SID everywhere you browse, it is likely because your cookie settings are incorrect and need to be fixed.
Many people don’t realise that phpBB3 does not display exactly the same to humans as it does to bots. These “extra links” are there for added usability, but for bots, the “dead” links, such as profile links, memberlist links, and individual post links are removed because they are not needed for search engines.
XML sitemaps are not a standard, but they are extremely simple to add as an Add-on. Remember that phpBB3 began development over 5 years ago, back when XML sitemaps were barely being conceived. Still, most sites do not utilise this very wonderful functionality.
3. Modifications still aren’t easier to add
Modifications are a bit easier to add in phpBB3, with more unified instructions using MODX, as well as the phpBB3 being much better code-wise, employing very powerful OOP PHP, modifications are now even easier to add and manipulate, meaning less edits, fewer compatibility issues, and maximising scalability.
No, unfortunately MOD installation is still not automated, although this is generally requested by those who can’t stand looking at code in the first place. Regardless, phpBB is creating an automated installer known as “Blinky”, which is in public Beta and can be used in it’s current form to install MODs. Blinky is used by the phpBB.com MOD Team to test all MODs submitted to the Modifications Database.
MODX was the desired choice to improve the ability for auto-installers and generators. And it is easily human-readable with the included XSL XML Stylesheets, you simply open the MODX file in your browser and it gives you a nice graphical layout with instructions for installing the MOD as well as where to locate support or contact the MOD Author.
phpBB3 employes a new Modularised system for the Administration Control Panel (ACP), Moderator Control Panel (MCP), and User Control Panel (UCP), this enables users and MOD Authors to easily add additional modules to phpBB3 without editing a single file, simply drag and drop new module files into the module directories, enable them in the ACP, and bingo! you have new modules!
4. Still no RSS feeds…
Yes, unfortunately RSS Feeds do not exist in phpBB3 by default. Again, phpBB3 began development over 5 years ago, and it was decided some time ago to exclude RSS Feeds to hasten the delivery of phpBB3 gold to the public. Fortunately, there are several very good RSS Syndication MODs available in the phpBB.com Modifications Database as well as those being developed. Very easy to add your own. Which is the beauty of phpBB3, providing a light package that is not bloated like many other types of Bulletin Board software, while giving the users the easy ability to install one of thousands of available Modifications for phpBB.
RSS Feeds will be included by default in the next new version of phpBB 3.2
5. HUGE footprint, is it really justified?
People want every feature including the kitchen sink, and then expect that phpBB3 is going to be as small or smaller than phpBB2. This is just not going to happen everytime you include dozens upon dozens of new features. The overall package size is going to be bigger.
2 Styles included instead of one, far more features, these are all going to make the package size much bigger. But considering the number of new items added in phpBB3, it’s a wonder it is as small as it is. And compared to all other major Bulletin Board software on the market, phpBB is the smallest default package. Again, if people want all the features, they can’t expect the package size to be small.
6. Too many whining copyright notices.
It amazes me to see people complain about having a copyright there for a FREE product! This is meant for giving credit to the dozens of individuals who have poured HUNDREDS of hours of their free time into developing a product that you can use and bitch about.
7. Quick Reply
phpBB is not in a competition with any other bulletin board software, and as such, they do not care what features other bulletin boards have or do not have. phpBB makes their own decisions including adding or excluding features based upon what the developers feel is best for the product, for the community, and for security. Not everyone will agree on every feature, and it just so happens this is one of those features.
Again, dozens of Quick Reply MODs exist for phpBB3 that are even easier than ever to install due to phpBB3’s much better code layout and backend.
8. HTML is no longer accepted in comments
phpBB does not have “comments”, they are known as posts, or replies. And yes, HTML is not allowed for a very good reason. HTML proved to be a rather major security issue within phpBB2. Administrators were enabling very vulnerable HTML tags that users could and would easily exploit to gain sensitive information or hack the Board. Since phpBB is the most popular Bulletin Board Software in the World, it was determined to remove this feature for the protection of phpBB’s users, the users of the phpBB installations, and the servers on which the Bulletin Boards were installed.
9. Unprofessional
phpBB is now used by more corporations than any other Open Source Bulletin Board solution. The reason is the professional look and feel of the phpBB3 layouts and the customisability of these designs and layouts.
A Professional look and feel is generally based on opinion, and differs from one individual to another. phpBB knows that you cannot please everybody, so they have created a product which is easily expandable and modifiable, making phpBB3 extremely easy to transform into any existing website or layout that the administrator/user desires.
Because phpBB is an Open Source and free product (GPL), phpBB’s largest userbase is going to be those who are not willing to spend any money on a bulletin board solution for their site, thus phpBB will have a larger userbase of non-professionals. If phpBB were not free, I very much doubt this would be the case, but since it is free, it is open to everyone, even your neighbourhood kid who mows your yard every week can go start their own clan bulletin board and run it just like any of the big boys. This of course makes many adults quite jealous.
10. I hate it, but you love it!
You can’t please everybody, that’s obviously a recurring theme. And phpBB, being the most popular Bulletin Board Software in the world, is going to have a LOT of people they have to try and please. phpBB aims for the greatest common denominator, this is not going to agree with every single person, but you can only do so much.
11. The spam situation has not improved since phpBB2
Actually, this is not true. phpBB3 has far more and better spam fighting tools than phpBB2 and all the combined MODs for phpBB2.
These spam fighting tools include such items as the GD advanced CAPTCHA, that to this date has not been proven to be broken by any automated CAPTCHA-cracking bot (automated spam system). When this advanced CAPTCHA is enabled (requires the GD PHP Library), it decreases spam registrations by 90%
Better Moderator Tools, you can now mass-move posts from a single user, moderators can be given permission to immediately ban users, more editing, moving, merging, splitting tools make spam handling much easier. And of course the invaluable word censor… turn your favourite spam phrases into comedic phrases that will turn spam into halarious posts entirely eliminating the effectiveness of the spam posts. On the boards that I have applied this concept to, it has decreased spam by 99%
I will not reply to any comment related to this comment, if you would like to discuss anything here with me, please visit phpBB.com and look for Highway of Life.
Have a great day.