New design?

[pht3k]

I asked Bernard if he wanted a fresh website since i am familiar with drupal, a content management system for web developper, and i willing to spend some time to do it for this amazing website. BTW drupal is used by a lot of the major websites like yahoo! bernard told me that he wasn't really sure and maybe an vbb (the actual board) addon for a wiki was a better solution. I decided anyway yesterday to spend 2 hours to develop a little something just to show some possibilities. I sended it to Bernard and then told me to post it here to see what users think about it.

I want to say that the design is very basic. In fact this is the base theme of drupal. There is many more to choose from and i can even customize an other one.

Then i did it in 2 hours. That means that there is much more things that might be added. This is not final but just to show some possibilities.

There is some modules that i think would be very usefull for somasimple.


Book module. There have been some talk lately about making a book and the best way to do it is via this module. A nice example is the drupal handbook (http://drupal.org/handbooks).
Blog module. It might replace Barrett's forum for exemple. And anyone who wish to post regulary. In fact every user might have his own blog, or selected user, according to the admin.
biblio module. This one is mandatory. We need this here. have a look here (http://www.physiotek.com/drupal/biblio). For exemple, we can click on an author name and see every article that specific author wrote. And we can use an other module to use those articles as references with footnotes (http://www.physiotek.com/somasimple/content/testing) into other posts. When we click the footnote it points directly to the article in the biblio. This is great especially for someone writing a book with the book module.
Of course there is a forum module. And there is a way to migrate all actual posts to the new drupal system so we dont lose anything.
There is a nice links (http://www.physiotek.com/drupal/links) module too, with some sweet options.
There is some wiki modules too.
We can retreive RSS feeds from any source. for exemple we can have a David Butler thread with all his posts from the three blogs auto-updated. Example (http://www.physiotek.com/drupal/syndication/articles).There is much much more possibilities. This is just the tip of the iceberg. To see a list of all available module look here (http://drupal.org/project/Modules). And BTW this is all free.

To look at the test website: http://www.physiotek.com/somasimple

So i think there is a way to do something maybe more usefull. I have to admit that i was a bit lost with all the forum (there are too many of those i think).

So this is what i can do to help this website to be even better. Your thoughts? You want to keep the good old forum or migrate to something new?

pht3k

[Diane]

Hi pht3k,

You went to considerable trouble to run a test with your system. That was kind of you. The drupal somasimple site is interesting, but I think I prefer this one. (Others may think differently of course - maybe we should make a little poll.)

The nice part about SS the way it is, is that it was grown organically - multi-lingual and multi-layered with different permissions for different levels. It's become spam-proofed and troll-proofed and porn-proofed over time. The PM system works well, as does the avatar system.

With time, and with looking around, and with using the search feature, it's really not so hard to find one's way around.

The most attractive thing I saw with the drupal system was that it was free. :) Yet, I don't think Somasimple costs an excessive amount to operate. I think the costs are covered by donation.

[pht3k]

Diane said:
"multi-lingual and multi-layered with different permissions for different levels. It's become spam-proofed and troll-proofed and porn-proofed over time. The PM system works well, as does the avatar system."

drupal offer too multi-lingual, different roles with different permissions. everything is configurable. we can also create groups with different homepages etc.. There is many spam proof options. there is a very nice messenger module for PM system. I havn't installed the WYSIWYG editor on the test page but there is near 10 to choose from... According to me, Drupal is the way to go. If you look around on the web, you will see that drupal is everywhere and it have been voted the cms #1. Drupal in fact have to offer everything VBB can do, and more, since it is not a forum but a content management system, which include a forum.

[bernard]

Well,

it is a nice trial and I may reply this:

1/ Somasimple took four years to grow at this stage but five minutes to be effective (software installation). The customization of forum (design) is the process that takes the more duration.
It would take much more than several months to offer quite the same.

2/ Somasimple is not only a forums set but a real web site. there are "normal" pages as many other web sites.

3/ If yahoo and some major brands use drupal isn't a condition I direct my choices. Unfortunately drupal portal lools like any portal: a plethora of information everywhere that do not respect the Apple human guidelines. Somasimple may be severe in its aspect but my eyes aren't disturbed by these vertical columns on each side.

4/ The possibility of blogs isn't a priority neither a will.

5/ Somasimple looks already as an oil factory: complex but every day the moderators and I are searching a way to simplify it: the incoming wiki is offering books and the major lacks you noted. It'll take some time to transfer the information but I'm sure it can't be done by one guy alone. I'll be seconded by the crew.

5/ the RSS and other features is possible but not active.

6/ The books will be a major discovery for our users within the year.


ps: if drupal is everywhere I saw that vBulletin makes a good score on google. :zip:

[pht3k]

1/ Somasimple took four years to grow at this stage but five minutes to be effective (software installation). The customization of forum (design) is the process that takes the more duration.
It would take much more than several months to offer quite the same.

3/ Unfortunately drupal portal lools like any portal: a plethora of information everywhere that do not respect the Apple human guidelines. Somasimple may be severe in its aspect but my eyes aren't disturbed by these vertical columns on each side.


1/ the structure is already done so less than a couple of hours is necessary to do the same. Even maybe less with the vbb2drupal migration module.
3/ false. EVERYTHING can be changed. One can have full width content just like here.

anyway if you dont want to change i dont care; i like the way somasimple is. i just proposed to make it better.

[bernard]

pht3k,

I do not see any reason to make a Somasimple clone with another software. BTW, I tried by the past the migration tool for this board and I know by experience that they offer a limited "translation" for customized forums. I don't want to experience once more this fate. :D

[bernard]

Added a poll! VOTE :angel:

[oljoha]

What about phpBB ? Version 3 is very nice.

That'd be www.phpbb.com

[bernard]

The previous version of these forums were on phpBB.
http://www.somasimple.com/forums3/

I'll give the same response: A migration is made quite impossible with board customizations. There is no reason to make such a change.

[bernard]

here is a sample:
http://www.somasimple.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4986

[cedric]

your drupal test website is great but does not look as professional as somasimple looks right now...
what i would like would be different colors on the forum and some little add ons that 's all...
anyway pht3k that's good job and maybe bernard could use some of your ideas and skills to make soma move on the way to "perfection" ;)

[Jason Silvernail]

pht-
I appreciate the effort you've made and of course the material you used in your sample.
This appears to be a blog format as opposed to a discussion forum format. In my opinion, it makes it more difficult to organize and stay current with various discussions - an interesting blog post soon gets buried and people move quickly to a more recent post.
I prefer the current design, and I rather like the color scheme. I think the white is a bit harsh on the eyes, personally.
Thanks for your effort here-

[Nick]

Maybe it's the neuroplastic challenge, but I also prefer the site as is. I really like the color and I don't understand the difficulties some claim with navigation, but I've been here pretty much from the beginning.

I appreciate the effort as well, but my vote is with the current format.

[pht3k]

pht-
I appreciate the effort you've made and of course the material you used in your sample.
This appears to be a blog format as opposed to a discussion forum format. In my opinion, it makes it more difficult to organize and stay current with various discussions - an interesting blog post soon gets buried and people move quickly to a more recent post.
I prefer the current design, and I rather like the color scheme. I think the white is a bit harsh on the eyes, personally.
Thanks for your effort here-

i think most of people dont undertand.
as i said, the drupal website i just did is just to show the possibilities with the biblio module etc. the design is the default one, and there much more options and different design available. the color is also to change. and the main page can be the forum as well. everything can be change to whatever we want. all i wanted to show are the possibilities.

[bernard]

i think most of people don't understand.
That's true but I'm not one of these.
A customization will take a lot of time and offers... the same we have already (quite soon :embarasse).
Why, in that case, enforces the members to learn other rules for posting and find their way in another universe? This one is already complex and matures every day toward a simplification and redundancy.

But the style doesn't adapt a portal aspect... intentionally!!!