MyBB vs. SMF and phpBB

Indeed and, between the two of them (Simple Machines Forum and MyBB), there's no competition, visually. MyBB is so much cleaner, crisper, and more professional overall (in my opinion, of course).

 

Whereas I'd say the opposite (in my opinion, of course).

Although I would say at this stage phpBB has the best coded markup in it's default theme of any software currently available, that includes the paid options as well which are lacking currently with outdate table based layouts.

Horses for courses.

 

I'm not that big a fan of using tables for layouts, but TBH I completely see the point of using tables when the layout is table-like (<-- isert the required adjective). That's what they were made for and that's what I sometimes still use them for.

As for vBulletin, AFAIK, they will no longer be using tables in vBulletin 4. Not sure about IPB.

But to be honest, that is such a minor thing, compared to the extreme shortcomings of phpBB...

 

Since I've never had the pleasure of admining or even owning a license to the Big Two forums, I've only used these three forum software in my entire experience.

Now I've never been a fan of phpBB. At all. It's slow, it looks ugly. I've seen very few sites pull off phpBB in a pleasing way, but even those make you want to puke. I absolutely hate the mod system, which is taken for granted in many other software. Upgrading is a huge pain, and the only forum that I manage which uses phpBB, still gives me a lot of headaches. I want to convince them to switch to one of the software below.

SMF, I've grown to love more and more everyday, especially with the amount of mods available. I'm still learning a lot with it, so I won't complain too much about it yet.

MyBB, I've just discovered last week, and am installing it on my personal site, more for a sandbox than a functioning community. So far, from what I've seen, it's pretty awesome. I like the looks, I like the administration, and I love how it acts like vB a little. In my early experience with this one, I'm already ruling this one as the best of the three. My only gripe is that there aren't enough mods/plugins available, but it's fairly new, so that will come in time.

 

Layout does not necessarily mean the posting results. The overall layout should not be table based, while posts may be.

I like MyBB, it has a lot of potential, but it still has the annoying "Multiple clicks per action" design, which is very frustrating compared to SMF.

 

SMF hands down. They are the best for support issues & community.

 

What are your thoughts on the interface when compared to, say, MyBB?

 

Umm, what??????

x.x I've recieved nothing BUT quality support on their forums. SPECIALLY from the staff, users help a lot as well.

 

Well he didn't say that the others were bad. Maybe MyBB and SMF have equally sufficient support.

 

I accidentally voted for "Other" but I meant to vote for MyBB. Out of those three, for me it goes... MyBB > phpBB > SMF

Oh, and I really like those RocketTheme phpBB skins

 

MyBB > SMF > phpBB. SMF has some very good skins, if you look enough, and can look very professional. phpBB2 was as good as SMF, but phpBB3 is just horrible.

 

From a use point of view I love that in phpbb when you post a message you have the choice to:

Go to your message or
Go to the forum you posted in.

In vb you must read your own message before getting out of the thread - how annoying.

I use phpbb and it works great.

Demo : free forums

 

You do realize that such an "annoyance" is not only limited to vBulletin as a script, correct? Most redirect immediately to the message submitted.

 

xD MyBB does it, SMF and IPB does it too.

 

Not so, In SMF it's a profile choice of where you want to go, either message or back to the message index.

Software that confirms you have just done something is immensely annoying, if I click post and the screen changes, I know I've posted, I don't need an intermediary screen to tell me that.

 

You're probably in a small minority there.

 

If you use the full new reply page, MyBB lets you choose to return to the thread or return to the forum.

 

I haven't used a free system for about five years however looking into them now I would probably go with myBB it just looks better and more professional of the lot.

 

Ahh yes, I barely use the full new reply, so it escaped the thought of it.

 

I couldn't agree with you more in regards to MyBB's professional appearance - particularly when compared to phpBB. Its feature set also rivals those of IP.Board and vBulletin, which is something that is simply not true of phpBB's.