One of the reasons that I was concern about how things are developed is because I was starting to add quite a bit of hacks to my site. Because of this, I had the following concerns:
1. If one is installing many hacks, one can run into the problem of overwriting code that is required by another hack.
2. vBulletin does not provide paid support (phone, email) if one has hacks installed in the system. I understand their concern because some of the hacks may insert code that could cause problems. But imagine Microsoft saying that they would not support Office because Adobe Acrobat Professional is installed!
3. Upgrading to future vBulletin software becomes increasingly more difficult as more hacks are installed in the system.
If the correct standardization policies and procedures would be defined, these type of problems could be prevented and it would ensure that people can keep upgrading their system to the latest capabilities.
One system that is promoting standardization and provides a good start for fixing standardization problems is vBa CMPS, since it allows one to keep templates almost unchanged but allows the flexibility to customize the look of the pages. However, that does not takes care of the changes that are done to many of the php files in order for hacks to work.
I think this is an awesome system and it has the potential to be really powerful. It just need a way to allow people to contribute in a standardized way.
Standardization is a touchy and is a very difficult thing to setup. Although I agree there are certain things we (coders) can do to help out.
(referencing your topics above)....
1. What I try to do here is create functions and such to use wording specific to each of my hacks.
2. This is why we have vb.org.
3. I try to create a so called modular system in that I minimize as much as possible the editing of vb files to decrease the complexity of upgrading when you have my hacks installed. I have also (my new hacks for vb 3.0) integrated into my install/upgrade system a section to reinstall templates and phrases (just run the script again) in case of overwrite from a vb upgrade, I have seen this as well with a few other scripts and one right off the top of my head is vBindex by NTLDR....
Iz Zach is doing this then more power to him as this can take quite some time to develop.
07-05-2004, 11:44 AM
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