IPS 4.0: The current state of BBCode and its future. Is BBCODE officially abandoned?

[broni]

There isn't a need for preview as it's a WYSIWYG editor, you're previewing it in real time.

Absolutely wrong.

When I paste canned all I see is BBCode not a real thing.

To see real thing I need preview.

[grinler]

Grinler, I don't plan to upgrade before 4.1.1 at the earliest. Hopefully they won't throw me an EOL curveball prior. I'm guessing you haven't read much about the performance issues with 4.0? 

No, I have not heard about the performance issues. Have any more info on this or links to topics?

Thanks

[grinler]

On 7/2/2015 at 10:58 AM, Mark said:

IPS4 supports BBCode and we have no intention to remove that in the foreseeable future. If you see any issues, please open a bug report or file a support request. It looks like that bug report was closed in error, and I've re-opened it - thanks for letting us know about that  

Any idea why this bug tracker issue was closed without being fixed?

 

This is the type of concerns we are talking about. BBcode not being taken seriously and not being fixed.

 

[Hexsplosions]

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1. 6
2. 7
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5. 10

Seems to work fine?

[grinler]

Really? Why are there two different bullet types? Why does it say 6,7,8,9,10?

Did you post the code exactly as shown in the code box? Because I get completely different results than you. If so, then its even a bigger problem.

[chilihead]

The list button is in the editor, and with one click, you have a list. I can understand wanting it supported but if something doesn't work, like hand coding list bbcode, your users should be able to transition easily and that is a good thing, to get them using the current methods. That's just the way I see it.

[opentype]

What about if the list example is in 3.4 posts and gets processed after the upgrade? Will it be correct there?

[chilihead]

That's a good point.

[grinler]

34 minutes ago, chilihead said:

The list button is in the editor, and with one click, you have a list. I can understand wanting it supported but if something doesn't work, like hand coding list bbcode, your users should be able to transition easily and that is a good thing, to get them using the current methods. That's just the way I see it.

I do appreciate what you are saying, but if you read through the initial post you will see that certain sites rely on premade bbcode canned speeches, which unfortunately wouldn't work this way.

My biggest issue at this point is trying to determine whether or not IPS is going to support bbcode as promised or just continue to string us along with empty promises. Knowing their direction would allow me to determine if IPS is a product I wish to stay with.

[Hexsplosions]

4 hours ago, grinler said:

Really? Why are there two different bullet types? Why does it say 6,7,8,9,10?

Did you post the code exactly as shown in the code box? Because I get completely different results than you. If so, then its even a bigger problem.

It seems to work fine.

• 1
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• 6
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1. 2
2. 4
3. 6
4. 8
5. 10

 

1. 9
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5. 5

 

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I can't see any issues.

If you're using BBCode then I suggest using the buttons. They work just fine.

[grinler]

Your not using the code from the tracker issue. Use the code from the tracker issue and it will not be shown right.  I have already spoken to support and they are escalating it as they are seeing the same issue and it being not resolved even though the ticket is closed.

As already stated if you read the first post, bbcode is a requirement for sites like mine. The editor buttons do not help.

[chilihead]

That's good news.

[grinler]

Well, let's see if they fix it first  Their first response was they didn't support bbcode anymore.

This is the frustrating part. I get different answers from different employees.

[Lindy]

32 minutes ago, grinler said:

Your not using the code from the tracker issue. Use the code from the tracker issue and it will not be shown right.  I have already spoken to support and they are escalating it as they are seeing the same issue and it being not resolved even though the ticket is closed.

As already stated if you read the first post, bbcode is a requirement for sites like mine. The editor buttons do not help.

I understand BBCode is important to your site, but surely you know that BBCode is dying a slow, horrible but justified death - you may need to adapt to a more modern approach of inputting formatting at some point. 

I've looked in on your ticket and I'm very sorry for the confusion. We provide basic bbcode support - this really amounts to basic formatting tags for legacy compatibility and isn't intended to be a full-fledged "continue using bbcode forever and ever" pledge of support. Please think of it more as transitional support. I can't promise the outcome you're looking for with regards to your ticket, but we will most certainly investigate and see what we can do. Please bear in mind, BBCode isn't native in CKEditor... because, well, it shouldn't be. As such, there are going to be issues and as we've already made "hacks" to our parser routines to try and compensate for certain bbcode -- at some point, we're going to have to draw the line; basic bbcode formatting (b, i, center, etc.) only or we're going to return to a state where we introduce bugs and quirks for the 95% of people that aren't using bbcode. 

I'm not trying to discourage you and I truly hope we're able to work through your problem for you. I'm merely suggesting, in an effort to lessen the eventual blow, you may want to become less bbcode dependent. I know some competitors are planning to drop or limit bbcode support in future versions of their software and we're not the only ones to limit support. Unlike stonewashed jeans, it's not going to make a comeback.  Unless one does nothing but live on forums and visits no other area of the Internet or computer (e-mail, documents, etc.) it's easy to see WYSIWYG is the standard for text input and manipulation. BBCode only existed because WYSIWYG wasn't a viable web option. There are people still used to it that won't let it go and we all get that - that's why we're trying to offer limited BBCode options.

 

[grinler]

Personally, I do not see it as justified, but we can agree to disagree on that.

Finally an honest answer to this question. I wish it was given back in July when I first asked whether IPS was going to continue to support it.  Then I, and others, could have decided a long time ago what I would do.

Unfortunately, it is not up to me whether we can become less bbcode dependent but rather on my helpers. 

Will have to see now what works best for us.

Thanks

 

[Rheddy]

BBCODE is only dying because many forums have decided to stop using it. One of the worst decisions that I've seen is the use of CK Editor for the status updates in the sidebar widget. This allows members to post images and website links in the status update widget, something which I vehemently abhor, I mean I really abhor that. If someone wants to post images, that's what forum topics or the Gallery is used for. Posting images in the sidebar widget is a waste of the resource and should only be used for posting brief messages. It's why I banned members from being able to post video embeds or images in the shoutbox.

While the BBCODE issue isn't that big of a deal, I think to some extent, that the software still uses it, it's just hidden, or embedded within the code itself. It's just not actively used by members posting messages. Just looking at how quotes are still posted is slight evidence that its still utilized. But, I could be wrong about this, as well. It's just that the quotes for IPS4 seem too similar to the bbcode quotes that were utilized in IPS3.

[MADMAN32395]

Graphic similarity doesn't mean it's bb or hybrid bb. Just like the dieing technology die. Welcome to 2016 where it was time to make change. I'm glad that IPS is progressing.

[ZakRhyno]

On 1/19/2016 at 6:22 PM, Lindy said:

I understand BBCode is important to your site, but surely you know that BBCode is dying a slow, horrible but justified death - you may need to adapt to a more modern approach of inputting formatting at some point. 

I've looked in on your ticket and I'm very sorry for the confusion. We provide basic bbcode support - this really amounts to basic formatting tags for legacy compatibility and isn't intended to be a full-fledged "continue using bbcode forever and ever" pledge of support. Please think of it more as transitional support. I can't promise the outcome you're looking for with regards to your ticket, but we will most certainly investigate and see what we can do. Please bear in mind, BBCode isn't native in CKEditor... because, well, it shouldn't be. As such, there are going to be issues and as we've already made "hacks" to our parser routines to try and compensate for certain bbcode -- at some point, we're going to have to draw the line; basic bbcode formatting (b, i, center, etc.) only or we're going to return to a state where we introduce bugs and quirks for the 95% of people that aren't using bbcode. 

I'm not trying to discourage you and I truly hope we're able to work through your problem for you. I'm merely suggesting, in an effort to lessen the eventual blow, you may want to become less bbcode dependent. I know some competitors are planning to drop or limit bbcode support in future versions of their software and we're not the only ones to limit support. Unlike stonewashed jeans, it's not going to make a comeback.  Unless one does nothing but live on forums and visits no other area of the Internet or computer (e-mail, documents, etc.) it's easy to see WYSIWYG is the standard for text input and manipulation. BBCode only existed because WYSIWYG wasn't a viable web option. There are people still used to it that won't let it go and we all get that - that's why we're trying to offer limited BBCode options.

 

Other than BBCode what are the options to make it?

[Lindy]

5 hours ago, ZakRhyno said:

Other than BBCode what are the options to make it?

Make what? Multiple lists? Use the list button in the editor. 

[ZakRhyno]

10 hours ago, Lindy said:

Make what? Multiple lists? Use the list button in the editor. 

Fucntions of BBCode what other options are there? More than just list are such.

[chilihead]

They are all buttons, like B, I, Spoiler... or you can add your own buttons.

[Lindy]

Just now, ZakRhyno said:

Fucntions of BBCode what other options are there? More than just list are such.

I'm sorry, I really have no idea what you're asking. Maybe there's a language barrier - my apologies if I'm not getting it.

I can't really think of anything you can't do with a custom editor button that you can do with bbcode. You can easily add your own editor button that performs custom HTML, the same as a BBCode tag. 

[Tracy Perry]

17 hours ago, Lindy said:

Make what? Multiple lists? Use the list button in the editor. 

I think one of his points is that the "authors" may compile the text offline in an editor, integrating the necessary BBcode into said text and then copy/pasting it into a post - instead of doing it all online.  I know that some of the guides I've done for some stuff was done exactly like that.  It was much easier editing it on my desktop and then cut/paste as plain text into the post.  Kind of hard to use that "list button in the editor" when you aren't using the editor.

I'm pretty sure though if you use Word, it should cut/paste just fine.  Not sure about other editors - all I have on my Mac is Word & TextWrangler.

Commands

 

1.     Assume Root - sudo su

2.     Update Server - yum update

3.     Restart Server - shutdown -r now

4.     Restart Services:

4.1.1.     service nginx restart

4.1.2.     service memcached restart

4.1.3.     service php-fpm restart

4.1.4.     service postfix restart

4.1.5.     service dovecot restart

5.     Centminmod Menu – centmin

6.     Go to Directory:

6.1.1.     cd /home/nginx/domains/mydomain.com/public

6.1.2.     cd /home/nginx/domains/mydomain2.com/public

7.     Chown - chown -R nginx:nginx *

8.     Chmod Folders - find . -type d -print0 | xargs -0 chmod 775

9.     Chmod Files:

9.1.1.     find /home/nginx/domains/mydomain.com/public -type f -name '*' -exec chmod 664 {} \;

9.1.2.     find /home/nginx/domains/mydomain2.com/public -type f -name '*' -exec chmod 664 {} \;

10.  CSF:

10.1.1.  Restart – csf –r

10.1.1.1.1.1.               service lfd restart OR /etc/init.d/lfd restart

 

This should be hidden text… Let’s see if it works

[Tracy Perry]

It will... but it DOES modify it.. adding an extra line into it - but I think that's because of the setting that is used in the ACP that each new lines is like hitting the enter key and it won't flow it like it was originally.
This is how the originall message looked prior to saving

And then when it saves it adds a line between each.. and then god help you if you need to edit it because it then adds ANOTHER line in between each, looking like this

[Claire Field]

For those who have templates they wish members to use (and the members are doing it on site, not offline in something like Word) then it is my understanding that in the ACP you can create HTML templates and then have an editor button for members to use. The member then simply clicks the button in the editor and fills in the template.