Originally Posted By: Andrew - PG Music
Originally Posted By: cooltouch
Sure, PG's website (forums especially) is kinda quirky, but unique, and I find that I've gotten used to its quirkiness. So why bother changing the regular website. Now for mobiles and tablets, that's a separate issue that can be handled separately, way I see it.


I'm just curious, what you find quirky about the forums (aside from not being great on mobile). But let's assume you're on a desktop PC using the forums, what do you find weird about it, and what forum do you use that you don't find quirky? (just to clarify I'm asking specifically about the forums not the rest of the site).


I don't find anything particularly weird about the forums. And by "quirky" I mean non-standard. I'm a member of a lot of Internet forums on topics ranging from photography to motorcycles to guitars to composition software. I find that a company that wants to have a unique presence on the 'net frequently has its forums customized. Personally I don't care for this because invariably I have to get used to that particular company's way of getting things done with its forums. There are a few very popular forum software packages used broadly on the net and the good thing about them is, once you've gotten used to one's layout, you're used to them all. I don't see this as a bad thing, okay? Makes life easier all the way around. So, it's possible for an entity to customize the look of their software to any level they desire, while retaining the same function that a forum user like me is used to. PGM doesn't do this. They have their own forum design, and it's one I've had to get used to. But now that I'm used to it, I just really don't see the need to change it. Unless perhaps PGM wants to install one of these popular forum software packages so its forum behaves like the rest out on the net do. And I kinda doubt PGM will want to do this.

As for specific forum softwares, there are several that are popular. They often have commands/menu selections in common.

phpBB is a popular open source package that can be heavily modified Here's an example of a lightly customized phpBB forum:
https://www.astronomyhouston.org/forum/

ProBoards software:
http://aurorah.proboards.com/

XenForo is becoming popular:
http://www.xs650.com/forums/

VBulletin has been around a long time.
http://forums.turbobricks.com/

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera . . .

Last edited by cooltouch; 11/17/17 05:46 AM.
Best,
Michael

My Music:
https://soundcloud.com/michaelmcbroom/albums