How does YACS compare to YABB?

Here is a short introduction to YABB features, and a description of what we've done so far for YACS.

[title]Users[/title]

[*] Register Overview - When you have set up your YaBB forum or are visiting a YaBB forum you will want to register your user name. This allows you to keep the same identity while posting on the forums. You can also keep track of your post count, fill out a profile, and receive instant messages.

YACS: similar features, except YACS has no mean to force an email registration

[*] Logging In - Once you have registered, or if you are returning to a site, you can login to the site. In the menu bar on the forum you will find an image/text that says 'Login'. If it says 'Logout' you are already logged in. This can happen if you've already logged in before and chosen to have the forum remember who are you are. This places a cookie on your system. Once you choose 'Login' you will be prompted for your user name and password. If the combination is correct you will be allowed to navigate the forum as a user, rather than a guest.

YACS: does it the same way, with the 'Login' command from the user menu

[*] Logging Out - If you are done browsing the forum you may decide to logout. Perhaps you share a workstation with someone else, in this case you would want to log out of the forum upon leaving. When you are logged in you will see 'Logout' in the forum menu, select this and the forum will log your user name out.

YACS: hit 'Logout' in your menu

[*] Forgot Password - If you're trying to login to the forum but you forget your password or have lost it, you can retrieve it using the lost password tool. On the login screen, next to the username field, it says 'Forgot password?' Click this to be taken to the 'forgot password' form. Enter your username on this screen and press the Send button. Your password will be sent to the email address registered to that username.

YACS: Passwords are not stored in the database, but only MD5 signatures of them. This lets YACS control passwords without risks to compromise security. If you loose your password, use the query form, that will be processed by an associate. The associate will manually change your password and send you the new one by e-mail.

[*] Profile Overview - YaBB allows you to fill out a profile which tells people about you. You can have your name, age, instant messenger information, personal avatar, and more!

YACS: While YACS is still an on-going project, it may already handle advanced profile attributes. See the list below

[*] Profile Options

- Password - Passwords have no restrictions, but it is recommended that you type at least 6 characters, using a combination of characters and numbers. Both password fields must be the same, simply as a check that you typed it correctly.

YACS: same feature, except that passwords are not saved as-is in the database.

- Name - This is your real or displayed name. This is what will be shown throughout the forum, in place of your username.

YACS: supports both nick name and full name

- Email Address - This must be valid to register, and things may be sent to this email address by the forum, such as topic notifications. It is also required if you ever wish to retreive a forgotton password.

YACS: same feature

- Gender - You get two choices. Male or Female This is an optional field to provide other users with your gender.

YACS: not supported. Who cares anyway?

- Birthdate - Your birthdate, in MMDDYYYY form. The birthday is only used to ensure that you are old enough to register on the forum. It also allows YaBB to display special items on your birthday.

YACS: Not supported yet

- Location - This is an optional field. You may type your current location or where you live in this field. It is displayed in your profile for other visitors to see.

YACS: several locations can be associated to one profile

- Time Offset - This is a + or - number to add or subtract to the current time showing on the forum. The forum's server may be in a different time zone than your computer.

YACS: not supported

- Signature - This is a brief message or list of urls's that you may type in. YaBBC code is allowed in your signature. Signatures are shown at the bottom of each of your posts.

YACS: not supported. But if your supporters want to better know you, they will access your profile page and get a full description of you, your life, etc. With images, photos and attached files if necessary.

[*] Creating a new thread - In order to start a discussion on a subject, you must create a thread. You can do this by clicking the start new thread button on the board index page.

YACS: In any section click on the Post a new article link. If this is achieved in a section layered as a YABB discussion board, you will actually start a thread. Once logged in, you can start a new thread at any time by clicking 'Post a new page' in your user menu.

[*] Posting a reply - To reply to a post, you can click the post a reply button at the top or at the button of the table. If you want to insert a quote to which you are replying, you can click the quote button of the post.

YACS: Replies are handled through comments. Buttons are available to handle reply and quote actions.

[*] YaBBC - For obvious reasons standard HTML code cannot be used in posts. Instead YaBB allows the use of YaBB Bulletin Board Code (YaBBC) in posts. YaBBC is similar to HTML, but safe and standardized for bulletin board use.

YACS: Only associates can post HTML. Members can use codes similar to YaBBC, but with an extended set of codes. Check codes/index.php for examples of these codes.

[*] Communication - YaBB is about community and communication. And there are plenty of ways to communicate: Posting on the boards, Instant Messaging, E-mail, ICQ, AIM and YIM. Of course, all methods of communication are only available to members. An exception is when the Forum Staff decides to allow guests to post on the boards: in this case all unregistered users are NOT allowed to do is viewing the Member List and sending Personal Messages to members.

YACS: supports e-mail and several instant messaging packages. Currently detects YIM and ICQ on-line presence. A specific option is available to show contact addresses to non-authenticated surfers. Else these addresses are hidden by default.

[*] Instant Messaging - As an alternative to e-mail, YaBB offers a faster, more private method. Instant Messaging on the boards provides instantaneous delivery to the recipient's Private Mailbox. The mail is sent and received entirely through YaBB, so neither you nor the recipient have to open another program or leave YaBB. Instant Messaging also gives both the sender and recipient greater privacy: No one's real e-mail address is revealed. Instant Messages show only the handle and name of both parties. If a recipient isn't online, Instant Messages wait in the member's IM box until the next time s/he logs in and manually reads and/or deletes them. YaBB Instant Messages is a self-contained, highly private e-mail system.

YACS: Not supported at this time. And I suppose it won't be better supported in the future.

[title]Moderation[/title]

[*] Modifying/Deleting A Post - You can alter a post by clicking the 'modify' button on it. It is advised that you always give a reason why you had to alter the post. If a post is in violation with any of the rules, you can decide to delete only that post by clicking the 'delete' button on the post, next to where you located the 'modify' button.

YACS: Any associate can modify or delete any thread, including the leading post, or any subsequent comment.

[*] Moving A topic - When you feel a topic isn't suitable for the board it was posted in, you can move it to another board of the forum by selecting the 'move topic' button at the bottom of the topic. A message where the topic was moved to and whom moved it will replace the original message so users know that it has been moved to another location.

YACS: Any associate can move a thread to any section, or any comment to on of the most recent pages

[*] Locking A topic - You can close a topic, so nobody can reply to it anymore, by clicking on the 'lock topic' button at the bottom of the screen. You can unlock it by clicking the same button. We advise you to give a reason why the topic has been locked.

YACS: Why would you like to stop an interesting discussion? Ok, if you need it you may drop the option 'locked' to the thread to lock it.

[*] Deleting A topic - If you feel a topic has no use, or is in direct violation with the agreement, you can delete it by clicking on the 'remove topic' button, located near the bottom of the display page. Please be very careful about your decision, because once deleted, a topic cannot be retrieved.

YACS: Any associate can delete any thread when required, and YACS will warn you on the number of impacted objects, including comments, files, images and links, if any.

[title]Administration[/title]

[*] Admin User - You need to log in as an administrator to perform administrative functions, which means either the default 'admin' username, or a username in which you were bestowed administrator rights on the forum.

YACS: creates an admin user profile at installation time, but it is strongly recommended to use your own profile for administrative tasks.

[*] Admin Privilege - There are many things that the admin can see that other members (even moderators) cannot see. This includes obvious access to the admin center, but there is a lot more! Administrators can directly modify any user profile (the << modify >> link will show up when viewing a member's profile). Also, the administrator privileges allow you to be able to directly delete or modify anyone's messages! Administrators can see ALL private categories on the forum and can see the IP (Internet Protocol) address of a member when viewing the posts. With this priviledge comes 'power' -and- 'responsibility'. Use it wisely, and be careful, you don't want to annihalate a users account or data by way of accident or neglect, and you do not want to upset forum users by becoming power hungry.

YACS: Any associate can see and modify everything, including posted material, user profiles, etc. At the moment IP addresses are not logged into YACS.

[*] Admin Center - The 'Admin Center' allows you to perform many functions and configurations for your board. After you have logged in as an Administrator, you will find an 'admin button' in the top menu. Click on the button to enter the 'Admin Center'. Once there, you will see a lot of interesting things, such as the 'Member Functions', 'Forum Functions', 'Forum Setup', and 'Y1G Upgrade' sections. You'll also notice a list of totals for your Members, Messages, and Topics.

YACS: There is no 'admin center' in YACS, but a nice control panel, with several configuration panels. The control panel displayes the total number of articles, users, images, files, etc, with the date of the last contribution for each of them. Also, most of administrative tasks are achieved outside of these panels. For example, to add some page or thread to the 'Featured' box at your home page, just link the page or thread to the category labelled 'Featured'. Simple enough?

[*] Upgrades - You might first want to click the first link under the 'Y1G Upgrade' section. Hit back on your browser when it is finished, then click the second link under that section. Hit back on your browser again to go back to the Admin Center. It is highly recommended that you occasionally (once every week or two) click both of these links, to keep your board totals in tiptop shape!

YACS: A strong upgrade feature is offered, including script version control, file staging, database schema updates, one-time scripts. The server will even be closed to public access during the update...

[title]Member functions[/title]

[*] View All Members - View all members in the board. You are presented with a hyperlinked list of member names. You may click on any of the names to find details of the members (homepage, age, etc.), and as Administrator you are able to modify these parameters. You have complete control over members, including the ability to delete them from the forum.

YACS: available at users/index.php. Associates can create, modify or delete any profile.

[*] Edit Membergroups - You may create or modify 'Member Groups'. Member Groups are special groups that you can create to restrict access to certain categories on your forum. For example, you can create a category, where only the 'test' membergroup can access and see it.

YACS: Only predefined groups Associates, Members, Subscribers and Anonymous users are supported. Any associate can promote a regular member to a managing editor of any section/forum of the site. To build a special group for some reason, why not create a new YACS site dedicated to that purpose?

[*] Mailing List - From this menu you can send messages to all members who've registered and entered their email addresses (not all will, of course). You may edit the distribution list, or send messages to all. Useful for important update/news information. However, use sparingly, the board doesn't have an 'opt in/out' feature, and may users may object to having messages sent to them without their authorization.

YACS: Newsletter can be send to all registered users or to some of them only.

[*] Edit Ban List - YaBB provides the ability to 'ban' users, to prevent people who have violated the trust of the board by spamming, trolling, etc. This allows you to those users who are detrimental to your forum. As an admin, when you view messages, you can see each user's IP address used to post at that time. In the ban list, you simply type that IP address in, save, and they can no longer post from that location.

YACS: not supported yet...

[*] Set Reserved Names - This allows you to put in keywords or names that you want to restrict people from using as a name or username.

YACS: not supported, and not on the priority list either

[title]Forum functions[/title]

[*] Edit Categories - From this menu you are able to edit 'Categories'. Categories are the upper-level topics for a forum. For example, if you had a wide-ranging site that offered information on 'Sports', Cars' and 'Music', these would be the top-level Categories you'd create. Under each of these categories you'd likely want to create hierarchal 'sub-categories,' or 'Boards' for topics within each.

YACS: threads are flatly placed in sections, which are equivalent to discussion boards. YACS also has a categorization system, which works independantly from sections.

[*] Edit Boards - In this menu you can create, reorder, or remove the boards under the categories discussed above. It's a simple hierarchy.

YACS: Once again, discussion boards are sections in YACS. As other sections, they can be created, reordered, changed or removed by any associate.

[*] Modifying The Template - This brings up a simple editor for the HTML of your template code. The 'template' (in your 'cgi-bin/yabb' directory, as you set it up), defines the look-and-feel for your pages. It is an HTML-only file. You can modify the template here, or use some other HTML editing software to edit template.html to put the look and feel of your site on your forum!

YACS: has no templates, but skins instead. YACS has no built-in editor to change skins. However, more than 11 sample skins are provided to play with.

[*] Modify Your YaBB Settings and Colors - This is one of the more 'exciting' menu options.

YACS: A lot of things can be changed through configuration panels, except colors.

[*] Edit YaBB News - This allows you to set the text for news items displayed on the Board Index page. Add any item you want (e.g., 'Don't miss the conference this Tuesday!'). Each news item must be separated by a carriage-return. You are also allowed to use YaBBC tags in your news for variety!

YACS: YACS not only supports discussion boards, but also weblogs and regular articles. Posting news at the home page is a breeze, really.

[*] Set Censored Words - You are able to 'censor' words by forcing their replacement. For instance, if you want to replace posters usage of 'maniac' with 'goofball,' you can use this page to set up this replacement. Use the examples in the default censor list to see how this is to be done. An example is 'wordtoreplace=replacement'.

YACS: Not supported

[*] Clean Active Log - This will clear the list of currently active members on your board (i.e. the users online list displayed on the Board Index).

YACS: What does this mean?

[*] Detailed Version Check - Perform a detailed check of the modules comprising YaBB. This is purely informational, allowing you to see if your files are up to date.

YACS: Not only YACS checks files from a reference server, but it can also do what is necessary to update scripts and the database schema. You even have a diff view of changing lines in scripts before deciding to upgrade...

[title]Other differences[/title]

YACS is written in PHP/MySQL, where YABB is in PERL.

YACS support overlays for typed-discussion boards. You can support forums on cooking recipes for examples. In the future, polls will be supported this way. Of course, you can create you own overlay if ncessary.

YACS provides RSS feeds for articles posted to discussion boards