Forum Software and Unicode?

[Librari]

So, I like using spiffy emoticons (like the Look of Disapproval or table flip, google it if you don't know) and also a bit of odd Japanese text here and there (my nickname is in kanji), but this forum software doesn't seem to like it. I get a nice SQL error if I try to submit anything with unicode. None of the other forums I frequent have a problem with unicode, but none of them use phpBB, either. :\ I'd imagine this forum software sees use across the world, so I don't suppose there's a way to enable unicode on it? I feel naked without my evil wizard laugh emoticon in my sig.

[Bear]

Hmm...yeah...SQL errors are a pain...I've actually broken the forums a couple times from it myself. Anyways, I'll look into if I can enable it when I get a chance, hopefully later this week.

I've been thinking about migrating to some new forum software all together, as phpBB is starting to show it's age and I'm not too keen on editing the function back in (like no edit post button STILL from this custom made skin @_@). If anyone has some suggestions, feel free to drop some ideas~

[Librari]

Man, the biggest problem with the newer, bulkier, and shinier forum software is always the price tag on licensing it. For example, you gotta drop $250 for a new vB license. I dunno what to even suggest.

[Bear]

I was curious, are there any features that people want in forum software that we don't have currently? Are there any features you want to shy away from?

As stated, I'm thinking of migrating these forums to a different system entirely. Some thing that I would like to see are a more sleek interface with as little clutter as possible; a way to view threads easily on mobile devices; subscribing to threads; a "favorite" system with the option to sort a thread based on the number of faves a post has (to find posts that are outstanding in big threads); and FB/Twitter integration so people don't have even have to register if they don't want to.

Let me know if there are other forums you all frequent that have features or layouts you like.

[Lorondos]

Been a long time coming but phpbb 3.1 has all that now:P (3.1.1 is out now to address a exploit present in outdated user browsers and some usability fixes: )



Downside is due to the template engine changes and consolidation of some style folders so some extra work needed in converting the style, nothing major but still something to be done.

I have yet to test it on my guild forum, I have a test server ready to see how much breaks if I update everything:P

[Librari]

So I can finally stop being naked?

[Lorondos]

Highly likely, these are specific UTF-8 changes:

[PHPBB3-9668] - Automatic UTF-8 normalization
[PHPBB3-9669] - Native UTF-8 normalization



I am still not entirely sure if you need to make some changes to allow multi-byte characters.