07-20-2025, 09:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-20-2025, 09:20 PM by VinnyVideo.)
At this point, it's basically here!
The last several months have brought us some huge steps forward for MFGG's mainsite:
That's a pretty big deal!
The main feature that's missing is the oft-discussed single sign-on for the mainsite and forums. Combining the mainsite and forum logons would be neat in a way, and the coding itself wouldn't be too difficult. However, it would be a complex system to design successfully - and it might create more problems than it solves.
In some ways it would've been cool to have a redesign of the Taloncrossing system, but there are many reasons why a redesign was the wrong course of action.
I don't want to make it sound like I'm bashing the other developers who generously volunteered their time and talent to make prototypes for a revamped mainsite, but they were all relatively inexperienced developers who vastly underestimated the scope and complexity of MFGG's mainsite. Their prototypes might have offered mockups of a handful of the pages that make up MFGG today, but they didn't come close to recreating the full functionality of the current site. (The "Report Comment" and "Update Existing Sound Submission" use cases aren't exciting, but they'd still need to be programmed.) And, of course, recoding TCSMS in a different framework doesn't help MFGG that much - such an upgrade would only be valuable if the revamped software added a significant list of new features and improvements. Also, even the best "LumaSMS" prototype is already out-of-date, since it was built for PHP 7.x.
While newer frameworks such as React may be more convenient for some developers to use because they're familiar with them, they're not inherently better than vanilla PHP. Switching to a different framework doesn't fix existing issues with the software, and whoever's using them would have to recreate the 100+ forms and views that make up MFGG's software.
So no, I don't think there's ever going to be a "galaxySMS" or "LumaSMS". And that's actually a good thing! Because gradual improvements are probably the best way to improve MFGG's software.
I won't be able to spend as much time on MFGG as I have for the past four months, but I'll still be available to monitor these upgrades and possibly add a few more enhancements. Feel free to keep suggesting ways to improve the existing software and finding ways to make MFGG active and exciting in 2025. Keep that Suggestions board hoppin'.
The last several months have brought us some huge steps forward for MFGG's mainsite:
- Greatly improved performance, and elimination of server outages
- Upgraded from PHP 5.6 to PHP 8.2
- Responsive design - a much better experience for mobile users (without degrading the experience for desktop users)
- Lots of accessibility fixes
- Updated social media links
- Fixed the MFGG Classic skin
- Got the plays counter working for HTML5 games
- Improved experience for discussing declined submissions
- Made all sorts of bug fixes
That's a pretty big deal!
The main feature that's missing is the oft-discussed single sign-on for the mainsite and forums. Combining the mainsite and forum logons would be neat in a way, and the coding itself wouldn't be too difficult. However, it would be a complex system to design successfully - and it might create more problems than it solves.
In some ways it would've been cool to have a redesign of the Taloncrossing system, but there are many reasons why a redesign was the wrong course of action.
I don't want to make it sound like I'm bashing the other developers who generously volunteered their time and talent to make prototypes for a revamped mainsite, but they were all relatively inexperienced developers who vastly underestimated the scope and complexity of MFGG's mainsite. Their prototypes might have offered mockups of a handful of the pages that make up MFGG today, but they didn't come close to recreating the full functionality of the current site. (The "Report Comment" and "Update Existing Sound Submission" use cases aren't exciting, but they'd still need to be programmed.) And, of course, recoding TCSMS in a different framework doesn't help MFGG that much - such an upgrade would only be valuable if the revamped software added a significant list of new features and improvements. Also, even the best "LumaSMS" prototype is already out-of-date, since it was built for PHP 7.x.
While newer frameworks such as React may be more convenient for some developers to use because they're familiar with them, they're not inherently better than vanilla PHP. Switching to a different framework doesn't fix existing issues with the software, and whoever's using them would have to recreate the 100+ forms and views that make up MFGG's software.
So no, I don't think there's ever going to be a "galaxySMS" or "LumaSMS". And that's actually a good thing! Because gradual improvements are probably the best way to improve MFGG's software.
I won't be able to spend as much time on MFGG as I have for the past four months, but I'll still be available to monitor these upgrades and possibly add a few more enhancements. Feel free to keep suggesting ways to improve the existing software and finding ways to make MFGG active and exciting in 2025. Keep that Suggestions board hoppin'.
Course clear! You got a card.
![[Image: CourseClear.gif]](https://dl.dropbox.com/s/d5mcpm4nmt0gd14/CourseClear.gif)
![[-]](https://forums.mfgg.net/images/emerald/collapse.png)