NinjaBoard Countdown to launch: Day 14
Follow up:
First off, new NinjaBoard, is new in every sense of the word. We got new icons, new backend interface, new frontend template system, a new template with codename Cameleon, codebase completely refactored, now powered by the nooku framework and our own in-house framework codename Napi (which rely on Nooku Framework), and so incredibly much more!
In short, we have so much to tell you, we have to give it to you in portions, so you're not overwhelmed.
Today the topic is Cameleon, and how NinjaBoard stack up to its competitors on how well it integrates with your site template.
Component templating is a pain, and we know how much work it can be to make your forums look integrated with your overall joomla template style and feel. So we thought it's about time we make that a thing of the past.
Since we really want to get this released ASAP, I will let the screenshots do the talking so I get more time coding 
We're currently done with the backend, and are working on the frontend right as we speak. So the screenshots is hot off the heels of what we got up working today.
So we'll this time around give you head-to-head comparisons of NinjaBoard v1 vs Kunena vs Agora. We'll use 4 very recent templates with very different style and feel to show you how awesome Cameleon is 
, with a bonus screenshot on the last one to show how flexible Cameleon is on a template per template basis.
Again, the following screenshots of NinjaBoard are all using nothing but the new default template. We're not having one NB template per Joomla template, even though it looks so good it could make you think like it.
Template: YOOtheme Phoenix
Agora
Kunena
NinjaBoard
Template: YOOtheme Mellow
Agora
Kunena
NinjaBoard
Template: Infuse
Agora
Kunena
NinjaBoard
Template: Morph
Agora
Kunena
NinjaBoard
NinjaBoard - Bonus Screenie
Huge thanks to Johan Janssens and Mathias Verraes for their awesome work on Nooku Framework, without their brilliant framework, we would never have the time to make NinjaBoard this great! If you're a developer that hasn't requested code access yet, stop wasting your time coding like the old days and request access right now!
We also thank ProThemer for their fantastic work on Morph, no other template framework is more capable of showing of Cameleons true power than Morph!
That's it for day 1, keep an eye on this blog for more info, eyecandy and updates on what's happening with NinjaBoard. Cheers!
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15 comments
looks great! Hope NinjaBoard v1 will be free to all?!
NinjaBoard will always be an free extension, both in terms of price and source :)
We're supporting it by plugins, premium templates and like instead in order to keep it free ;)
Maybe publishing a "how to" for extension developers, so others can learn from your example?
I think all and all this is something that every extension developer should strive towards - inheriting as much of the templates style as possible..
Again, great work!!
@Chris Rault thanks man :)
How to is coming up, we just need a little more time refining it so it's easier for others to understand how it works. Right now it's a little cryptic code-wise.
I agree with you that this is something all extensions should do. That would put an end to the "Joomla templates and extensions don't go well together" label once and for all :D
Cheers,
Tess
This is awesome, forward thinking and I love to see it working with Candy ;)
So how did you apply the different style of Candy to the forum. I see you applied the modulefx styles from the themelet, but how??
If this is rather easy, then it opens a whole new world for users to easily change the look of the forum.
Exciting stuff indeed :D
Cheers,
Andy
If you look at Joomla templates today, nearly none have bad module styling. Modules always look good in Joomla!. Sadly Components don't, as it's impossible to account for all the different html output and css each component has.
But if you think about it, that's true with modules too. The difference is that modules got module chrome, of which the template got full control over.
So what I'm doing here in NB is using Koowa and our in-house framework to make it really easy to plug into the module chrome in use by the template. The code behind the scenes are very very complex, but the code the template designer will see is simple and easy.
I hope to see this end up in the nooku framework so we can make it into a standard and make it so easy to use it's almost harder to do a layout without it :)
My idea was actually inspired by the Blocks concept you use in Morph. It's so easy, configurable and flexible.
I'm using parts of those concepts in Chameleon :)
And the reasons behind me using this in NB, are the exact same as why I want this to become a standard.
If you can imagine if this was the standard today, component development time would be reduced, as most of the layout is handled by the template (as it should), regular template development time is greatly reduced as it's little to no work to make components look good in it, and the user would have the greatest benefit as things would be compatible out of the box.
The user wouldn't have to check what templates the component got, and if it would look somewhat similar to their favorite joomla template.
Back when I started with Joomla that was one of the biggest pains. The joomla template looked fantastic, but the components usually very out of place.
My dream is to change that :)
Cheers,
Stian
this all is amazing
i am using kunena at my sites, but ninja board has too much appeal in it :)
My concerns are about a good featureful bbcode editor in forum for users. Good integration for jomsocial and community builder , converters from kunena to NB, and a good and easy support.
thats what NB needs to rock
Wish u all the best Ninja Board.
I can't reveal the details about our bbCode editor yet, but I can tell you we're revealing it before the launch.
Integration with JomSocial and CB is going in.
We got an working Kunena importer Richie made few weeks ago ;)
Are you thinking User Support, or 3rd party support, like Morph?
We're listening to the feedback we're receiving on NB, so keep it coming ;)
Cheers!
I was expecting same that there wud b some count down post coming for bb code editor.
For support concer. I jus mean a good forum like kunena and agora have to discuss and to get community driven support.
until now whatever you revaled, is beating any other forum available for joomla. Keep it up :)
We're not afraid of answering tough questions or admit failure (if that happens), and we always treat bug reports as valid until proven otherwise ;)
Thanks, we want NinjaBoard as great as we're able to make it :)
See our latest blog post: http://ninjurl.com/nb-delayed
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