Posted on: May 3rd, 2025 @ 9:22 am
Thanks so much Bibby!To add a bit more technical color (Technicolor?) on this:
Architectural Changes
- The backend has transitioned from procedural "define everything as a global" style (which was just how things were done in PHP 4!) to a fully OOP model with no globals, only dependency injection. The difference here is fundamental. It changes how we can evolve the software by creating distinct parts of the system that can manage themselves instead of dumping everything into one big pile. Think of it as the difference between a pile of clothes on your floor to having them properly put away in their distinct clothes drawers. Much easier to build on and with.
- The system is now strongly/strictly typed, which makes working on the software much easier and less error-prone. Certain classes of bugs are now impossible.
- Classes have been reorganized into namespaces, which were introduced around PHP 6. These are the "clothes drawers" I mentioned earlier. Much easier to find your pants when they're in the right place!
- Downloading a forum backup now produces a .zip file, which of course is about 80-90% smaller than the raw backup it used to create.
- Alfred theme's background clouds now float by.
- Rainforest's background now stretches and fills the whole screen instead of tiling. This just wasn't possible 10 years ago, but CSS advancements are wonderful.