Something I mentioned in a support forum that I think is relevant to most scripts available for use.
As a builder of websites and a user of scripts, that dabbles in PHP enough to be able to modify said scripts, I find it amusing when developers argue over their preferred frameworks and languages. For system admins like me, who can do basic coding only, we just want the following:
1. It works.
2. It is easy to configure.
3. It is easy to modify.
4. It is easy to change the template and user interface.
5. It plays well with other scripts our website uses on the same domain name.
6. It is documented so I can figure out how to do the above.
7. And I only need to know basic PHP and HTML to do the above, or what I need to do is easy to learn quickly.
From the perspective of a "system administrator with some development skills," what framework you use doesn't matter, unless that framework is so confusing and convoluted that it is impossible for a system administrator to edit the UI. I don't like having to hunt through 1000 files to figure out how to change something.
Too often I see scripts that clearly assume installers are developers when the target market for your scripts is not developers. System administrators like myself install these scripts, and non-techy users use these scripts.
You guys are welcome to continue to argue over the code base, but I wanted to insert my perspective into the conversation, in the hope that it would help you see the situation from a system admin and user point of view.
I do plan on contributing to the codebase, but with my limited knowledge, I will only be able to do so much. I think my level of knowledge would be better suited to creating a new template, which I plan on doing.
But, please, if you "modernize the code" or make changes or whatever, please keep the above 7 points in mind. Not all of us are full-stack developers, nor want to be. We just need something we can run and modify to suit our needs.
I'll get off the soapbox now. :)
But before I go, thank you for all the efforts you have put into the code so far. This software has truly amazing potential.
