Proboards V6, how will it affect our current forum and data?

[alex3003]

Just curious, assuming I make my forum now with V5, and lots of people register and start posting, what will happen when V6 arrives? And also, how will we know when V6 is available?

Will my forum automatically switch over to V6? Or will I have to go into template and click a button to update it? Or will it only be available on forums registered after V6 is available?

Also, does this mean our current CSS will become invalid?

Thanks in advance!

[Kami]

Aug 1, 2022 4:33:58 GMT -8 alex3003 said:

Just curious, assuming I make my forum now with V5, and lots of people register and start posting, what will happen when V6 arrives? And also, how will we know when V6 is available?

Will my forum automatically switch over to V6? Or will I have to go into template and click a button to update it? Or will it only be available on forums registered after V6 is available?

Also, does this mean our current CSS will become invalid?

Thanks in advance!

Hey! You may want to check out the Development Blog for additional information, but to quickly answer your questions:

- What will happen to your data when v6 arrives: Nothing, theoretically! We can't predict the future, but there is no reason to believe that anything will happen to your data. You can post away, get members, and have your forum be completely functional with no damage to the actual content. As a personal anecdote, I've been with ProBoards for the last ~4 software updates (since the early 2000s) and I haven't ever lost any data.

- How will we know when v6 is available: There'll be an announcement, at minimum on this forum, but likely also sent as a "ProBoards" PM on your forum to the main administrator (username: admin). The PB team may decide other methods of getting the word out as well, but only the PB staff members know what that looks like.

- Will my forum automatically switch over to v6: once v6 is out of the open beta phase and fully rolled out to all forums, yes, your forum will automatically switch over to v6; that said there are some caveats to this (see the next answer).

- Will our current CSS become invalid: yes and no; this software update is pretty extensive, and a lot of the underlying code and structure are being rewritten to modern standards. Some CSS may survive, but others may not depending on their class names and what kind of elements they apply to. However, you will have an 18 month period (1.5 years) where v5 and v6 will run simultaneously; this will give you 18 months from the release of v6 to update your v5 themes without negatively impacting your forum. PB staff & helpers will also be around to assist with any theme conversion needs.

I definitely recommend looking at the Development Blog section to stay up-to-date on the latest, and to give the v6 open beta a try (though do not make the beta forum your active forum, as once the beta period is over that forum will go away) so you can see how it works from an admin perspective (though note that, being beta, not all features are fully fleshed out or functional, or indicative of the intended final product). I also recommend switching to the v6 theme on this forum so you can see how it works from a user perspective.

If you have any questions, definitely feel free to post in the v6 Beta board!