Hi,
Please update on this.
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Just my opinion but I agree with Cherub-chum, if ppl were to vote what should deserve more attention the V8 or the issues/improvements in the latest release I believe majority would choose the latest release as having a higher priority than version 8
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Following this ! Completely agree
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in retrospect of having gone throught this with our UI efforts for SpiceCRM I tend to disagree. If you want to build a new UX you will need to break a lot of things in the current backend and a vast number of topics is moved from the current stuck MVC framework to a new layer. Also there are loads of topics (just take email handling, Full text Search, or the studio and others) that need to be fixed and are way easier fixed on an updated technology stack rather than trying to put lipstick on the pig and invest in outdated technology.
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Letās agree to disagree then. I hardly think itās an āOutdated technologyā, this is a CRM framework often used in a B2B setting not a mobile game engine. And because certain elements would be easier to implement on a new stack doesnāt mean they should abandon the more mature reliable codebase and not patch issues which can be patched which is hardly āputting lipstick on a pigā.
As I mentioned in my original post, it would be good to see a poll, to see what the majority of devs think.
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(1) out of curiosity and without the in depth knowledge about the issues: what would the top 3 or 5 issues be that woudl need to be fixed in the backend?
(2) a poll of Developers might be interesting. But also a poll of Users. CRM is to the largest part also a story of UX. Ease of use and intuitivity are key factors and if you look at tools like Salesforce - there is a lot you can learn from them in that respect.
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(1) Iād have to give it a look
(2) Sure I understand the point about user experience, which is also debatable btw, for example iām in a B2B industry where the current UI is just fine, and where āone page appā platforms were a bit of a disaster (specific example is our company moving over to a real estate CRM which was mostly written using a JS framework), it produced a wide array of issues for example something as simple as sharing links to a specific section of a dashboard became impossible, too many issues related to browser/device versions since itās all client side etc. but once again I see your point.
I was talking specifically about devs because itās safe to assume that most devs on this forum are āoutdated technologyā LAMP stack devs and since itās devs that will be ultimately deploying it it would be great to see if they would even be willing to make the switchā¦ Personally I wouldnāt.
Question for you then, what are the top 3-5 issues that you see which you believe require a switch to a different stack (and all that it entails)?
A couple of thoughts:
(1) performance: if you move from the alway full sevrer side rendering to a slicker REST interface performance increases
(2) move from the current heavy smarty and cache based framework breaking, core, custom and coinfiguration apart allowing to move to a multi tenancy style platform
(3) flexibility with integrating webcomponents and newwer web technology on the frontend. This also speeds up development significantly if you move from PHP+Smart+jquery to a framework like Angular
(4) a more reactive and truely ajax driven UI that allows easier integhration of third party components (get away from the currently required repair and rebuild)
(5) have one HTML5 based framework that works in all clients (desktop, mobile, outlook, gmail, ā¦) and allows for consitent configuration in one place that then is refelcetd in each client. This cleans up the requirement for all kind of addins and plugins that require separate maintenance, other styled UIs and potential redevelopment. You can take the current Sugar Release as a bad example - you have one framework for the desktop and browser, one for the mobile with a separate SDK, one bought in Software for the Groupware Integration, one addon for Marketing ā¦ this starts to grow into a nightmare
(6) a truely roles based approach that alows more flexibility in creating a flexible frontend that matches a users requirements.
Could you achieve all this with the current LAMP stack - potentially yes but you are negating all current web development trends.
On top I firmly believe that in the SugarCRM CE stack that is still the base for Suite to the widest extent some things (just take email or search) are fundamentally broken. so you really need to fix them. And then why not do it on the latest available technology and move to a webcomponent based architecture. The LAMP stack is a great toolset for the backend - but the frontend moved on. So I woudl not consider the LAMP outdated per se, but it requires a shift fromn the server bound MVC model to the client.
On the failure with the single page app you mentioned - yes you can make a lot of mistakes. And building it nicely is a long journey. And it takes a proper architecture to build on.
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Each week I got questions from my clients, itās being hard to reply them without any proof of evidence.
Most of questions are coming along UI changes , searches and compose email.
Please provide some kind of screenshots , mock-ups so that we start feeling about it.
The screenshots are available for quite some time. https://suitecrm.com/new-user-interface-in-suite8/ ā¦
1/2 screenshot , was posted at July 11th, 2018. we really need screenshots of
- Home page / dashboard
- editview
- detailview
- ListView
- Subpanels
- search view.
eventually need lot more to answer clients.
All valid points, the downside is that v8 wonāt be used by devs which are mainly LAMP stack devs unless they become versed enough in the new technology. Big part of this discussion seems to be personal preference, I donāt know how important it is for a CRM to be more reactive and Ajax driven. Some ppl find the current UI dated, some people find it fine. Iām definitely in the latter group.
Example is Iām writing a CRM which will allow us to move away from a system which looks like it was written in ā95. When I show people the much more modern and slick looking Suitecrm interface, they all seem to shrug, they donāt really care about ability to dragging and dropping of elements etc. (I thought dashlets would blow them away). That company makes about 6 mill per year selling their horrendous looking SaaS btwā¦ Anyways thatās neither here nor there and weāre definitely moving towards something more modern than goold olā PHP, Iām just not sure weāre there yet.
Btw, can the current framework not be HTML5 based without moving to Angular?
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there still will be a market for a product like SuiteCRM in its current form or shape. As said ā stzart the vote here and get feedback from the community. Maybe there really is no need for an angualr based UI.
On an HTML5 UI without Angular ā¦ hmmmm ā¦ it is two pairs of shoes. The one is HTML5 which just adds a set of TAGs ā¦ that woudl be quite easy to structure it. The other thing is a single page app that mainly runs in the browser. This just adds other capabilities and also performance increases.
It would also be interesting to get some feedback from the sales agility team what their view is on this. SugarCRM invented the tool and did the first Phase ā¦ now it is up to them to drive it to the next level.
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Letās come back to original discussion.
Where is Suite8?
The reason behind the question: I got several requests from clients during 2019 and to date 2020,.
First Question: how to get rid of the current UI of SuiteCRM which is really needed to change.
Second question: when to see this application in a stable mode?
Third Question: When to see this application loading fast?
As Suite8 is long and awaited version, expectations are too high. Either it is angular or whatsoever, above problems needs to solve. The application needs to be on beautiful, easy to use UI, must load fast and of course, do have to less buggy.
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First. I will like all to know that Iām anxious to see the new version. I canāt wait to put my hands on it to start playing around with it 
NOW, because we donāt know much about it( except the scarce official information) why donāt we focus in what we have now and start make contributions to make it to Look Better, more Stable and Fast.
Many of us are been benefited by SuiteCRM and sometimes we worry more about how to take personal advantage instead of focusing in contributing. We know that SuiteCRM is OpenSource but, just like you and me, Sales Agility has itās own customers.
My advise to all is. Letās be patient and trust SuiteCRM 8 will be great. In the mean time letās contribute more to the current version.
Thanks,
AlxGr
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Thanks for that AlexGr. As an unofficial comment on this discussion: thereās not much sense in thinking that Suite8 will be āeverything we ever asked forā and āa complete revolution in the SuiteCRM worldā. Those expectations would be both unrealistic and unwise.
For one, weāre aiming to make the changes not excessively disrupting - so that everybody running Suite7 will get a decent experience going forward, even if they are starting Suite7 Projects right now, as we write. So if you feel unsure about what the future holds for SuiteCRM, go with what you already know from Suite7 and weāll aim to keep that within our concerns.
Second, itās not possible or prudent to completely revolutionize a huge app with a relatively small team. Suite8 should be a significant and decisive step in the right direction, and thatās all.
The real hopes of āeverything we ever asked forā come from what Alex wrote, the synergy between SalesAgility team and a big, competent, vibrant Community working together. And that will happen both with Suite8 and beyond.
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We also have a relatively small team and managed to pull a revolutionary approach off. So it is possible ā¦ but it takes some significant different approaches and the balls to change things.
I am still happy to collaborate and join our projects bringing a joint approach in an independent foundation ā¦ it woudl give you a 4 years headstart ā¦ but you guys know where to find me.
āLeadership is the capacity to translatre vision into realityā
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Is the Suite8 development code public? Available on GitHub?
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No news on this too.
Hey everyone!
Thanks for all your comments, I, personally, am working on pulling together an official thread to help tackle misinterpreted or false information being shared. I am looking to get this done this week or latest next.
I appreciate your patience on this and look forward to having thorough discussions on the newer thread once created.