Simple Forum

[Guest groovejuice]

I have a client who will be needing a simple forum/bulletin board script for their members. I see that cpanel offers yabb, SMF and phpBB2. I could use some suggestions, never having installed and configured one myself. Any recommendations?

[Guest]

Each one of those is good for different reasons. Any recommendation would have to be based on your client's needs.

phpBB has a HUGE community and lots of skins and mod available. I've had problems with configuring limited access forums with that one though. I've also heard of several security exploits in the last couple of years.

SMF is a rock-solid script, although it has fewer add-ons than phpBB.

When I used YaBB, it was perl-based and didn't use a MySQL database. Both of those could be good considerations when required.

[Guest groovejuice]

Thank you for your input Alan. I think I'm leaning towards SMF.

[jerseyjoe]

After having an IPB site (paid) hacked and they refused to supply a patch unless I paid again, I stopped using them.

SWF is very nice, but just too simple. There are some basic tools that, if they exist, I never found, such as the ability to delete spam messages, so I stopped using that.

Next was phpBB. All went well until a troll found a security hole. The fourms were destroyed, too much trouble repair the script.

I now use and recommend Mybboard.org. So far no problems. Themes are as easy to install as plugins. Easy to customize. See two different approaches.

This one I simply customized the default theme by editing a few of the graphics. It's only been online a few days so there's zero activity

This one uses a very slightly customized version of one of their selection of free themes.

Their support forums are not as active as they should be, but in general, I'm pleased.

Good luck

[Guest groovejuice]

Thanks for that Joe. More food for thought, and I'm getting more rotund by the minute. The forum I'm installing will be in a password protected section (members only) of the general website.

[jerseyjoe]

Thanks for that Joe. More food for thought, and I'm getting more rotund by the minute. The forum I'm installing will be in a password protected section (members only) of the general website.

My headshot conceals the vast spaces I occupy . . . well, maybe only half-vast ;-)

I have pw protected hidden forums in a Mybb forum. Works fine.

Good luck with whatever you choose. If you find something not already mentioned, please share it.

[Guest]

OK here's the long & short of it. I'm a designer and use forums on a regular basis. I have been using forums & doing designs on them for about 8 years in total now. I'll give a brief pros & cons on different forum software I have used in the past.

First off the best by far is vbulletin IMO. This is not free its a paid for script. SMF runs a really close second. Alot of these things really depends on your clients needs, how much they know about running a forum, setting it up, skinning it etc. These things can get SUPER complicated before you know and all forum software is different in some way. Its best to find out what your client knows and does not know.

vbulletin: This is great script as I mentioned above. Its is not free, but has excellent support and help from members on the vbulletin sites. There are numerous hacks, mods & templates changes that can be made to a site that runs vbulletin. It is pretty easy to skin for the most part its basic css & html templates. As for setting it up its a bit more difficult than say SMF to setup. Setup is very involved in vbulletin.

Invision Power Board (IPB): I realize that alot of people possibly like this software, but as a designer I do not. Its cumbersome, hard to skin if you are a beginner, & hard to set up. Its a very difficult board to run, setup and use. If you are getting a board for your client and they have no experience with a bb, then stay away from IPB. And as joe said above there was a security issue they refused to fix. IPB is kinda like that.

SMF: This is a great free board to use for your site. To skin it you only need some css, html & a little bit of php knowledge if you are editing any template php files. Installing hacks from their site is super simple as well as installing skins & templates. Its very easy to setup, run & use. There are quite a bit of mods for it, although not as many as you would find with phpBB, vbulletin or IPB.

phpBB: This board is ok I guess. I've never actually been very impressed by it at all to be honest. I found it pretty hard to skin at times and hard to install the hacks and what have you. There is this annoying thing that happens with phpBB sometimes when you try and skin it yourself. Sometimes it freaks out and you get nothing but a blank page if you do not know what you are doing. So I suggest its not really a board for the novice in skinning it anyways. As for general setup, its probably the easiest to setup out of all of them. There are not many options to set up in the admin panel. However, there are numerous hacks. The main thing that annoys me with phpBB is that there are hack for stuff that is automatically offered on other boards. You do not have to install a hack on vbulletin, IPB, or SMF to get child forums, but in phpBB you will need to install a hack. phpBB board are VERY basic and come with very little on them. They are stripped down so to speak.

MyBB: This is another free board. Its actually a pretty good board. Its very similar to vbulletin in setup, look & feel. Its simple to setup and skin for the most part. You just need css & html knowledge. The main gripe I have with MyBB is the support for it sucks IMO. I had a support issue that I sent them a mail about 8 months ago and still have not heard back from them even though I mailed them again on it. So from my standpoint support for MyBB is pretty bad. Others may have better outlooks on it than me and different experiences than me.

YaBB: Although very nice looking, this board can cause a problem if you are not well versed in CGI scripts and installing them. Installing this one is very difficult if you have never installed anything via CGI before. As for skinning it, I don't know because that one I have not skinned yet

There are numerous other boards out there that you can check out. Some are in php, some in CGI and some are in ASP. Do a google search for bulletin board software. Hosting companies do offer the free installation of phpBB, SMF & YaBB in there control panel but you have to sometimes be aware that installing from the hosting control panel will cause some problems in custom skinning of the board, & installations of hacks & mods to the board. I suggest you do a regular install flat out via FTP & your browser according to the instruction of whatever board you all decide on for the site. Usually an install inside of Fantasitco or the hosting panel is not completely stable in the long run. Hope this post helps you and others out

MP