Picking Forum Software

[MattK]

I am looking for different forum software, please make recommendations.

I would like one that is easy to intsall

[Brandon Martus]

vBulletin - http://www.vbulletin.com/
phpBB2 - http://www.phpbb.com/

those are 2 i'd recommend.

[David Kelly]

http://www.phpbb.com

no ad's, pretty easy to install, easy to customize, good customer support and FREE!!

[MattK]

BTW needs to be free, I tried PHPBB and I cant even figure out how to install it

[jonathan lall]

I'd go with phpBB; it's free, customizable, open-source, widely used, usually fairly easy to install, and feature-rich. You'll get a lot of support and will find it's basically just a compact version of the powerful vBulletin software used here. The other main alternative is XMB, which I have barely any experience with, but it's free and I've heard it's good. If you're not up for this kind of forum, and just want a simple message board, try Phorum.

[Jack]

Originally posted by MattK
BTW needs to be free, I tried PHPBB and I cant even figure out how to install it

Hmm.... I thought that it was pretty easy. Just read the instructions. If you need any more help go to:
http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=12
- This is the offical forum for phpbb installation support.

It's phpbb is quite well written, i think. Trust me... my forum started on Oct. 20th. I'd never seen a line of php code before that day, and was ok at html (didn't know a thing about style sheets though ) All i knew well was visual basic. Now... as i'm posting this, I'm writing some HUGE mods for phpbb

If you want to see my site, it's: www.feds201.com
-totaly phpbb

If you would like any help, feel free to email me: webmaster@feds201.com

PS: All this is unless you want to spend $$ in which case, vB is good... but, i'm poor so only phpBB for me

PPS: I just looked at the website in your profile. b/c it's angelfire, if it's a free site, you might not be able to install phpBB. Not 100% sure though.

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by Jack
PPS: I just looked at the website in your profile. b/c it's angelfire, if it's a free site, you might not be able to install phpBB. Not 100% sure though.

Last time I checked, angelfire didnt offer mysql databases... so you're very very limited ...

[sanddrag]

I use XMB www.xmbforum.com on my team's site www.team696.org/forum/index.php It came pre-installed on my hosting account. It is very easy to work with and full of features although I'm not sure about installation. It does have a couple minor bugs that you have to install fixes for but other than that I think it's great.

[MattK]

Originally posted by sanddrag
I use XMB www.xmbforum.com on my team's site www.team696.org/forum/index.php It came pre-installed on my hosting account. It is very easy to work with and full of features although I'm not sure about installation. It does have a couple minor bugs that you have to install fixes for but other than that I think it's great.

I need to know hot to config the Config.php file, I am entering what it asks me!

[indieFan]

Due to being on a Unix server and not wanting to try and install MySQL or deal with PHP, I found a free forum download, YaBB, that is easy to install and add new features to. The site is http://www.yabbforum.com.

There are two forums that are run at the site. The first is for the full forum download and other miscellaneous stuff. The second one (which is where I seem to live now) is for modifications (Mods) to the forums. Everyone at these sites are very friendly provided you have tried everything to find the answer in the boards previously. (Otherwise, they'll get a bit snippy, but nothing too harsh.)

If you want to see the boards in action, check out mine at http://www.csun.edu/~robodox/YaBB/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi. You'll have to register to view the general categories.

Any questions, email me at robodox@csun.edu.

indieFan

[Mike Soukup]

Originally posted by MattK
I need to know hot to config the Config.php file, I am entering what it asks me!

Did you read the install notes / instructions? Do you know what the config.php file is for? The file gives phpBB the info it needs to access the database it uses for the board. I can tell you what all the fields mean, but you'll have to get all the info from your service provider.

dbms - the database type, the most common is "mysql"
dbhost - the hostname of the computer that holds the database, typically it's "localhost" but some providers have the database on a different machine
dbname - the name of the database you (or your service provider) created
dbuser - the name of the user that has read/write permissions on the database
dbpasswd - password for above user
table_prefix - the prefix that phpBB uses for all tables in the database, making it easier to see which tables are for phpBB

Mike

[Jack]

I think mike that matt was talking about the config.php file in XMB rather than phpBB.

I know that the new version of XMB just came out, and so i downloaded it, and looked at it. Personally, I like the file structure and design style of phpBB more. (Yes, i'm using phpbb now, so i'm not independet)

Also, I thought that the support offered on the XMB site was less than that for phpBB.

AND... XMB still requires a MySQL database, so i don't see why you couldn't install phpBB.

[sanddrag]

I'm currently running XMB 1.6 Majic Lantern Final. It has been working great and I got the bugs worked out. My hosting account has the option to automatically switch over to phpBB 2.0.2. Is it that much better? I don't want to convert right before the season and then have a bunch of problems. Will I lose everything like the threads from before?

One more question, for phpBB 2.0.2, how does it make you the forum admin? For XMB, it's the first person who registers becomes the admin.

Thanks

[Jack]

Well... Take a look at www.feds201.com and decide. I don't know. I mean... all forums do the same thing. The style and way in which they do it may be different, and that's all up to what the admin likes. Personally, I like my style better than the XMB ones i've seen, but as i said, it all what you like.

#2: They have a bunch of converters for other types of foums going into phpBB. (you can find them at: www.phpbb.com ) All transfers should be ok, but i can't say for 100% sureness.

#3: Admin. When you go to set up your forums for the first time, you go to: root/install.php (and delete it after )

There you enter a few things (like you db connection, forum title, and the Admin account (username and pass) )

It will auto-gen the config.php file for you, and if it can't write to the directory because it's read only, it will let you download the config file and let you upload it yourself.
-It went very smooth and easy for me.

If you like the layout of CD, then phpBB is closer to that than XMB.

PS: It also supports many different types of databases. Some are: MySQL, PostgreSQL, MsSQL, MS Access ODBC

[Brandon Martus]

Originally posted by Jack
All transfers should be ok, but i can't say for 100% sureness.

Word from the wise (read: he who didnt backup one time):
Always, always, always, always do a complete backup before trying to do any type of data-intensive actions to your forums (ie: converting from one forum system to another, etc)