message boards

Re: message boards

 

Re: Re: message boards

Eeewww....default.

 

This board uses vBulletin, as previously pointed out.

Another good, free alternative is phpBB, used by the TechPub.

 

Re: Re: Re: message boards

i was begining to think i was the only one here who used the OSX skin. ahh ppp'ers. thinking differently but alike.

 

That's right, I use phpBB2 for my discussion boards. It's free, easy to install, maintain and use. There are many skins available for it too. All you really need to run phpBB is a web server with mySQL and php installed (most web hosting companies have that available).

 

i use Woltlab. if you have under 3000 members, they are enough. Woltlab have a free version, easy to install and admin - just weirdly if you use password protection etc, that works with Links - not with Safari. But Woltlab is nice of the free alternatives, you can custom it well. phpBBs are uglier.

iknoboard is an other really nice free alternative.

but as mod / admin point of view, i love vBulletin. if you have over 5000 members, go for it!

 

There are tons of skins for phpBB to make it look as you want. There are also more then a few people out there that will make a custom skin/mod to make it look exactly as you want. It's also very easy to find all sorts of mods for phpBB that you can do to change it however you want.

I haven't installed the mod to allow people to put images inside their posts mainly because I don't want to fill up my host space with images. You can EASILY include links in posts as well as format it (within reason).

As for appearance, I like the look of phpBB MUCH better then vBulletin. Where is your bulliten using Woltlab???

Why pay for a BB package when you don't have to (for ANY level)? I took a look at that woltlab price scheme... If you want lifetime updating, it's gonna cost you. Meanwhile phpBB is FREE FOREVER! Also, since phpBB is OPEN SOURCE, you KNOW you can find tons of people to help you out with it.

BTW, the company that I purchased my e-commerce/shopping cart package from uses phpBB for their boards. I just checked, they have 1259 registered users and 11500 articles at present.

Don't pay for something UNLESS the open source options simply contain NONE of what you want or MUST have. It's easy to change the phpBB package to make it do anything you want.

 

So, if I got hosting from a company like PowWeb or something, how do I get that phpBB stuff up and running? Where can I find info on this? Is there something to comfigure? I am a HTML guy, and I know NOTHING about MySQL (don't even know wha it stands for). Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Regards,
Gus

 

Gus,

Your service provider should be able to help you get up and running with PHP and MySQL, if they're part of the package you buy.

Given that every provider sets things up differently, it's tough to give exact advice.