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phpBoards.be

added: Wed, 21st June 2006 | 1555 views | 0x in favourites
feed url: http://www.phpboards.be/feeds/index.rss1

Find the best php based forum software for your website.

Latest feed entries:

MiniBB

I've installed MiniBB and customized it in no time.
It's the first forum I've seen that really uses CSS for what it was made. Absolute lay-out control.
It's clear that the forum is very SEO friendly.

The real negative part of miniBB is that extensions (mods or plugins) aren't for free. So forget about the open source idea.
This also means that very little people work on the development of the script as well as testing it.

For a small website this is the perfect forum script but if you want more options I wouldn't waste my time on it.

The biggest con is that it doesn't contain a (free) personal messages options.

To end :
Great potential but unusable for a big website.

A SEO friendly forum script

Seo has always been my favorite work on websites.
But to find a SEO friendly forum is not as easy as you would think.
Although I love phpBB it do not find it very SEO friendly. PhpBB does have a few search engine optimalisation mods as SEO Urls V2, Sitemap and Googlebot Notification of New Topic 1.0.0 and Easy SEO Mod - 0.1.0.
All of them are still in development thou. I do think phpBB already has a few stable SEO mods but I can't find them right away.
PhpBB with the CH-Mod is even less SEO friendly (it has less working SEO mods) but in this version you can keep track of visits by bots and you can even let bots crawl your forum without guest being able to watch it. (I haven't tested this and it could be that if google discovers guests can't read the forum they will give you a penalty).

I've read that the SMF forum is very SEO friendly and after doing some test I do believe there is some truth in it.
But although SMF is very easy to administrate I'm not a hudge fan of it, mostly because it's very hard to customize.

I also heard that the miniBB forum has a lot of SEO potential and after having a quick look, I could believe this is the case. It also looks promising as the lay-out is 100% styled with CSS so it shouldn't be hard at all to customize the forum.
I'll do some tests with the miniBB board and get back to you with more details.

phpBB BETA4

The realization of phpBB 3.0 is near, that doesn't mean a stable public version will be around soon.
But at least we already can check the Beta version out and have some fun.

After nervously installing the beta (it's already the 4th version) I was happily surprized to find a great new look and options I always dreamed of.

Because phpBB 3 has the options of subforums and categories the CH mod won't be needed anymore.
I've read a few threads where Ptirhiik clearly states he wishes to develop his own system and not just a mod anymore.
It will be hard to choose when phpBB 3 comes out.

phpBB 3.0 Beta4 released

Test forum hacked

It seems Deluxe BB 1.07 isn't so save as the forum has already been hacked and it seems even the forum of the Deluxe BB homepage is offline.
It seems the vulnerablies of the last version haven't been resolved.
Lets hope they fix it quickly.

Smart Machines Forum (SMF) - A contender

SMF


SMF - Smart Machines Forum is one of the more interesting forum scripts I found.
Already on a clean installation in has some remarkeble features.
I have installed the SMF 1.1 rc2 version what is still in testing and shouldn't be used on a live environment. It doesn't seem to have many changes than the stable 1.0.7 version.
Easy to figure out, install, configure, and manage! With a big choose of different templates and already a lot of implemented options (RSS feeds, newsletter and an easy way to add plugins) even with a clean install.
I think phpBB has found its match or at least one to remember.

Features


General
Uses PHP and MySQL.
Comprehensive template system.
Advanced permission and user management.
Supports multiple languages at once.
Open and well-documented source code.
Tracking of new and old unread topics, not just from your last visit.
Designed for optimal performance and scalability.
Multi-media output. (XHTML, XML, RSS, WAP)
Multi-language support from a large community.
Package manager that automatically installs or uninstalls mods (also known as hacks.)
Search:
o Search the entire forum, a category/board or within a topic.
o Search within your personal messages.

Security
All actions seamlessly require a session based authorization code.
Administrative actions require the user's password (and do not rely solely on cookies.)
Major actions are time and IP locked, preventing 'hammering'.
The number of login attempts from a certain IP can be limited and time locked.

Forum Settings
Ability to display page creation time and query count per page.
Put a board into maintenance mode, allowing only admins to login.
Word censoring, either full word or partial.
Ability to break up long words.

Boards and Categories
Group boards into collapsable categories.
Set categories as non-collapsable.
Reorder boards within categories, or reorder categories.
Create child boards under other boards. (sub boards)
Assign moderators to boards.
Allow certain membergroups to access a board, including guests only.
Configure permissions for each membergroup on the board level.
Ability to indicate new posts to child boards but nothing new in parent.

Member Registration
Require registration before forum entrance.
Require a user to agree to terms before they register.
Disable member registration completely (allowing only moderators to register people).
Require email authentication by sending an authentication link.
Require a moderator to approve registration.
Register new members from the admin center.

Member Navigation and Authentication
Several security checks during navigation.
Password reminder option, by email with confirmation. (doesn't automatically reset your password.)
Both cookie and session based authentication (works without cookies.)
Cookies can be set local to a path, global to all subdomains, or normally.
Adjustable expiration time for authentication cookies.

Member Tracking and Tracing
Sortable and searchable public memberlist (accessible by a permission.)
Powerful sortable and searchable admin memberlist.
Show all (error) messages and IPs made by a member. (track user)
Show all (error) messages from an IP address or range. (track IP)
See who's doing what (accessible by permission.)

Statistics
Several board statistics (accessible by permission.)
Tracking of member's online time in seconds.
Tracking of topics, messages, new members, and hits per day.
Individual member statistics accessible from their profile.

News and Announcements
Ability to create announcement boards (members receive a notification of topics automatically.)
Member option to disable receiving announcements.
Email or private message your members by membergroup.
Show a news ticker or news fader.

Communication
Ability to choose sendmail or SMTP (with or without authentication.)
Ability to send a topic to a friend.
Ability to view a "printer friendly" version of topics.

Membergroups
Create membergroups to group members on permissions, access rights, and/or appearance.
Assign several membergroups to a single member, with one membergroup as the primary group.
Define membergroups that are auto-assigned based on the amount of posts a user has.
Determine the maximum number of personal messages a membergroup is allowed to have by group.
Assign graphical symbol(s) to a membergroup - by primary group.
Determine which membergroups are allowed to access a board.

Banning
Ban members based on their username, email address, IP address or hostname.
Support of wildcards for email address, IP address, and hostname.
Include a ban reason (viewable for the banned user).
Include a ban note (only viewable by the admins).
Chose between full ban, 'no post' ban, or registration ban.
Include an expiration time for bans.

External integration
Integrate parts of forum software into existing website using SSI or PHP.
o Recent topics or posts.
o Recent news posts in a board.
o Recent polls.
o Several forum statistics.
o List of users online.
o The menu bar.
o News.
o Search.
o Login/logout.
o Today's events/birthdays/holidays.
Export forum data using XML/RSS
o Latest members.
o News.
o Recent posts.

Wireless access
Support for WAP, WAP2 and I-mode protocols.
Browse through boards/topics/messages with reduced page size.
Ability to login and logout (not with WAP 1.)
Ability to see new topics/boards with new replies.
Ability to jump to first unread reply.
Ability to post new messages (not with WAP 1.)

Theming and Templating
Ability to allow or disallow your users to select their own theme.
Ability to reset all of your members to a certain theme.
Ability to install a new theme via your administration center.
Default templates are XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS 2.0 compliant.
Admin can add smileys and smiley sets.
Members can choose which smiley set they wish to use (or none.)
Themes can be installed by way of the "latest and greatest themes" panel.
SSI can have and show layers and the like from the template system.

Posting Features
Spell Check.
Quick Reply
o Members can disable it or collapse it.
o Can be used with "Quote".
o Also contains "Spell Check".
Vast number of "bulletin board codes" to use (including rtl, acronym, and others.)
Optional editing grace period before a post is shown as modified.
'Insert Quote' feature on posting screen to quickly quote previous replies.

Polls
Can be added or removed to existing topics.
Ability to set expiration date.
Ability to hide results till expiration of poll.
Ability to hide results until after people have voted.
Ability to determine how many votes a user may cast.
Polls can have up to 256 options.

Attachments
Allowed on a per member group or board basis.
The filename can be encrypted to increase the security (so you can upload .php files, etc.)
Optional restriction on what filetypes may be uploaded.
Ability to restrict such that only registered members can view them (disables hotlinking, mostly.)
Images can be embedded into posts.

Calendar Support
Shows Birthdays, Events and Holidays.
Display calendar information on board index.
Link an existing topic to the calendar.
Allow only certain members/groups post events.
Event poster can edit event.
Events can span multiple days.

Moderation Tools
Ability to lock and unlock a topic.
o Topics which are locked by an administrator can not unlocked by anyone else.
Ability to allow members to use moderation on just topics they posted.
"Report to moderator" link.
Delete or modify posts.
Ability to Merge/Split topics.
Move or delete topics.
Sticky or unsticky topics.
Recycle bin/board for all deleted topics and posts.
Moderation log which shows moderation activity and disallows log removal outside of 1 day.
AJAX editing:
o Edit a post without page reloads.
o Double click to edit topic subjects on message index.

User Profiles and User Options
Ability to hide your email address from the public.
Select their favorite theme among the activated forum themes.
Select their smiley set from the ones available.
Email notification
o New topics per board.
o Single topics.
o Private messages.
Login with 'invisible' mode.
Options to hide other members' avatars and signatures.
Ability to download and resize uploaded avatars.
Personal text, avatar, signature, and all the niceties of forums can be used and are kept up to date in all your posts.

User Resources
Icons for topics you've posted to.
Show new replies to your posts.
Collapsible 'Additional Options' on post screen.
Ability to view most recent messages.
List all topics that have new replies since your last visit.
See who is browsing the same boards or topics as you.
* Topics that span multiple pages have the page numbers listed as well as an "all" link.

External Links

PunBB - Fast but less graphical

PunBB is another interesting script that seems more mature and evolved than DeluxeBB.
It's also welcome to see that it makes use of CSS where DeluxeBB doesn't have any CSS file. This should make it easier to change the looks of the forum to your wishes.
It does have some downsides. The redirecting doesn't seem to work or is very slow at the test board I set up and you need to make a file yourself (and upload it) at installation what is rather unnecessary.
The template also could get a remake but I do think that this script is great if you are in a hurry and want to customize the template.
PunBB is a fast and lightweight PHP-powered forum script. It is released under the GNU General Public License and its primary goals are to be faster, smaller and less graphically intensive as compared to other discussion boards. PunBB has fewer features than similar software, but is generally faster and outputs smaller, semantically correct XHTML and CSS compliant pages.


External Links:
  • PunBB - Homepage
  • SpinkBB - a web based skin generator for PunBB
  • PunRes - modifications for punBB

DeluxeBB - A quick look

DeluxBB


At first glance this looks like a nice script. Although there are less options (mods, templates, ...) than with phpBB a clean install already offers a lot of usefull features as a newsletter, welcome pm, attachments and an easy way to add rules at registration and login.
Although it is only a small brother of phpBB it could be useful for less big websites and it is easier to manage.
Features include: WYSIWYG editor; editable smilies, posticons, and censors, admin control panel, private messenger, security features, cp logs, banning, e-mail spam protection, subscriptions,...
DeluxeBB 1.0.6 did have SQL Injection and File Inclusion Vulnerabilities but I hope those where solved with version 1.0.7

External Links


phpBB - An overview

phpBB forums


I'll start the list with my all time favorit phpBB.
I've installed 3 different phpBB versions:

PhpBB 3 is only a beta version so shouldn't be used on live forums, but it does give a good image of what Olympus will look like.

The Category Hierarchy mod is more than a mod, it changes the code and way of operating completely. Most is for the better although the permissions system has gotten a lot more complicated, what makes the forum harder to administrate.
It will take more time to set up a board with the CH mod, the administration is also more complicated and not all other mods are compatible but it is worth it for me.

External links:




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