What is the current best free Forum software? 1

[simonjcook]

Hi there,

Can anyone recommend some free Forum software and your reasons for recommending it?

I want to set-up a discussion forum to go with my web site.
My ISP (PlusNet) has facilities for MySQL, PHP and PERL.

Regards

Simon J Cook

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[TruthInSatire]

I use snitz but that's an asp forum. I've never used it, but it seems phpbb is pretty popular and (i think) free.

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[grtfercho]

I' ve used phpBB and invisionBoard. I like both but worked more with invisionBoard. The administration is really easy and you customize things to whatever your imagination wants.

It's free but if you need more support or more features ( having photo albums in your forums for example or a calendar of events) it costs like $5-$7 a month.

grtfercho çB^]\..
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[coldfused]

http://www.ikonboard.com

Just an all around great perl script.

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[simonjcook]

Hi there,

A big thankyou to all who responded.
I installed PHPBB at the weekend.
It was extremely easy and straightforward.

I was originally looking at Phorum, but for ease of installation and features you simply cannot beat PHPBB.

As bombboy was the first to recommend PHPBB he gets the star.

Regards

Simon J Cook

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[confusedlady]

Could you use an Access database with phpbb? That is easier

My server doesn't support asp, so Snitz is out for me. I do know that most of Snitz users use Access databases. I have no idea how to go about creating a DB for mySQL! I suppose there isn't a sample one to get me going?

 

[Foamcow]

PHPBB uses a MySQL database as default, but if memory serves me correctly (bear in mind my memory isn't that good) it is possible to configure the latest versions to use other types of database.

However you DO need to be able to use PHP on your webserver.
If you can't use ASP but you can use an Access database I am guessing you won't be able to use PHP either.

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[Wullie]

Could you use an Access database with phpbb? That is easier

Access is a desktop database, it isn't designed for web use really and especially not for something like a forum where there can be multiple read/writes at the same time.

You would be fine with Access for a very low traffic forum but if it starts to get even moderately busy you would likely hit problems. Also take into account that when it gets busy you would need to move to MySQL or another database and you are better to start with that from the beginning and save yourself hassle.

Wullie

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[confusedlady]

Thanks all for replies. It turns out that the forum for the site can wait, so I'll look into it more. My problem was that I took over finishing the design for our church website. The man that started isn't available, and the pastor (who knows his way around the coding aspect) didn't deal with the company hosting the site. So, I honestly don't know what they support. I'm going by looking at files this other man was intending to use. I saw stuff related to Snitz, and the access db they start you out with.

Wullie, not to sound too dumb, but our hosting company should be able to tell me if MySQL is usable, right? I did want to go that route when we do this....

Thanks all.

 

[Wullie]

Wullie, not to sound too dumb, but our hosting company should be able to tell me if MySQL is usable, right? I did want to go that route when we do this....

If you know their website address, check the plan listing and it should tell you what databases you have available to you. You really want to use something like MySQL/MSSQL, depending on the forum you choose and what the host provides. MySQL is server-side, so your hosting company will be able to tell you if it is installed or not.

Hope this helps

Wullie

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