Which forum to use?

**triexa** · Jul 22, 2003 18:42

I will soon be creating a forum for my website, and cannot decide which to go for...

I have basically narrowed it down between phpBB and InvisionBoard, but can't decide which one... so here are some general questions I had:
- Which one is better on system resources, if there is a major difference
- Which one is easier to customize? I am a PHP programmer and could easily customize both... but which one is EASIER?

- Which has a better support community, should I ever have any questions or anything
- For which one are more options available, such as skins, mods/hacks, graphics, etc.
- Are there any highlights that one has over the other, such as one feature that one has that the other doesn't?

Thanks... ALL input is appreciated!

**mancroft** · Jul 23, 2003 03:36

I recommend phpBB

**Winged Spider** · Jul 23, 2003 06:46

VB is only $80...

It's worth it. phpBB and Invision just don't compate.

**dotcomguy** · Jul 23, 2003 06:59

Maybe so, but depending on the site's budget, it may not be worth the expense.

**michael_gersitz** · Jul 23, 2003 07:25

I like yaBB, but since it is not a choice. I would go with Invision.

**triexa** · Jul 23, 2003 08:38

I've heard that phpBB is hard to customize, while invisionboard is very easy... any input on this?

As for vBulletin, I am fully prepared to purchase it (although I would likely go for the owned license...) but assuming i just got the $80 one, what in vBulletin is $80 more than the $0 for phpBB?

**Zero G** · Jul 23, 2003 18:32

for the price of vb you get... a very good community of people who will help you at both vBulletin.org and at the vBulletin.com site. plus it is IMO one of the best message boards for ease of use (both for admins and for members). If I were you I would try the admin demo over at http://www.vbulletin.com/admindemo/. Trust me VB is the way to go.

**triexa** · Jul 23, 2003 18:41

I know my PHP and HTML, so I could easily customize any of the forums in question, but is vBulletin EASY to customize or will it take a lot of my time?

**dotcomguy** · Jul 23, 2003 18:47

It mustn't be too difficult. There are tons of modifications/hacks for it.

**Zero G** · Jul 23, 2003 21:12

You can modify VB even if you only know HTML. So it won’t be too bad. Plus there are tons of hacks for vb so you might not even have to do some of the work yourself

**PalmerB** · Jul 23, 2003 21:29

I know nothing about PHP and I've been able to customize Invision Board pretty easily. Here's one I just completed...
http://www.audiooutpost.com/forums/i...T&f=4&t=8&s=12

Personally I like the graphics better with IB and it seems to do a better job finding topics you're searching for. There have been many debates on this forum between phpBB and IB...
http://www.sitepointforums.com/showt...hreadid=110652
http://www.sitepointforums.com/showt...hreadid=113809
http://www.sitepointforums.com/showt...threadid=90924
http://www.sitepointforums.com/showt...threadid=81942

**dotcomguy** · Jul 24, 2003 08:17

I don't think the graphics or design should be a primary reason for choosing forum software. A better decisioning factor would be in the flexibility or ease of use of the template system. You should always customize the forum to either be integrated into an existing web site or to at least have a unique look. Either way it'll look just like all the other ones out there that look the same. That's just a personal opinion after seeing tons of vanilla phpBB's out there.

As far as templating goes, I hear that vB is the best and that the others are more difficult to customize in that regard.

**JoshU** · Jul 24, 2003 00:32

I use phpBB. We have done a good bit of template customization along with adding some hacks.

I got the hacks from www.phpbbhacks.com.

You can see an example of the custom design in my signature.

**triexa** · Jul 24, 2003 08:40

Okay... I am most likely going with vB it looks like, if I can find a cheaper license...

**markymoo** · Jul 25, 2003 03:42

I used YaBB SE on my site, but if I was starting again I think I would use invision board, so many people have reccomended this to me.

I had a similar question on my forum where I posted a quick comparison of a few different forum packages available if you want a peek ...

http://computingforums.com/forum/ind...ay;threadid=63

hope this helps, and good luck!!

markymoo

**triexa** · Jul 25, 2003 08:21

thanks I will for sure take a look!

**quenting** · Jul 25, 2003 08:47

have a look to
http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB22
if your "soon" is not too soon, you may want to consider it as an additionnal choice. I myself don't care too much about spending 80$, but i chose to build my upcoming forum using phpbb2.2. The backend features are almost already stable and look really nice, with noticeably, a smarty based template engine, a cool query cache system and many features missing to phpbb 2.04.

Quentin

**triexa** · Jul 25, 2003 08:54

Yah I've been there before, just not sure when it will be released

It looks good... but argh I hate this lol.. i am torn between phpBB and vBulletin

... Invision Board seems good, but it could be better...

**philipwhite** · Jul 25, 2003 12:19

phpbb is horrid. invisionboard is much better. try em both and then decide. there both free. takes like 10 minutes to set up invision. I'm sure phpbb is the same. $80 isnt bad for vbullitin either.

**triexa** · Jul 25, 2003 12:23

why do you say phpbb is horrid? I've used it on my lcoalc server for like a max of 10 minutes, but it seems fine... I guess I could install and try both out

as for vBulletin, if I bought it, I would get the owned license...

**philipwhite** · Jul 25, 2003 14:25

Originally Posted by sdesigns

why do you say phpbb is horrid?

Poor security and lack of features.

**DrkFusion** · Jul 25, 2003 13:27

As a long user of phpbb, invisionboard and vb.
It really depends on your site. The new phpbb, has features that have been standard in vb since the 2.x build. The coding is leaner, and easier to customize.

It is also very easy to integrate it into exisiting websites. They have free scripts for these at vB.org, but you can easily code it to integrate your own for example tutorials database, where only registered users can see, and/or comment, and let registered users with usergroups of XX to access downloads etc.

Now with vb3, if you have a site that will accept payments for member services on your board, vb3 has built in functions such as Subscriptions, where it automatically peforms any user upgrades to different usergroups, and gives them access to anything you put, when they pay through paypal, clickbank, and some other options, these are done immediatly, and you are given notice. They also have cron jobs, which allow you to automatically back up your forums every day or so, this is all built into the new vb3. Which is released. It has a built in archive which allows search engines to crawl your website (though it needs a bit of work). It also has new template engine which is a key feature by vBulletin, which now other bulletin board systems are starting to adobt.

I can go on and on. Now support. Yes all board software have support, but vBulletin.com staff support, is fast, fully answered, and is not just some standard answer which is copied and pasted into the answer. The community at vBulletin.com is very experienced, as many of them are really experienced in many fields, they have sections that teach you how to customize your server, and how to optimize your forums.

vBulletin.org is also one of the biggest resources. Hacks wise. They have great code support there as well. Alot of great hacks, and they have tutorials on how to get the most out of your vB. They will teach you alot.

vBulletinTemplates.com they also have great support, and will teach you how to customize the front-end. They have a pretty large source.

Also for vb2 there are alot of optimization tips at vbulletin.org by Xenon, Filburt and Erwin. Which are some of the admins and mods at vBulletin.org that allow you to optimize your forums to have low loads on your server, if your forums will be very very busy. It is also able to withstand the great traffic.

vb3 is very optimized, and has a very low load on the servers, and a very low query count, with a new ingenious template caching, and query caching.

Overall. vBulletin is a great choice for any professional website, which you are serious about, it will pay itself over and over when it comes to branding, and other stuff.

**triexa** · Jul 25, 2003 13:54

Thanks DrkFusion! So, you'd recommend vBulletin, then phpBB and then InvisionBoard?

Could you possible rate them out of 100, so I can see, in your option, how they compare WITH EACH other? Thanks!

**triexa** · Jul 25, 2003 14:33

I heard phpBB2.2 has tons of great features... but just, when will it become a final release...

**DrkFusion** · Jul 25, 2003 15:27

Originally Posted by sdesigns

I heard phpBB2.2 has tons of great features... but just, when will it become a final release...

Tons of features, which are new, and now have been apart of vB, for close to a year now. Some of the stuff they call unique have been incorporated in vB2, and some of their "innovative features" are already available in vb3 with better functions.

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