Your Review: Ikonboard

[Hierophant]

4. IkonBoard (http://www.ikonboard.com) - Ikonboard looks like a promising system. Currently the newest version (3.0) is in beta testing but a lot of thought and planning went into the rewrite. With this version, you can store your data to a proprietary database format or use MySQL as your backend. Following the lead of vBulletin, Ikonboard is adding a lot of new features beyond simple messaging. While this software is still a little rough around the edges for my personal taste, it does have a cult following and will be getting better. I will have to take another look once 3.0 is officially released. My Personal Rank is 3.5 stars out of 5. Will the release of 3.0 earn it a complete 5 out of 5? We can only wait and see.


What is your view of IkonBoard?

[6flagsohio]

I, in cooperation with another site have been running on ikonboard forum for about a month now using version 2.1.9.... I have also actively looking at the IBv3 beta's. I see them as a huge improvement to already great and free software. A good choice to lead any community.

[Nicky]

Wayne, congrats on the article which I read with particular interest as I am hoping to implement a board on one of my sites. I was surprised however, that you made no mention of Snitz. is that not a piece of software comparable with the others?

[Ahmad1]

I have to agree that ikonboard is a little buggy. I currently have a pretty strong community growing VOP Forums using IK 2.1.8.b with revisions to improve a lot the problems. I'm currently working on a script revision to change the flat style database so that I can use MySQL. If I'm successful that will greatly improve it's performance IMHO.

I've tried to convince IK Team to provide support for MySQL in IK 2.XXX until v3 goes final. We'll see if they go for it. That will prbably depend on how successful we are at implementing such a change.

I aslo think v.3 has a long way to go although it shows promise. The IK Team provides great support. Quite impressive from that perspective.

[James]

Originally posted by Nicky
Wayne, congrats on the article which I read with particular interest as I am hoping to implement a board on one of my sites. I was surprised however, that you made no mention of Snitz. is that not a piece of software comparable with the others?

In my opinion Snitz is a very viable free solution - in fact I almost used it on one site a year or two ago. But it has one major disadvantage: it is ASP based. It won't run on 95% of hosts out there...I doubt Wayne left it out on purpose as it is without doubt a good script, but the fact that it is ASP means it is little use for those of us on Unix servers.



I really doubt the iB team will add MySQL support to iB 2.x - it is a lot of work to add it, especially in an old version that will soon be unsupported when v3 goes out of beta. I'm sure they feel their effors are better concentrated on iB 3 development.

[Hierophant]

I didn't cover Snitz because it doesn't have the "buzz" surrounding it as the others do. If all the different solutions were to be covered in one article it would be dozens of pages long.

[Duke of URL]

The coding seems to be nice - definitely good for the price Does need some work on the interface, tried to copy the look of vb a little too much in the basic out-of-the-box design.

Snitz is a just-as-good piece of work and will run on most any database (including oracle, ms sql server, etc etc ). Being .asp does reduce the number of servers it can run on, but the script itself is nice.

[AppleCider]

I am using the beta version of IB on one of my client's sites, and they are delighted. I agree that it needs some work, but you know that going into a beta. The price is right, the support is good, particularly for a free system.

As for the interface, with the current beta version, you can change the skin to suit the site. Also, very easy to install, even for someone who doesn't know much about CGI/Perl.

I'd highly recommend it for a small site that doesn't have much in the way of financial resources. I wouldn't recommend it for a large, professional site.

[jimb]

Im currently using Ikonboard 2.1.9 and its great! We are slowly growing, but it hold up great! I cant wait until they release the 2.2 or 3 versions. Both should be a very big competitor of VBulletin. I like the fact that its free too, and not $85 dollars like VB. Also, alot of people have growing angers against VBulletin. I was just on these forums, and found this thread:

http://forums.yourhostsucks.com/show...s=&threadid=30

They are mad at the company that owns Vbulletin, JelSoft Enterprieses.


Jim

[redemption]

i tried ikonboard 3 and i have to say it's rather good... lots of functionality...

however, i encountered several bugs in the administration section and it wasn't as easy to setup as phpBB...

i give it 7 out of 10

[jimb]

Originally posted by redemption
i tried ikonboard 3 and i have to say it's rather good... lots of functionality...

however, i encountered several bugs in the administration section and it wasn't as easy to setup as phpBB...

This is mostly because it is still in the BETA verison. The final release of the IkonBoard should fix all the bugs. Also, with the installation, its really easy now since they have a install panel, which you just have to fill out via the web, and its all up and running. v2.1.9 also had this. I currently run it at speedlimitz.com
and love it

Jim