How do you go about creating a forum like this?

[brisck1]

I have quite an in depth knowlege of Dreamweaver and flash, and have made many websites in the past, and now for my latest one i would like to create a forum similar (although not as sophisticated) to this one. But it has since dawned on me that i aint got a clue as to where i even start! do i need an in depth knowledge of HTLM coding or are there packages out there which can help me along?

Cheers.

 

[ComradeBadger]

www.vbulletin.com

 

[brisck1]

Thanks, but are there any ( ;( ) free alternatives?

 

[Axyon]

Thanks, but are there any ( ;( ) free alternatives?

http://www.phpbb.com/

 

[Hot Soup]

last I checked ( in order of my preferance )

phphbb
invision
xmb
ikonboard

The guys on .dev use punbb and I'm sure there are a few others.

I know our resident tech bloke , starmonkey made his own simple ones using php a while back if you wanted to go the route of making your own.

But honestly vb is worth the money but if you can't afford it go with phpbb I think

 

[Majestic XII]

We're using (a modded) PunBB on .Dev. You can get it here:

www.punbb.org

Its fast and it got everything you need!

 

[ComradeBadger]

phpbb is arse. We used it to configure the www.oes-mod.org forums.. it sucks :/

 

[simmo]

yup, vbulletin is king, followed by invision

 

[brisck1]

Thanks the PHPBB one is ideal, i got it up and running already... just have to make it look a bit more stylish

 

[Hot Soup]

good stuff

 

[ComradeBadger]

Anyone know how to properly configure PHPBB?

(perferabbly someone I know well, or is staff :E )

 

[Hot Soup]

well I'm not exactly blessed with website skills and I've got it working on 3 different sites


/me teases mrbadger

 

[ComradeBadger]

Well, me and Zerimski failed to get it right :E

Helpage would be appriciated

 

[Hot Soup]

what exactly is wrong
I mean what do you mean by not configured properly

 

[chapel]

I personally like Invision board. Why, probly cause Im most familiar with it, and I think it looks remarkably better than phpbb. Its in my oppinion the closest to vb with out paying. Of course I wouldnt pay for ibf, Id just spend it on vb.

www.ibplanet.com
www.ibforums.com

I used to own vb, but that was along time when I used to be a webhost.

If you need help with ibf there badger just ask, I dont mind helping a fellow modder out.

 

[Perkins]

I have set up a forum on phpbb and it runs fine, the only main downside I can see is that is a pig to restore from back up.

If you want a website that will have dynamic content (e.g. lots of news, input from various persons outside of the forums) then a Content Management System is a good thing to consider. This allows the website to be updated from just a browser without the need for too much in the way of FTP software or Dreamweaver and the like once the thing is set up. I have used phpnuke, which is released under a GNU, and it is great to use, although without heavily modding the sites can look a little generic.

The site in my sig is nuke, although we use a separate VBulletin forums