May 30th, 2005

Filed under:
Internet
7 Comments »

LazyWeb Request: Forum Software

I’ve got a request for all of you web designers and admins out there: what’s your favourite forum software? I’m only familiar with UBBThreads and a couple of others, but my knowledge is a couple of years old.

My most important criteria is that the forum be search engine-friendly. As I’m sure you know, many forum packages don’t seem to play very well with Google and the like. The server setup would be a bog standard Linux plus Apache deal. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Comments: 7 Responses so far

Alex Harford
May 30th, 2005
3:18 pm

It seems like vBulletin is Google friendly:

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=site%3Athirdgen.org+c5+brakes

Although I prefer the phpBB interface:

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=site%3Awww.ubcscc.com+pre-reg&btnG=Search&meta=

[Reply]

adrian
May 30th, 2005
4:20 pm

That’s easy .. Drupal.

I greatly dislike the extra ‘fluff’ in most forum systems, and Drupal’s minimal forum, which makes use of it’s excellent taxonomy system make for a very powerful and simple solution.

You also get distributed logins gratis, so people don’t have to register on each site (although i suppose this will some day be utilized for spam). I despise nothing more than having to register on YAFPHPBB site.

You get RSS feeds of forums for free.

You get any type of input format that drupal supports (markdown, wikitext, textile and i suppose HTMLArea/TinyMCE gui editors).

Google _loves_ drupal sites.

You can use the new pathauto module to automatically create url’s in the format of mysite.com/forum/my-title-goes-here for all your posts. This makes the forum even more Drupal friendly.

Additional benefits include private messaging using the privatemsg module, and customizable user profiles with searchable categories using the included profile module. Avatars are also part of core.

Actually, when it comes down to it, all the major features of other forums are available in Drupal, except for the cluttered and messy (in my opinion) interfaces.

Disclaimer: I am one of the Bryght guys (http://www.bryght.com), and Drupal is what I do for a living.

[Reply]

Darren
May 30th, 2005
4:25 pm

Thanks for the replies.

I’m well-aware of Drupal. This may be a perception issue, but I’m pretty sure it’s not: Drupal will undoubtedly the hardest to install and maintain. I mean, even the description sounds complicated.

I wouldn’t debate Drupal’s robustness, its versatility and extensibility, but any time I look at it, it scares me. That’s why I like Bryght–they take much of the Drupal-related pain away.

[Reply]

Darren Harkness
May 31st, 2005
8:22 am

I second the suggestion of PHPBB - it’s easy to set up, has options for moderation and email account confirmation, and is generally a pleasure for users to use. I’ve used it a few times, for users of various experience levels, and there has never been a problem.

[Reply]

Richard Eradus
May 31st, 2005
12:22 pm

I like phpboard, works just fine for me..

[Reply]

WitheHorse
April 19th, 2007
10:04 am

Hi all!
I like this forum!!

[Reply]

minkspeni
November 19th, 2008
8:28 am

Hi nto All
My problemm: my pc worked slowly, fast reeboot and some others.
Please, help me to fix it - I need some sites, that consist info, how can I do it.
Thanks,
minkspeni

[Reply]

Add a comment