PHP-Based BBSes

Posted on January 28, 2002

in Software

by Dan Romanchik (danr)

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Dan Romanchik

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User since: January 23, 2002

Last login: January 23, 2002

Articles written: 1

For many websites, a user forum is a necessity. For non-commercial sites, they provide a way for users to communicate with one another, and for many commercial sites, they are a good way to provide customer service.

I recently had to choose one for my newest website. Since the hosting server is Unix-based and I've become a big PHP fan, I looked only for BBSes written in PHP. I found five BBSes written in PHP. Three are open source. The other two are modestly priced. All of them make use of MySQL for storage.

Phorum (www.phorum.org) I actually have some experience with this particular BBS. I've installed it on two different websites. Installation is quick and relatively painless, and it's easy to customize, too.

I added a feature to the board which allows users to subscribe to the board by e-mail. Users simply type their e-mail address into a form, and a script appends that address to a list of e-mail addresses. When a user posts to the board, the script that enters the post into the database also emails it to the list of e-mail subscribers.

I've also written a module for phpWebSite that queries the Phorum database and displays a list of Phorum topics on phpWS pages.

PHPbb (phpbb.com)This one seems to be the favorite of the PHPNuke crowd. I don't have any experience with this one, but in surfing around some of the sites that use it, I must say that I like the way it looks. One thing I like is that there's a website devoted solely to hacks for PHPbb- phpbbhacks.com.

I recently tried installing this on one of my sites, but because PHP is running as a CGI program there rather than an Apache module, it wouldn't run right. I had to use Phorum after all.

XMBForum (www.xmbforum.com) I don't like the item layout much, but this board has a feature that the others lack: the ability to attach files, including graphics. You can, for example, upload a graphic which is your signature and appears on every post you make. You can also mark up your posts with html-like tags to get certain formatting effects and send private messages to other users. I don't know if it's included with the download, but it has a nice FAQ.

UBBThreads (www.infopop.com) This software costs about $250 for the PHP version. I was hired to install and customize this software for a client. They liked it better than Phorum, even though they had to pay for it.

The company planned on using the board for customer support, and they wanted to require that users register and be approved before they were given a login. This was relatively easy to do, as the coding of the BBS was very professional and almost self-explanatory.

This software also has a more finished look to it, but I'm not sure that characteristic was worth paying for. A Perl version is also available.

vBulletin (www.vbulletin.com) I really know nothing about this software. I just found it by accident while reading another forum. It's not free, but like UBBThreads it is not very expensive.

Dan Romanchik is a freelance writer and website developer based in Ann Arbor, MI. He is always working on too many things at once. One of his current passions is organizing free agents and freelancers of all types in and around Ann Arbor. For more information on that, go to FreeAgent AnnArbor.

Some of the websites he's worked on actually turn a profit. Some he works on just for fun. Most of them include some kind of database-driven feature. They include:

His personal website is at DanRomanchik.Com.

10 comments on this article. Log in to add your comment | Rate this article:

other options.

Submitted by tangent on January 29, 2002 - 18:25.

if your arn't tied to php check out http://yabb.xnull.com it's free it's well supported and there are tons of mos around for it to add all sorts of features. It's perl based and uses text files for storing the data. The code is well organized so making your own changes (which is allowed and encougarged) is easy.

vBulliten

Submitted by LuxFX on January 30, 2002 - 01:39.

vBulliten is what powers the massive discussion board over at http://www.flashkit.com -- which is currently closing in on 300,000 members. From the numbers alone it is obviously capable. I have found my experience with it -- from the user end -- to be very enjoyable, with many features. The Flashkit boards support images and even SWFs (flash movies) along with other types of more standard formatting options (bold text, quotes, lists, a wide variety of emoticons, etc.)

vB

Submitted by Zaccix on January 31, 2002 - 04:57.

One of the vBulletin team members is also an admin at BeyondUnreal.com (as I am). We currently run vB and it has held up great since we migrated from UBB in June 2000. The forums have over 27,000 members and sod knows how many posts!

Another great, free PHP/MySQL forum is OpenBB, which looks a bit like vBulletin in appearance and functionality.

IIS and PHP BBSes

Submitted by twigletmac on February 1, 2002 - 03:14.

Having just convinced my company to move from an ASP and Access Database driven website to a PHP and MySQL one I have now been charged with the task of finding some decent forum/bulletin board software. We're a local authority so free is the only option but there is what appears to be a major problem in that the server it will have to run on is IIS.

I thought I'd try Phorum because there's been some good press on that but unfortunately it stopped one of the services running on the server and the intranet (and our development website) went down. Due to the fact that the support for IIS from Phorum appears to be "Move to LINUX" I have been searching for another option. Currently I am experimenting with Yabb Se which has not crashed the server and has all the functionality I need for now.

One day when we move to an Apache server (the sooner the better) I'll have more choice but considering that PHP is cross platform (one of the arguments that forced the change from ASP) I've been very disappointed at the number of boards that don't work properly (or at all) on an IIS server.

I've got PHPbb up and running.

Submitted by neoliminal on February 1, 2002 - 10:48.

It was the easiest installation I've ever seen. One click on a web browser and it's installed and ready to go.

It seems very well featured and there are is great community of people writting extra code for it. The 2.0 version is coming out soon, and I look forward to upgrading to the new graphics.

The only thing missing from my perspective is a more advanced security system. Currently I can't easily restrict what recently registered users can see. I want to be able to force new registered users to become authorized before they can post.

Two thumbs up for this one.

Phorum

Submitted by veronicay on February 4, 2002 - 08:18.

I chose Phorum for a recent implementation of a bulletin board on a French site: Pays de la Narbonnaise

Although the likes of vBulletin and UBB have lots more features, I picked Phorum because we wanted to hand over admin of the forums to the client. Phorum's admin interface is very straightforward to use -- it doesn't overwhelm you with options, and you can give minimal admin rights over individual forums to different people.

Also, it's fairly easy to use CSS to match the style of your site; and very easy (one setup option) to switch it into French.

vBulletin is awesome.

Submitted by endquote on February 5, 2002 - 14:14.

I've been using vBulletin for its extensibility and the strong commitment of its developers to continue work on it. Paying for software like this is certainly worth it, if only for the support and the assurance that bugs will be found and squashed promptly. The templating scheme is phenomenal, and if you're willing to put the time in, you can squeeze it into nearly any design you like without mucking with the source code. If you do want to mess with the source though, it's do-able, as the code is well-organized and readable (assuming you're fairly fluent with PHP/MySQL).

Check out NWTekno.org, which is my main vB project. It's been heavily customized (via source code as well as templates) and is a good example of what you can do with it.

Invision Power Board

Submitted by AtonicPupil on August 28, 2003 - 21:34.

Nice article.

It's a welcome time saver to discover a single article that lists the pros and cons of several BBS systems. I'd like to add another to your list, but first, let me establish the path (at times tortuous) I took to get to it.

Starting back in 1996, I've installed and managed the following BBSs:

WWWBoard

Discus
UBB v4.x through v6.04b - UBB
YaBB Gold SP1 - YaBB
vBulletin (one of the early versions).

All of the above, with the exception of vBulletin, were Perl-based. Recently, I discovered, quite by accident, Invision Power Board, herein referred to as IPB. Like vBulletin, and the other boards mentioned above in Dan's article, this is a PHP/MySQL-based BBS. IPB is a spectacularly feature-rich, easy-to-use, and admin- / user-friendly forum, so I was surprised to not see it mentioned.

In addition to its enterprise-class feature set that rivals the most expensive offerings on the market (and I'm sorry if I sound like a bad TV announcer selling slicer dicers) is that it has what they call an unlimited trial for $0.00 (in other words "FREE!"). If you want and need extra support you can buy it for $59.95 per year or a one-time fee of $149.00.

I'm sure the other boards I've tried and discarded over the years have been updated and improved since last I used them, so please don't misinterpret my breathless endorsement of IPB to mean that it's better than the rest. What I am saying is that as an administrator of message board communities for over seven years this product impressed me the most. The developers and the user-community on their corporate boards have always been friendly and helpful (unlike UBB's support forums where I always felt the need to apologize for "bothering" them with my silly questions...and yet I had purchased over a dozen separate licences).

At the very least, give IPB a look if you are considering installing a PHP/MySQL message board.

In the last few years

Submitted by Cristian on March 21, 2007 - 20:29.

In the last few years forum's have become absolute necessity some of the webmasters would say. So you can see guestbooks and forums on many websites. Most of those forums don't have a purpuse. It's one thing to have a forum where members help each other concerning some issues and completely another thing if that forum is something just to fill the void in a website. Howeever there is comercial aspect to it. Most of those forums have some advertisments and forum owners can earn excellent revenue if they promote their forum around. But when it comes to linking phpbb is my favourite forum users and admins stand of point.
Cristian Benny

I don't agree. I think at

Submitted by cianuro on March 27, 2007 - 01:10.

I don't agree. I think at this stage the "Forum Void" has been pretty much filled on most topics. The leaders in each topic have well and truly been established. In most markets, starting a forum is futile and a waste of time and money. How many webmaster forums or search engine optimisation forums do you see opening and closing every day? Too many. Why? Because all the decent information and content is already available on ESTABLISHED forums. I think blogging is becoming the "New Forum" and there is so much more relevant and useful content on blog comments and are not susceptible to spam as each "Post" has it's own moderator. Forums and forum software do have their place, but not in the "General" markets any longer. Dave Davis

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