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General User forum best provider

Discussion in 'General' started by liesauk, Aug 16, 2010.

  1. liesauk

    liesauk Member

    Hi guys and gals

    I need to offer a forum on my website but I don't know of the best providers, I wonder if you would be kind enough to give your experience of forum peeps.. thanks!

    liesa
    xx
     
  2. Recidivist

    Recidivist VIP Member

    Providers as in free forums that are hosted by them, or a forum software that you can install on your site?

    PHPbb and SMF are my favourite (They need to be installed on your site)

    PHPbb is very customizable if you know HTML/CSS and it's very managable, however it takes quite a bit of trial and error to get used to the admin control panel.

    SMF is customizable too, but you will need to know PHP to do some changes (Such as move the navbar buttons around). The ACP is a lot easier to get your head around and it makes thing much simpler if you are fine with using a premade theme (You can easily make a new banner/header).

    FreeForum and PowerBoards are forums that you can set up, but are not hosted by you.
     
  3. gandalph

    gandalph New Member

    IPB (free version) is another free one - there is a commercial version as well, but the free version is pretty good.

    phpBB is not very secure in comparison to SMF and IPB.
     
  4. Techie

    Techie New Member

    There is no IPB free version unless you're talking about 1.3. I would recommend the IPB paid (newest version). I use it for my forum and it's great. You can also get it hosted on their servers.
     
  5. boxedart

    boxedart New Member

    If you are willing to use a paid service, there is nothing that beats vbulletin.
     
  6. nidhivyas

    nidhivyas Member

    PHPbb and SMF are my favorite.
    PHPbb is very customization if you know HTML/CSS and it is very manageable.
    It takes quite a bit of trial and error to get used to the admin control panel.
    SMF is customization too, but you will need to know PHP to do some changes .
    The ACP is a lot easier to get your head around and it is simple.
    if you are fine with using a premade theme.
    IPB is free version.
    There is a commercial version as well as the free version is pretty good.