My Opinion On Phpbb3.x.x phpBB3.x.x is better than all the others

[csp4.0 1]

This is my opinion only. Feel free to correct me or if you think otherwise...NOTE: I am NOT advertising phpBB and I do NOT get any profit in making this post :)Invision Power Services' Invision Power Board (IPB), although very popular doesn't have enough new features and flexibility to keep it going against the free forum software...Jellsoft's popular "vBulletin" is becoming more and more popular these days with most of the gaming and web community. Though because of it's unecessarily high price, most of the free forum software are beating it!In my opinion, phpBB3.x.x is better than any other public forum software there is. You have to consider the fact the phpBB is free...It has a very large volunteered community. The list of mods are endless, creating styles/skins/themes are a breeze, especially with "ColorizeIt" out there...Compared to all the other forum software phpBB3.x.x ranks up to the top. For those that say phpBB3.x.x is not so good... Go out and try it! It is REALLY good! And in my opinion better than any other free forum software there is. I mean, if you would compare the different forum softwares, IPB and vBulletin are both commercial and cost US$150 (IPB) and US$170 (vBulletin), phpBB3.x.x is free, compared to myBB styling is so much easier and more easy to manage the styles, compared to AEF, phpBB's styles/skins/themes/mods are so much more than AEF's! And the list goes on!The phpBB team has brought us something really good for no price and yet people remove their copyright!But my main point of concern is why people don't like phpBB3.x.x? Sure, I can even say that phpBB2.x.x was bug-laden and had so many security holes, but with phpBB3.x.x there aren't any major security holes, the CAPTCHAs are so much better, and it is XHTML1.0 Strict!I myself don't have no Bertie but I certainly will get one if I get any money on my Paypal account anytime soon...IPS and Jelsoft makes you pay for something that phpBB gives for free! If you don't believe me, take a look for yourself!I myself use phpBB3.x.x and will not change anytime soon...There is just a few things with phpBB3.x.x though... I DO have to admit that vBulletin and IPB are somewhat more user-friendly than phpBB...

Edited July 21, 2008 by csp4.0 (see edit history)

[bangms 0]

I found this pretty useful. I've been looking for a good forum software for my site and I've always considered Phpbb3 but never tried it. I think this post persuaded me to try it out. Right now, I'm using AEF by Electron Inc. but I think I'll give Phpbb3 a try. I've been aware of IPB and vBulletin but I didn't want to pay to use forum software so this looks like a good alternative.

[bsdpowa 0]

A lot of skins and mods, a large community, a pretty looks and no cost at all... It all sounds very nice but people don't go buying IPBs and VBs for no reason, there is a major reason they (including me) decide to purchase commercial solutions and that reason is security. How many times have you seen IPB get hacked and how many times have you seen phpBB get hacked? Don't tell me those nice little stories about cool skins and free mods, security is what counts.

 

Ask Xisto, DigitalPoint, SitePoint, V7N and other forums with tens of thousands of users why they don't run free software? Do you really think they can afford their forums with 150,000 members get hacked? I don't think so and here I rest my case.

 

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I think phpBB3 is nice for running your own forum for your friends or a very small community nobody gives a damn about but definitely not for commercial purposes.

Edited July 21, 2008 by bsdpowa (see edit history)

[Forbez 0]

I've been admin for all 3 major software, invision power board, vBulletin board and phpbb3.x.x.

Basing my opinion just on looks, I'd say phpbb3.x.x is the definete winner. The basic design for phpbb3.0 is better then professionally designed templates for invision power boards and vBulletin boards.

 

For flexibility invision and vBulletin are closely matched. The amount of mods released for vBulletin is huge, the same applies with invision. Not so much with phpbb3.0, due to the fact it's only been out recently. The admin panel for editing the templates and styles on invision and vBulletin are a lot easier to adjust and edit. As you get to create styles easily, unlike phpbb3.0.

 

For easy to use, phpbb3.0 would win. The admin panel has been designed beautifully that anyone can use it without being taught anything. But vBulletin and invision, although harder to get use to at the start, once you do get use to them you'll see the difference in what you can achieve. vBulletin's and invision's admin panel are far better, but far more complex.

 

Some may agree, others may disagree but I've had experience with all software on different forums. All forums with different aims and achievements.

[asglu 0]

This is my opinion only. Feel free to correct me or if you think otherwise...
NOTE: I am NOT advertising phpBB and I do NOT get any profit in making this post

Invision Power Services' Invision Power Board (IPB), although very popular doesn't have enough new features and flexibility to keep it going against the free forum software...

Jellsoft's popular "vBulletin" is becoming more and more popular these days with most of the gaming and web community. Though because of it's unecessarily high price, most of the free forum software are beating it!
In my opinion, phpBB3.x.x is better than any other public forum software there is. You have to consider the fact the phpBB is free...

It has a very large volunteered community. The list of mods are endless, creating styles/skins/themes are a breeze, especially with "ColorizeIt" out there...

Compared to all the other forum software phpBB3.x.x ranks up to the top.

For those that say phpBB3.x.x is not so good... Go out and try it! It is REALLY good! And in my opinion better than any other free forum software there is. I mean, if you would compare the different forum softwares, IPB and vBulletin are both commercial and cost US$150 (IPB) and US$170 (vBulletin), phpBB3.x.x is free, compared to myBB styling is so much easier and more easy to manage the styles, compared to AEF, phpBB's styles/skins/themes/mods are so much more than AEF's! And the list goes on!

The phpBB team has brought us something really good for no price and yet people remove their copyright!

But my main point of concern is why people don't like phpBB3.x.x? Sure, I can even say that phpBB2.x.x was bug-laden and had so many security holes, but with phpBB3.x.x there aren't any major security holes, the CAPTCHAs are so much better, and it is XHTML1.0 Strict!

I myself don't have no Bertie but I certainly will get one if I get any money on my Paypal account anytime soon...

IPS and Jelsoft makes you pay for something that phpBB gives for free! If you don't believe me, take a look for yourself!

I myself use phpBB3.x.x and will not change anytime soon...

There is just a few things with phpBB3.x.x though... I DO have to admit that vBulletin and IPB are somewhat more user-friendly than phpBB...

phpbb is an opensource forum script,but I like phpbb or phpbb2 much than phpbb3,because phpbb3 does not have forum category



.You can use mybb its an open source script it has a nice shoutbox script as a plug-in



and who said you that ipb has less mods than vb?


Ipb is the most edited forum script as far as I know, all thing needed is to manage those.

just a little example.

compare between ipb's popup inbox and vb's popup inbox

[jalarambang 0]

phpbb is an opensource forum script,but I like phpbb or phpbb2 much than phpbb3,because phpbb3 does not have forum category.You can use mybb its an open source script it has a nice shoutbox script as a plug-in
and who said you that ipb has less mods than vb?
Ipb is the most edited forum script as far as I know, all thing needed is to manage those.

just a little example.

compare between ipb's popup inbox and vb's popup inbox

[A200 0]

I have used phpBB2 and 3, IPB, vB (i didn't own the script, but my friend who has a copy of both let me take a look at the admin cp of his forums), SMF, MyBB, AEF and some others which I can't remember the name of.I like phpBB3 a lot, but I have quite a few gripes about it.1. Due to the fact that heaps of phpBB3 users are at the community asking for help at the same time means that its really hard to get support there, and most likely you won't get your issue resolved. phpBB's success is it's biggest failure. Support. There simply isn't enough people online to answer every single support request and most of the time it's best if you ask at a smaller phpBB board (forums like StarTrekGuide for example) where you would get support.2. That prosilver style. Yes it looks nice, but no matter how hard to try, it will ALWAYS have that 'prosilver look' and thus it is hard to make your board unique.I have to go now but I will add more later-A200

Edited July 22, 2008 by A200 (see edit history)

[csp4.0 1]

A lot of skins and mods, a large community, a pretty looks and no cost at all... It all sounds very nice but people don't go buying IPBs and VBs for no reason, there is a major reason they (including me) decide to purchase commercial solutions and that reason is security. How many times have you seen IPB get hacked and how many times have you seen phpBB get hacked? Don't tell me those nice little stories about cool skins and free mods, security is what counts.

 

Ask Xisto, DigitalPoint, SitePoint, V7N and other forums with tens of thousands of users why they don't run free software? Do you really think they can afford their forums with 150,000 members get hacked? I don't think so and here I rest my case.

 

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I think phpBB3 is nice for running your own forum for your friends or a very small community nobody gives a damn about but definitely not for commercial purposes.

I agree, because phpBB is open source and anyone CAN modify the source code without permission, and even see the source code; it will be ALOT quicker for hackers to find vulnerabilities in phpBB and other open source forum software like IPB or vBulletin.

 

The thing with phpBB3, because its open source it MAY actually be a good thing if you are very good at php. Because then, you would be able to "fix up" code that looks like a vulnerability to you, and upgrading might not mean all your mods/work is going to go to waste, as phpBB3.x.x's new upgrade feature allows modifications to be kept.

 

phpBB3.x.x is wonderful software for those who are low on budget or who don't want to spend any money on their personal website.

 

I have to agree with you that for a commercial website, you'd be safer going with a closed-source forum software... Though if you're so good at php, why not just make your own forum software?

 

 

I've been admin for all 3 major software, invision power board, vBulletin board and phpbb3.x.x.

Basing my opinion just on looks, I'd say phpbb3.x.x is the definete winner. The basic design for phpbb3.0 is better then professionally designed templates for invision power boards and vBulletin boards.

 

For flexibility invision and vBulletin are closely matched. The amount of mods released for vBulletin is huge, the same applies with invision. Not so much with phpbb3.0, due to the fact it's only been out recently. The admin panel for editing the templates and styles on invision and vBulletin are a lot easier to adjust and edit. As you get to create styles easily, unlike phpbb3.0.

 

For easy to use, phpbb3.0 would win. The admin panel has been designed beautifully that anyone can use it without being taught anything. But vBulletin and invision, although harder to get use to at the start, once you do get use to them you'll see the difference in what you can achieve. vBulletin's and invision's admin panel are far better, but far more complex.

 

Some may agree, others may disagree but I've had experience with all software on different forums. All forums with different aims and achievements.

I totally agree with you. The admin control panel is designed to be very user-friendly. But as a result lacks on some other, more complicated features that IPB and vBulletin have...

 

Actually, I would find creating styles for phpBB3.x.x (proSilver base) so much easier than for the other forum softwares...

 

Mainly, then ENTIRE looks can be changed JUST by editing "bg_header", "bg_list", "colours.css", "common.css" and that's it! but for more complicated styles or for portals, you'd have to change the template files...

 

phpbb is an opensource forum script,but I like phpbb or phpbb2 much than phpbb3,because phpbb3 does not have forum category

 

 

 

.You can use mybb its an open source script it has a nice shoutbox script as a plug-in

 

 

 

and who said you that ipb has less mods than vb?

 

 

Ipb is the most edited forum script as far as I know, all thing needed is to manage those.

 

just a little example.

 

compare between ipb's popup inbox and vb's popup inbox

phpBB3.x.x DOES have forum categories!

 

1. In ACP navigate to "Manage Forum".

2. You then type in the category name and press "Create a New Forum", in the right-hand side...

3. You should see a list of "Forum Settings", the first one should be "Forum Type", set that to "Category"

4. and That's it... set your own parameters and you have categories.

 

To create forums inside of categories, either navigate inside on of the categories (in the ACP) and create a new forum there, OR create a new forum and set the "Forum Parent" to a category of your choice...

 

 

I have used phpBB2 and 3, IPB, vB (i didn't own the script, but my friend who has a copy of both let me take a look at the admin cp of his forums), SMF, MyBB, AEF and some others which I can't remember the name of.

 

I like phpBB3 a lot, but I have quite a few gripes about it.

 

1. Due to the fact that heaps of phpBB3 users are at the community asking for help at the same time means that its really hard to get support there, and most likely you won't get your issue resolved. phpBB's success is it's biggest failure. Support. There simply isn't enough people online to answer every single support request and most of the time it's best if you ask at a smaller phpBB board (forums like StarTrekGuide for example) where you would get support.

 

2. That prosilver style. Yes it looks nice, but no matter how hard to try, it will ALWAYS have that 'prosilver look' and thus it is hard to make your board unique.

 

I have to go now but I will add more later-

 

A200

1. Yes, but people WILL try to answer your question. Its just that the time difference probably means most of the users are asleep...

 

But yes, asking on STG will usually get you a quicker answer...

 

2. Not necessarily... Take a look at some of the styles created by "ShadowFlames Development", "Semi_Deus", and/or other people who are on the "Styles Team" at STG or phpBB.com... also, some of the ones that normal people create are quite good...

 

Or you can just get a style based on subSilver2...

[A200 0]

I have used the styles on ShadowFlames Development- I quite like BF Vista and Glacier styles, and there are some nice styles, but I do notice quite a few styles that are prosilver with the colours changed and its a bit repetitive and doesn't look unique.

[csp4.0 1]

yeah, I agree with you... Too many styles these days are basically re-coloured versions of proSilver...There are SOME styles (i.e. Glacier) that are proSilver based but aren't JUST recoloured versions of proSilver...You COULD try the style called "Mimic" which basically "Mimics" the phpbb.com theme which is not released and the next best one will be "Swanky's Rounded Corners", and then "proGrey/proGray"You could also try to make your own proSilver based style, like I'm doing right now...You can even make your proSilver based style look almost excatly as subSilver 2 based styles...There is one bad thing about phpBB3.x.x and it is very annoying... With Joomla!, or IPB, or something, installing mods is a breeze! With phpBB you have to manually edit the file core, and if something goes wrong then you would have to manually uninstall again!

[A200 0]

^^ Yeah editing core files annoys me too, its especially annoying when mods are updated and you don't pick up on it, and it gets to the stage where the version of the MOD you have isn't supported so you have to uninstall it manually and reinstall. Even boards like SMF, MyBB, AEF have had plugin installers for ages, its a real shame phpBB doesn't.