How to make a forum?

white_falcon

Hey I know this is a very generic and probably stupid question, but I basically just want to make a forum with the exact same template (or maybe a little different in terms of colours etc.) I have Dreamweaver 8, and also downloaded "Snizth Forum's 2000" program aswell. Just want to know what would be the easiest way of goin ahead with this. I dont mind learning a programming language - I don't actually know any, but I'm a very very quick learner :P

Any help is appreciated - thanks very much

white_falcon

Sorry, by the way, I have a friend with his own server so webhosting won't be a problem at all

jArgHA

falcon

it is a very large task to go about writing you own forum software, and since there is freely available forum software out there is not much point in reinventing the wheel.

I used Snitz Forum software on 2 websites, it was easy to configure and install, but I had awful problems with spamming (had to remove "want a bigger p*nis" or similar type messages every few days). I have not tried any other Forum software but I'm sure some1 else on boards can recommend a better solution to Snitz...

jAH

Dub13

Check out the one in my siganture,is it something like that you are looking for...?

white_falcon

Dub13 wrote:

Check out the one in my siganture,is it something like that you are looking for...?

erm sorry i cant see one in ur signature - cant even see ur signature actually to be honest

Dub13

www.irishkop.com

white_falcon

yea thats the basic type - I kind of want it a little more like boards actually - just nicely laid out and easy to follow - it seems that the boards template seems generic - you have to be kidding (sorry I hope that link is ok - its kind of a porn forum, but I just wanted to show that people em to use the same templates - if not I'll remove it immediately)

Does anyone know would Dreamweaver 8 be ok to create a forum with?

Rollo Tamasi

Dreamweaver is an authoring tool. You need to know a scripting language and datbase knowledge to create a forum.

It is a waste of time trying to create your own forum as there are tonnes available out there.

Buy vbulletin or something and then get somebody to design a template for it.

white_falcon

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

Dreamweaver is an authoring tool. You need to know a scripting language and datbase knowledge to create a forum.

It is a waste of time trying to create your own forum as there are tonnes available out there.

Buy vbulletin or something and then get somebody to design a template for it.

Ah rite, well I actually have a few templates for it I think from this site -

http://www.forumtemplates.com/

So basically ur saying I could "buy" vbulletin and just get some templates and its almost that easy?

alanjgrace

Or you could use phpbb which is free and does pretty much the same thing as vbulletin

CoNfOuNd

phpBB and vBulletin are very popular. phpBB probably more so as many webhosts have scripts to instantly install phpBB, and vBulletin less so as it requires a license which most people don't want to pay until their forum kicks off.

Just avoid hosted forums like Proboards where you don't have much control of the look or any control over the code or database.

Ziycon

Its not that hard to create a forum, im nearly finished creating a forum. I had to do it this way due to the functionality and layout i need fo rthe site!

forbairt

As the lads have said ... phpBB could be the way to go ... they are at Release Candidate 1 for version 3 .. and I just did a quick install this morning and its .. nice ... very slick interface ... looks a LOT more professional than previous versions ...

mneylon

And I'm sure phpbb in its latest iteration will be so very secure (not!)

vbulletin is excellent

If you want something simpler try vanilla

Kudos

blacknight wrote:

And I'm sure phpbb in its latest iteration will be so very secure (not!)

This is the 90s (not!) and you are 13 (not!). :P

axer

I used to use phpBB for a forum I run. I had at least one spam message a day. It was a disaster plus the features were lacking. I searched and searched for the best alternative until I came to Simple Machines Forum. I highly recommend it. Excellent free forum software. It has great features and I have not received one post of spam since I switched.

I think you best options are Simple Machines Forum if you want free forum software or vBulletin if you are willing to pay. Nothing else I came across compared to either.

With simple machines forum you use PHP to edit the templates. I don't know about vBulletin templates.

wheres me jumpa

Ill second Simple Machines Forum. Use it on the forum in my sig. Ive had no spamming/security problems. Previously ran PHPBB on a very small site, had a world of trouble with it.

Im setting up a new forum and will be purchasing Vbulletin simply because Ive been impressed with the extra's/plugins/features available.

wheres me jumpa

Also, to edit the templates with forum software, you generally need to be able to edit CSS. This will allow you to change the formatting and even layout. If you venture far from the standard centred rectangle layout you may need to edit the index file, which will then involve moving around html and php code.

tom-thebox

blacknight wrote:

And I'm sure phpbb in its latest iteration will be so very secure (not!)

vbulletin is excellent

If you want something simpler try vanilla

Did blacknight not run phpBB for a number of years?

Had you got security issues?

What made you loose faith in this product..

Please tell...

mneylon

tom-thebox wrote:

Did blacknight not run phpBB for a number of years?

Had you got security issues?

What made you loose faith in this product..

Please tell...

We used it for a while but the number of security holes that people were finding with phpbb made us change our policy. Vbulletin is a hell of a lot more secure

tom-thebox

blacknight wrote:

We used it for a while but the number of security holes that people were finding with phpbb made us change our policy. Vbulletin is a hell of a lot more secure

Has phpBB had more holes than Vbulletin?

Rollo Tamasi

tom-thebox wrote:

Has phpBB had more holes than Vbulletin?

What's with all the questions?

If you are so interested in security vulnerabilities why don't you contact both VB's and PHPBB's support and ask them directly, or Google it.

wheres me jumpa

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

What's with all the questions?

If you are so interested in security vulnerabilities why don't you contact both VB's and PHPBB's support and ask them directly, or Google it.

:rolleyes: somebody is narky... must be because he thought he saw me and it wasnt actually me!