Best Of The Flavors ?
For a long time it seemed PHPBB was poised as the program of choice when it came to adding a robust, open-source, PHP driven discussion forums to your website. No question it delivers the goods, and within a few hours (or days) of customizing you’d have a sophisticated and powerful add-on, or even stand-alone website that smacks of professionalism, even if you don’t. In fact, PHPBB is also a good php/mysql package to start with in getting to know how a CMS works in terms of implementation, configuration and backend administration panel …… but wait, this isn’t about PHPBB, it’s about an open-source, standards-compliant, multi-lingual, fully extensible discussion forum for the web that I like even better.
Vanilla Forums from Lussumo looks simple, which is a big part of the appeal, but don’t let looks deceive you because this program is all about extensibility, which in this case is a feature that really packs a punch, making it perhaps the most under-rated Dynamic Content System I’ve ever used.
It doesn’t get much simpler to install and set-up, and the fun part is to then go shopping for extensions, and there are lots of ‘em. As their website states … “Vanilla is all about add-ons. We’ve spent many, many months developing a new system whereby developers can create add-ons for Vanilla that allow you to do just about anything with your forum.”
I actually enjoyed implementing this the first time out and have used it many times since, something that certainly can’t be said for a lot of open-source programs. Hmmm … Simple AND Fun ? When’s the last time a web designer found anything to be simple / fun ? I think I actually found myself whistling for the first time in years rather than punching the wall. Not only that, but there doesn’t appear to be any real security issues either, which had me a little worried initially. I bring this up because for a while I had a lot of spam problems when using PHPBB, and even though there’s usually a version upgrade, patch, or workaround for it, this can become quite a maintenance issue as well as a concern with clients, many of whom aren’t too interested in the latest porn sites or penis enlargement techniques. With Vanilla on the other hand, I have yet to upgrade or apply a patch of any kind, and the program is very well supported through it’s creators and a vibrant online community, all of which can only bolster it’s reliability and usability.
So for the time being, this is my recommendation when setting up a Forums for your website, and who doesn’t need a Forums ? I suggest you go ahead and pop this baby open, drive it around the block, and take solace in the fact that you won’t have to spackle your wall this time around.
