The Definitive Guide to which Forum Software Information
 

I am posting this thread because I am getting tired of seeing htreads being started called stuff like "is phpbb free" or "Which is better IPB or Vbulletin".

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So basically what I would like to do is build up a thread of lots of information about each forum. If you wouldn't mind following my basic structure to make it easy to view and find the information you are looking for. I will start with Webwiz Forums:

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Web Wiz Forums


Platform/ Scripting Language/Database

Windows/ASP/MS Access, MSDE, MS SQL Server, SQL 2005 Express, mySQL 4.1, mySQL 5+

Price

Free with small ads and link to creator

Or. £59.99 to remove ads and links forever!

Features

• Unlimited Forums, Sub Forums, Posts and Members<LI class=text>Member API for integration into an existing member login system <LI class=text>RSS Feeds of Posts, Topics, and Calendar Events <LI class=text>Built in RSS Online Feed Viewer, for browsers supporting XSLT <LI class=text>Private Messenger System (optional)
• Calendar System (optional)
• Forum polls (optional)
• WYSIWYG Editor
• Includes 'HTML Secure' Technology to prevent malicious code such as XSS being posted using the WYSIWYG Editor<LI class=text>Message text formatting <LI class=text>Animated Emoticon images (optional) <LI class=text>Avatar Gallery (optional)
• Uploading of Avatars by members (optional)
• Member avatar uploading (optional)
• Image and file uploading in posts (server components required)
• Hyper-links, FTP links, and email address can be added to posts
• Images (GIF, JPEG, PNG) and Flash animation (optional) can be added to posts and signatures<LI class=text>Powerful CSS Style Sheets for forum skinning <LI class=text>Various Skins available
• Support for load balanced servers, web farms, and web gardens<LI class=text>Unlimited member groups
• Powerful security options, select which member groups or individuals can view, reply, post, etc. in each forum you setup
• Ladder system for member groups (optional)
• Create private password protected forums
• Member Control Panel
• Web Wiz Captcha - Security code image for sensitive forms to prevent password cracking and remote form submissions
• <LI class=text>Post Preview <LI class=text>Quick reply feature <LI class=text>Moderated Posts, post need to be approved by member before they are displayed (optional on forum and group level) <LI class=text>Dynamic signatures with signature preview <LI class=text>Choose whether to attach signature to messages <LI class=text>Printer friendly version of posts for Topic printing <LI class=text>Message quoting and editing <LI class=text>Hot topics and new posts icons <LI class=text>Announcements and Sticky Topics
• Extensive forum member FAQ/help files<LI class=text>Guest posting (optional)
• Multiple Administrators
• Set multiple moderator groups or multiple individuals to moderate forums
• Member configurable time off-set and date format<LI class=text>Email activation of new memberships accounts (optional)
• Active Topics Page
• Ultra Secure session handling and tracking system, can also be configured for load balanced servers, web gardens, and web farms
• Forum statistics
• COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) compliance
• Advanced Malicious Code Filters for greater security
• IP banning
• Email and email domain banning
• Enable/Disable Registration - Disable new members signing up<LI class=text>Lock Forums for maintenance <LI class=text>Lock old or closed Topics <LI class=text>Move Topics between Forums <LI class=text>Move Posts between Topics and Forums <LI class=text>Set Forum Moderators <LI class=text>Unlimited Topics, Posts, and Members
• Terms of Service agreement
• Jump to a forum<LI class=text>Email notification, subscribe and unsubscribe to any forum or topic
• Email notification subscription page to view and edit all forums and topics subscribed to<LI class=text>Email forgotten passwords to users at login <LI class=text>Email topic to a friend
• Built-in email messenger<LI class=text>Welcome email sent to new members <LI class=text>Support for Microsoft's CDONTS and CDOSYS, w3 JMail, Persists AspEmail, and ServerObjects AspMail components <LI class=text>Support for SMTP Server Authentication <LI class=text>Extensive web based password protected Administration and Configuration Centre <LI class=text>Searchable members list <LI class=text>Message, Subject and Author full Search facilities <LI class=text>Language file for easy conversion for non-English web sites (comes with international English language file) <LI class=text>Additional language files available <LI class=text>Stored Procedures used on SQL Server version for higher performance <LI class=text>Suspend or delete unwanted member accounts
• Batch delete posts
• Batch move posts between forums
• Batch delete members
• Batch delete Private Messages<LI class=text>Configurable Bad word filter - configure word to be replaced and word to replace with <LI class=text>Configurable Advanced Flood Control and Anti-spam settings - prevents forum post flooding and double posting <LI class=text>Forum statistics <LI class=text>Active Users List, see who's on the forum at that time <LI class=text>Auto Login <LI class=text>Log-off user
• Support for Windows Authentication and Active Directory

More Information

http://www.webwizguide.com/web_wiz_f...t.asp?mode=asp

Comments

Excellent forum software and fully customizable. Many professional have written add ons and it is very easy to edit yourself. There are alse free skins available. It is one of only a few ASP forums available.

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PS. Admin/Mods,

I would be very grateful if you could "sticky" this topic.

Re: The Definitive Guide to which Forum Software Information
 

phpBB

Price: Free
phpBB version 2 has been completely re-written since the first version. Version 2 focuses on a professional-quality modular design, high security, multiple-language interface, support for a multitude of databases servers and complete layout customisation, all with a low execution overhead.
phpBB is based on PHP, the fastest growing server-side scripting language on the web, which results in one of the fastest, feature-rich bulletin board systems available anywhere.
In addition, phpBB is open-source software so it has no fees, no subscriptions, and no restrictions on modifications. Couple this with a thriving and friendly phpBB community and you have a killer solution for creating communities on your site!
http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifInstallation

• Simple installation that will have you up and running in minutes
• Complete upgrade from V1.x

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifDatabase Server Support

• phpBB uses a database abstraction layer to enable seamless support of several database servers:
  • MySQL 3.2x,
  • PostgreSQL 7.x,
  • Microsoft SQL Server 7/2000
  • Microsoft Access (via ODBC)
  • ...with more databases available in the future.

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifSecurity

• Designed with security as a priority
• Powerful and extensive authorisation system
• Strong encryption to keep passwords safe in the database
• Support for both cookie and URI-based sessions

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifUnlimited Forums & Categories

• Unlimited forums can be organised into as many categories as you like
• Private forums and those only for specified user groups
• Powerful search facility

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifPosting Messages

• Message formatting with various font styles and sizes as well as allowing quoting, code display, image posting and automatic URL linking
• Support of standard and extended BBCode tags and controlled HTML tags
• Polls can be simply added to posts
• Email notification of replies to your topics
• Powerful topic subscription capability
• Original emoticons to portray emotions

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifVersatile User Groups & Forum Permissions

• Powerful forum, user and group permission management
• Control forum access to specified user groups
• Control all aspects of the posting experience
• Allow limited access to viewing, posting, replying and many other options

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifMember Features

• Unlimited members
• Personal profile creation
• Post counting and administrator-definable ranks for users
• Email-like private messaging system
• Supports local, remote and uploadable avatars

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifModeration Features

• Topic editing
• Mass delete/move/lock/unlock of posts
• Topic splitting
• Option of auto-pruning of old or unanswered messages on a per-forum basis

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifEasy to Use Administration Centre

• General configuration
• Forum & category setup
• Easy database backup and restore
• Disallowed usernames
• User authorisation
• Word censoring
• Complete member management
• Emoticon setup
• Optional account verification
• Extensive ban management, ban by email address, username or single/multiple IP address or hostname
• IP tracking of posts and posters
• Mass emailing of groups and users by the administrator

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifStyle and Customisation

• Multiple styles available for the user to choose from
• Templates separated from the PHP code so that new layouts can easily be created or integrated with your current site design
• Complete control of fonts and colours with cascading style sheets (CSS)
• Active community creating addons and specialised modifications
• Default style compliant with XHTML 1.0 and HTML 4.01 recommendations from the W3C

http://www.phpbb.com/images/top.gifSupport

• All this is supported by an increasingly large, thriving and friendly community of members from all over the world ready to help with any problems, suggestions or just for general discussion!

Re: The Definitive Guide to which Forum Software Information
 

I would like to recommend a forum script for those of you who do not have or do not want to use a database. Ultimate PHP board is a flat file forum script that stores all of its data in normal text files.
I use it on my own website because at the time of deciding to install a forum I had to pay for mysql databases and i didn't want to.
UPB can be downloaded FREE form www.myupb.com
They have a good fast technical support forum and also offer some MSN assistance too.

Re: The Definitive Guide to which Forum Software Information
 

Hi !!

I am looking for a forum software which has following features :

1. Supports windows Authentication and active directory.
2. Has .net framework based dlls.

the basic idea behind this type of forum software is to use it with WSS 3.0 and also with windows applications.

Could somebody guide me please.

Thanks,
Shridha

Re: The Definitive Guide to which Forum Software Information
 

To compare the community forum software packages on the market, both Open Source and Paid goto forummatrix.org. You will be able to compare there