HI!
I'm currently running a phpBB forum on my server. I must say, as a computer novice, I find it pretty difficult to change features in the board and add modifications, the forum does run very smoothly though and the community offers great support.
The reason I chose phpBB is simply because that's the only free software I was aware of at the timebeeing.
This is why I wonder: What are the main differences between phpBB and SMF?
I would like to hear from both users and developers (if possible), also people who have experience on both solutions!
Also, what does the vBullettin company offer that the free ones don't? Not much, it seems....
My forum is located at www.reggaemusic.no - It is only in norwegian, and it looks buttugly!
Thanks for any replies!
Max
Look at any of the sites in my signature, and you'll see exactly why I run the sites I do on SMF over any other forum software package.
While I welcome people to bring new things to the table, I will let you know that there is a vast amount of discussion already on this forum of why people like SMF (why they choose it over phpBB), that you can find by searching these forums.
If you changed from phpBB... (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=39946.0)
Which is better, SMF or phpBB (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=40731.0)
My opinion on SMF (http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=16971.0)
Ok, will do! thanks!
I think the SMF board looks better. But what about customization and changing up the look of the forum? i.e I would like ads on the side, top and bottom of the forum. Will that be easy to do?
Also, is it possible to transfer the data from phpBB to the SMF forum?
A MOD i really enjoy with phpBB is the youtubemod. It lets me add the following code [youtube]youtube-URL [/youtube] and it integrates the player in the post. It's not life and death, but defenetly a big PRO eventhough it took me friggin forever to get the installation right (tired at work today after sitting up all night playing a programmer...).
I shouldn't be to difficult to convince, SELL ME THE PRODUCT (evnthough its free...)
EDIT: Also, is PHP5 required to run SMF? My server only supports PHP4!
First off, SMF works with php 4.
It isn't normally that hard to convert to SMF, you can see documentation here - http://docs.simplemachines.org/index.php?board=4.0;sort=subject. A great thing about converting in my opinion is that it doesn't overwrite your existing forum or anything like that, so if something goes wrong, you won't be stuck with nothing.
There is an ad management mod you may be interested in:
http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=255
And YouTube - http://custom.simplemachines.org/mods/index.php?mod=936
in a way SMF is more easy to me.
you can install mods via the package installer.
which you don't have to edit each file, to install it.
all i can say is i am thankful for the creation of smf.
See also http://www.forummatrix.org :)
Lainaus käyttäjältä: maxklrI think the SMF board looks better.
Let's not make a mistake here...
Let me explain something, it's true that out of the box, a forum that is nice, or like you said, "looks better", does have its importance. However, one must take care of looking deeper than the surface. The first time I saw SMF, I did not like it that much compared to some others, what made me choose SMF was the outstanding coding, not the look. The look can be changed at profusion, the coding only to a certain point, more than that my as well code a new forum...
however, like you said yourself, and I quote you beow:
Lainaus käyttäjältä: maxklrBut what about customization and changing up the look of the forum?
For that, you need to install SMF out of the public view, play with it, change stuff and get to know it, then you can make you own conclusion. Coming here asking the SMF community for our opinion can be pretty much biased, don't you think? ;)
Yes, biased indeed, but I want to be convinced, and I guess this forum is the best place to get convinced, right? :)
Also, I just encountered a new problem with phpBB: If I want to change up the style of the forum all my MODs (which i spent forever trying to install) will be gone and need reinstallation. Now that truly and really SUCKS!
When I talk about changing the look, it's all pretty basic stuff, and as long as theres someone to help me out in here, I guess I'll go for the conversion. It's just really important that all the posts remain in the forum, so I'll need to know how that works.
Also: If I want to expand my site sometime, is it easy to integrate the forum? (i.e with Joomla!?)
smf is far more advanced/complex in the admin panel - needs some time to get used to it. The organisational structuring of the code is cleaner and therefore easier to customised.
PHPbb still needs a very long way to go until it's comparable to smf
If the user interface is complex, I can handle it, its the goddarn code that's killing me!
i find SMF much easier to understand than phpbb.. and i was a phpbb admin for 2 years
Lainaus käyttäjältä: maxklr - marraskuu 14, 2007, 05:21:04 IP
Also: If I want to expand my site sometime, is it easy to integrate the forum? (i.e with Joomla!?)
Not with Joomla. We have discontinued the smf-joomla bridge. (for reasons, see that many posts on the subject)
You can, however, use TinyPortal (an SMF mod), Mambo, XOOPS or E107
Lainaus käyttäjältä: babjusi - marraskuu 14, 2007, 05:39:40 IP
Frankly I don''t think that phpbb will ever be comparable with smf....
you may be well right here! - PHPbb development/progress is fairly slow, too many Betas and RCs, therefore it appears to be a bit disorganised. I used it for a few weeks, watched their forum discussions and decided it's going nowhere.
I liked phpbb because I was a "PRO" at it so to speak, I knew ow to do everything with it, that's why I'm having such a hard time as it is now, I have to re learn everything now that I'm with SMF. I've used VB, it's the same as all the others, the forums are a little better, and I like there themes better, bout it.
Not necessarily -- we also take our time in development -- but not without reason.
Lainaus käyttäjältä: BlackMage - marraskuu 14, 2007, 06:58:36 IP
Not necessarily -- we also take our time in development -- but not without reason.
it's not about time, it's mainly about too much/long bug fixing hampering progress. They probably need until version 4 to become comparable to smf version 114.
OK! I've Converted. this software KICKS ASS! Thanks and may the computer god bless you all!
I've already installed mods and whatnot and everything looks SWEET.
Lainaus käyttäjältä: maxklr - marraskuu 16, 2007, 07:08:44 AP
OK! I've Converted. this software KICKS ASS! Thanks and may the computer god bless you all!
I've already installed mods and whatnot and everything looks SWEET.
Just a word of caution concerning Mods - they may screw your forum and un-installation is in many cases not perfect. Always have a forum folder backup before installing a mod - that way, if something goes wrong, you can wipe the forum folder, restore from the backup and all is well again.
no automatic mod system is perfect. actually on hosts and configurations that allow it, smf does its own backup in the backups folder inside the packages folder
Lainaus käyttäjältä: BlackMage - marraskuu 16, 2007, 05:13:54 IP
no automatic mod system is perfect.
one would expect the un-installation of a mod to be able to restore the forum like it was before but nada so far for my little experience.
I am not sure is the backup in the packages folder to the minute? (made just before the mod's installation)?
For my part I make a cPanel home-dir backup every time the minute before I dare to install any mod. That way I can extract the forum folder just in case - I like to be on a double safe side ;)
yes its made just before install
generally speaking, the mod system initiates the same instructions in reverse order -- its when you have the same part of code modified by 2 mods that causes it to fail to uninstall. In those cases they'd have to be uninstalled in reverse order they were installed.
When that happens i just replace all the files and reinstall the mods i need :)
Lainaus käyttäjältä: BlackMage - marraskuu 16, 2007, 09:03:38 IP
yes its made just before install
generally speaking, the mod system initiates the same instructions in reverse order -- its when you have the same part of code modified by 2 mods that causes it to fail to uninstall. In those cases they'd have to be uninstalled in reverse order they were installed.
When that happens i just replace all the files and reinstall the mods i need :)
I tried a handful mods - uninstallation usually threw errors like "Hacker?" or pretended to be successful but looking into the web space these files were still there (not deleted) and admin panel links were still in place (not removed).
One mod, not sure which one was it, I installed/uninstalled twice and looking into the code this mod wrote his functions *twice* into the code causing even more mess and errors.
To me the package-install thingy (mods) appears a fair bit fishy.
I appreciate all the mods publicly released but feel there is need for some sort of quality-code assurance system in place. People just need to be sure the code is not smashing their forum (worst case I experienced with sBox) and a package restores properly when uninstalling.
just my thoughts O:)
theres always room for improvement but i'm gonna have to say i doubt your problems are the package manager or the mods themselves.
Sometimes the server environment can contribute significantly to these types of things, particularly the double installs and such.
The "Hacker?" messages happen when an improperly coded *or* potentially destructive package is attempted to be loaded, if i remember correctly. I'd have to look at what exactly trigggers it. it is a security thing, though.
Who is your host? which mods were you installing?
Lainaus käyttäjältä: BlackMage - marraskuu 16, 2007, 09:52:56 IP
....
Who is your host? which mods were you installing?
my host is http://www.xhostsolutions.com.au/ and I am fairly happy with that service using an Australian based server.
which mods? really can't remember everything except sBox was evil for me and
global headers & footers doubled the text (sigh). Ok, I was just "playing" around with those mods without real need to have it installed and working. I was just testing how it works out.
it's not of big importance to me - the forum itself works flawless and all is well as long as I do not attempt to install 3rd party mods (cough).
i'm not saying its definitely the host -- just based off my experience i've seen that be a factor sometimes :P
Peronally i manually install all my mods (which is like 3 of them). The only auto installed package i have is my custom site integration package on my page -- not because the package manager doesn't work but rather because I feel better knowing its my own handiwork.. I do not trust mods by default ;)
be secure with smf , very good support , the smf 2.0 integrate more ajax
Lainaus käyttäjältä: maxklr - marraskuu 14, 2007, 02:26:16 IP
I think the SMF board looks better. But what about customization and changing up the look of the forum? i.e I would like ads on the side, top and bottom of the forum. Will that be easy to do?
Also, is it possible to transfer the data from phpBB to the SMF forum?
Every forum has its strengths and weaknesses. Compared to phpBB2, SMF has a lot more features right out of the box. However, phpBB3 is very impressive and has a CSS layout, which means that doing theme customizations are going to be much, much easier than with SMF's table-based layout.
I know phpBB3 is still not finalized, but if you haven't seriously looked at it, you should.
As you've mentioned, SMF's default theme is not pretty. Getting it to look like your site is going to take a considerable amount of time. phpBB3's default theme isn't pretty, either, though.
Choosing a forum is no trivial task, as getting it to look and work as you want it to can take many hours. I know I've spent many frustrating hours working on my SMF forum.
Choose wisely.