need help finding a forum solution

never used php before..have to script a forum

[leila]

i need help desperately..the company i work for has just given me the task of scripting a forum( lucky me) and i have never used php before ..though i stduied jsp ..if anyone could please please give me some help..maybe some sites i can go to to get sum source code..or if anyone knows jsp and could help me out?

[smokin]

Take a look at [phorum.org ]
and its free

[Duke_of_Url]

leila

haven't used any on there myself, but could be worth checking over the scripts available at hotscripts.com (php section), for inspiration if nothing else!

hth
DoU

[ukgimp]

forget scrpting the whole thing yourself. Mammouth task. Get one of the freeware versions.

phpBB springs to mind. I see it all over the place and there are many modifications that can be dowloaded.

Cheers

[Jenstar]

I second phpbb. Great boards (make sure you get a current version right from them). Takes a while to do all the customizing of them to make them look like your own, but well worth the end result. And as ukgimp says, there are tons of mods available to add additional features as well.

[leila]

u know...i could just kiss u all..thanx so much :) ..went for the phpbb option hehe...thank u!

[Neo541]

How well is phpbb spidered and indexed by google?

[ScottM]

Google doesn't like the sessions, look for that mod.

[Jenstar]

On the pbpbb mod beta forum, there is a specific thread on making the boards Google-friendly. I think there are over 600 posts in that thread now, but worth the time to read it.

<added>You need to remove session IDs from your URLs, if your version of phpbb has session IDs in them</added>

[Neo541]

Thanks!

I tried to search before I asked, but I just don't know what to search for. Is there any way to just convert the url in the phpbb forums to static pages, like WebmasterWorld uses? I think that would be perfect

[Jenstar]

That thread I mentioned above tells you how to do it - it is a complicated process though, with about a million files you have to go in and edit. They highly advise against removing session IDs for security reasons, so they don't have a quick and easy way of doing it.

And of course, the slightest little error on a single page will cause havoc. Always save copies of the unedited files, and upload the revised ones one by one, so you will know which file the error was made in.

The best advice is to find that thread at phpbb.com about Google, and start reading :) That is precisely what I had to do.

[petertdavis]

Before you settle on phpbb, I'd recommend having a look at vBulletin. IMO, phpbb is a hacker magnet.

[Neo541]

Thanks Jenstar! :)

[Jenstar]

phpbb is a hacker magnet

Most of the hacker/cracker problems are due to people not upgrading from versions 2.0.0 or earlier (there was a security flaw which allowed access to the admin panel) or from those who didn't remove the installation files from their server after completing their install or upgrade.

[Anguz]

I've been using YaBBSE for months and it works great... the support is superb too and they keep improving it

[yabbse.org...]

good luck :)

[MWpro]

I find invisionboard to be much better than phpBB. It's more user friendly, has the least amount of load/queries, easier to skin, and great moderator support.