phpBB - forum
Top Features
- widely used and stable
- lots of community support
- familiar interface for users
phpBB is a very widely used forum tool. This product provides lots of features, such as automated sign up, multiple threads, emoticons, lots of tools for board administrators and moderators, and sticky topics.
A forum of this type can be a very valuable addition to any website. They can be set up to be either public or private, in either case users will usually have to log in before they can post a message but may be able to read the messages posted by others if you wish. Before posting a message the users will have to create an account for themselves and then enter their message. This allows the messages to be attributed to their author. Equally common but much less visible are private messageboards, where the messages cannot be viewed without the user logging in first. It is also possible to stop users from being able to create new accounts, so that only invited people can see the content of your page. This is a common set up for collaborative projects using messageboards as their main means of communication.
Forums can be a good way of increasing traffic and of encouraging interaction between your users, phpBB is definitely a sound choice and is widely used and understood. It can be branded to blend in with an existing site or just used “as it comes”. Because of its wide usage, many support forums and tutorials are available.
Other Resources
The homepage for phpBB can be found at http://www.phpbb.com