So I’ve decided to set up a forum as a resource for web developers to share code, trade thoughts on running a web development business, review client horror stories and more. Sort of a webmaster resource amongst friends.
Yes there are many great webmaster resources, so why another one? For the experience I guess.
The goal of a forum = simplicity for the end user.
A client of mine recently brought me back to earth when she mentioned "Not all Internet users may be that web savvy".
She was right.
Although I was trying to design a site for ‘new’ web standards, where sites would render well in IE7 and FireFox, I was reminded of the fact that people out there still use IE6 or less to view web sites. Because she wanted a blog, I began discussing RSS feeds, which I knew would turn in to a discussion in itself. Then social bookmarking, linking, etc.
Bottom line, keep it simple for the end user.
My recent forum journey
I already use a simple forum script on a number of sites that works quite well. It’s easy for the end user to create an account and immediately start posting. Best of all, it’s SEO friendly and I utilize the forum RSS feed to keep up to date with some of those wonderful ‘wild’ forum posters.
But this was not enough.
Eventually you come to realize "I want more!", but I want to keep it simple.
Most recently I tried PunBB. Installation is simple and it’s not bloaty. I also liked the simplicity of the admin panel. I ran in to a bit of ‘time-wasting-searching’ in setting up search engine friendly URLs for the PunBB forums, but eventually this post was able to resolve the issue.
What really impressed me with PunBB was that the FaceBook developers were utilizing it for their forums.
http://forum.developers.facebook.com/
Impressive indeed. Simple, fast and to the point.
While searching for a search engine friendly solution for PunBB, I came across a blog entry where one was evaluating PunBB and bbPress was mentioned.
bbPress? What is that?
From the creators of WordPress? I absolutely love WordPress and how it has evolved.
Their tag-line being "Simple, Fast, Elegant" drew me right in. http://bbpress.org/
Let’s immediately drop the other forums, delete some databases and install this right away!
Download and view the installation documentation
More about the bbPress 0.9 release (April 03, 2008)
bbPress integration with WordPress?
This is an interesting treat.
If you decide to go this route, you’ll need to collect existing WordPress database settings.
There’s more fine reading on the Ultimate bbPress Installation Guide
Does bbPress satisfy the desire for SEO friendly URLs?
You bet!
Within the admin section, under ‘Settings’ and ‘General’, you’ll find the ‘Pretty Permalink Type’ option
If you’re experiencing issues with the permalinks not immediately working:
Create a file called
.htaccessin bbPress’ root directory. Put only the following line in that new file.Options +MultiViews
In most cases that should work, if not, following the instructions here:
bbPress permalink documentation is here …
Live Example:
OnlineJamm Forums shows a live version of the bbPress forums on this domain.
It’s not pretty, but it’s work in progress and styles need to be sourced out.
For the official support forums, visit bbPress forums
Get BBPress: http://bbpress.org/
Bottom Line
Installation as a breeze and I look forward to trying out the various plugins for bbPress.
Because this site is so new, I encourage you to subscribe to this site feed to keep you to date on this post and others to come! Have fun!
