Setting up my own forum - help please :)

[Lowe]

Not related to Hexus so no competition guys.

Right - the missus has a Tortoise website, http://www.shelledwarriors.co.uk which has a forum on it. She's been using http://www.1-2-free-forums.com/ which has been great, but as of late it's been up and down and it also has adverts in it which we'd preferably be without, since they lead to suppliers of wild caught torts which is a big no no!

Anyhoo, I've never done anything like this before so this is where you guys come in. From what I can see PHPBB is free so that's a good start. I assume I'll need a host, (any recommendations?) and then how do I install it on the webspace? Like I say, I've not got a clue how to go about this so if anyone can give me some pointers that'd be great.

How much do you think it will cost to run each year?

[DavidM]

Phpbb is pretty good, but make sure you keep on top of security updates (and don't allow anonymous posting... otherwise you'll have a lot of fun )

[MD]

I can setup one for you and host it if you want, but its just a question of getting time to do it, when do you need it by?

would just ask for a hosted by: link at the bottom of it

[DavidM]

Likewise really (tbh)

[Nick F]

SImple Machine Forum software is quite good

[Lowe]

That's great guys - will catch you both on MSN

[Whiternoise]

I switched to SMF last week.. really good, and it's got a built in modification installer (not like the lousy Phpbb2 one that is basically a mod in itself..) it depends what kind of traffic you are expecting and whether it's going to need lots of webspace - the installation is no larger than 5mb i've found, but this increases with avatar uploads etc.


BASIC PHPBB2 INSTALL GUIDE

If you have the webspace (and a compatible database, i'll use MySql for the sake of argument) then it's fairly easy. You really need FTP access to make this even easier. Download the zip from the Phpbb2 site (i assume you are getting phpbb2) and extract it to a folder called forum*, then upload all the files from there onto your webspace and then open the following URL: www.yoursite/forum/install/install.php (something like that).

If all the files are there you should get the install screen up, fill in all the details as it directs. Your database details are - the user name you log into the db with (should be provided by the host), the password to go with it, and the database path itself (also should be provided by the host). I forget whether they ask for ftp details, but that's fairly easy.

Once you've installed successfully, you have to use your ftp program to delete the folders that you are told to delete and then voila - one installed forum .

[DavidM]

Exactly... Phpbb is pretty simple to set up

(I did my first install of this many years ago, with only half a clue of what I was doing... and still managed to get it working )

[Lowe]

Cheers guys, just getting the layout sorted now, and putting some styles on it

[Whiternoise]

linkity..

[Lowe]

Link's in the first post

Click on 'forums'

[DavidM]

Not bad

[Lowe]

Personally I think there's too many groups and forums, but the missus is having none of it, and that's the way she wants it

[DavidM]

Agreed.

[Zak33]

the green is too......nuclear! But if its was a tad darker, with white edges to highlight it...ypu'd be sorted...

with less sections...obviously

[Nick F]

I agree about the Nuclear, maybe its a good time to move all your site software to a CMS system? Also there are far to many forums for the amount of visitors. New browsers will look once and turn away without registering.

Contact me if you need some help with some CMS software