Integrating forums on existing wordpress site

Discussion in 'WordPress' started by bschneider5, Apr 26, 2009.

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  1. #1
    I am interested in integrating a forum based script(phpbb or vbulletin) on my site at www.beerandcigars.net. What would be the best way to do this, and would I be able to pull forum info to the sidebar of the wordpress home page?

    "Starting over" with this site is not an option.
     
    bschneider5, Apr 26, 2009 IP
  2. staffsergeantpeterson

    staffsergeantpeterson Member

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    #2
    Build your site and then pull the Threads into a RSS widget in the sidebar of your wordpress blog. ALl you'll be doing is adding a link to the forum in the header of your WP site... That is how I have mine set up from my WP site bridging to my Forum.... It's the easiest way and doesn't break stuff.
     
    staffsergeantpeterson, Apr 27, 2009 IP
  3. ~kev~

    ~kev~ Well-Known Member

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    At vbulletin.org there is a wordpress - vbulletin bridge. Its supposed to integrate users between the blog and the forum. This would only be good if you allow comments or members to register on your blog.

    If you do not allow comments, or people to register on your blog, install vbulletin to a /forum folder.

    The second option is what I did with my sons computer gaming website. Comments have been disabled in wordpress and members can not register an account. All people can do is read the post. And then VBulletin was installed to the /forum folder.

    At the end of an article, sometimes I will post a link to a thread in the forum where people can discuss the article or the topic at hand. I will usually post the more detailed article on the home page, and then a short version in the forum. With a link going from the article to the forum thread.

    You can also install wordpress and vbulletin to the same database. That way you only have one database to backup and restore.

    The external data provider of VBulletin can be used to display the recent post on the sites home page. You have to use a script enabler for wordpress, but its just another plug in. Once everything is setup, you can have the most recent, 5, 6, 7,,, forum post displayed on a page, or in a header location.

    You asked about the side bar, depending on the width, you should be able to fit the recent forum post output into a side bar. Get the external data provider code from vbulletin.com, and edit it to what you want.
     
    ~kev~, Apr 28, 2009 IP