I am thinking of adding a forum to one of my websites and i was curious what you guys think the best forum program to use. My usual host provides easy setup for phpBB and SMF. I see that the DP forums are in vBulletin. Which is best? Some guidance would be appreciated - thanks in advance.
vBulletin if you want a paid professional option - no question, everytime. I've used Invision and it's OK. Have just set up a simple forum using phorum and was very impressed. See sh20 for an example.
Vbulletin out of the box is best, but it's not free. There are some pretty good one's out there now if you just want a simple solution. I'm a phpBB fanatic, amd it certainly can be the best in many respects if you've got the time and ability to do it right.
By ability, you mean programming ability? I'm not really a programmer. I can usually fiddle with stuff until it works. Is it something i might beable to figure out? If not, should i just cough up the $85 and spring for vBulletin?
With plugins and mods, vBulletin is the best one out there, bar none. Check out vbulletin.org just to get a sample of what you can do with it.
Not actual coding ability, just the ability to edit php files for the mods. Instead of plugins, for phpBB you upload files and/or edit files. It's easy just sometimes time consuming.
SMF is very SEO friendly out of the box and it's free. In a few ways, I think it beats vBulletin, personally.
SEO is a big selling point for me and free is hard to beat. hmm... perhaps i should try out SMF first and then consider vBulletin at a later point. Is it difficult to migrate from one to the other bulletin program?
You can't go wrong with vBulletin; user-friendly admin interface, intuitive design, top-notch support, not to mention an ever growing list of hacks and modifications that help keep your community unique. Best of luck whatever you choose though.
As has been said by most in this thread, vB is the way to go. Other options will suffice but, are inferior.
It's a matter of personal preference. There are things abouyt vBulletin that annoy me, although some of those were fixed in version 3. U sed to like phpBB but that software has gone totally down the tubes in the past year, IMO. Currently, I like SMF. Saying "only vBulletin - all others are inferior" is like saying "the only sandwich worth considering is peanut butter wirth grape jelly - all others are inferior".
Minstrel has a good point. There is no "best", just what's best for you. SMF and VB are both good out of the box, and good enough for most people. IBP is even good enough for some people. Just depends on what you want to do and how well you're familiar with something. I prefer phpBB because I know it inside out, and will likely never change because it meets my needs. I've used VB and it has much more functionality from the initial install, but I can get more of what I want after modding phpBB. It just goes to show you that you have to decide what's best for you, and what you're comfortable with. I've never used SMF but I have looked through the install and features and it looks great. If it had the following that phpBB does (and maybe one day will) then it would be a more viable option for me. But, for now, with the hundreds (maybe thousands) of templates available for phpBB and the large userbase making modifications... to me, that makes it the "best".
ImpBB ftw lol! Its new, light, and uptight on security. Its a great new bulletin board forum software.