Having played with the script for a few weeks, I can tell you that Vanilla offers a great and unique forum package for your website.  A few weeks ago, I set it up for the forums I added to Firefox Facts and I really could not be happier with it.  It seems to almost do everything that I need, plus it keeps things really straight to the point.  Vanilla might be the best forum script for people who don’t want their forums to look like the next guy’s.

The Vanilla forums script it open-source, standards-compliant, and totally customizable to suit your needs.  They also give you all the tools you need to migrate from other forum scripts, if needed too. 

Here is a little more about the Vanilla forum script, from the developers:

Vanilla is an open-source, pluggable, themable, multi-lingual community-building solution. It is specially made to help small communities grow larger through SEO mojo, totally customizable social tools, and great user experience. Vanilla is also built with integration at the forefront, so it can seamlessly integrate with your existing website, blog, or custom-built application.

Some other neat features include:

• Embed Vanilla – Allows you to simply embed your forum installation into a website, like you would a YouTube video.  Just copy and paste the embed code in on the page, and you are done.
• Social Connect – This feature lets users sign into your community forums with their favorite social network.  It has built in support for Facebook, Twitter, Google and OpenID.

Want to see my own install of Vanilla forums in action? Go check out support.firefoxfacts.com. Who knows? I might be adding forums to Mitchelaneous sometime soon too.

Overall I would say if you are looking for a really simple forum script to add a little more functionality to your website, Vanilla is the best way to go.  You can check it out, and download it for your own hosting account from VanillaForums.org.

A fast and lightweight PHP-powered set of forums, PunBB is a script you may not have heard much about but I can promise it is well worth looking into.  The goal of this script is to be faster, smaller and less graphically overpowering in comparison with other forum scripts out there.  That alone makes it a good option if you are on a shared web hosting account.

The requirements to get PunBB are fairly light too:

• A webserver (preferably Apache).
• PHP 4.1.0 or later (PHP 5 included).
• MySQL 3.23.17 or later, PostgreSQL 7.0 or later or SQLite.

To install, all you need to do is upload the script to the location you want it on your web hosting account, and then run the install.php from the forum’s root directory, then follow the on screen instructions.

One thing I don’t like is the fact that they have various versions of the script to download from the main page.  You have PunBB 1.3 and PunBB 1.2.  This is an annoyance for me with several scripts out there.  Personally I like just having one download link with the latest version right there in front of my face.

PunBB is also extendable.  After you install it, you can take your choice of which extensions you want.  They can do anything from giving you a CAPTCHA to register and post to adding poll-like features.

Give PunBB a shot.  Why?  Well, as they put it because less is really more.

Bonus -  be sure to check out our other free forum script reviews!

This forum script uses PHP and MySQL to run the backend, so that means that any shared hosting account should be able to host it.  Here are a few more features:

• Comprehensive template system.
• Advanced permission and user management.
• Supports multiple languages at once.
• Open and well-documented source code.
• Tracking of new and old unread topics, not just from your last visit.
• Designed for optimal performance and scalability.
• Multi-media output.

Here are a few screenshots of it in action.  First we have the administrator interface:

Next, we see how the forums would look after you have installed SMF:

If you are looking for support, there are many ways to ask for help.  You have the FAQs, the SMF community, or searching on your own via their web site.  They also have an online manual which has many of its features and other details documented.

First time users might want to check out how to Install SMF or check through the various converters, so you can go from another forum script (like phpBB, vBulletin, IPB, and others to SMF).

Simple Machines Forum is free to use, and easy to customize.  If you are searching for a forum script of your own, you should definitely give it a shot.

Bonus -  be sure to check out our other free forum script reviews!

Via a request I got via e-mail I recently posted a tutorial for Lunarpages on how to install bbPress onto your run-of-the-mill Linux-based hosting account.  I have to say, I had never used bbPress before till then, and I like it a lot.

For those of you who may not recognize the name, bbPress comes from the creators of WordPress.  As they make note of via their web site, “bbPress is focused on web standards, ease of use, ease of integration, and speed. We’re focused on keeping things as small and light as possible while still allowing for great add on features through our extensive plugin system.”  Think of it as WordPress for forums – but a little less popular than WordPress is today.

You have plugins and themes there too, so you can customize the forums as much or as little as you like.  Personally, I kind of liked them how they were via the default install. I am sure though I’d want to add something eventually though, so nice to know the option is there.

If you want to try out the back end and front end demos, head over to OpenSourceCMS.com.  They have a working demo of both up for you to tinker with and see if you like it or not.  Those who have used WordPress before will be greated with a very familiar interface.  You can download bbPress or get more information at bbPress.org.

Bonus -  be sure to check out our other free forum script reviews!

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© Mitch Keeler 2011 | Check out my firefox help site and my hosting podcast too!

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