Simply put, OpenCart might be one of the best looking ecommerce scripts out there today. It is a robust shopping cart solution for anybody out there that wants to host their own good looking online store.  If you are an online merchant that wants to get a good looking store set up at a minimal cost – OpenCart is worth checking into.

Using OpenCart is very easy to do.  You pretty much just install OpenCart on your hosting account, select the template you want to use, ad your products and you are ready to start accepting orders. It is also free to use, so even if you are just shopping around (pun intended) there is no harm in installing it and seeing if you like it or not.

Here are a few more features worth mentioning:

• Automatic Image Resizing
• Multiple Tax Rates
• Related Products
• Unlimited Information Pages
• Shipping Weight Calculation
• Discount Coupon System
• Unlimited Categories
• Unlimited Products
• Unlimited Manufacturers

You can also extend the built in services that OpenCart provides with a number of great extensions they have ready to download from their website.

Go give OpenCart a shot or learn more about it via OpenCart.com.

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.

Tired of dealing with databases when setting up a content management system on your hosting account?  Wish you had a simpler alternative, that didn’t seem so complex? You might want to try out GetSimple. This XML based CMS is loaded with all the features every website needs, and that is it.  If you need a simple way to mange a small website, it might be the best alternative out there.

The place where GetSimple excels over the competition is that it is XML based.  This means it does not use MySQL to store information, but instead stores it in XML files.  By doing so, they take away one more level of complexity when it comes to getting your website up and running.  Now true, this might not be a good idea for large websites, however for smaller domains with only a handful of pages – this could be the best option for storing data.

The GetSimple administration interface is also very simple, and looks like it was modeled after the easy to use interface of WordPress.  After you login, you are taken right to a list of pages to edit.  From the admin pages, you can also quickly jump to files you have uploaded, your website’s theme, a tab for backing things up and another tab for plugins.

To learn more about GetSimple, or to download it to try it on your own hosting account – head on over to get-simple.info.  GetSimple might be one of the best open source CMS scripts if you are looking for a simpler and speedier way to get your website up and running.

The forum script phpBB might be the king of kings when it comes to free forum scripts.  However, the script itself if often susceptible to security problems and hacks due to its success.  So, with that said you might be looking for an alternative to this message board suite.

There is nothing wrong with have a few more scripts to choose from, and there are many great forums scripts in the sea.   Here are some of the best phpBB alternatives out there.

SMF – I had no knowledge of Simple Machine Forum till I had to use it when I used to work at Lunarpages.  Now, I really love it.  It is a free professional grade forum script with all the bells and whistles.

FluxBB – With a proven track resourced when it comes to security and stability, FluxBB is another great script to try. FluxBB was designed as a lighter, faster alternative to some of the traditional feature heavy forum applications.

Vanilla – If you are looking for a forum script that gives you a different appearance than your average message boards can provide, give Vanilla a try.

bbPress – Love WordPress?  Then you might want to try out bbPress.  This is forum software put out by the same people who brought you the blogging script WordPress.  It shares many of the same great features.

UseBB – This next choice is a light and Open Source PHP and MySQL based forum package, distributed freely under the GPL license. Developed with simplicity and usability in mind, UseBB is ideal for small to medium sized websites which need a clear and efficient forum script.

AEF – The full name of AEF is Advanced Electron Forum. This bulletin board software is free software. It is written in PHP and MySQL. AEF has a very simple and easy to use Administration Panel and installing this software is a piece of cake!

PunBB – There is nothing funny about this suggestion.  PunBB is one of the fastest and most lightweight PHP-powered discussion board scripts out there.  It is written to be less graphically intensive too.

IceBB – IceBB is a powerful, fast, free, and open-source forum solution powered by the free PHP and MySQL. IceBB scales well, no matter how many users or posts, due to it’s clean and efficient code.

NinkoBB – Last, but not least this script is an open source forum script written in the PHP language and uses a MySQL Database. Small in size, big in features, and still simple as can be.

BONUS – miniBB – This small, yet powerful forum script is perfect for when and where you need just a simple forum without 1,000 extra bells and whistles your users don’t want or need.  Might be the best simple forum out there.

Now this is no nock to phpBB, which is a perfectly fine forum script for some people out there. It is time though some of the other choice out there got some time in the sun too.  Did I miss your favorite thread starting online tool?  Let me know in the comments.

What makes it so cool?  Well, for one, it does not take a college degree to get started with.  The creator of the player gives a simple four steps to get it up and running:

1. Download and extract the latest ZIP file from here
2. Use the Code Generator to create your own HTML code
3. Copy the appropriate skin file (e.g. “emff_standard.swf”) from the “skins” directory to your website directory
4. Have fun!

It does not lack in the features department either.  It provides volume control, keyboard shortcuts, play, stop, pause, previous, next, Show information about a track and much more.

So if you have looked at my past list of the 5 best flash podcast players, and they didn’t do it for you, give EMFF a chance at playing your MP3s.

DokuWiki – Aimed at creating documentation of any kind, DokuWiki is a standards compliant wiki with more than a few nice features. It has anti-spam controls, all the basic editing features, supports over 30 languages and has built in page caching for quicker page rendering.  It also features a number of plugins and themes to try too.

BoltWire – A small and easy to use alternative wiki script, Boltwire is still able to deliver with surprising flexibility.  The neat thing here is that it has database-like storage and retrieval of form input values. But no database!  You can also restore a deleted page at any time, and customize ever site action from within the browser.

WikyBlog – So it is a blog and a wiki?  Well I wouldn’t say it is both as much as it tries to fuse the best of both worlds.  WikyBlog brings in the user friendly publishing characteristics of blogs, delivered with the easy to use wiki syntax.  Designed with speed in mind, it is a groupware application that is a nice alternative to the more traditional wiki scripts out there.

WikkaWiki – I promise this wiki script has nothing to do with voodoo or magic.  The WikkaWiki is a script that was forked from WakkaWiki.  With speed, extendibility and security in mind, this wiki script deserves your attention.  They are also working on better ways to integrate WikkaWiki into other content management systems like WordPress, SMF, phpBB and more.

PmWiki – Taking a different approach to content management, Pm wiki looks and acts like a normal web site.  The only difference is that each page inside of the site has an “edit” link to make modification of the page easier.  You can limit the editing to just one person, a team of people or the entire world.  This script would be for people who want a web page, with some wiki-like features.

Which wiki script is your favorite?  Is MediaWiki still the hands down winner to you?  Would love to hear more about your own experiences with any of these top alternatives to MediaWiki.

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!

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!

  ]]> http://www.mitchelaneous.com/2008/12/17/nice-and-easy-forum-setup-with-bbpress/feed/ 0 http://www.mitchelaneous.com/2008/12/15/best-of-the-blogging-scripts/ http://www.mitchelaneous.com/2008/12/15/best-of-the-blogging-scripts/#comments Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:32:52 +0000 Mitch http://www.mitchelaneous.com/?p=2195 Over the past few weeks I have reviewed a ton of blogging script software selections.  Some are good, some are just ok – and some, well I might not have a reason to use them, but you might.

• Dotclear – Great Blogging Alternative
• Easy Blog Publishing with Zomplog
• Eggblog, the Free PHP MySQL Blogging Script
• Beautiful Blogging with Textpattern
• Database-less Blogging with Flatpress
• A Wiki/Blog Hybrid in WikyBlog
• Habari = Next Generation Blogging Script?
• WordPress Sucks? Try Nucleus CMS
• Small, Yet Powerful Blogging with Pritlog
• Media Publishing Made Easier with Loudblog
• LifeType is Your Blogging Solution?
• Flexible Blogging/CMS with Serendipity
• The King of Kings is WordPress

Have any other blogging script suggestions you would like for me to check out?

Are you wanting to find a weblog or CMS system that is user friendly and easy to use out of the box?  Well, the people behind Zomplog describe themselves as being focused at helping you with publishing your content rather than learning a lot of code. 

As far as free blogging scripts go, Zomplog appears to have all the bells and whistles.  It is highly extendable, and tons of great features.  Here is a little more from the developers:

Just because Zomplog is easy to use, that doesn’t mean it only lets you do basic things! Zomplog supports static content, or pages, if you like. This way you can easily use zomplog as an simple content management system! Want to be a broadcaster? Zomplog lets you create podcasts or video podcasts (vodcasts) on the fly! Just upload, and everything else is taken care of!

Sounds great, right?  The only big problem I had with them was I could find no install guide via their web site.  I had to download the the script, and then hunt through the files in there for one called “read me”.  I did finally find it, however it was a lot of work.  Nothing too surprising in there, setup the script, your databases and you are good to go.

There are a number of various themes and plugins to check out too, to help you mold your Zomplog powered blog to something you can use or that you need.  If you are the type of person who likes to play with a script before you install it, you can have a look around at the interface on the demo hosted by OpenSourceCMS.com.

Zomplog is another fine blogging script alternative worth checking out.