Forum Tutorial [For all those confused]
Forum Tutorial
by Homesrfan
UPDATED!!
So, you want to add a forum to your site, eh?
Very nice choice! A forum is a very effective way to let your visitors or customers talk about and be enteretained or get extended help through your website. Most websites actually do have forums. Through this tutorial we will go through the following things:
- The Basic Forum Softwares
- Help Resources
- Hosting Resources
- Links
- *NEW*How To Install Skins! *NEW*
- And a bit more.
So I guess we should start out with... what is a forum? A forum is a complex way to let your visitors communicate with one another. Forums will have visitors coming back everyday. There are many great things you can do with forums to customize them just the way you want. So.. on with the rest of the tutorial.
Forum Software Overview
What are the basic or more popular forum softwares?
Well to pick your software and which one is actually better for your site, you will need to figure out exactly what you want....
Do you want something powerful and your not afraid to spend some money? or are you looking for a free forum but still very powerful? Well there are four very popular softwares that I am going to tell you about.
The first one is Invision...
Invision
Invision is definately my favorite board. It is very good for those that are looking for powerful and very big boards. With the nice selection of skins and mods, believe me... your users will leave your site happy. What I like is the Admin CP and the many different features that this board uses. Is this the board for you? (Invision now cost for a lisence, but there are about a million free hosts out there.)
phpBB
PhpBB is a very popular forum board that is a bit smaller then the rest. PhpBB is mostly for those running small companies, or even big ones that just want a small little community for support or chatting around the site. There are many useful skins and mods that I will go overin the end. PhpBB is a very small, but very powerful FREE board. PhpBB will definately get your members coming back after time to view your great board.
vBulletin
vBulletin is probably the best board you will ever find, but it is pretty expeincive, but VERY worth it. vBulletin has very many unique features that will get your members amazed at how cool your board is. One of the great features is the WYSIWYG editor. Although it is harder to find free resources for skins and such, there are still some out there. vBulletin is also the software you are viewing at this second. Yep, thats right, Habbox uses vBulletin, and who can blaim them?
IkonBoard
IkonBoard is not a very popular board, but is still very effective and used by a lot. Unlike the other boards, IkonBoard uses a less famous scripting languare: CGI (.cgi). To run .cgi you must upload things into your cgi-bin. This can complicate things, but once installed you wont be sad! IkonBoard is one awesome board with great skins and mods avaliable. I'm not a huge fan of IkonBoard, but I still think the board is very nice. Could this be your board?
Official Sites
www.InvisionBoard.com
www.IkonBoard.com
www.phpBB.com
www.vBulletin.com
Now that you have picked your board, you might need help managing it and you might be a bit overwhelmed. First of all, just calm down, becuase you are not the only one. Yes, forums can be complicated and overwhelming, but to master your board, you need to just get help (no pun intended).
I'm going to supply you with some official and unofficial documentation for how to run some of your board options.
Help Files and Resources
Invision:
NBS Designs Documentation
Invision-It-All
phpBB:
phpBB Official Website
phpBBHacks (Support Forums and a few good tutorials)
vBulletin:
vBulletin Offical Forums
IkonBoard
Official IkonBoard Website
Mods, Skins, and Other Resources
Invision
Invisionize - Tons of mods, skins, graphics, help files, and more!
InvisionThings - Skins, mods, graphics, and more!
phpBB
phpBBHacks - One of the biggest archives of mods, skins, graphics, and so much more!
phpBB Official Site - Great support and mods, templates..and... stuff :)
IkonBoard
IkonBoard - Official website - Mods, skins, and help!
vBulletin
www.freevbulletintemplates.com
The BEST Free Hosting
Invision
Invision has very many free hosts our there. Some of them may seem like good places, but I'm going to supply you with the best links and tell you why!
InvisionFree
www.InvisionFree.com
InvisionFree offers a whole new kind of Invision we have never seen. They have modified Invision to work with them. They offer 10MB of space. I used to not like this board host, but I'm starting too. They have great support forums and tons of skins and mods. You cannot use the regular kind of skins for this invision. You can find skins for this at: The Big Game or at IF Skin Zone. Definately a top pick.
HabStuff Hosting
www.habstuff.ulost.net
I actually own this site. I provide high quality hosting. When you sign up you get FREE mod installation along with FREE skins installation. I also have other helpful scripts such as help desk and support forum. I also host many other scirpts such as CuteNews, FusionNews, and more!! Be sure to check it out! (I also offer phpbb hosting)
THIS IS NOW CLOSD SORRY!
Other:
www.compguy11.com
www.akapenguin.com
www.ipbfree.com
phpBB
Net Free Host
www.netfreehost.com
Instant Activiation phpBB. Pretty nice host.
HabStuff Hosting
www.habstuff.ulost.net
My hostin site. I offer FTP hosting with phpBB or Invision. I also offer hosting for other scripts! I'm sure you will enjoy this premium hosting. (I also offer free skin install and mod installation)
Installing Skins
Invision
IPB 1.3
1. Download Your Skin
First you will need to download a skin from a website. A couple of good places were listed above.
2. Upload
When you download your skin, it should be a .tar file. Do NOT extract this file. If you did not get a .tar file, something went wrong. You will need to upload these files using an FTP client. First, make sure the proper folders are CHMODed to the proper permissions. CHMOD your ./Skin/ folder to 777, your /style_images/ to 777, your ./archive_in/ folder to 777, and your /archive_out/ folder to 777. If you need help with this please PM me. After doing so. Upload your .tar skin file to the ./archive_in/ folder. Make sure you CHMOD the file to 777.
3. Installing
YOU'RE ALMOST THERE! :) Go to your Admin CP. After logging in... look at your menu and click the submenu Skins & Templates. Under that submenu, click Import Skin Files. When that page loads... you should see your .tar skin file. If it is not there, you have done something wrong! Click Import on the side. If you get any errors, obviously you have done something wrong. Post the error here or PM me and I will help you with it.
If you get no errors, then Congrats! You have installed a skin. :)
IPB 2.0
1. Downloading
First, you need to download a skin. You can use one of the lins givin above. When you download the file, it should come in a .zip file. Extract the .zip file. Those two files should be your skin file and your image file. One of them should start with: ipb_skin- that is the template/skin file with all the skin information and templates. Then there should be a file named ipb_images-. That is the image file containing... the images. :D
2. Uploading
Once you have extracted your image files, you need to upload them. Uploading is done right through your Admin CP. So, open your Admin CP. Once you have logged in, look at your side menu, open the "Skins & Templates" menu, and click "Skin Import/Export". Once you get to that page, upload your files accourding to where they go. Install the skin file first by uploading the file with the beginning of ipb_skin- to the first selection (Import Skin Templates). Click IMPORT SKIN XML. After that, upload your image file.
3. Configuring
Once you have installed your skin, go back to the "Skin Manager" page under Skins & Templates Section. Click the skin you just installed. A menu will appear, click Edit Settings... After clicking that, look at the Use image directory? option. Select the one that applies to your skin.. usually having your skins name in it. Click Edit Settings at the bottom.
Congratulations! Your done!
MORE COMING SOON!
At this time this is the end of the tutorial. More might be added soon.
Thank you for reading :)
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