I mentioned in a previous article about all the ins and
outs of using PHPBB2, an open source forum. Although it does
have some quirks about it, the program is free and with a
little help from the PHPBB community, not impossible to install
even for the novice. The program you will upload, however,
is fairly basic in nature therefore modifications [or, mods
as some prefer to call them] can be useful to install. I
have found several favorites that have worked rather well
for me. Now, I am plan on sharing that information with you!
Chat – What forum isn’t complete without
a chat room. PHPBB2, for one. Yes, you have to install one
yourself but the IRQ chat add-on is certainly worth it and
it works much better than some that I have seen on sites
that contain this feature. EZBoard is one such site that
comes to mind.
Who Is Online – As an administrator you already
know who is online at any given time. Unfortunately, the “stock” version
of this feature shows people who have been online only for
the past five minutes. Fortunately, a mod has been developed
that can extend this feature to fifteen minutes or later.
Is this important? No, but it gives you a more accurate picture
of what your real time traffic figures really are.
Google Ads – A special mod has been developed
to permit you to run and display banner ads, much like Google’s
AdSense. Hey, you want to make a little bit of money off
of your site now don’t you?
Smilies – You do love emoticons, don’t
you? Well even if you don’t, they can certainly spice
up any forum. Lots of neat “paks” have been developed,
some containing animated icons too. Especially nice to have
around Yuletide for easy access to Christmas themed emoticons.
Disable Board Message – Being able to customize
the message you have posted when your site is down is essential
to clueing in your members as to the time when your forum
will once again become activated. This mod does just that.
There are numerous other mods and styles from which you
can choose. Some are easy to install while others are moderately
so. A small group of mods are difficult to install and will
take you well over one hour to complete. Choose your battles
wisely and be careful when you install updates to PHPBB2.
By not selecting a “patch” file update you can
erase any modifications you made in just moments.
Copyright 2005 -- Matthew Keegan is The
Article Writer who writes on a variety of topics
including: advocacy, automobiles, aviation, business,
Christian themes, family, news, product reviews, travel,
writing, and more. Samples from his portfolio are available
right online.
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