PhpBB 3 Review

lastnico's picture
Go to
Install: PositivePositivePositive (Very Easy) — Admin: PositivePositive (Easy)
Use: PositivePositivePositive (Very Easy) — Themes: Yes Yes
Our Opinion : FullFullFullFullHalf — Users : FullFullFullHalfNone (Rate it)
— Sat, 2006-07-29 08:49 — lastnico

Quick Guide Help

Installation : PositivePositivePositive (Very Easy)
Administration : PositivePositive (Easy)
Forum Use : PositivePositivePositive (Very Easy)
Themes : Yes Yes
Our Opinion : FullFullFullFullHalf
Users : FullFullFullHalfNone (Rate it)
Released under : GPL License
Current version : 3.0 RC2 (June 6, 2006).
Demonstration : PhpBB 3 Demo
The most famous forum software is back for its third version.

What are the parts of PhpBB that have been improved ?

  • Private Messages
  • Registration
  • Search
  • Admin Control Panel
  • Moderator Control Panel
  • Polls
  • Usergroups
  • Profile View
  • Permissions
  • User Management

What are the new features ?

  • Attachments
  • Unlimited Subforums
  • Custom BBCodes
  • Custom Profile Fields
  • User Control Panel
  • New Moderating Tools
  • Caching and performance
  • Friends and Foes
    • Warnings and Reports
You will find an more complete documentation of what has changed between the version 2 and the version 3 of PhpBB : New features and improvements
Official web site : http://www.phpbb.com/development/
Download Link : Download this forum software here : PhpBB 3.

Server Architecture

Features Details
Operating Systems Details
Systems supporting this software.
  • Linux
  • Windows Server 2003
  • Windows XP
Web Server Details
Web Servers control the communication between the forum and the users.
  • Apache 1.3
  • Apache 2.0/2.2
  • Microsoft IIS
Languages Details
Main development language.
  • PHP 4
Databases Details
Applications which store forum datas.
  • MySQL
  • Postgresql
  • SQLite
  • Oracle
  • Microsoft SQL Server
PhpBB 3 supports 2 new database systems : Oracle and SQLite. These systems are totally different and prove that PhpBB can work in heterogenous environments :
  • Oracle database for important systems
  • SQLite for web server without any database applications.
The other databases, of course are often used, depending in which environment you are (open source / LAMP or Microsoft environment).

Technical Features

Technical Features Details
CMS / Blog softwares integration Details
Web publishing tools which can be integrated with this software.
None
User base integration Details
This feature is useful when you would like to integrate your forum with an existing solution.
LDAP
Template Engine Details
With known template engines, it is generally easier to customize forum and create new themes.
None
Webservices / XML-RPC management Details
Generally allow remote control from other softwares than browsers (program, etc...)
No
For the moment, we do not know if PhpBB 3 will be easily plugged to existing CMS or Blog system. Likewise, existing user base mapping would probably need to be rewritten. So for the moment, don't expect to migrate easily if you use such connectors. However, this is the first time that Forum-Software.org team sees a bulletin board that is able to easily be plugged to an LDAP directory. A dedicated panel has been developed to allow this. Another impressive feature is the connectivity with the Jabber protocol, which allow for example notification by instant messaging, and more over... These are typically features that everybody looks for and that will allow PhpBB 3 staying the best forum software.