Forum Software Reviews

Final Opinion

Please note that the forum rating is not intended to compare forum software themselves, but simply to give an idea to the reader about the feeling we had when we reviewed the software. The following intervals could however help you having an idea of what the rating could mean.

Between and

More or less unusable forum software. The tool can be too much buggy or too much complicated to be used, installed and/or administrated.

Between and

Usable but too simple or limited. If it was a long time ago a new release was out or if the software has a poor community could also limit the score to this interval.

Between and

The forum software is enough powerful and simple to be used in major web context. Users and visitors will not be surprised by this tool and will easily use it everyday.

Between and

Innovative ideas, norms respects and powerful features give the forum a feeling of an higher quality against its contestants. These kind of solutions can be installed everywhere without any fear and with the insurance that the quality will be preserved in future releases.

Key Points

Each stars and half-stars represent a score between 0 and 10.

Installation

Defective = 0 / 10

Need hacks and code modification to make a newly installation working correctly.

Bad = 1-2 / 10

Buggy installation.

Not Good = 3-4 / 10

Too many parameters and fields required for a simple installation.

Normal = 5-6 / 10

The installation works correctly but it needs many hours before the forum be ready.

Good = 7-8 / 10

Simple and clear for newbies and advanced webmasters.

Very Good = 9-10 / 10

A perfect installator (auto remove installation files, auto configuring database connectivity...).

Administration

Defective = 0 / 10

Impossible to administrate this tool, no or buggy administration pages.

Bad = 1-2 / 10

Very poor administration possibilities.

Not Good = 3-4 / 10

Too hard to use for the everyday administration work.

Normal = 5-6 / 10

Simple but sufficent to use.

Good = 7-8 / 10

Really simple to use and sufficently clear to do advanced administrative tasks.

Very Good = 9-10 / 10

A real pleasure to administrate this tool.

Ergonomy

This score helps you to know if the forum software is easy to use from the user point of view.

Defective = 0 / 10

Very complicated and difficult to find forum and post new messages.

Bad = 1-2 / 10

Newbies can be lost too much easily in the overbloated interface.

Not Good = 3-4 / 10

Hard to use everyday.

Normal = 5-6 / 10

Read and post messages work correctly.

Good = 7-8 / 10

Really simple to navigate, post and search messages and threads.

Very Good = 9-10 / 10

Innovative ideas and architectural organization make this software really well thought for all kind of users (new, regular and advanced).