Pros and Cons of phpBB Forum Software

Posted by: WH13 Administrator on May 2, 2013 Under: Articles

Definition

phpBB Forum Software is an open-source application that can be used in the creation of online forums and bulletin boards. It was first introduced to the market in the year 2000. Having been in the market for more than a decade, majorities of web developers and webmasters prefer it over other web development applications when it comes to developing forums and bulletin boards.

As the name suggests, the application has been created using PHP, which is a web development program. However, it is important to point out that phpBB is not a Content Management System (CMS), but an online location where users of a particular website can gather and discuss matters related to the content of the website they are using.

The Pros of Using phpBB over Other Applications

Compatibility

Perhaps the greatest benefit that you stand to gain by opting to select phpBB over other forum applications is its compatibility with different types of data storage systems like Oracle, MySQL, Firebird, SQLITE and MSSQL. What this means is that, if you have a blog or e-commerce site or are not certain about the kind of database that your hosting service uses, phpBB is more likely to be compatible with the storage database used by the web hosting company.

Reputation

Having been in the market since 2000, phpBB has increased in popularity by leaps and bounds and as such have millions of users worldwide. Its reputation is what provides thousands of users that are thinking of using it a peace of mind that the forum software is reliable and effective. Moreover, there are thousands of documentations that are accessible online which you can use in case you need clarification about the way the application functions.

Feature Rich

phpBB has been packed with a myriad of features that make it attractive to thousands of online users like IM (Instant Messaging), versatile search function, user profile settings, topic participation monitoring, email addresses and automatic image thumbnails amongst others. Furthermore, the forum software is XHTML ready.

Themes

phpBB comes with hundreds of preinstalled themes. The most attractive thing about the themes provided by the software is that they have been created by phpBB users and are accessible for free.

Customization

Customization is perhaps the feature that has made phpBB Forum Software popular amongst web developers and webmasters. You can easily customize the themes provided to create a forum that complements your blog or e-commerce site.

The Cons

While there are several benefits that phpBB offers online users, there are also certain shortcomings which you need to know. For instance, phpBB is not a content management system and as such you cannot use it when it comes to web content management. Since forums are scattered all over the web, you won’t have the ability to organize and management them as you would have with Joomla or WordPress.

Notwithstanding its shortcoming, phpBB is still one of the most suitable forum applications in the market. With the help of phpBB, you can be guaranteed of repeat traffic.

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