Website and forum hosting

[tikitaha]

Hi, i'm thinking of getting a website and forum together, is there any recommendation or anyone that speaks from experience?? Thanks

 

[Ewc1307]

A what did you plan to do with your website/space?

 

[tikitaha]

Thanks for the replies, i'm setting the sites mainly on some nba updates and competition, and for the forum, i would need pts sys, banks, betting all these mods, are they available in phpbb?

Does most web hosting plan include the forum??

 

[Brinson]

If it includes mysql you can setup a forum yourself.

And as for thsoe mods...you'll have to look around. Some of them may exist, some may not. Points does for most scripts, but betting is less sure.

 

[tikitaha]

Is Vbulletin a paid forum sys? and is godaddy.com a gd host?

and y most of the webhost refer to linux? that means i haf to use linux as my OS to use the webhost or does it mean that their OS is Linux??

What does mysql mean? i try checking up the meaning in wiki but dun really understand wat's a database...


Thanks for helping out the noob here..

 

[tikitaha]

Any help??

 

[Brinson]

It means their OS is linux, and with a standard webhost, you won't know the difference.

Yes, Vbulletin costs money. A vbulletin license costs $160.

Mysql is a dabate type for storing the info about members, posts, ect.

I believe vbulletin will install their forum for an additional cost.

 

[tikitaha]

Ok thanks for the reply..

but i would like to noe whether IP board require license cost or is it like phpbb?
Which would haf more mods and hacks available??

 

[Dave@56]

You can try SMF
simplemachines.org, it's really good I think, forum package is a successor to the php version of YABB and is feature rich. It stands somewhere between phpBB 2 and vBulletin in the number of features it contains. They have a good reputation for updating security releases.

Benefits: It uses AJAX for some elements to make page loading faster. It has attachments and sub-forums. It features a package manager to install mods easily. SMF includes a file that contains functions which allows outside programs to interface with the SMF forum libraries, making it easier to integrate the forum with a website. The staff is helpful at simplemachines.org. It plugs into Joomla well with some modifications. (Update: as of the moment, the Joomla bridge is not available due to legal issues).

Drawbacks: It is missing some key features even compared to phpBB, such as e-mail through the forum and group moderators. Not as many mods as the other forum packages. It has the fewest community based mods (i.e. profile enhancements) and the fewest overall mods compared to phpBB and vBulletin.

[AD]Conclusion: SMF is probably the most full-featured of any free forum package. The latest version had a shortage of good templates for a while, but that is quickly changing. The SMF package manager is one of it's best features as it allows users to easily install most mods with just a few clicks in most cases. Note that for non-default templates, you may be required to manually add some code since most mods are written only for the default template. The big drawback of SMF is that it has fewer mods than phpBB or vBulletin.

Any basic plan with mysql will let you to download and install smf, look into hostww.net, inmotionhosting.com or mmhosting.com shared hosting deals.

 

[GG215]

phpBB2 is your best bet for learning (IMO), it does not need linux, it has the largest database of add-ons and because of its already long lifetime, it has a massive and helpful user-base in its support forums.

Another reason to use phpBB2 is it will allow you to get to know the community.
If you haven't got much time, and want to see what the new phpbb3 can offer, just try it out on this host : free forum hosting

Hope this can help!