What is the difference between the forum formats?

by baltimoregirlz on November 23rd 2008, 4:36 pm

I am updating/playing around with the appearance of my forum and was wondering if someone could explain to me the difference between phpbb2, phpbb3, punbb and invision.

by **Jalokim** on November 23rd 2008, 5:01 pm

in a nutshell ...
phpbb2 is the oldest forum platform ... its the most stable and offers template editing... which is a great tool for editing... without it , well the forums look really dull. The css is stiff... so not alot of changes can be made.
Its a simple platform... nothing to new there.

phpbb3 is the newer version of phpbb ... it offers a more modern look a more flexible css .

punBB is a really flexible platform if you are into editing your theme... the platform offers a really elegant look, and its stable.... a normal forum.

IPB is a new platform, for forumotion, its got a couple bugs that will be ironed out soon. it offers the biggest variety and customization.

All in all, the forums run identically... some are stabler than others... some are faster... but the differences are tiny. It all comes down to editing the forum... as mentioned above... punbb and IPB offer the best CSS flexibility, phpbb3 and punbb look real good even as default themes... and phpbb2... well its loved by many... but i say its out of date

by Tarogasini on November 23rd 2008, 5:39 pm

@ baltimoregirlz - thanks for asking the question that crossed my mind several times a couple of days ago.

@ Jalokim - thanks for explaining all this. At this moment i am on phpbb2, but once i read your post and went checking pubBB and phpbb3 themes - i think its time for a change. So, thanks again.

by baltimoregirlz on November 23rd 2008, 7:36 pm

Your welcome....lol.

Is there an easier way of switching/updating my forum without having to redo everything? I had tried in the admin panel but it makes it look all funny.

I am on a phpbb2 right now but have always wanted to update it. Its all just very confusing to me. I would also love to know if it is possible to if I want to sell items to other members (we are all nail techs swapping products.....lol) if I can create click-able pics that allows you to add the item to your cart and check out through paypal. I have seen this on www.beautytech.com which is a phpbb site but not sure if it is allowed under formation and how to do it.