Why should i choose Forumotion ?

~ Forumotion boards offer an easily set-up, easily customisable board. You do not have to know how to code to be able to change the look and feel of your board through colours, graphics and fonts. For those who are more adventurous, you can choose and import a skin from hitskin.com or code your own. If you do not know how to code but are quite happy to change colours and font - for example, if you can modify a default layout on LiveJournal, you can change colours, fonts and graphics without touching the CSS.

~ A stable platform. Part of the appeal of using a relatively unknown host is that you do not get the downtime of some larger hosts. There is a support forum for those in the Forumotion network and problems are resolved quickly. The only glitch I have known with postings was for approximately twenty-four hours in the two years I have used to board, and the support people were aware and keeping their members informed via the Forumotion support forum.

~ Different looks. There are four different looks you can choose from for your forum: phpBB2, phpBB3, punBB and Invision, as well as a blog-type layout, and you can switch between any of these at any time without affecting your forum content and colours. Once you have set your colour scheme, if you switch looks, it will change the look without affecting the colours you have chosen.

~ Three different temporary themes. Although you don't have the option of allowing your members to choose the skin they want (as with some hosts) you can work on coding one skin while having another one up, and switch between schemes easily. You can have up to three different temporary schemes - not including the one in use by the board - which means you can test something out without it affecting the board. And switching looks does not mean you have to link to all your different graphics again.

~ An optional sidebar. Without needing to know how to code, you can have a sidebar, set either to the left or the right of your board, and add your own widgets to it using HTML.

~ An optional integral Chatbox. I suspect this would be more useful for APP sites as you are logged in under the same name as whichever account you're logged into the board with, but it's there and it's free. You can also add your own by putting the HTML code into a personalised sidebar widget in the Admin CP.

~ Optional Latest Topics box. One of my favourite features is the Latest Topic box which shows the latest nine topics, when they were posted to and who posted in them, without having to scroll down the page to find out what the last activity was.



~ Optional Welcome Box (top box). You can set the message in the top box or use HTML to customise it to suit your requirements. It is possible to use it to link to your Affiliates if you don't want to extend the sidebar too much. Or if you don't want it displayed at all, it';s easy to remove it from the homepage.

~ Newsletter email option. You can send a mass personalised email to your members to let them know of new developments or important news about your board.

~ Optional RPG module. This includes character sheets and a dice roll option. I haven't used this option, but it is there for those who may need such things and don't wish to look to an outside site to provide them.

~ It's easy to create categories, boards and sub-boards and rename them. It';s easy to create member groups and colourise them, and add members to them once set up. You can even set 'invisible' groups (for example, if you want your IC accounts to have access to the Staff area or be able to move threads, and yet still want your IC accounts the colour of the IC group). Permissions are set per group, so if you want one particular group to be able to read a section of the board, but nobody else to even see it, it's easy to do so – and to change the permissions levels once set.

So, to summarise; Forumotion offer a quick, simple platform that';s readily customisable, with the option to link to your own graphics and buttons without having to use the CSS to put them in. If a colour doesn't go with the scheme, it';s really easy to change it. The support network is good and it offers a clean, simple look for your board. There are many customisable options available for those who are interested in some or all of those options. If you are thinking of setting up an RPG and haven't yet decided on what host is right for you, take a look at Forumotion and you won't be disappointed.