phpBB is a very popular, open source, flat-forum package written in the PHP programming language. phpBB uses a flat topic and post structure, rather than threaded.
The software includes features such as posting/replying/editing messages, private messages, private forums, user and anonymous posting, robust theming, user ranking by posts or by special, admin definable, ranks, and much more.
phpBB has a user-friendly interface, simple and straightforward administration panel, and helpful documentation.
phpBB has been our longstanding favourite open source forum software.
Key Features
- HTML5, CSS3, Responsive Design.
- User Preferences.
- Moderation.
- Comprehensive Administration Control Panel.
- Search Engine Spider Handling.
- Unread Message Tracking.
- Private Message System:
- Custom PM folders – create custom PM folders and create a set of filters/rules to automatically sort PMs.
- Multiple Recipients – send private messages to multiple people.
- Send Blind Carbon Copies (BCC).
- Send to Groups.
- Address Book – makes sending messages quicker.
- Message Drafts – lets you edit and send messages later.
- Export Messages – for archiving purposes.
- Attachments in PMs.
- Conversation View – keep track of PM replies and displays a chronological view of the PM history.
- Registration:
- COPPA Registrations.
- Limit Registration Attempts.
- Minimum / Maximum Username & Password Length.
- Limit Username Characters.
- Posting:
- Uses a flat topic and post structure.
- BBCode & Custom BBCode.
- Attachments:
- Automatic Image Thumbnails.
- Attachments Types.
- Multiple Attachments.
- Attachment Placement.
- Quick Reply.
- Smilies & Emoticons.
- Quoting.
- Word Censors.
- Syntax Highlighting.
- Post Drafts.
- Polls.
- Anti-spam:
- CAPTCHA Confirmation – offers multiple CAPTCHAs to use during registration, including the industry-standard reCAPTCHA by Google, a custom 3D CAPTCHA, and a customisable Q&A CAPTCHA. There’s also support for reCAPTCHA 2.0.
- Flood Control – limit the number of posts that can be made or PMs that can be sent in a given time period.
- User Banning & Suspension.
- Designated moderators and administrators are able to issue warnings to users.
- User’s actions on the board can be logged and viewed by administrators and moderators.
- Report Posts & Private Messages.
- Post Approval – can be configured to require individual topics and posts to be approved by moderators before they’re visible to everyone.
- Users:
- Signatures.
- Avatars.
- Ranks.
- User Online List.
- User Preferences & Profile Settings.
- Manage Saved Drafts.
- Manage Bookmarks & Subscriptions.
- Custom Profile Fields.
- Friend/Foe List.
- Moderators.
- Usergroups – allow users to be easily organized on the board with group types, multiple group leaders, custom group colours, group ranks & avatars, and group-based memberlist display.
- Data Management: supporting:
- MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle Database, Firebird, SQLite, and Microsoft SQL Server.
- Caching:
- Database Query Caching.
- Template Caching.
- Manually clear the template cache, the theme cache, or everything.
- Styles – three main parts: templates, themes, and imagesets.
- Search system:
- Fulltext Native.
- Customized Topic Search.
- Customized Forum Search.
- MySQL Fulltext.
- Author Search.
- Advanced Search.
- View Unanswered Posts.
- Active/New Topics.
- Posts Since Last Visit.
- Search Flood Control.
- Security:
- All passwords are entirely hashed before stored in the database.
- Type-aware Parameter Handling and Database Layer.
- Plugins to connect phpBB to other applications.
- Authentication – authenticate using the database, Facebook, Google, Twitter, other OAuth sources, LDAP, and Apache. Other custom authentication methods can also added with extensions.
- Search – MySQL native is included with phpBB. Additional plugins, such as Sphinx, are available.
- Cache – includes plugins for file-based cache, memcache, X-Cache, APC, eAccelerator and Redis.
- CAPTCHA – includes Classic GD, 3D Wave, Q&A, and reCAPTCHA plugins by default.
- Notifications – multiple methods of notifying users of activities on the board.
- UTF-8 support.
Website: www.phpbb.com
Support: Blog
Developer: phpBB Limited
License: GNU General Public License
phpBB is written in PHP. Learn PHP with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
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|---|---|
| Discourse | Discussion forum, mailing list, and long-form chat room |
| NodeBB | Community platform for the modern web |
| Flarum | Simple discussion platform for your website |
| Forem | Platform for building modern, independent, and safe communities |
| phpBB | Flat-forum bulletin board software solution |
| bbPress | Forum software with a twist from the creators of WordPress |
| MyBB | Intuitive, extensible forum software |
| miniBB | Easy, lite, and speedy quick forum |
| Vanilla | Simple and flexible forum software |
| Thredded | Simple and feature rich Rails forum engine |
| Simple Machines Forum | Elegant, effective, powerful forum software |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
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