In a previous article, I talked about everything you need to know about the open source forum PHPBB2 and how to use it. Even though the programme has some oddities, it is free and, with a little help from the PHPBB community, even a beginner can install it. The programme you will upload, on the other hand, is pretty simple, so installing modifications, or "mods" as some people call them, can be helpful. I have a few favourites that I really like and that work well for me. Now, I plan to tell you about that information!
Chat What kind of forum doesn't have a chat room? PHPBB2, to start. Yes, you have to install it yourself, but the IRQ chat add-on is worth it and works much better than others I've seen on sites with this feature. One site that comes to mind is EZBoard.
"Who Is Online?" As an administrator, you know at all times who is online. The default version of this feature, called "stock," only shows people who have been online in the last five minutes. Luckily, a mod has been made that can make this feature last up to fifteen minutes. Does this matter? No, but it gives you a better idea of how many people are visiting your site right now.
Google Ads A mod has been made that lets you run and show banner ads, similar to how Google's AdSense works. Hey, you want to make a little money from your website, right?
Smilies You do love emoticons, don't you? Well, even if you don't, they can make any forum more interesting. There have been a lot of cool "paks" made, and some of them even have animated icons. Having it around Christmastime makes it easy to find emoticons with a Christmas theme.
Disable Board Message You need to be able to change the message you post when your site is down so that your members know when your forum will be back up and running. That's what this mod does.
You can choose from a wide range of other mods and styles. Some are easy to put together, while others aren't too hard. There are a few mods that are hard to install and will take you well over an hour. Choose your battles carefully and be careful when installing PHPBB2 updates. If you don't choose a "patch" file update, you can quickly get rid of any changes you made.
