Features, features, features

[Jennifer Hadorn]

AKA Mods. I just got my discussion forum back up and running after a short vaca, and I'm trying to decide what mods to add. The problem with mods on phpBB is updating versions. ICK.

Anyway, I'd like it to feel more like a community than just a forum and I need some advice. I've already added

Birthdays

Local Events - Feeds directly to my home page and can be subscribed to via Feedburner

Board Announcements - Also feeds to the homepage and can be subscribed to through Feedburner

FIND - RSS news delivery to forums of my choice. Very nice for feeding blog entries, news, etc.

Report this post - allows members to report posts. I feel this is a double edged sword.

I'd like to add something that will allow members to feed their blogs to a special forum called Member Blogs. I know how to do it and it won't be hard with the FIND feature, but do I really WANT to? All they have to do is give me the RSS feed for their blog and I can set it up to grab daily or do it manually.

Any other features you'd recommend? My forums are for women, and topics include health, parenting, news, politics, etc. .

Ideas, brainstorms, constructive criticism are all welcome.

[Lynn Terry]

These are all great ideas! I think more features is a great way to keep up with the changing web, as people are getting more and more used to the interactive options.

If you dont already have it, I think the print mod is a good one - making a lightweight print version of the thread (that they can modify to include specific posts within a thread).

[angelaaa]

One thing to keep in mind though... is if you add too many things to your phpbb forum it can be a bear to keep up with as new versions come out... ya know?

Angela

[robert adams]

actually, updating with MODs is not that hard.

there is a special MOD type version of the updates.

you can either do the code changes by hand, or if you have easymod installed, it will do them for you.

I just took a board from version .10 to version .21 in just about an hour today. it would have been 30 minutes if the owner had not removed what version it was. I had to spend a bit of time figuring that out.

The trick is to stay updated, the more versions out you are, the harder it is to update.

by the way, phpbb is what I do, let me know if you need any help.

robert

[Jennifer Hadorn]

Thanks for the offer, Robert! However, this is my fourth php BB and I'm beginning to get back into the swing of things. It's just been a year or more since I've tinkered with it. At one point I even installed and completely modded one for someone else.

I do feel like a babe in the woods after being out of touch for so long, though.

[MikeM]

Hi Robert,

I read that you're a phpBB guy. Would you happen to know how to make phpBB work with Mambo? There's supposed to be a way that both Mambo and phpBB can share the database but I don't know enough to not mess it up.

Thanks.

Mike
www.AgentPromotion.com

[robert adams]

well, I just spent quite a while trying to find something for you. There are many different mambo/joomla sites, they all talk about a bridge or module for integrating phpbb but none of the links work.

It is supposed to be something that is easy in the new version, but I guess you will have to spend some time at the mambo sites.

luck,
robert

[Jennifer Hadorn]

I never could get it to work on my last forum, so I just gave up. I know that sounds defeatist, but it was a time robber and I wasted a lot of time trying to figure it out.