Installing a forum is a great way to keep users coming back to your site by building a community feeling and phpBB--one of the most popular open source forum software packages available--provides a powerful forum tool for free. Here's a guide to setting up a simple forum using phpBB.
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Download phpBB (See Resources below) and install it on your server. A step-by-step installation guide is provided on the site. Installation is quite straightforward and shouldn't take long. Many servers also offer a free installation of phpBB which can be done through the server administration panel. This is the easiest way of installing phpBB. If you're unsure how to do this, or whether your server offers this, contact them to ask.
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Customize the settings of your forum once you have installed the phpBB forum software. Log in as an administrator and click the "Go To Administration Panel" link at the bottom of the site. Start at the Configuration settings under General Admin, or Board Settings in the most recent versions. Here you can set the name of your forum and a site description. You can also adjust board settings for posting and messaging.
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Set up your forum structure under the Forum Admin section. Forums are generally divided into categories according to subject. You can first of all create categories for your forums, and then create forums within those categories. So for example, if you are setting up a forum on the subject of cookery, you might create categories for "Recipes" and "Discussion." Then within the Recipes category you could create forums for "Chinese," "Italian," French" and so on, and then in the Discussion category you could create forums for "Advice," Cook Book reviews" and so on. To create a category, click the "Create New Category" link, and then to create a forum click the "Create New Forum" link next to it.
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Design the look and layout of your forum in the Styles admin section. PhpBB uses templates and themes to control the look of your board, and you can customize these, or install new ones.
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Ask friends or invite web site members to start posting; the most difficult part of starting a forum is getting users to post. It's rather like a snowball effect, but you need to put some effort into getting active users posting on your forum.
Read more: How to Set up a Forum Using phpBB |
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