Difficulty of Creating Online Forum

[doubledee]

How hard would it be to build a basic Online Forum using PHP?

 

(Yes, I know there are open-source versions out there a plenty, but what fun is that?!)

 

I have a book by Larry Ullman that describes how to do it, but I don't have the book with me and have never programmed such a thing - obviously - so I'm not sure how hard it would be and what you would get for the effort?! 

 

Thanks,

 

 

Debbie

 

[scootstah]

You probably wouldn't get anything for the effort, because you probably wouldn't build anything that is better than what is already out there. No offense.

 

If you want to build something akin to vBulletin, you are looking at a very long development time.

 

If you want something extremely simple and straight forward, then a couple of days at most.

 

The features you want to include will dictate the level of difficulty.

[doubledee]

You probably wouldn't get anything for the effort, because you probably wouldn't build anything that is better than what is already out there. No offense.

 

I know that, but that isn't my deciding factor...

 

 

If you want to build something akin to vBulletin, you are looking at a very long development time.

 

Okay.

 

 

If you want something extremely simple and straight forward, then a couple of days at most.

 

That's better.

 

 

The features you want to include will dictate the level of difficulty.

 

So would you ever "roll your own"?

 

If I use something like vBulletin, then how would that integrate with my home-grown website?

 

What I am ultimately looking for is a way to create a User Forum related to my website and my website's content (e.g. articles about small-business).

 

It seems to me if I could create a modest forum where people can discuss the content on my website it might drive more people to my website and more so keep them coming back.

 

I don't need something overly fancy, but it is very important that if I use a 3rd-Party app that it integrates seamlessly with my site, including the User Account (i.e. Registration, Log-In, Password Reset, Password Change) I already have.

 

Suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

 

Debbie

 

[trq]

You probably wouldn't get anything for the effort, because you probably wouldn't build anything that is better than what is already out there. No offense.

 

Seriously, most forum software out there is crap. If you have the time, skills and the inclination it wouldn't be too difficult.

 

Having said that however, Debbie, how could we possibly know how difficult this would be for you? With an existing login system in place you could probably knock up a simple forum in a weekend. Of course it wouldn't be very feature rich but people could easily post new messages and have other users reply to the them.

[scootstah]

So would you ever "roll your own"?

 

Sure, and in fact I am. I am creating my own forum system for a small CMS I am building. I am doing so because like thorpe said, most of the ones out there are crap and ridiculously over bloated. I only need a very simple discussion board.

 

What I am ultimately looking for is a way to create a User Forum related to my website and my website's content (e.g. articles about small-business).

 

It seems to me if I could create a modest forum where people can discuss the content on my website it might drive more people to my website and more so keep them coming back.

 

I don't need something overly fancy, but it is very important that if I use a 3rd-Party app that it integrates seamlessly with my site, including the User Account (i.e. Registration, Log-In, Password Reset, Password Change) I already have.

 

There's a few forum packages out there that are super easy to integrate into your site. PHPBB3 isn't too hard to do, but personally I can't stand PHPBB. Punbb/Fluxbb is another good choice. It is a pretty simple forum system without all the clutter that other software has (like PHPBB3), and it is pretty easy to integrate. SMF isn't too hard to integrate either.

 

One issue though is that you will most definitely have to use their user authentication system, otherwise you'd pretty much have to rewrite the entire forum system anyway. Tapping into Punbb/Fluxbb or SMF's user auth is trivial, so I would just switch to that if I was you.

 

You probably wouldn't get anything for the effort, because you probably wouldn't build anything that is better than what is already out there. No offense.

 

Seriously, most forum software out there is crap. If you have the time, skills and the inclination it wouldn't be too difficult.

 

I agree with you there. But while the code under the hood may be shit, there are still some very popular forums around that people have always used and won't give up. Namely vBulletin. Almost every big-name forum I have been to uses vBulletin. In fact I was a little surprised that PHPFreaks does not.

 

To reach the level of community and popularity that many of the major forum competitors have achieved would no doubt takes years. I am sure someone has developed a well-written forum package, but it just isn't big enough to be a main contender yet.