phpBB 3 released

Posted by multippt

phpBB 3 has been released and can be downloaded from the phpBB official site. Finally something can be said about free software being just as good as paid ones. For years now phpBB has been considered lower than other forum systems (particularly paid ones) in terms of quality. phpBB 3 marks an important upgrade to a freely available system, similar to going from Wordpress 1.0 to Wordpress 2.0. You may be wondering why I’m harping about this particular release unlike other stuff like SMF - it’s because phpBB 3 is certainly something that has changed significantly from it’s older self.

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phpBB 3 - in 3 days time

Posted by multippt

phpBB 3 would be released in a few days time, specifically 13th December, as stated by a phpBB developer. For a few months now, phpBB 3 still remained in the development stages - so with anything that stays “beta” for a long time, expect plenty of upgrades over the previous versions.

In case if you do not want to go around the web looking at what phpBB is all about, this article shall go into detail of what some big features you should be looking out for.

Visually…

phpBB has changed a lot, when compared to its previous incarnation of phpBB 2. The first thing everyone would notice is the stunningly nice interface - taking it into the same quality as that of VBulletin and IPB. Colors, buttons - almost everything. Well, if you would want to compare image-wise, there you go:

Even the administration interface is revamped, with more stuff being accessible with less clicks.

Features

While phpBB 2 has the basic features a forum needs, phpBB 3 adds features that are far from basic.

Forums, in forums, in forums…

phpBB 3 brings sub-forums to a new level. You can now have sub-forums within sub-forums, within… I guess you get the picture. Forum hyriechy is also fairly easy to use - it is like browsing through directories, except it is a forum.

Theming forums - individually

phpBB 3 now allows you to have different themes for each forum or sub-forum. Pretty neat if you have over 20 templates in your arsenal.

Beyond permissions

phpBB 3 allows you to customize permissions completely. This means that you can limit what capabilities your moderators can do, as well as how much administrative powers admins get. Aside from that, each forum can be customized in a way that permissions for each user or group can be different from others.

Global moderators are a new asset in phpBB. While the concept is not new, and already existed in many forums, I guess it is quite a nice addition.

Moderators can now use a warning system - similar to the one on VBulletin and IPB. No more remembering which member deserves punishment - phpBB takes care of it.

Messages in private

Private messages (PMs) get a nice boost in features - possibly bringing it on par with VBulletin. Don’t treat PMs as PMs, treat them as Email instead, because that is what phpBB is trying to do. PMs can be forwarded, sent to several members, mass emailed (for certain users), be saved as draft - almost like email!

Upgrade in a few clicks

phpBB 3 facilitates the upgrade process - by making an upgrade wizard available. Pretty neat if you do not want to re-install your forum. The wizard can convert other forums to phpBB, a smart move if phpBB wants to increase its share.

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Of course, it won’t hurt to upgrade to phpBB 3 before it comes out of release candidate status…