By jpolt on
I've tried out the builtin Drupal forum module but don' like it very much? Is there a common consensus on which is the best one of the available alternatives?
I've tried out the builtin Drupal forum module but don' like it very much? Is there a common consensus on which is the best one of the available alternatives?
Comments
There're Drupal DB bridges
There're Drupal DB bridges to quite a few I think.. phpBB, SMF, FUDForum, Vbulletin.. You'll find them in the 3rd party integration section.
Personally, I think anything will go so long as you can theme it well. SMF is the one I like amongst most free forums.
- p6
- Pavan Keshavamurthy
http://grahana.net/
uieforum
I've just installed uieform, which seems like quite an improvement on the default module.
Just wondered if there was any way to disable sidebars when in the forum module - it's very squashed up otherwise.
Do the other forum modules also dosplay within the content region?
You can setup blocks to only
You can setup blocks to only show(or not to) on certain pages.
not enough information
'Don't like them' is hardly enough information for people to suggestion options.
-Steven Peck
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Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide
Which external forum
Most people appear not to like the Drupal internal forums.
I was just wondered if there was a general agreement on which alternative option was preferable.
...
There isn't a consensus. There also isn't a series of reviews on the different bridges that I've seen posted in the forums here either. So your best hope is people who have used the various bridges can give you some solid reviews on the links/dis-likes of a given alternate solution.
Also I would dis-agree with the statement that 'most people' do not like Drupal forums. Certainly there exists a vocal segment of people who aren't interested in helping improve the forum module who constantly complain, a lot.
There are some people who are interested in making a difference if you are interested in seeing the future of forum module check out their groups page. You may want to check there for some ideas too.
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide
Drupal's builtin forum
Drupal's builtin Forum has the most unintuitive interface I've come across.
I find it pretty unusable
I am not in a position to help improve it, as I don't understand how Drupal works, and don't know the first thing about coding in php and MySQL.
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I'll venture a guess and say that I think the idea with pointing you to the forum.module group, was not necessarily for your coding skills.
It was to:
A) inform you there is working group, and they are working on it, and you can view the discussions they are having about it.
B) if you wanted to have a "say" (as someone who feels Drupals Forum UI could be improved), you could do so.
Drupal's internal forum non-intuitive
I can't say precisely how the internal forum could be improved - its' just non-intuitive an awkward to use.
I don't really see the need to reinvent a forum program if full featured, dedicated programs can be embedded within Drupal and can work seamlessly.
Install modules for more functionality.
It's not Drupal's purpose to contain a full-featured forum by default. There are many modules available that will enhance it. Start by installing these modules: bbcode, smileys, privatemsg, forum_access (and acl) and last but not least: flatforum.
Drupal DIY forum
The addition of all the suggested modules to get a usable forum sounds like quite a daunting task for someone new to Drupal who just wants a usable forum.
Since, as you say, it isn't Drupal's purpose to contain a full featured forum by default, I would prefer to install a full featured program such as Phorum and embed it it within Drupal. Why reinvent forums?
Trouble is hardly anyone knows about Phorum so there isn't an uptodate version of the Drupal interface for 5.1.
...
We're not re-inventing a forum. We're implementing a CMS that focuses on integration of all your content. With third party software;
you now lose all content integration,
you have multiple user databases,
you have multiple content databases,
you have to become an expert with two completely different systems,
you have to subscribe to multiple security lists,
you have to concern yourself with every or any update between two different projects with different release schedules and goals
The forum module is quite usable. It may not suit your goals but it is very usable and in use on many many sites, including, oddly enough, this very site where we are responding to your questions and comments.
I personally do not feel like learning another product. The number of people who do is even smaller and most of them do not participate int he community beyond the bare minimum to get their third party integration working so you see many questions on that subject unanswered by them.
My interest is in improving Drupal. I pointed you to resources where this issue was discussed to help you better leverage this CMS's resources. If you do not wish to take advantage of those resources then that is your choice.
You are not interested in helping improve this CMS that you are planning on using? Then that too is your choice.
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide
Just to answer some of your
Just to answer some of your points...
I do not see anthing wrong with integrating third part sofware within a CMS. After all there is no mad scramble to rewrite something like Mailman. And it isn't the case that you need multiple databases.
The need for any concern over two different projects with different release schedules and goals is somewhat overstated because you could say the same thing about the hundreds of Drupal modules being maintained indpendently.
Forum software in a mature product like Phoum is realtively stable, feature full, and not likely to undergo any major overhauls in the foeseeable future, so that once it works it can be reasonably forgotten about, without looking for yet another module to improve it.
Personally, I do not find this forum module that usable. For example why does every reply need a subject? The subject should be defined at the start of the thread.
And I am interested in improving this CMS because I want it o be able to integrate lots of other third party software. we don't need another Microsoft trying to force everyone to use their modules exclusively.
For a CMS to be able to embed third party software seemlessly is a great feature not a drawback.
...
Yes, you keep saying this without really giving enough information and now you have dismissed several peoples answers. Several people with extensive experience.
Hopefully others who have integrated third party forums and are interested can help you. What you want is certainly achievable.
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide
Just compare
Just comapre these two forums
http://www.phorum.org/phorum5/list.php?12
http://drupal.org/forum
Drupal seems rather lumbering and laboured in comparison to Phorum
... sigh
You are comparing apples and oranges. Earlier a suggestion for forum module add on's to customize to your sites needs were ignored. Drupal.org uses that basic forum module without any add on's.
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide
Ick
I looked out of curiosity. That phorum link you provided looks awful. I'll stick with Drupal's.
Michelle
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My site: http://shellmultimedia.com
Phorum for speed
The look of Phorum can be themed. The speed of Phorum is so much greater than Drupal's internal forum, and it's more configurable.
Flatforum - not for 5.1
I've just had a quick look at flatforum, but it appears not to be available for 5.1 and won't work with Garland - the theme I'm currently using.
Can anyone confirm that?
That's correct. If you do
That's correct. If you do some googling though, you'll find a customized flatforum module for Garland.
And do you find this "normal forum"-ish enough? http://64.40.146.141/forum That's Drupal too ;) (With further theming customizations that still need their CSS to be fixed.)
How do I do that?
The forum you are running looks pretty good.
Do you have any instructions for setting it up?
How about persuade PHPBB or SMF to release a module version ?
I have been trying to convince both SMF and PHPBB developers to release a Forum version for examle Drupal in module release format. It would benefit them a lot since Drupal own Forum would be obsolete and Drupal would get a very advanced integrated forum.
I know, many of you says, there are bridges, but they are not integrated, they have two user login systems (Drupal included) but with synchronization, less cosmetical chances to make a good layout with integration of Drupal boxes in the forum threads.
Another example is if I wants to use the adsense injector module also in the Forum threads and posts it doesnt work but you have to hack in SMF or PHPBB also, everything needs to get done twice, one time in PHPBB/SMF and one time in Drupal.
Please go to PHPBB and SMF and pleed your wishes to them, they seems to NOT listen if they dont hear any voices, one voice like mine doesnt mean anything unless many others agree with me or atleast agree a bit.
They doesn't see the problems with using the bridges, they think it's smooth to adjust their templates and use a bridge, but they dont understand that a system like Drupal also includes so much more that I may want to integrate and not just the login process.
I also need to say this, the last release of the bridge for SMF does include a setting to have the complete SMF within a frame in the webdesign, would be good for many, still no integration except for login and not good at all considering SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and still you need to handle two template systems.
It would be wonderful if Drupal got a full integrated PHPBB or SMF module, it would make my life and many others so much easier.
PHPBB community discussion about splitting into two development branches, one standalone and one module for Drupal as example:
http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=538461&sid=8c8dde3aa517ee672bd55fbcc690a47f
Simplemachines (SMF) community discussioin about splitting into two development branches, one standalone and one module for Drupal as example:
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=168762.0
I wrote this little fast, hope it is understandable enough :)
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Why wouldn't one just use the Drupal forum.module if you don't want to do things twice ?
I don't see how you will tightly integrate the SMF forum or PHPBB for that matter, without rewriting HUGE portions of code in those packages, to work with Drupal APIs, node system and templating system to work in a way you describe in the PHPBB forum post. Just for the templating to work properly one would have to rewrite PHPBB's API"s to use PHPtemplate. That would be a huge undertaking.
The bridges like the SMF forum module already available are the only way to go as I don't see either of those communities rewriting the core of those programs to "completely integrate" with Drupal.
Which may explain why your posts in those communities got very little response. Join the DruBB group at groups.drupal.org to help make the Drupal forum.module "better" thus "zero" integration with a 3rd party project is needed. This has been discussed at great lengths, multuiple times in the Drupal community.