SMF vs phpBB

I've installed a SMF forum now - as other users have indicated that it's easier to integrate into a site (both visually and at the back end - ooer.)

However, I'm finding the administration interface rather clumsy, in comparison to that of phpBB.

I liked the way I could view my forum listing, and move forums up/down and visually see how they would be laid-out. But in SMF I have to click on the forum then say where I want it to appear from a drop-down list

Am I being too picky about this?

Hi,

I was going to reply to the other thread about forum integration, but I've been busy intgrating a forum .

I was trying with SMF, but I couldn't work out how to do it "nicely". I don't like hacking into templates and unfamiliar php. Also, I wasn't sure I liked the look.

Anyway, I went back to one of the other forums I had been looking at (punBB). I managed to integrate my stuff inside the forum rather than the other way around. punBB lets you add extra items to the main menu via the admin interface. This gives me the punBB login and I used its header and footer.

Pluses: Its small and quick and the documentation and support seem pretty good.
It does dispense with some of the bells and whistles that other forums have, but I think there are at least some 3rd-party mods around. Not a problem for me as I don't really need the extras.

Personally i think it works quite well. I have a forum with in excess of 120 boards on it with smf... So i can understand where your coming from but its a minor niggle i think.

"However, I'm finding the administration interface rather clumsy, in comparison to that of phpBB"

are you using the 1.1rc2 version because its much more improved then the 1.0.7 version

Generally, I have been able to make phpBB do what I want - with a lot of edits to the templates.

But, I am stuck on on point - How do I stop one or two specific users having write access to some forums? (The permissions for groups only seem to add access rights, not remove them)

I'm running SMF on themobilesite.co.uk I'm finding it rather cumbersome to modify.

Is vBulletin worth looking at? I've noticed alot of professional forum owners (which I'm aiming for) are using it. Is there a particular reason? Is it more secure, or more easily customisable?

I would choose vBulletin over IPB (invision power board), with large boards IPB has difficulty in running smooth and uses excess CPU and Memory. Don't get me wrong vBulletin is going to be more intense than something coded lightly like phpBB / (SMF) but vBulletin is more able to run efficiently with high numbers of users online.

vBulletin is very secure, it is responsibly priced too, customizations you can get from the add-ons board vbulletin.org which are easy to install and maintain now

in my opinion, SMF beats phpBB hands down.

I was using phpBB for a forum I set up, but the amount of updates that kept being released became a real frustration. It was almost a weekly event to be updating my site with security fixes.

SMF, to me, is very easy to use, easy to modify with my limited php knowledge, and much more user friendly and functional than phpBB.

I'm still using 1.0.7 as the new release is still in beta, but no doubt the update procedure will be as simple as it was to convert from phpBB to SMF.

vBulletin is probably the next step up, but for me at the moment, free and good is fine for me so SMF get's my thumbs up.