Please Help?

[Steve Leigh]

Greetings .....

I've no experience at all in creating a web based message board (such as this one).

I'd like to start a small one for my website, and would appreciate suggestions.

(a) a free or shareware package
(b) easily set up by a novice
(c) easily maintained


Thanks VERY much,

Steve Leigh
steve@sl-prokeys.com

[wwuud]

phpBB.com

[Steve Leigh]

Originally posted by wwuud
phpBB.com

Thanks very much :)

I installed it, now have a new question.
It's here (meaning on POWweb), per instructions, I created the file showing info on sql and php.

Install fails, I don't know the name/path of database?

Help?

Thanks :))

Steve

[sophiespo]

Do you have a database?? Youd know if you had one, because you have to fork out $30 extra for it.. and activate it in OPS...
if you have one, I think you can get the info from OPS...

sophie

[SimCoWeb]

If you don't want to set up a database you can install a BB based on Perl. I'd recommend Ikonboard 3.0 which is a freebie. You can get it: www.ikonboard.com

[sophiespo]

Im with SimCoWeb. Ikonboard is great if you dont have a database, and it looks good too.. :)

sophie

[Steve Leigh]

Thanks very much :))

I found it, I'm trying it now.

[Steve Leigh]

Does anyone know ..........

What is required locally (W98 machine) to install and tweak Ikonboard, rather than having to do it online? Is it possible?

Thanks,
Steve

[sophiespo]

To install youll need an FTP program, most people would recomment you use CuteFTP (WS_FTP apparantly has some problems with setting file permissions).

To tweak, youll need a text editor (NOT wordpad or MS Word because they add nasty characters to the end of lines) use Notepad or TextPad. You can set board colours within Ikonboards admin panel, though. You wont have to do any of this in the actual files.

If you want to make your own graphics and logos, use something like Adobe Photoshop. You can get a trial copy from their website if you dont have it.

anything else?
sophie
:)

[Steve Leigh]

Originally posted by sophiespo
To install youll need an FTP program, most people would recomment you use CuteFTP (WS_FTP apparantly has some problems with setting file permissions).

OK, that part's done. It's installed & working.

To tweak, youll need a text editor (NOT wordpad or MS Word because they add nasty characters to the end of lines) use Notepad or TextPad. You can set board colours within Ikonboards admin panel, though. You wont have to do any of this in the actual files.

What I'd like to do is install it locally (in my computer at home) and do work to set it up, -then- upload it to website.

If you want to make your own graphics and logos, use something like Adobe Photoshop. You can get a trial copy from their website if you dont have it.

anything else?
sophie
:)

:) Thanks Sophie. Probably another 30,000 questions!

[sophiespo]

What I'd like to do is install it locally (in my computer at home) and do work to set it up, -then- upload it to website.

Oh I see..
thats a little more difficult... you would need to install perl, I think most people running windows use ActivePerl. Its also a lot harder to configure the scripts... I would seriously suggest for you to upload it to your website and do it that way. It will save you a lot of hair tearing.
Im sorry. I dont think I can really help you with installing and testing it locally.

sophie
:)

[SimCoWeb]

I'm with Sophie on this one. It's fruitless to set it up on your local drive. Ikonboard is pretty bullet proof with its installation and is almost completely automated. The only 'customization' that you'd have to do is create a template for it (so it looks like the rest of your site) and adjust the colors. And, you can even put a custom or third party 'skin' on it as well.

Plus, like many powerful Perl programs, Ikonboard looks for certain Perl modules that you'd probably not have installed in your local drive that would keep it from working.

Snag a good FTP program, follow the install instructions, and you should have it running on your host in less than 30 mins. It's a feature rich program and amazing that it's free :)

[Steve Leigh]

Thanks again to both. :)

It is running currently on my website, and it is a nice board, full of features.
I thought I could improve my learning curve locally, but that's not too critical.
Powweb server (saturn) is feeling bad today, I haven't been able to log in with my FTP client.