First Take On phpBB 3.0 "Olympus"

Safin

User Control Panel :

Overview page -> The information that you would have to see from your profile in vbulletin. I reckon this is better approach. you get to see where you are active in both for forums and threads...

Bookmarks and Subscribed threads -> Innovative idea. I would personally want threads where i am expecting a reply to be put as subscribed but an interesting thread tht i want to track as bookmarked. a very nice addition.

Saved drafts -> Wow.. how many times did you start writing a message and then tht you will complete it later. well there is save draft option for both threads and private messages.

Give it 10/10 for this feature. this is very cool.

Private messages -> Nice layout and option added for bcc. Very good

Profile options -> Well nothing much to talk about here except to say it has all the features that vbulletin has as of now. creation of custom profile fields is supported. Unlimited amount of such fields can be created from admincp.

Signature and avatar -> NO URI upload supported. Not that it really matters but its there in vbulletin. the sig template is good but basic. Unlike new vbulletin there are no sig controls at user level. So its upto the mods to carry out signature rules enforcement.

Preferences -> Quite a few gems here. I am impressed by the level of control that has been given to the user. eg he can decide as a default how threads are sorted(replies, creationm time etc.) again very good attention to detail.

Buddy management with friend and foe -> It just looks and feels better and is conveying much better info about the users on your face.. whos online and who's not online. A very nice feature on par with buddy management in vbulletin. If not better actually

Group join request -> Don't use this too much but it exists in vbulletin, needless to say it exists here

Final take on usercp -> very good. Its clean and looks organized. the sig fields could use some permissions and URI upload would be nice but otherwise this has everything you would want or expect.

My Take : 8/10

bottle · #1 (**permalink**) By bottle on 22 Jun 06, 02:03 PM

interesting review.. its been ages since i last saw a forum on phpbb, they should jazz up the interface a bit though

Darthcoder · #2 (**permalink**) By Darthcoder on 22 Jun 06, 02:06 PM

Very detailed review safin..the save as draft feature for PMs is very good and so is the rerouting/holding option for PM inboxes which are full.

dipdude · #3 (**permalink**) By dipdude on 22 Jun 06, 07:22 PM

Comprehensive review SN, tough for newbies like me to follow

Looks like would be a boon to all looking for a free alternative to build there forums. Going by your first take they would not miss much from paid bulletin boards and as you said "Olympus" is only bound to get better.

Josh · #4 (**permalink**) By Josh on 22 Jun 06, 07:34 PM

Great Review Safin... I hope they have good smily packs... The one used on TE are free ?? or they come with VB license ??

Safin · #5 (**permalink**) By Safin on 22 Jun 06, 07:55 PM

no.. they have been taken from number of free sources

Josh · #6 (**permalink**) By Josh on 22 Jun 06, 08:17 PM

^^ care to elablorate on the free sources ?? I have seen lots of smily packs and most of the free ones are fugly... Hope telling the source does not compromise TE policy...

Safin · #7 (**permalink**) By Safin on 22 Jun 06, 08:36 PM

haha.. now its like 2 years back. i think i have forgotten the sources now. google is your friend.. search

Apex · #8 (**permalink**) By Apex on 22 Jun 06, 11:59 PM

nice preview safin..

phpbb3 is a lot improved frm its earlier version. infact, its like comparing day and night. phpbb3 is huge and has a lot of features. i have noticed a number of new security features which even vbulletin and ipb doesn't provide. for a free product its great.

i agree it won't ever be able to match vb or ipb in terms of features or regular development and we know why. those are paid products, they have paid employees while phpbb is coded by enthusiasts just for the sake of community. they get nothing in return except for appreciation. we'll have to give it to them for coming up with such a gem.

its rocks in every sense of the word and it will only improve from now on i hope. will always keep an eye on its development.

Justin™ · #9 (**permalink**) By Justin™ on 26 Jun 06, 07:40 PM

Nice review big bro...

Reps follow...

Quad Master · #10 (**permalink**) By Quad Master on 27 Jun 06, 01:17 AM

Gr8 Review there Safin

Repped ya and thread rated

phpbb has improved a lot and have used it for our college forums project with some mods and a variety of styles.

I still remember that i had to figure out how to add the attachment facility to the phpbb forums and now its integrated by default.

Would like to say a Big Thanks to all the guys working so hard on PHPBB.

These are gr8 set of features.

1. Attachment support
2. Caching support
3. Many new features in private messages and ability to save drafts of messages and posts
4. Huge management permissions to manage usergroups to users.
5. Report and warn system
6. Unlimited sub forums and custom profile fields. IM integration with jabber network
7. Mail print topics.

shirish · #11 (**permalink**) By shirish on 27 Jun 06, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Josh

^^ care to elablorate on the free sources ?? I have seen lots of smily packs and most of the free ones are fugly... Hope telling the source does not compromise TE policy...

Josh also use Google Image Search in your search thread.

@safin just one thing, have some bigger screenshots either in imageshack or somewhere else. I wasn't able to see lot of things clearly. Higher resolution & some scaling. There are some interesting things happening there. Cool man. repped u

	TechEnclave Work in Progress Reviews and Previews
First Take On phpBB 3.0 "Olympus" Discussion under Reviews and Previews, part of the Work in Progress category on TechEnclave; User Control Panel : Overview page -> The information that you would have to see from your profile in vbulletin. ...