First Take On phpBB 3.0 "Olympus"

Safin

Finally the much awaited PHPBB Olympus is out as a public beta. In this review i am gonna list my experiences as i test fire the new beta.

History :

I first tried phpbb 2 years back and i didn't like it at all.

There were hardly any features at the user level and the admincp was cramped and featureless. Hacking was a real pain. It was just a plain bb with no real features(not even attachments was supported)

Needless to say i have been on vbulletin for close to 4 years now and all this while it has enjoyed the best in the market tag.

Now with Olympus i reckon we have some real good competition. It might still not face up feature to feature with vbulletin, but its no pushover either. Considering its free and considering that it enjoys the support of an extensive modding community, i see great things happening with Olympus.

Ok enough of talking.. lets hit it with whats new and hot in this release.

Features :

Starting with a link to the features list:
Olympus Feature Highlights

Key areas to note :

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

and many more... we will discover some more in following pages...

lets start the preview.....

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

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First Take On phpBB 3.0 "Olympus" Discussion under Reviews and Previews, part of the Work in Progress category on TechEnclave; Finally the much awaited PHPBB Olympus is out as a public beta. In this review i am gonna list my ...