Installation
Database Support
Security
Forums & Categories
Posting Messages
User & Group Permissions
Member Features
Moderation
Administration
Style & Customisation
Support

phpBB version 2 has been completely re-written since the first version. Version 2 focuses on a professional-quality modular design, high security, multiple-language interface, support for a multitude of databases servers and complete layout customisation, all with a low execution overhead.

phpBB is based on PHP, the fastest growing server-side scripting language on the web, which results in one of the fastest, feature-rich bulletin board systems available anywhere.

In addition, phpBB is open-source software so it has no fees, no subscriptions, and no restrictions on modifications. Couple this with a thriving and friendly phpBB community and you have a killer solution for creating communities on your site!

Installation

Simple installation that will have you up and running in minutes Complete upgrade from V1.x

Database Server Support

phpBB uses a database abstraction layer to enable seamless support of several database servers: MySQL 3.2x, PostgreSQL 7.x, Microsoft SQL Server 7/2000 Microsoft Access (via ODBC) ...with more databases available in the future.

Security

Designed with security as a priority Powerful and extensive authorisation system Strong encryption to keep passwords safe in the database Support for both cookie and URI-based sessions

Unlimited Forums & Categories

Unlimited forums can be organised into as many categories as you like Private forums and those only for specified user groups Powerful search facility

Posting Messages

Message formatting with various font styles and sizes as well as allowing quoting, code display, image posting and automatic URL linking Support of standard and extended BBCode tags and controlled HTML tags Polls can be simply added to posts Email notification of replies to your topics Powerful topic subscription capability Original emoticons to portray emotions

Versatile User Groups & Forum Permissions

Powerful forum, user and group permission management Control forum access to specified user groups Control all aspects of the posting experience Allow limited access to viewing, posting, replying and many other options

Member Features

Unlimited members Personal profile creation Post counting and administrator-definable ranks for users Email-like private messaging system Supports local, remote and uploadable avatars

Moderation Features

Topic editing Mass delete/move/lock/unlock of posts Topic splitting Option of auto-pruning of old or unanswered messages on a per-forum basis

Easy to Use Administration Centre

General configuration Forum & category setup Easy database backup and restore Disallowed usernames User authorisation Word censoring Complete member management Emoticon setup Optional new post verification Extensive ban management, ban by email address, username or single/multiple IP address or hostname IP tracking of posts and posters Mass emailing of groups and users by the administrator

Style and Customisation

Multiple styles available for the user to choose from Templates separated from the PHP code so that new layouts can easily be created or integrated with your current site design Complete control of fonts and colours with cascading style sheets (CSS) Active community creating addons and specialised modifications Default style compliant with XHTML 1.0 and HTML 4.01 recommendations from the W3C

Support

All this is supported by an increasingly large, thriving and friendly community of members from all over the world ready to help with any problems, suggestions or just for general discussion!