Servlet Web Hosting - MySQL, Java, JSP, Servlet, Tomcat, SSH Blog

268 CHAPTER 9 TOURING PHPBB S FEATURES this set to a smaller value, the session will time out sooner, and posts may be reset as read automatically. Watching Topics Watching topics permits users to receive e-mail notifications on replies to those topics. Users must be registered and logged in to use this feature. Users can elect to watch topics they choose by clicking a Watch this topic for replies link near the bottom of every topic view page. A user can also enable the topic watch feature for a particular topic by checking the Notify me when replies are posted check box when replying to a thread (see Figure 9-1, shown later in this chapter). To stop watching a topic, the user can revisit the topic and click the Stop watching this topic link. Formatting Posts Using BBCode phpBB provides a potent and safe HTML substitute, known as BBCode, so users can format their text (bold, italic, underline, and so on) without exposing your board to the possibility of malicious HTML. BBCode is usable in forum posts, private messages, and signatures (small lines of text registered users can optionally attach to every post). The BBCode system is incredibly powerful and easily customized via phpBB s template engine, which I will discuss in Chapter 12. Table 9-1 outlines the available BBCode in default installations of phpBB 2.0. As Table 9-1 illustrates, BBCode tags are used much like HTML. Note the usage of square brackets versus HTML s angle brackets. Table 9-1. BBCode Available in phpBB 2.0 BBCode Tag* Formatting Result [b]Bold text.[/b] Creates bold text [i]Italic text.[/i] Creates italic text [u]Underlined text.[/u] Creates underlined text [quote]Quoted text[/quote] Puts text in a smaller font, indented, and set off by a box [code]Program code[/code] Sets off text similarly to quoted text, and displays it in monospace [list][*]Item in the list[/list] [list] starts the list; [*] is an item in the list [list=a][*]Alphabetized Same as a regular BBCode list, but makes an alphabetically list[/list] ordered list [list=1][*]Numbered list[/list] Same as a regular BBCode list, but makes a numerically ordered list [img]http://path/to/image[/img] Embeds an image in a forum post [url]http://path/to/link[/url] Embeds a link in a post [url=http://link]Link text[/url] Links the text between the [url] tags to http://link [color=colorname]Text[/color] Changes the text between the [color] tags to whichever color name (red, blue, and so, on) or hexadecimal code (as in HTML) you specify [size=pointsize]Text[/size] Changes the point size of the text to the number you specify *Some installations of phpBB across the Internet may contain modifications that add additional BBCode or modify the behavior of existing BBCode. This table lists the base set of BBCode tags.
Searching for affordable and proven webhost to host and run your servlet applications? Go to Linux Web Hosting services and you will find it.

Touring phpBB s Features CHAPTER 9 One of the keys to success of managing your phpBB community is having a grasp of the phpBB software s feature set. While phpBB s end-user features are generally straightforward, they are also quite powerful. Knowing the ins and outs of these features will help you explain and fix problems you (or your users) may run into in the day-to-day operations of your forum. In this chapter, I ll walk you through mastering the end-user features that will help you guide users having difficulty adjusting to your forums, and discuss the administrative options related to these features. I ll also preview the phpBB 3.0 feature set. Reading and Posting to Forums Making posts and reading them are absolutely the most basic functions to a message board. phpBB offers enhancements to these seemingly simple functions to make you and your users lives much easier. Knowing how a particular function works can be a huge help when someone has a question as to why it s behaving that way. Using the Forum Index The Forum Index page is the front page to your forums and contains some very useful timesaving features. It has links to quick searches (some of which are available only to registered users, as explained in the Searching Forums section later in this chapter), a convenient login form, and a look at who is browsing the forums with the Who s Online feature. The forums tell you when the last post was made and who made it, and if there is anything new since your last visit (if you are logged in). The Forum Index page also showcases the newest member to the board, which is a very useful feature in building your community, as it gives users the opportunity to welcome the new users. Finally, the Forum Index page gives some brief statistics on how many users have ever been online at the same time, which can be a fun fact to have. Marking Forums As Read When registered users read forums, phpBB automatically keeps track of the posts they ve read in cookies stored on the users machines. Users have the ability to mark a forum or all forums as read via links on the forum or index pages, respectively. While rare, problems with the marking feature can arise. If users are having problems with this feature, they likely are not accepting cookies from your site. If this problem becomes widespread, you may wish to check the session length under the Cookie Settings options accessed through the Configuration link under General Admin in the Administration panel. If you have
If you are searching for cheap webhost for your web application, please visit MySQL5 Web Hosting services.

CHAPTER 8 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING PHPBB 265 Tip If you absolutely must have sub-forums in your phpBB 2.0 installation, rejoice! There is a modification available for the phpBB 2.0 series that installs a sub-forum feature on your board. It has been well tested and works remarkably well. Obtain it from a site such as http://www.phpbbhacks.com, and then flip ahead to Chapter 11 to find out how to install it. Summary You ve now worked through installing and configuring phpBB. You ve set up your forums and configured what your users can and cannot do in those forums. In other words, you now have a working board ready for posting! The next step is to familiarize yourself with the many end- user features that phpBB has to offer to your members, which is the topic of the next chapter. Additionally, I ll take you through more administrative functions you may use on a regular basis, which will further assist you in building a dynamite community for your web site.
If you are searching for cheap webhost for your web application, please visit MySQL5 Web Hosting services.

264 CHAPTER 8 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING PHPBB Clicking the Update button does what you expect: it updates the permissions for the user. It s a very cool system, and an unbelievably powerful one. So what exactly happened? When you visit the test forum, sure enough, there s another forum inside it, as shown in Figure 8-29. It s a great method of organization. Figure 8-29. A forum inside a forum As of this prerelease version of phpBB 3.0, it appears you can have as many levels as you want, which might be counterproductive. Ideally, two levels is quite enough. Anything more than that might make things too complex.
From our experience, we can recommend PHP Web Hosting services, if you need affordable webhost to host and run your web application.

CHAPTER 8 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING PHPBB 263 Figure 8-28. phpBB 3.0 has many policies for the user. Thank goodness for presets!
If you are looking for affordable and reliable webhost to host and run your business application visit our ftp web hosting services.

262 CHAPTER 8 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING PHPBB Feel free to add forum rules. At this time, phpBB does not provide a template for those rules. You add the forum rules by entering them directly into this box. If you have a custom image for the forum, you can use the new Forum Image option to include that as well. You have much more control over the pruning options, too. If you want a quick-and-dirty private forum, you can use the Forum Password field to assign a password to it. phpBB recommends that you use permissions rather than this password feature, but it s there if you need it. Setting Forum Permissions After filling in the settings and continuing, phpBB will tell you it created the forum, and it gives you a link to start filling in permissions another nice touch (before, you had to remember to set permissions). Permissions in phpBB 3.0 are vastly expanded over version 2.0, with the introduction of access control lists (ACLs). The new ACLs work with both individual users and user groups, as shown in Figure 8-27. You can add groups or users to the list and apply permissions to each object. Figure 8-27. The first permissions screen, where you select the user or group you wish to set access rights for When you click Submit, don t panic. There s an enormous list of permissions here, allowing you to restrict (or permit) more than you ever thought possible, as shown in Figure 8-28. Luckily for us, phpBB 3.0 explains each permission in a far easier to understand fashion than in previous versions. You can use the Presets menu to turn them all on or off. Don t be surprised if the final release of phpBB 3.0 comes with even more presets. The form at the very bottom permits you to set your own presets yet another one of those nice touches.
We recommend cheap and reliable webhost to host and run your web applications: Coldfusion Web Hosting services.

CHAPTER 8 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING PHPBB 261 Figure 8-26. Creating a new forum in phpBB 3.0 (notice all the brand-new options!)
From our experience, we can recommend PHP Web Hosting services, if you need affordable webhost to host and run your web application.

260 CHAPTER 8 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING PHPBB So how do you create forums in phpBB 3.0? First, click the Manage link under Forums in the navigation pane, and you ll see the screen shown in Figure 8-23. Figure 8-23. Is that a category, or is that a forum? You can create a forum at that top level to act like a category, or you can click the category s name. If you click the category s name, you ll see a screen like the one in Figure 8-24. Figure 8-24. Inside the My First Category forum You can then create a forum at that level if you wish. Or, you can go into that test forum, as shown in Figure 8-25, and create a sub-forum there. Figure 8-25. Inside the Test Forum 1 forum Wherever you decide to create a forum, you ll notice an explosion of options, compared with those available in phpBB 2.0. Figure 8-26 shows the phpBB 3.0 form for creating a new forum.
If you are in need for chaep and reliable webhost to host your website, our recommendation is http web server services.

CHAPTER 8 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING PHPBB 259 Figure 8-22. phpBB 3.0 Board Settings options Creating Forums, Sub-Forums, Sub-Sub-Forums. . . When configuring forums for phpBB 3.0 for the first time, you may be thrown off by the fact that there are no categories! phpBB 3.0 introduces sub-forums, which take the place of categories and also allow you to nest forums within forums. Sub-forums are a strange concept to get used to at first, but when you get the hang of them, sub-forums quickly turn into an organizational boon for your site. Say you have an archive for one particular forum. Instead of having the archive on the forum index page, you can now have the archive live inside the main forum, so it doesn t take up room on the front page. That s one of many possible uses for a sub-forum.
Visit our web design programs services for an affordable and reliable webhost to suit all your needs.

258 CHAPTER 8 INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING PHPBB Figure 8-21. phpBB 3.0 Board Defaults options As shown in Figure 8-22, the Board Settings group contains the settings for the community s title and description, COPPA information, account activation policies, visual confirmation, and much more.
Go visit our java server pages services for a reliable, lowcost webhost to satisfy all your needs.