Vanilla 1.0: Next-gen open source forum released

by Jordan Running Jul 3rd 2006

Vanilla advertises itself as "an open-source, standards compliant, multi-lingual, fully extensible discussion forum for the web," and on Saturday it saw its 1.0 release. Vanilla will run on any web server equipped with PHP 4.1+ and MySQL 3.23+ and its Ajaxy bits work equally well in any major browser. To see Vanilla in action, head over to the official forums, or head straight to the download site for the less than 700kb package.

In related news, a couple weeks ago venerable web forum app phpBB reached the 3.0 beta 1 milestone. phpBB 3 features a whole boatload of changes and new features that have been long in coming. There's too many, in fact, for me to even list the highlights here.

Tags: bulletinboard, forum, opensource, php, phpbb, vanilla

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Fabian said 7:42AM on 7-04-2006

I've just found out about Vanilla yesterday, but immediately began playing around with it. Apart from a few minor glitches - like the extensions subfolder not being created - the installation was a breeze. Very fast and easy setup. Setting it up, using it, installing new extensions is very fast and slick. It makes decent use of Ajax technology but doesn't cry out to be web 2.0 - I kind of like this 'stylish understatement'.
The forum is very simple and not comparable with phpbb - but that is its beauty. In my opinion phpbb is a real monster. It can do everything but cook tea. That's great and a good choice in a lot of cases. I do administer and have administered some phpbb forums in the past, and it was the right choice there. But I also have often found phpbb to be too large for the job when all I want is a small, simple, clean and fast forum. That's where Vanilla comes in handy. I would never use Vanilla instead of phpbb for one of the sites I'm running where we have over a hundred very active users and a bunch of group-private message boards. On the other hand I would never use phpbb on my private homepage where all I want is a nice little forum thats easy to use and quick to use, even for people who normally shy away from the more complicated forums.

I think Vanilla is a great piece of software - and I'm delighted at the ease with which you can install, activate and deactive extensions. It's a breeze and very fun for the phpbb-plagued admin. It's like a vacation from the tiring tasks of the phpbb. of course, only where Vanilla suffices - which is far from everwhere. I think both forums have their right place to be, and Vanilla is great in its own way.

So give it shot, if you like - it's always better to judge for yourself! :-)

WedgeTalon said 10:58AM on 7-04-2006

Wow, phpBB seems to have finally caught up to where other forum systems were 5 years ago!

Honestly the only reason to use phpBB is it's large mod community. I personally prefer SMF: http://simplemachines.org

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters