Forums are extremely popular methods of product support for both commercial and Open Source applications. In fact, the Joomla community thrives because of the forums (forum.joomla.org) that cater to both Joomla Web masters and Joomla developers. This forum uses the Simple Machines Forum (SMF) application to provide message-posting services.

Message boards predate the Web in the form of an electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS), the most popular among them probably being The Well. When the Internet began to grow, the Usenet “distributed Internet discussion system” gained prominence. Now, Web-based forums can be easily incorporated into an existing Web site or Joomla system.

Simple Machines Forum (SMF)
The Simple Machines Forum (SMF) is the forum component that is used for a message board on the central Joomla site (www.joomla.org), so it has proven its ability to sustain great amounts of traffic and continue to perform well. The application is available in more than 20 languages, including English, Albanian, Arabic, Swedish, Catalan, Persian, Chinese, Finnish, Greek, Japanese, Turkish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Spanish, German, Hungarian, Hebrew, Bulgarian, Italian, Thai, Polish, Russian, Norwegian, and Romanian.

SMF is not an extension. It is a separately developed PHP forum application that is used on many sites including forum.joomla.org. Instead of running outside of Joomla, however, you can bridge SMF into your Joomla system with a special component. Since SMF has its own plug-in architecture, there are a large number of extensions available, including ones to add a gallery, spam filter, search-engine optimization (SEO) features, Shoutbox, advertising management, and many other features.

SMF must be installed separately from Joomla. You can download the forum application here:      www.simplemachines.org

For integration into a Joomla system, you should install SMF within the Joomla directory hierarchy. One effective method is to create a directory called orum at the root of the Joomla directory and place the SMF files there. The SMF installation is performed much like Joomla installation by pointing your browser at the directory containing the SMF files. A wizard installer will guide you through the process.

Once SMF is installed, you need the SMF Bridge to allow it to execute within the Joomla site. You can download the Joomla bridge component here:   www.simplemachines.org/download/?bridges

Note that there are a number of different extensions that offer a bridge between SMF and Joomla. Each of these extensions has advantages and disadvantages. You should stick with SMF Bridge because it is the official extension put out by the SMF development group and is, therefore, likely to be the most compatible.

Once you install the component, you must configure it to address the SMF installation through the Joomla Administrator interface. Use the bridge entry in the Joomla Administrator interface Components menu to display the configuration screen. The “Path to SMF” parameter is the most important, since it must be set correctly before the bridge will function. This is an absolute path and should be set accordingly.

Fireboard
In contrast to the SMF application’s separation from Joomla, the Fireboard (now merged with the Joomlaboard extension) extension was developed specifically for use with Joomla, so it requires no encapsulation or bridge component. Its integration with Joomla is substantial — specifically in regard to presentation and user permissions. It communicates directly with the Access Control List (ACL) used by Joomla to govern user access privileges.

Fireboard offers the following forum features:

❑       Unlimited definition of categories and subcategories

❑       Multilingual support

❑       Templating system on par with SMF

❑       Sidebar features such as forum spotlights, forum highlights, forum announcements, latest messages, and latest threads

❑       User-customizable favorite threads

❑       Joomlaboard import

 ❑       Custom plug-in architecture that allows the addition of features such as Joomap integration, Google sitemap generation, Joom!Fish support, commenting system, and others

❑       Output for RSS feed or PDF document creation

❑       Integration with Community Builder user profile system

❑       Support for personal messaging systems, including ClexusPM and Uddeim

You can download the Joomlaboard component and related modules at the following Web site:     www.bestofjoomla.org

After you download the component, you can install it using the traditional procedure through the Extension Manager. Then connect a menu item in the Menu Manager to the Fireboard component. The Web site also provides Joomla modules that add features such as a user template chooser, a latest subjects Ajax display, a Fireboard Administrator interface quick icon, a top user and last user display, forum statistics, and more.

Once installed, you must first add categories and then forums to allow for user access. The Joomlaboard Control Panel shown in Figure 10-13 provides access to all of the extension’s functions. Clicking the Forum Administration button will take you to the screen where you can add new categories.

When you click the New button, the category creation screen will be displayed. Leave the item level set to Top Level, and create a category such as Real Estate Investment. Save that category, and create a new one. This time, open the drop-down list for item level and you’ll see the category you just created. Select this item and then enter a forum title. The forum you create will now allow users to enter messages into it.