Entry

Please tell me how to create a multi- discussion board using php3 and mysql?

Jan 6th, 2003 15:52
Jean-Marc Molina, Preeti Sikri,

There are 2 ways to develop a discussion board (also know as: message 
board, forum, bulletin board or bbs,...), the easy way and the hard 
way. The easy way is to use an existing PHP board:
Message Boards: 
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Develo
pment/Message_Boards/?tc=1 (phpBB...)
BBS: 
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Bulletin_Board_Systems/Softwar
e/?il=1 (phpBB again...)
You can also get a discussion board from your favourite PHP scripts 
resources:
HotScripts.com PHP-Scripts and Programs-Discussion Boards: 
http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Scripts_and_Programs/Discussion_Boards/ 
(149 are actually available!)
The hard way is to design and develop your own discussion board. 
Depending of your priorities, It can take weeks or months. It all 
depends of what you want to develop, a simple board so the users can 
post messages and comments or a complex board with topics, search... 
like the one you can get from the above links.
However if you really want to learn and develop your own discussion 
board, there are some tutorials:
HotScripts.com PHP-Tips and Tutorials-Discussion Boards: 
http://www.hotscripts.com/PHP/Tips_and_Tutorials/Discussion_Boards/
Be aware that you have to know a lot of things about application 
design, usability, database design, PHP strings... in order to design 
and develop a good discussion board. The solution is to learn by 
reading some tutorials about everything you're not an expert in.
As time is money and development can be painful, there's still the easy 
way :)