Archive notice: This article was originally published on December 18, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The free forum software phpBB has launched version 3.0, christened “Olympus”. The innovations include improved features for online collaboration, increased security and optimisation for search engines. The software, which is under the GNU General Public License, is thus taking off in the modern, increasingly mobile web. “Converting all existing forums would involve some effort”, however warns Andreas Hähnelt, operator of http://www.foren4all.com and http://www.forenzeit.de, and tells pressetext that he himself does not intend to tackle such a step immediately.
According to the phpBB Group, discussion forums and user-created content are the most important source of information on the Internet. And this is increasingly also used on mobile devices, as the Association of the German Internet Industry eco, for example, expects. The phpBB Group apparently shares this view and emphasises that phpBB 3.0 has been optimised for the mobile market. “The mobile web is a key component in every web strategy in 2008, and phpBB fits perfectly with the growing market for mobile collaboration”, William Leake, CEO at Apogee Search, explains in this regard. The improved optimisation for search engines in particular is important for this.
Compared with the previous version, phpBB 3.0 naturally also boasts a large number of other improved and additional functions. Security is improved, among other things, by the option of temporary user bans, and combating spam is facilitated by additional functions. Administrators and moderators generally receive more options for easier management. Among them is what Hähnelt says is the most important innovation: “Updates are easier to carry out.” This includes support for additional database systems. Also of interest to users and especially in the area of online collaboration are, among other things, expanded possibilities in the areas of file attachments and private messages, as well as an included search plug-in. A detailed overview compared with the last released phpBB2 version can be found on the phpBB website at http://www.phpbb.com/about/features.
Behind phpBB 3.0 is a core team of six developers led by the German Meik Sievertsen. In addition, there are 40 team members and a supporting community of, according to phpBB, almost 300,000 users and developers. More than 2.4 million forums are operated worldwide with phpBB software. For the previous version phpBB2, more than 5,000 add-ons and around 400 forum styles came from the phpBB community, which made it easier to adapt to the wishes and needs of forum operators. “For phpBB 2, almost everything that becomes standard with 3.0 is available as an add-on”, Hähnelt says. This fact could also deter other forum hosters from switching quickly.
