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It was about time for me to get back to the creating a forum series. If you haven’t read the first one i advise you to read it.

Now, after selecting the script to use, (in our case: simple machines) it is time to get to the next step.

Upload files via FTP:

If you have CPanel with Fantastico installed then it is easy to install. You just need to login at your cpanel, select the fantastico option and choose simple machines in the forum section. Select where you want to install the forum, edit your details as login and password and there you go. A fresh install in a few seconds.

If you decide to install SMF manually like me, then you need to upload files using an FTP software.

There are several ftp programs out there and many are free. My favourite is Core FTP, and has a fully functional free version.

Now upload the files and then chmod all the necessary files/directories. (you will need to have the installation manual open to know what files to chmod).

Let’s head on to the next step:

Installation process:

After uploading all files to your server and giving the proper chmod permissions you can go to the next step.

Installing couldn’t be easier. SMF has a user friendly installation interface. You should point your browser to http://yourdomain/smfdir/installation.php (smf dir is the directory where you installed smf. if it is on the root of the domain then discard smfdir). After the page load, you will be prompted with a form where you choose the forum name. You will need to input your forum database and username. If you haven’t created a database and associated an username with it then this is the time to do it in your Cpanel. Hit the finish button and there you have it. The forum is installed. Just remember to delete the install.php. If you don’t the forum will remind you every time you visit it

Forum Configuration:

This step will probably occupy some of your time. You need to enter the forum administration panel (yourdomain/smfdir/admin.php). Then you should explore all options available and know where things are placed. One of the first place you should go is “Features and Options” where you can choose several aspects of the forum.

Now let’s head to the real deal. You have a forum installed and you need to have something in it. By now, you should have thought on what the forum will look like. You need to think in some categories, and what boards will they have inside. If you don’t know what to do, it’s always a good idea to visit some similar forums.

Let’s take dahh.net as an example. One of the strong points of dahh.net is the humour section. So a correct category would be “Laughter house”. And some proper boards for it would be:

1- Audio and Videos;

2- Funny Images;

3- Jokes;

4- Other.

The way you organize the forum is entirely up to you. Don’t get stressed if you are always changing categories and boards. This is normal, and you will still be changing things when your forum as 2-3 years old. No matter what you do, you need to have in mind these simple aspects:

1- When you create a category and board think always in SEO friendly titles;

2- Add a description to every board you create. This will help you with search engines and later, when we install some mods;

3- This one is important, and many webmasters don give credit to the usefulness it may have. Create  a support category with boards where the forum members can give suggestions, ask for support for any aspect of the forum, and a board where you can do some announcements. Learn to value the users opinion and advices

Board Permissions: You can customize each board permissions, and it is advisable to do so. I usually choose to limit “guests” from creating new topics and reply, although i let them read the forum. It is a good idea to let guests to see how things are in the forum, and if they like what they see, they will become a new member

Moderation team: in the earlier stages of the forum, you won’t need them. But when the membership numbers start to grow you will need the help of some users to moderate the forum. Choose some members that you trust and give them moderator attributes. You have two options: Global Moderators and Regular Moderators:

Global moderators are assigned automatically as moderators to all boards of the forum. Useful to have someone able to control everything, and if your board does not need a big team of moderators.

Regular Moderators or simply moderators are used to assign a member to be a moderator in a specific board or boards. Useful if your forum has a great number of posts every day.

Member Groups: you can assign titles to members. For example. If you have a new user you can call him “Freshman” until he makes, let’s say, 50 posts, and earning himself the title of Regular Member. 100 posts grants the title of Advanced Member and so on. This can be called “Positive Discrimination” and all forums should use it. You can do this by clicking on “Manage Membergroups”.

Ok, i have covered the basics on how to configure the forum, so i hope to see you here when the next post goes live. I remind you to subscribe my RSS feed because there is a lot more to cover and you don’t want to miss anything

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