Inserting PhpBB forum into website

[funky_in_london]

I have built a rather boring website in Dreamweaver (not dynamic, just normal)
but now I want to insert a forum!

I have downloaded the file from PhpBB but I dont know how this works with
Dreamweaver. The web host I am with has given me access to two 100mb MySQL
databases on the host site.

1) How do I know how much space this will take on my dreamweaver index page if
I want to place it there?
2) Would I need a database of my own if I didnt want to store any information?

Any other advice on forums and how they work with dreamweaver would be greatly
appreciated.

Thanks
Mark
[email]funkyinlondon@yahoo.co.uk[/email]

[Matthew]

Hi Funky:
The PhpBB forum will need to use one MySQL database (as far as I know it
cant use both). 100 megabytes is a pretty good sized forum though (unless
you get ALOT of forum posts, it won't get filled up).

You could try to place the forum on your index page (maybe using an inline
frame?), but I would recommend that you just link to the forum from your
index page. That way your users will be able to make the most use of their
screen/browser window space. PhpBB makes it relatively easy to place links
on the forum page so users can get back to the index page (or other website
pages). Here is a page at the phpBB site that describes how to insert
navigation elements into a template or web page:

[url]http://www.phpbb.com/kb/article.php?article_id=18[/url]. Depending on how much
you want to modify the look of the forum, most of the installation and
setting up of the forum occurs on the site (there is an install.php: It will
step you through what needs to be done.). Be sure you set up a database
ahead of time (with database name, password, etc.) so that it will be ready
when you install the forum (it can take some web host's an hour or more...
to have the database ready for use.

With PhpBB you must have a database to use. You don't have to have a
database on YOUR computer, just on the hosting site's server (the server
hosting your website).

As far as Dreamweaver: what it is used for regarding setting up a forum is
limited: uploading the files is required (but can be done with any FTP
program. I have found that Dreamweaver sometimes doesn't upload all the
files, so you might want to sync it twice to make sure...). With Forums like
PhpBB and others, they are advanced enough that most of the configuration
occurs online... not with Dreamweaver. Dreamweaver might be used for
customizing the templates (You might want Fireworks for designing a logo for
instance).

I quickly designed, uploaded, and installed a new forum last night in last
than 1 hour. It's here:
[url]http://www.therobertsconservatoryofdance.com/phpBB2/index.php[/url] (I'm still
working on the rest of the site). It's pretty easy to do...

Matt

"funky_in_london" <webforumsuser@macromedia.com> wrote in message
news:dnmru4$6ml$1@forums.macromedia.com...

>I have built a rather boring website in Dreamweaver (not dynamic, just
>normal)
> but now I want to insert a forum!
>
> I have downloaded the file from PhpBB but I dont know how this works with
> Dreamweaver. The web host I am with has given me access to two 100mb MySQL
> databases on the host site.
>
> 1) How do I know how much space this will take on my dreamweaver index
> page if
> I want to place it there?
> 2) Would I need a database of my own if I didnt want to store any
> information?
>
> Any other advice on forums and how they work with dreamweaver would be
> greatly
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks
> Mark
> [email]funkyinlondon@yahoo.co.uk[/email]
>