I have finally found the time to really play with SMF forums.

My first impressions were very negative so i went for phpbb instead. Now that i have finished with my website, i decided to play around with them. All i can say now is how impressed i am.

It has the great integration of Joomlaboard with the configurability of phpbb. It looks perfect when integrated with the applicable template. The best demonstrations are with rockettheme - they have a SMF template club (unfortunately which is now shut down)

Just check out demos.hodkins.org its my friend site and we are using it to test the Joomla-SMF bridge with the versatility 2 template.

I would recommend using it over joomlaboard if you find the right template that fits in with your style.

However, if you want a stand alone forum - phpbb is definantly the forum i would go for.

Hi Muffin. That site looks awesome! The forum is integrated silky smooth. The only thing I see layout wise on the forum is that the search box up top could be centered vertically in relation to the dark rectangle in the background.

I initially tried to integrate SMF when I started creating a forum for ThemeBot. Here are the main reasons I decided not to use SMF.

1. It caused some CSS errors that were visible when not viewing the forum.

2. SEF URLs are not currently possible.

3. The developer of the official bridge decided to abandon the project for Joomla 1.5. I may be migrating ThemeBot to Joomla 1.5 in the future, so this was an important factor in deciding to go with JoomlaBoard. Perhaps somebody else will take up the project, but that can't be counted on.

I've been submitting error reports to the developer's of Joomlaboard. They are constantly working on improving it, so hopefully it will get better with time. And, I could improve the appearance of this forum when I find some time to jazz up the template.

I just finished completely gutting the code for the ThemeBot template about an hour ago. It is now CSS based (although the Joomla core still uses tables). Also cleaned out a ton of unnecessary CSS properties. The code is a lot leaner and you should notice faster page loading and less display errors while the pages load. Feels good to do a little spring cleaning

When your friend finishes the site, perhaps he could add it to the site showcase.

I do find many CSS errors if you use a template not specifically designed for your Joomla Template. I was going to try and convert my phpbb forum to SMF on my smcscience.com site. However, it causes far to many CSS errors so i abandoned it. Yet the conversion still worked perfection

I hope that joomlaboard becomes more like SMF/phpbb. Its simplicity is good for a small forum but it would be awesome to see a complex version with its integration functionality.

Great work on the spring cleaning - i did notice a speed different. If i tried that im sure i would delete somethings i wasnt suppose to

My friend and I have been working on clan sites for xlink kai. All using joomla We are still working on adding extras and fixing some problems but here are the examples:- http://hodkins.org - my friends site http://hodkins.org/1up - Joomla with phpbb bridge http://hodkins.org/fear - Joomla with phpbb bridge http://hodkins.org/KoPT Joomla with SMF bridge http://hodkins.org/diamond - old php Nuke site

Great Site!!! MuffinDCC

I found a template that I like for my joomla site. (I found it here at themebot) That's how I found this forum in the first place. I am so glad I did.

I don't know where to find the graphic in the template files? (so I can change it out for my logo). I hope to change it to my own logo rather than the template creator. LOL I just realized that 'thinking' cms and 'thinking' ftp are confusing me as I transition from html/php to cms admin panel funtions.

I noticed that you have worked this out. Your friend's site looks great! Is it complicated to exchange the logos?

I appreciate your sharing your experience with the joomla board,

Still have a lot of work to do on this and it is still not in the root folder yet but you can take a sneek peak at http://www.gypsyowl.org/joomla

It is going to be finished (crossing my fingers) at the same time as the launch of the replacement for my old site at http://www.gypsyowl.org (old site needing updated)
*the new work is in progress at http://www.gypsyowl.org/GYPSYOWL

As you can see, the short time since the launch of the first gypsyowl site and the new work has been a very enducational time for me. The CMS is going to be the hub of the org by the end of this year.

The logo is contained within the template folder

Code:

templates/*template_name*/images

For SMF, the logo is contained within

Code:

smf/themes/*theme_name/images

For phpbb, the logo is contained within

Code:

forum/templates/*template_name*/images

Its easier to find the image that you want to edit if you open the images folder on your computer with *thumbnail view*.
I find this the best option when searching for the image that i want to edit.

It is easier for me to edit the images as i am part of a template club which give you the sources (paid subscription)

However, if you made the logo yourself to the appropriate size and just upload it and it overwrites the template logo - simple!

I noticed that your joomlaboard isnt working, try to add some categories in the admin panel - however, theres an error that is on the frontpage which may not be related to no categories