SMF Hosting

SMF Features

SMF is loaded with functionality to help you create a successful community. Here are just a few of these powerful features to help you along the way.

• Versatile Technology – SMF support MySQL, PostgreSQL or SQLite as its database backend. Of course if you auto-install SMF at A2 Hosting, you don’t have to worry about setting up your database.
• Easy Editing – SMF’s template system offers a user-friendly way for you to make edits to your forum. That way you can customize it to your specific needs.
• Permissions – You won’t want everyone who has access to manage your forum to have full functionality. For example, you may just want to set users to specifically be a moderator. SMF offers you versatile user permissions to give the exact access they need.
• Search Engine Friendly – SMF is loaded with tools to ensure that you get as much free search engine traffic as possible through specific optimizations.
• Advanced Search Functionality – You and your forum members don’t want to waste time searching for the content and discussions they’re looking for. That’s why SMF gives you the option to search through your entire forum, search a specific category or merely search for a particular topic. You’ll also be able to search through any personal messages that were sent from another forum member.
• Statistics – Get any statistic you could want about the usage of your forum. View the amount of seconds your members have been online as well as view the number of hits each topic and message have received each day.
• Keeping Your Forum Safe – Blocking abusive or spammy users is a key to running a successful forum. SMF gives you the ability to block users by their email address, username, IP address and more. You can also set a ban expiration date for abusive users who you don’t want to ban permanently.
• Free Themes – You’ll have access to hundreds of free SMF themes to help you give your forum that exact appearance you want. From minimal to professional themes, you’re bound to find the perfect template.

What is SMF?

SMF is an abbreviation for Simple Machines Forum. SMF is a free, professional level solution allowing you to quickly setup your own online discussion community. SMF’s high powered, custom template engine means you’ll easily be able to customize the layout and appearance of your forum. The Package Manager is another way to customize your forum. Use it to add a variety of modifications and custom themes so you forum looks exactly how you want it to. SMF also features their own Server Side Includes (SSI) function allowing your site and discussion forum to interact with one another. You’ll have access to a huge community of users to help you with any questions you may have as you build your forum site.

Back in 2001, the most popular forum solutions was Yet Another Bulletin Board (YaBB). Two of Yabb’s original founders, Jeff Lewis and Christian Land, worked with Joseph Fung and Zef Hemel to release Yet Another Bulletin Board Spinter edition (YaBB SE).

Fung and Lewis eventually split from the YaBB SE group to do a complete rewrite of the code. They wanted improve upon YaBB SE by adding new functionality, optimizing it for performance and ensuring that its users could depend on a secure forum platform. Fung and Lewis released the beta version of Simple Machines Forum in September 2003. YaBB SE was shut down a few months later in March 2004. YaBB SE were offered a converter so they could change from the old platform to the new SMF option.