General How long does it take for you to know a forum software?

[Cedric]

I first started using phpBB what feels like a millennium ago!

Back then, it took me a lot of time to get the hang of it since I was a complete newbie in web design and everything else. After phpBB, I moved to InvisionFree, which was much easier to use. Then came ZetaBoards - a platform I initially hated but quickly grew to love.

Later, I transitioned to self-hosting MyBB and IPB, and shortly after, I discovered XenForo, which I’ve been using since 2015.

XenForo, however, was a whole different beast at first. The learning curve was steeper compared to any other forum software I’d used before. But over the years, I’ve learned so much, and now I can confidently say it’s the best forum software for me in terms of customization and flexibility.

To answer the thread’s question, it usually takes me a few days to get comfortable with a new forum script, including some basic styling.

How about you? How long does it take you to learn a new forum software?

 

[Ravenfreak]

I have no styling skills myself, I've only attempted to make my own style for Invisionfree once but I just don't have the patience for it. As for learning my way around the ACP, it doesn't take me too long these days to get used to a new piece of software. When I first got into forums, I struggled getting permissions to be set up properly on phpBB 3, now I know it like the back of my hand even if it's still too complex compared to other software. (phpbb 2 was much easier to deal with.)

 

[fdk]

The first forum software I used was also phpBB, but was phpBB 2.0 which was a very old version of phpBB and was very difficult to learn the way around, especially the ACP and customisation options which were not very user-friendly. phpBB 3 made this a lot better in my view, but the plugin/modification system was still difficult to get the hang of, especially as a relatively young administrator at the time, without much coding/development experience.

At this point I migrated to MyBB, primarily for the ease of the plugin system and the customisation options which were much easier to use. The use of "hooks" in MyBB also made it much easier to learn some basic code and how to make minor alterations to code that fit the requirements of my site at the time.

Generally, I find it quite easy to get the hang of forum softwares quite quickly now. This is the first XenForo forum I've been a staff member on, and although I thankfully don't perform much in terms of "moderation" duties here, all the functionality I do need to use in my role as a member of the Content Team is easy-to-use and really doesn't require much in terms of "learning". I'm sure being familiar with other forum software packages makes this process of learning slightly earlier, but really, everything I've seen so far on XenForo is really easy to use, in the right place and seems to me to be everything a moderator/admin could need to run a successful community and save as much time as possible.