Forum Design Related...

[jjdave]

I have a couple of question, they are Forum Design related...

First, what do you call this bar that is displayed on the top of the page (which displays the links as you move from page to page in forum, example: CodingForum.com > Serverside development > PHP > Post New Thread...). Can any one explain me in brief, how this is designed and what its involved?

Second, please also explain and what is involved in allowing users to add forums, such as Add Forum button would allow users to add Forum A, Forum B, Forum C etc.

Any explanation will be greatly appriciated. This will help me understand and know the right terminology. This will also help me ask bette question next time.

Thank you.

[angst]

well, you need to added the forums, as an admin feature,
then let users added topics, and posts.

table layout example:

Table 1 - Forums
feilds:
id, ForumName, ForumType ( if you want to have private forums ), Forums Description.

Table 2 - Topics
feilds:
topicID, ForumID, PostedById, PostDate, TopicName, TopicType ( like for stickys and what not )

Table 3 - Posts
PostId, TopicId, ForumId, PostById, PostMsg, PostDate, PostEmailReply,

so that should give you an idea of that you need,, thats basicly what i use in my forum give or take a few things i'm sure i'm forgetting.

and the
"CodingForum.com > Serverside development > PHP > Some New Post"
is just a map of where you are in the forum,

SiteName > ForumName ( can get from forum ID in querystring ) > SubForumName > TopicName

hope this helps,
-Ken

[jjdave]

Yes, It does help me greatly. Thank you so much. At least it gives me an understanding about how the forum are structured. Example of Table1, Table2, Table3 is very helpful.

Appreciate it very much.

I just found out that Link Map is called a "Breadcrumb Navigation".

[blaec]

The best place to get php support is at www.forumer.com

[jjdave]

On SitePoint Forum (http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/forumindex.php) someone replied me with the link to download BreadCrumb Navigation Class, here is the link for that:
"http://www.baskettcase.com/classes/breadcrumb/"