Weblog Tools Collection: Plugin Review: Simple:Press Forum

We’re kicking of our plugin review process with a feature rich plugin labeled Simple:Press Forum. This was also the first plugin review request that we received.

So what is Simple:Press?

Simple:Press is a feature rich forum plugin for WordPress. It fully integrates into your WP based site utilizing the same user records and database and displaying on a single WP page. It is fully customizable and comes with a number of skins and sets of icons to get your started. Current users have shown it to be fully scalable whether your site membership numbers the tens or the thousands.

Through it’s powerful and flexible permissions system it is suitable for those who wish to run private, specialist forums with invited members but is equally able to accommodate open, public forums that allow guest posting.

Also included is a Private Messaging sub-system, the ability to link blog posts with forum topics, the capability to extend the forum display with custom code, a number of template tags for use outside of the forums, extensive online help that explains every option and full language support.

Features:

• Fully integrated with WordPress user registrations and logins
• Creates ‘pretty/SEO friendly’ permalinks
• Underpinned by a powerful user and permission system
• Can create private forums
• Forums can be ‘Members Only’ or can allow for Guests
• Private Messaging system
• Admins can allow for post moderation (approval)
• Built in Search tool
• Fully customizable skins and icons
• Most rendering functions are ‘pluggable’
• Member Profile updating - users can change own passwords
• Choice of Editors (RTE, HTML, bbCODE)
• Options Signatures, Signature Image, Avatars, and Rankings
• A variety of Template Tags - recent posts etc
• Programmable Hooks for user extension
• Optional Spam Prevention tools
• Optional Cookies to track Guests and Members
• Fully Localized for language support
• Optional and various RSS feeds and email subscription to topics
• Various display options to suit your needs and theme
• An Admin toolset to perform many tasks from within the forum itself
• Blog Posts and Forum Topics can be linked
• Support for the Democracy Polls plugin
• Support for the Gravatars 2 plugin
• Forum Statistics - including who is online
• Complete uninstall/removal option
• Support for the All In One SEO Pack Plugin (Browser title bar)
• View Admins New Post Queue from ALL views with ‘Quick Reply’
• Right-to-left language support in the TinyMCE editor
• Topic Status Tracking
• Custom Smileys
• RTE Toolbar Customization
• Pre-registration Policy display option
• Post Ratings
• Add Custom Profile data items
• ‘Watched’ topics
• Multiple forum Admins
• Members List

Demo

A live demo of the forum is the Support Forum for the plugin itself on the developers’ site.

Our Review

Simple:Press forum is a staunch competitor of bbPress. Looking at the features and from the demo, it seems like Simple:Press has a lot more to offer than bbPress.

Installation of the plugin is extremely simple. You install it just like you would any other WordPress plugin. Upload the entire folder (2.2MB) to your plugins folder of your blog and activate the plugin. The forum has an inbuilt installation program.

You can then use the administration interface of the forum to create new forums.

Improvements?

As for the plugin, one feature could be the ability to install it on a separate domain as in the case with bbPress.

Looking beyond the plugin, one thing we advocate is a well kept plugin page. Simple:Press does well in this respect as it has its very own domain and support system.

What I would love to see is a detailed installation page with screenshots. As well as detailed tutorials and documentation on using and customizing the forum.

Are you a user of Simple:Press Forum? What has been your experience with the same? Why did you choose this plugin over other full-fledged forums? What features would you like to see added / improved / removed?