In need of installation of a forum on the website working under control of CMS Worpress first of all it is necessary to think of the optimum choice of the engine, suitable for these purposes, seriously.
Wordpress is the universal management system of the website allowing to create the most various resources on simple base: from the website business card to a serious information portal. Among modules which can be implemented by means of CMS Worpress there is also a forum. For creation of a conference can be used as the third-party and independent engines integrated into a management system of the website, and own plug-ins of WordPress.
How to make a choice
When choosing the engine for a forum it is necessary to proceed from specific needs, considering the potential of development of the website. Each management system of a forum has own functionality. In certain cases it it can appear insufficiently, especially if there is a need of flexible setup and unique visual design. Other party of a question - simplicity of a system, its high-speed performance and ease in service. If users are ready to be content with the simplest forum having the basic function of exchange of public and private messages supported with several plain subjects it is enough to install one of standard plug-ins for Wordpress. If more granular control, partial functionality of social network and a delicacy of graphic design is required - it is better to acquire the independent paid platform and a plug-in integrator for Wordpress and also to take care of speeding up of a hosting.
Plug-ins of forums for Wordpress
Standard plug-ins of WordPress will be suitable for the websites with attendance to 2 thousand people and the number of users up to 20 thousand. Naturally, this rule is not firm: in network there are very many large-scale resources on which lightweight and free forum engines are used. One of the most popular and easy representatives of such management systems is Mingle Forum. It is very easy in installation and management, has quite good appearance and is distributed for free. Unfortunately, rumors about the termination of support of this plug-in and turning of activity of development team go. An alternative of Mingle Forum are a Simple Press plug-in, quite widespread in the western countries. Its basic complete set is completely free, if desired it is possible to acquire the expanded version with additional skins and themes. One more acceptable option - a forum from WP Symposium. The full version of a plug-in is adaptation of the website under social network, but if desired it is possible to use only functionality of a conference.
Independent engines
At integration of the third-party engine of a forum into Wordpress it will be required not only to have the platform, but also a plug-in integrator. Such engines as phpBB, SimpleMachines or Vanilla forum can be established absolutely free of charge while for giants of the industry like Invision Pover Board or XenForo it is necessary to lay out a certain sum. Obvious plus of independent engines - flexibility in setup and total freedom of actions in graphic design. Other party of a question - complexity of management and high resource requirements of a hosting.