Designing an online forum

To a new user or designer, the terminology surrounding forums can be difficult to understand. Discussions, boards, forums, threads and posts - what do they mean? Before designing a forum, first understand the terminology and hierarchy of content.

The best way to learn is to join a few forums created from different forum software, and begin experiencing how a forum is structured.

I recommend studying these forums: The World of Warcraft, Sun Microsystems, TicosLand, SugarCRM and SgForums.

To get you going, here are a few tips.



How a forum is structured

A forum is divided into hierarchies, or levels, of content. These hierarchies of can be best be described in the following manner.

1. Forum sections. A forum section has a name and sometimes a descriptor. Within a forum section, there may be several forums covering related issues. Typically, these are created by the administrator only. The main behavior of sections is for a member to choose a suitable forum, and begin their journey.
2. Topics. Beneath each forum are topics. Topics have a name, descriptor and author. The idea is to start topics which are controversial enough to draw attention, and become 'sticky'. The main behavior of topics is for a member to read, or contribute a new topic.
3. Sub topics (also called threads). Beneath each forum are topics (or threads, same thing). Topics have a name, message, author and creation date. The objective is for a member to continue reading, or contribute a new topic.
4. Replies (also call posts). Beneath each topic, are replies to the topic (technically the act of posting includes any content added to a forum). By default the very first reply is displayed first, and the latest reply on the last page. This is so users can follow the thread of discussion from its inception. Users should be encouraged to reply themselves either to the latest post, or to an older one. Some forums break replies into a question / answer, which gives users added comprehension.In any case, replies are where the volume of content is expected to be created.
5. Authors. Given most forums only allow members to write content, reading replies gives users granular information on the personalities inside the forum. Judging by the way posts are written, profile information available on a user and what each user has embedded in their signature, members can begin to get a sense of the social dynamics of the community. Author signatures, like photos, are a permanent stamp that the user leaves on their post. Instead of it appearing as an image, it normally links to their blog, forum or similar web entity.
6. Similar topics. Some forum software is smart enough to recognise similarities in content, and draw a connection. Rather than the user journey ending, with the author, the system is smart enough to suggest similar topics and jump users to a new topic. The objective is to keep users on the site longer, improving the chances they will contribute a post.

Designing a forum

All forums share the same hierarchy of content. What makes forums different, for better or worse, is how they mash the content to create a page, and the associated tools available to the user at each page.For example, page one may display forum sections and forum topics, with some statistics. Some administrators may feel this is enough to show, and anymore will crowd the page.

Other designs may be more ambitious, sacrificing white space to fit more, in a bid to show more. Here, page one displays a description of the topic, individual sub topics, and the latest posting to this topic. Just by scrolling through page one, a discerning user could skip pages and post more quickly.

There is something to be said for placing more content on page one. The more content page one has, the more likely search engines will focus their indexing on this page, yielding a higher search ranking for the forum.



Choice of forum software

Much of what can and cannot be done comes down to what type of forum software is implemented. The big debate is around whether to use vBulletin (annual fee attached) or a free version called phpBB. Both have a support community. There are plenty of forums debating the pros and cons of both.

A book worth reading on the subject is Managing Online Forums, by Patrick O'Keefe.