Joomla And SMF, The Perfect Couple
I was experimenting recently the couple Joomla/SMF to run a complete website with a forum, while there are many forums solutions for Joomla, I have found that SMF is an excellent alternative complete, powerful and free. In reality I have found many websites opting for SMF as a forum solution for their Joomla website, you can notice it in the number of download of the SMF bridge for Joomla which is the higher one compared to other CMS such e107, Mambo, Xoops, iGamingCMS.
What is interesting is that you'll run two different software separately Joomla and SMF, with two very active communities taking the advantages of both solutions. Then the bridge will help make the connection between the two software, I have found two solutions for Joomla/SMF, the official SMF Joomla bridge by SimpleMachines and the second alternative Joomla-SMF project maintained by JoomlaHacks.
I tried the official package in the beginning, and it works pretty fine but after more experiments I find many limitations especially for the discussbot which is not maintained anymore so I moved to the second alternative by JoomlaHacks. What I find interesting in Joomla-SMF project is the availability of components, mambots and modules to make the integration of the forum in CMS more easier. So if you decided to adopt Joomla/SMf go directly to Joomla-SMF project, I think it's best choice currently available.
Finally I find it really great and simple to run a website with really the minimum fees. It's more interesting to spend money on the website marketing, on the design, communication, while you can get the platform itself for absolutely nothing. This have been said, I always encourage to make donation for free software and open source projects, it's not wrong to show some love to these projects and encourage them to continue giving the best.
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