Invision Power Board
Encyclopedia
Invision Power Board is an Internet forum
software produced by Invision Power Services
, Inc. It is written in PHP
and primarily uses MySQL
as a database management system
, although support for other database engines is available.
While Invision Power Board is a commercially sold product, there is a large modding
community and many of these modifications are free. In addition, many groups offer the download or design of free and paid skins
.
(IPS) was created by Matt Mecham and Charles Warner in 2002, after they left Jarvis Entertainment Group (who produced Ikonboard
). Their first product was Invision Power Board, another forum package, which quickly gathered a community of former Ikonboard users.
Version 1.3 is commonly used on free forum hosts such as InvisionFree, Jcink or IPBFree but IPBFree was shut down, and is still used by many websites that refuse to purchase the latest version of Invision Power Board.
Since then many known exploits have been found, however, many patches have been produced by the community that fix most of the security and exploit problems.
Many users were upset with this, and some attacked Mecham, making allegations of copyright infringement. On July 1, 2005, IPS changed the demo time frame from 15 days to 5 days, and a few months later, it was again reduced to 24 hours, and again to 8 hours for private use. Later, it was increased to 48 hours, and recently it was increased again to 5 days.
When version 2.0 went final, Invision Power Board became a paid product a week later. Just as with IPB 1.3, some users are still using the unrestricted trial versions of the 2.0 PF, but just like Version 1.3, these contain a lot of security holes and are no longer officially supported. However, no modifications exist which make IPB 2.0 secure. It was also renamed to IP.Board.
Invision Power Board 2.1 was released on September 13, 2005. The administrator's control panel was completely redesigned, and the posting options were renovated to feature viewable text properties (Rich Text Editor), such as bold, italics, underline, etc. The viewing styles were also redone, and a number of various other changes were made including the use of Ajax
in many new features.
Invision Power Board 2.2 included many improvements, new features, and security fixes. It was the first version to undergo a security audit by a company named Gulftech to find any security holes missed by the IPS development team as part of their ongoing effort to keep IPB as secure as possible. The new version also includes minor changes to the Administration Control Panel, and also an entirely redesigned profile system. The Invision's team also continues to employ Ajax in its software.
In version 2.3, the product shipped with 2 skins, the classic light blue skin and a new default darker skin. The release is mainly to assist in forums that have larger traffic and include advanced integration with other IPS product lines. IPS also implemented a new ACP Help System which has made it easier to navigate around the Administrator's Control Panel, along with an ACP "Dashboard" page, showing an overview of the system. This page replaced the "Admin" tab as the default page in the Admin Panel.
Version 3.1.0 was released on June 01, 2010, just under a year after the release of 3.0.0. This was followed by the releases of 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, each bringing a number of bug fixes and feature enhancements to the table. A major part of the 3.1.x series is Search Engine Optimization, with a lot of the changes focusing in this area. Other new features include a brand new Mobile skin, integration to many social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and even more developer tools to create software modifications. Version 3.1.3 was released with a bug fixes and a number of code changes for imminent updates to the official addon applications. Version 3.1.4 was another maintenance release.
Version 3.2.0 was released on July 25, 2011. Available at the IPS Community Forums or as a download for active license holders. 3.2.0 includes a new default, streamlined skin design, a content tagging system and a brand new "Visual Skin Editor". Versions 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 were maintenance releases.
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
software produced by Invision Power Services
Invision Power Services
Invision Power Services, Inc. is a software and web hosting company established in February 2002, best known for Invision Power Board. Its headquarters is based in Forest, Virginia.- History :...
, Inc. It is written in PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
and primarily uses MySQL
MySQL
MySQL officially, but also commonly "My Sequel") is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. It is named after developer Michael Widenius' daughter, My...
as a database management system
Database management system
A database management system is a software package with computer programs that control the creation, maintenance, and use of a database. It allows organizations to conveniently develop databases for various applications by database administrators and other specialists. A database is an integrated...
, although support for other database engines is available.
While Invision Power Board is a commercially sold product, there is a large modding
Modding
Modding is a slang expression that is derived from the verb "modify". Modding refers to the act of modifying a piece of hardware or software or anything else for that matter, to perform a function not originally conceived or intended by the designer...
community and many of these modifications are free. In addition, many groups offer the download or design of free and paid skins
Skin (computing)
In computing, a skin is a custom graphical appearance achieved by the use of a graphical user interface that can be applied to specific software and websites to suit the purpose, topic, or tastes of different users....
.
History
Invision Power ServicesInvision Power Services
Invision Power Services, Inc. is a software and web hosting company established in February 2002, best known for Invision Power Board. Its headquarters is based in Forest, Virginia.- History :...
(IPS) was created by Matt Mecham and Charles Warner in 2002, after they left Jarvis Entertainment Group (who produced Ikonboard
Ikonboard
Ikonboard was a free online forum or Bulletin Board System developed in Perl for use on MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, as well as flat file databases.-Early years:...
). Their first product was Invision Power Board, another forum package, which quickly gathered a community of former Ikonboard users.
Version 1.x.x
The last free full version is Invision Power Board 1.3.1, which is not as widespread as 1.3 because of the short available time before 2.0 replaced it.Version 1.3 is commonly used on free forum hosts such as InvisionFree, Jcink or IPBFree but IPBFree was shut down, and is still used by many websites that refuse to purchase the latest version of Invision Power Board.
Since then many known exploits have been found, however, many patches have been produced by the community that fix most of the security and exploit problems.
Version 2.x.x
Although the software developers originally maintained that it would remain a free package, in 2004 Invision Power Board ended its free releases for non-commercial uses. A downloadable trial version of Invision Power Board 2.0.0 PF versions 1 and 2 were made available, but were discontinued on September 27, 2004. It was replaced with a free demo with restrictions of 5000 posts, 1000 threads, 200 members and other restrictions, thus ending its claims that Invision Power Board would be free forever.Many users were upset with this, and some attacked Mecham, making allegations of copyright infringement. On July 1, 2005, IPS changed the demo time frame from 15 days to 5 days, and a few months later, it was again reduced to 24 hours, and again to 8 hours for private use. Later, it was increased to 48 hours, and recently it was increased again to 5 days.
When version 2.0 went final, Invision Power Board became a paid product a week later. Just as with IPB 1.3, some users are still using the unrestricted trial versions of the 2.0 PF, but just like Version 1.3, these contain a lot of security holes and are no longer officially supported. However, no modifications exist which make IPB 2.0 secure. It was also renamed to IP.Board.
Invision Power Board 2.1 was released on September 13, 2005. The administrator's control panel was completely redesigned, and the posting options were renovated to feature viewable text properties (Rich Text Editor), such as bold, italics, underline, etc. The viewing styles were also redone, and a number of various other changes were made including the use of Ajax
Ajax (programming)
Ajax is a group of interrelated web development methods used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications...
in many new features.
Invision Power Board 2.2 included many improvements, new features, and security fixes. It was the first version to undergo a security audit by a company named Gulftech to find any security holes missed by the IPS development team as part of their ongoing effort to keep IPB as secure as possible. The new version also includes minor changes to the Administration Control Panel, and also an entirely redesigned profile system. The Invision's team also continues to employ Ajax in its software.
In version 2.3, the product shipped with 2 skins, the classic light blue skin and a new default darker skin. The release is mainly to assist in forums that have larger traffic and include advanced integration with other IPS product lines. IPS also implemented a new ACP Help System which has made it easier to navigate around the Administrator's Control Panel, along with an ACP "Dashboard" page, showing an overview of the system. This page replaced the "Admin" tab as the default page in the Admin Panel.
Version 3.x.x
Version 3.0 was initially released on Tuesday, June 23, 2009. The official announcement of the new release was on June 25, 2009. This version is the next major release milestone of the Forum Software. It includes many promised features such as a new overall design and optimization of the software, a reputation type feature where users can rate individual posts, the PM (Personal Message) system becoming a conversation styled feature (as Google has done with Gmail), friendly URLs, and many more enhancements.Version 3.1.0 was released on June 01, 2010, just under a year after the release of 3.0.0. This was followed by the releases of 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, each bringing a number of bug fixes and feature enhancements to the table. A major part of the 3.1.x series is Search Engine Optimization, with a lot of the changes focusing in this area. Other new features include a brand new Mobile skin, integration to many social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and even more developer tools to create software modifications. Version 3.1.3 was released with a bug fixes and a number of code changes for imminent updates to the official addon applications. Version 3.1.4 was another maintenance release.
Version 3.2.0 was released on July 25, 2011. Available at the IPS Community Forums or as a download for active license holders. 3.2.0 includes a new default, streamlined skin design, a content tagging system and a brand new "Visual Skin Editor". Versions 3.2.1 and 3.2.2 were maintenance releases.
External links
- Invision Power Board - Product Page - Information and details about Invision Power Board.
- Invision Power Services - Community Forums - Invision Power Services (IPS) Community forums running the latest version of IP.Board.
- IPS Marketplace (formerly known as IPS Resources and IPS Beyond) - The official IPS resource area for IP.Board and other IPS products for active customers only.