Vanilla (forum)

Infobox Software
name = Vanilla



caption =
developer = Mark O'Sullivan
latest_release_version = 1.1.4
latest_release_date = October 21, 2007
latest_preview_version =
latest_preview_date =
operating_system =
platform = PHP
genre = Discussion forum
license = GPL
website = [http://getvanilla.com/ getvanilla.com]

Vanilla is a lightweight and extensible free/open source forum application developed by [http://www.markosullivan.ca/ Mark O'Sullivan] using the PHP scripting language and MySQL database management system.

History

Vanilla was started by Mark O'Sullivan after he shut down his private forum called "o8" which he had custom programmed for his own needs. After the shut down a lot of people were asking if Mark would release the software behind the "o8" forum which led Mark to program a forum software based on it and release it free.

The first version of Vanilla was identical to the old "o8" forum software, but web communities and forum applications had changed since the time the first "o8" was released, which led Mark to completely redesign the Vanilla forum to add something that contemporary software didn't have and what would make Vanilla stand out.

At the time of the first beta of Vanilla going online the community was quickly built and the development continued on some of Vanilla's most notable features, like simplicity and extensions.

When Mark finally released the 0.9 version of Vanilla on July 16, 2005 it was an instant hit.

Vanilla came out of beta as Vanilla 1 on July 1, 2006. During the month of July over 15,000 people downloaded Vanilla and over 1,000,000 people visited lussumo.com.

Features

Vanilla is a W3C standards compliant application with valid XHTML and CSS. Vanilla 1 includes a new templating system which allows Vanilla to be easily integrated into an existing site layout. Vanilla 1 also has the ability to easily integrate with existing systems so users only need to sign in at one place for both Vanilla and an existing application.

Vanilla's most ground-breaking feature is the framework upon which it is built: the Lussumo Framework. This framework allows developers to easily create and add new extensions to the core software. The basic installation of Vanilla comes with very few features, but there is an add-on site at http://lussumo.com/addons where you can get all of the latest new extensions.

Here are some of the most popular extensions for Vanilla:

* RSS and Atom feeds
* Whispers, for private conversations.
* Intelligent search and search bookmarking system, for users to bookmark their most used searches.
* Search-engine friendly URLs
* Forum announcements
* Animations using JavaScript

Latest releases

*1.1.5a, "released September 24, 2008"
*1.1.4, "released October 21, 2007"
*1.1.3, "released September 25, 2007"
*1.1.2, "released March 12, 2007"
*1.1.1, "released March 5, 2007"
*1.1, "released March 4, 2007"
*1.0.3, "released December 4, 2006"
*1.0.2, "released December 2, 2006"
*1.0.1, "released August 21, 2006"
*1.0, "released July 01, 2006"
*0.9.2, "released July 25, 2005"

See also

* Comparison of Internet forum software

External links

* [http://www.getvanilla.com/ Vanilla]
* [http://www.lussumo.com/ Lussumo]
* [http://www.vanillain.ru/ Russian Vanilla community]