My site will not display properly in 'x' browser?

Is your site not displaying quite how you want it to in just one of the browsers? Using a couple of CSS tricks, you can include separate CSS which only certain browsers will use!

IE7

To display CSS for only IE7, you must put all your IE7 styles into a separate style sheet, and use a conditional comment.

The code is:

<!--[if IE 7]><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" 
href="IE7styles.css" /><![endif]-->

Note: You do not have to duplicate content; IE7 will read both stylesheets, while all other browsers will read just the one.

IE6

Displaying CSS for only IE6 is done in an almost identical way to the way you would do it for IE7. Once again we use conditional comment. This time, the code is slightly different, as it is for IE6, not IE7:

The code is:

<!--[if IE 6]><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" 
href="IE6styles.css"/><![endif]-->

Those are the two main ones you will need to use. As all web designers will tell you, Firefox and Opera tend to display CSS in the most correct manner, so any changes you need will be nearly always for IE6 and/or IE7.

How can I customise my PHPBB forum?

The first step to customising your phpBB forum is to download and install a new template. You can download them from the official site: http://www.phpbb.com/styles/ Instructions come with most downloads or there are lots of tutorials on the forums about it.

Secondly, you will want to modify your forum to make it stand out and look better than all the competing forums. Once again, I link you to the official site: http://www.phpbb.com/mods/ There are hundreds of mods there ready for you to use and also a tutorial on how to create your own.

I highly recommend changing your forum's look, feel and layout, too many phpBB forums out there could be a lot more successful if they had their own unique look, rather than the generic, default phpBB look that lots have. A quick Google search found lots of handy tutorials on customising phpBB, and here are the two that I think are very useful and worth a read: Firstly, there is the phpBB knowledge base. http://www.phpbb.com/kb/

Thirdly, I suggest you spend time on this fantastic tutorial: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/build-a-phpbb-forum

Finally, once again, any trouble you might have, do not be afraid to post at WebForumz! A lot of members on the forums use phpBB to run their websites, and will be happy to help!

It is worth creating my own CMS/Blog using PHP? Or should I use a premade one?

This question has been asked quite a lot recently and is one that has no right or wrong answer. It depends what situation you are in. If you have no knowledge of PHP, then it is going to be a very hard task. However, if you really want to learn PHP, then throwing yourself in at the deep end by attempting to build one is often the easiest way to learn, and of course, webforumz members are always happy to help with any problems or queries you may have.

If you have a decent knowledge of PHP, then the choice really depends on the time frame you have. If you are building a website for someone else who wants a CMS, but have a short time frame of 3-4 weeks, then I would suggest using one already out there as it can take a long time to develop, unless you are prepared to put a lot of time and effort into the CMS/Blog. However, if you are doing it for your own personal site, or a site with a long time frame, e.g. 2-3 months, then building your own CMS could be more of an option and often very beneficial to you or your business. It shows you have the coding prowess to be able to build a CMS and that you are prepared to go that extra mile for your clients, which can give you the edge over rival companies. If you decide to take the leap, or need some more help deciding, feel free to post at WebForumz, and members will be happy to assist you in any way they can.