Forum Software - Opinions?

[Tw4win]

Hi all,

I'm currently rebuilding my personal/business website and I'm thinking about adding a "Forum" area to it. Mainly as part of my personal site - to give friends a place to post messages to each other. My question is this: What forum software would you suggest given the following criteria?

1) Interaction with an HTML site as well as a Flash site
2) Easy to install
3) works with PHP or Perl and MySQL
4) Easy to administer and use
5) Flexible - easy to add "skins" and customize look and feel of forums

FYI - I've worked with PHPBB before and liked it.

[MrChuckles]

Afraid I can't make any recommendations on the basis that my backend knowledge is virtually nil (for now anyway). But, I am currently doing some concept work for a client who wants to set up an online version of his magazine - he has specified a forum as part of the equation, so any help in this matter would be appreciated.

Also, //turns on cheeky smile// anyone got any ideas for the best way to skin the above cat? He likes the idea of a tidy flash interface, but what is the best solution to co-exist with that for delivering news, features,etc.

Over to the experts... and time for a

Jim

[JabezStone]

Originally posted by Tw4win
FYI - I've worked with PHPBB before and liked it.

I would recommend PHPbb as well.

However, this discussion would be better suited for the backend/scripting forum... I'll move it there for you.

Jay