Thread

When do sites use both of these engines, and when can only one or the other be sufficient? Also, is there a place where the functionality differences between these engines is detailed?

Welcome to the forums, jpgillam!

Many sites use both the Discussion Forum along with the other features of ExpressionEngine.  You can find many Sites in our Showcase, and may want to start from the Discussion Forum category.  You can find that here.

The Discussion Forum is a module for ExpressionEngine, so you can’t use the Forums without EE - though you can use EE without the forums.  It really depends if you want that type of interaction on your site.

Have you read through the EE Features Overview and info on the Discussion Forum Module?

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for the reply.  Maybe I should have asked the question differently…

We are considering NOT using the discussion forum module and instead creating a category of weblogs called “discussions.”  We think that doing this may make it easier for the users to understand the interface (since listings of posts would have the exact same UI as listing of topics) AND we could integrate it into the site layout more easily.

are there current customers that have had this question?  If so, are there customers that are using the “custom web form” as a way of replacing the discussion forums?

Thanks!

It really depends on what level of interaction you need.  Discussion Forums, like this one, have a specific purpose.  Many people use just the weblog module along with commenting if they need interaction.  The weblog module gives you a great deal of flexibility in display options and output, as well, including the ability to set up your own custom fields and data. 

You can also, as our blog does, use the weblog for your entries and the Discussion Forum (instead of, or alongside) comments to facilitate discussion of your entries.  There really are a lot of options and combinations here. It would be best to sit down and map out what you want and figure out the best way to go forward with implementing it. =)

I don’t think most people choose between one or the other for the same set of functionality; both the weblog module and the discussion forum module have different purposes and different niches.