Flatboard : Flat File Forum

Flatboard is a free, flat file forum software.

Flatboard - New

According to their website, Flatboard is

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A Simple, Lightweight, Modern and fast Flat-File Forum, using Json and Markdown or BBcode.

Flatboard is completely free, but if you are happy to use it, buy it!

I installed it locally and it was a nice experience. In the beginning, you get to choose between Markdown and BBCode, which one you prefer for editor?

I chose Markdown. Make sure that you are careful with this choice. Because changing is not very easy once you select it and move on.

The UI and UX are more like Flarum and Discourse.

Luckily, it needs no database configuration to deal with. Upload 2 files into the server and follow the instructions. You will be ready to go in a few minutes.

While the software is free, there is a part where many plugins are behind a paywall which supports forum development.

The Pro version offers Reactions, Share, Theme Switcher etc plugins according to the official download page

Flatboard - Download Flatboard Resources

Did you try their themes? They have 20+ skins as a part of their Pro plan. That is what I remember reading.

It would be nice to do that on our own. Will check the folder for any option to edit the CSS. Not sure there is anything in the documentation.

Under theme > bootstrap > assets there are CSS files. It might be possible to add our own custom CSS through it.

It doesn't look great with the default theme. That is for sure.

Look at Flarum and Discourse, the default theme is good enough for me.

Not good, is it? If you are actually going to spend some dollars, why not use Xenforo or Woltlab? They have a lot more to offer.

I am not going to use this one with the default theme though. That is for sure.

That's really tempting. I really like the idea of using a flat-file forum. Lesser headache and faster page load times. Plus, easier to manage.

No, I don't know of any other flat file forum. This is the only one I have stumbled across in a long time.