CGI scripts recommendation needed

Hi everyone. I am looking at installing a site search engine and perhaps even a bulletin board on my site; but I am overwhelmed by the number of free CGI scripts available! Can anyone recommend a few relevant scripts that they have used and liked?
Thanks in advance,
Marsbar

http://phpbb.com - great bulletin board

http://www.digitalgenesis.com/software/dgssearch.html - great site search

phpBB has search capabilities but won't do your whole site out of the box. If your whole site will be the board, then fine =)

jason

Once you get into google, and if you can live with ~monthly updates, you could use google's web/site search form:

http://www.google.com/searchcode.html#both

With a couple minor changes you can make the default a site search, and avoid web bugging by not using google's site image (i.e. copy it to your site).

There's also a customize option (registration):

http://www.google.com/services/free.html

BobS

Many thanks Jason and Bob for your suggestions.
a) phpBB
I have read good reviews about phpBB, but I am after a simpler system (less features) and more importantly one that doesn't use up my monthly database usage quota too easily. Perhaps I am asking for the impossible? :(
b) Site search
I'll check out Jason's recommendation. But if all else fails, it is good to know I can use Google as suggested by Bob.
Greetz,
Marsbar

the monthly database quotas here are, in my opinion, sort of a joke. IF you are surpoassing the limit then I can say without reservation that you have a site that's busy enough to profit from. That's *profit*, as in, after it pays for your hosting bill each month ;)

and heck yeah, Google's a great simple alternative, I'm actually putting web/image/groups/news searches on my personal site redesign since I use both my personal site and Google everyday for the most part.

This will allow users to enter a query on your site OR the web depending on how they enter into the text box:

<form method="get" name="searchform" action="http://www.google.com/search">
<input type="text" name="as_q" value="web site:yourdomain.com" />
<input type="submit" value="search" />
</form>

And this will do your site (transparently) only:

<form method="get" name="searchform" action="http://www.google.com/search">
<input type="hidden" name="as_sitesearch" value="www.yourdomain.com" />
<input type="text" name="as_q" />
<input type="submit" value="search" />
</form>

much quicker and easier than an application you have to upload, configure, hack on etc. Keep in mind that you're at the mercy of the Googlebot and their cache as to what gets returned however.



jason

Thanks for the followup post, Jason. Regarding database usage by phpBB, can you give me an idea of how many viewings/postings it would take to generate 5 million cns?
Good weekend,
Marsbar

nope, haven't looked into it that far, have had no need to.

you do a wild amount of traffic?

jason

got slashdotted and use the database for my ads. umm I would say one slashdotting would do it. Except I got it @ the end of the month so thank god I didn't go over :)

willscorner.net

A wild amount of traffic? No, not even close to wild: the website gets approximately 1,000 unique page views a day; but I cannot say how busy the forum will be as I have not offered my site users a database-driven forum before.

Some years ago I used Matt Wright's WWWBoard, but the flattext database got corrupted, and the whole thing had to be chucked. :-(

--Marsbar