Tag: phpBB book

New version of my book is available. Covers phpBB 3.3.7

On: By: Mark

With a little time on my hands, I updated my book Mastering phpBB Administration. You can find links on the book’s page, at the bottom of any page or post on my site, or on my site’s sidebar. This covers through the latest release of phpBB, which is 3.3.7 as of this writing.

With every release, I find yet even more things to add, change or delete, along with a number of mistakes that make me wonder, “How did I miss this?” or “Why was I wrong about that for so long?” Even someone like me with twenty years on the phpBB platform can find features I hadn’t noticed or assumptions I have made that were not entirely correct. So the book is always in a process of becoming more correct.

One major change since the last edition is the renaming of the update and upgrade types. This is for the good as the old names were very misleading and I criticized them in the past. On phpbb.com’s download page you can see how they renamed the tabs. The old full package method is now the update method and the automatic update method is now the advanced update. So Chapter Nine needed quite a bit of new wordsmithing.

Otherwise, the content is pretty much the same, just new and improved. Like last time, if you bought an earlier edition, if you provide me a sales receipt I will send you a link to the new PDF version of the book.

New edition of my book is available. Covers through phpBB 3.3.5

On: By: Mark

I’ve updated my book, Mastering phpBB Administration! This is the first revision since the July 2021 edition. This edition covers phpBB administration through phpBB 3.3.5. Both a paper version ($19.99 USD) and an eBook version ($9.99 USD) are available. The paper book is 373 pages and 88,000 words long. Both have numerous illustrations.

Mastering phpBB Administration eBook
Mastering phpBB Administration eBook cover

With every version, I re-edit the whole thing. Of course, it has additions and corrections as appropriate. Every edition attempts to refine the content both as a source of quality information, but as a written work too. Hopefully this book, now nearly two years old, will just get better and more useful with time.

I find turning it into an eBook challenging. I use Calibre to make the eBook, and it imports the Word document source easily enough. But there are some illustrations that are out of place, font sizes to fix and I have to re-link all the items in the table of contents to make it quick to jump to areas of interest. So far, I haven’t found an easier way to do this.

If you own an earlier edition of the book but don’t feel like paying for the newest version, email me your Amazon receipt and I am happy to send you the current PDF version.

Links to the book are above, below and in the sidebar.

My book is back for sale on Amazon

On: By: Mark

Having experimented with putting my Mastering phpBB Administration book on Lulu.com, the book is now back for sale on Amazon.com and I retired it from Lulu.com. You can buy the paper book (338 pages) for $19.99 here. Note it’s also for sale as a Kindle eBook for $9.99 here. Links are also in the sidebar ad and appended to every page and post. This version is fresh and covers up through phpBB 3.3.4.

The eBook is enhanced as I took the time to convert it to an ePub format which allowed me to do things like fix issues with some embedded screenshots and create a usable linked table of contents. Amazon converted the ePub version to its proprietary Kindle version, so only the Kindle version is available as an eBook.

I moved it from lulu.com because after months of trying to update the eBook format and getting no support from their support team, I realized they just didn’t care enough to fix the issue, plus I couldn’t offer the eBook with new content. I’m no fan of Amazon, but at least their publishing process is reliable if a bit cryptic.

Paper edition of my book is now available

On: By: Mark

Updated October 2020. The publisher, prices and editions for the book has changed. See this post for details.

My book, Mastering phpBB Administration is now available in paper. The paper version is 337 pages and costs $19.99.

As I am new to publishing, this is a learning experience. I haven’t found a way to download the Kindle version of my book without paying for it. There is a preview app I downloaded, but it just took the .docx source and transformed it. The result shows an eBook where figures are often misaligned. It may be the preview app is faulty and the Kindle version is fine. If there is an issue with the formatting of the Kindle version, I’ll do my best to correct it as soon as possible.

The paper version though looks great, and you may prefer that. The layout is exactly how I formatted it. As there are many figures and screenshots, it was important to present them so they can be read. I settled on using a Dummies book size as a good size for the book, which is 7.5 inches by 9.25 inches. However, except for the cover, it is in black and white. I could create a color version but it is cost prohibitive for most people. I’d have to price it at over $40. If you’d prefer to purchase a color version let me know and I may go through the hassle of offering one.

Please leave reviews (hopefully positive ones) on Amazon if you read it, as it should help me sell more copies. I began working on it in October 2019, and it turned into a major project. I’ve invested quite a bit of money on the book and am hoping for a return on investment. It was professionally edited, which is a costly endeavor. It should fill a niche very well. Aside from documentation on phpbb.com, there is no book like this. To the extent there are phpBB books out there, they tend to be very old. And they don’t go into the detail I do in this book. If you are a phpBB board administrator and my typical sort of client, you really need this book. It’s a wise investment and a lot less expensive than hiring me or others like me.

I hope to update the book at least annually.