ISP that supports LAMP Stack AND Non-Programatic Website Builder

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Our car club has run a phpBB for many years and plan to continue with that. Recently however, we've come to realize that our general website needs an overhaul, and we can't rely on just one person to do that any more. As such, we want to move over to an easy-to-use website builder platform such as Squarespace, Wix, Wordspace, etc.

Ideally, we would achieve the above with just one ISP. Is that realistically possible? It seems to be a conflicting pair of requirements to achieve with one ISP, but maybe I'm not even asking the right questions.

Appreciate any insight.

[thecoalman]

Those proprietary web site services should be avoided like the plague. Most web hosts offer some type of service like that. The issue is you are stuck in their platform. The content belongs to you but the underlying code is proprietary. You can't move the content to another host without starting from scratch and worse case the company folds leaving you with nothing. Even with a backup it's useless because it can't be deployed on another host.

Look into Wordpress or Drupal. These can be moved from one host to the next just like phpBB. They also have similar permission type system. Admins, editors and users for Drupal. Personally I use Drupal but if I understand correctly Wordpress is more user friendly. The one comment I heard from a person familiar with both platforms is it's easier to do easy things with Wordpress but easier to hard things with Drupal.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Look into Wordpress or Drupal. These can be moved from one host to the next just like phpBB. They also have similar permission type system. Admins, editors and users for Drupal. Personally I use Drupal but if I understand correctly Wordpress is more user friendly. The one comment I heard from a person familiar with both platforms is it's easier to do easy things with Wordpress but easier to hard things with Drupal.

Thanks very much for the feedback. In fact, one of the things I discovered since starting this topic is the fact that Wordpress.org REQUIRES an independent ISP, and for the reasons you suggest, that's a good thing. Does the ISP need to specifically support Wordpress? I see bluehost.com goes out of the way to tout their support of Wordpress, but I'm not sure if that's just for marketing reasons.

Also worth noting is the difference between Wordpress.org and Wordpress.com. The same software is used with either one, but Wordpress.com includes managed hosting, making it more of a direct competitor it Wix, Webly, Squarespace, etc.

So assuming we went with Wordpress.org, can anyone suggest a host that also supports the LAMP stack for phpBB?

[thecoalman]

So assuming we went with Wordpress.org, can anyone suggest a host that also supports the LAMP stack for phpBB?

Just about any hosting plan will support both.They both have the same requirements. If your site is running phpBB now you can install Wordpress on it.

Couple of pointers, hopefully your forum is in it's own directory e.g. yourdomain.com/forum/, If so install WordPress in the domain root. Note you may have to edit the Wordpress .htaccess file so it ignores the phpBB directory.

If your forum is installed in the root of the domain you'll need to install Wordpress in it's own sub directory.

If you are not upgraded to the latest version of phpBB do that first. The reason for that is you can increase the php version on your server before installing Wordpress.

[danieltj]

As a point of clarification, ISP refers to a business that provides an internet connection to the internet for you. I think what you’re referring to here is a web host which provides space for you to host your site on the internet. Reading your first post had me confused initially.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

As a point of clarification, ISP refers to a business that provides an internet connection to the internet for you. I think what you’re referring to here is a web host which provides space for you to host your site on the internet. Reading your first post had me confused initially.

Even though I spent a career in IT, it was as a (dumb) sales guy, so I abuse terms on a regular basis. Thanks for the clarification.

In this case too, I'm not the technical guy for our forum, just the president of the club... https://forum.merkurclub.net/forum/index.php

We currently pay way too much to host just our phpBB ($35/month), so we're also looking to move the forum. Ideally, we put it all (forum & website) on one host for less money. We won't do it all at once, but want to make sure we go into it with eyes open wide as to the final end goal.

On that ^^^ point, any reason to do one vs. the other first? i.e. Better to build the new WordPress site on a new host and then move our existing phpBB over to it, or better to put the new Wordpress site on our existing host and then move all of it over?