MyBB Plugins are small pieces of programming you can add to your site to add some new functionality to it. You may be familiar with WordPress plugins, but MyBB has its own set of interesting and well-crafted plugins too. They’re easy to install, and can add some especially advanced functionality to your site.
How to Install and Activate a MyBB Plugin
Upload the Plugin Files
To install a MyBB plugin, you simply need to upload the plugin’s files to the appropriate directories of your site. You could use FTP to do this, but since there are usually only a few small files to worry about the easiest thing to do is use cPanel’s File Manager.
Make sure you are downloading your plugins from the official MyBB community pages!
Unfortunately, there is no one single set of installation instructions that applies to every plugin. You will almost always need to upload a script to the /inc/plugins directory. The other files you need to upload will be listed in directories with the same name once you extract the ZIP file — so items in the /admin directory of the ZIP file should be uploaded to the /admin directory of your site and so forth.
Activate the Plugin
Activation is easy once the plugin files are uploaded!
- Login to your MyBB Administrative control panel
- Click on Plugins on the left side quick access, or click on the Configuration tab first and then click on Plugins
- Click Install & Activate for the plugin you have uploaded
That’s all it takes — the new plugin will now be up and running on your site.
Some Popular MyBB Plugins
Last Post Avatar
This is a popular feature on many forums — the ability to see the avatar of a thread’s most recent poster. The Last Post Avatar plugin helps people keep up with conversations, more readily see when a thread has been updated, and follow posters they like to read.
Google SEO
Every site can benefit from a little Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The Google SEO plugin builds some optimization into your MyBB board like auto-generated sitemaps, to convince the Google algorithm that you’re worth promoting.
DVZ Shoutbox
If you want to add chat functionality to your message board, DVZ Shoutbox is an incredibly popular and frequently updated way to do it. There is also a robust permissions system included, which can help you cut down on any chat related spam and make sure that only users you want to have chat privileges do.
MyFacebook Connect
One of the hardest parts of getting engagement on your message board is just getting people to create an account and log in. By adding the ability to use an existing Facebook account to login with MyFacebook Connect, you make it easier to bring in new users.
Take a look at the available plugins and see what else you can add to your site!
