Message Boards --> semi-static or dynamic ?

That's a question I have since a little while.

I use UBB for now (yeah I'm a perl guy, not php but it doesn't matter for that question)

I plan on coding a new forum, from A to Z

But I'm on a dilemma right now.

Do I put all messages in mySQL tables, and everytime there is a page view, I create the html around querrying the DB?

Or I do like UBB, creating static html pages per thread, which are updated (let's say post count) echan time there is a reply or by admin tool / crontab.

IMO if there is a lot of trafic on a site, it might be faster to have messages in a DB but creating html static pages for threads and re-creating the page from the DB data when a user replies or edits a post. A static page is the fastest way to serve html contents, but the post count for users would not be totally dynamic in a thread, juste like UBB is (well my 5.xx version)

But it seems that the board here is 100% dynamic (reading from a DB everytime there is a page view) and the board is not that slow.

Any input would be appreciated, what are you using, what would you use?

Etienne

I am voting for dynamic with both hands. Why? Simple because it gives better control over information. Oh I remember pain in the butt trying to arrange 'edit' function to my very first 'forum' which was based on static files....

even for speed?

If you put the messages into a database, editing is a breeze, it makes the html with the mesasges stored in the DB. IN fact the DB size would be the same as a dynamic one, it's juste that there would be no DB reading if there is no edit or new reply.

But I'm thinking about going fully dynamic, since having up-to-the-minute updated website is really nice.

Thanks for your input

Etienne

Speed is hardly a question, unless of course you're getting millions of views, which is probably not the case.

great, thanks

I get about 10 000 page views per day

maybe it'll go to 4-5 times this with the redesign, but never into millions, so I'll make them dynamic

Etienne