After my attempts to integrate SMF, Coppermine and Joomla together - the aesthetic appeal of the site when SMF and Coppermine were wrapped in Joomla just wasn't for me.
I've decided to use phpBB & Coppermine - the only preference for using phpBB was because I'm slightly familiar with it and the setup, etc..
I now plan to use phpBB & Coppermine as a separate entity within my site, in other words when users click my forum / gallery links it'll take them to the forums / gallery outside of Joomla.
I'm happy with this, I'll eventually get round to making the theme's look a bit like my Joomla site.
I may be wrong.... but I don't think there's any way of integrating the users of Joomla / phpbb / Coppermine when they are not wrapped within Joomla is there? If there is away - I would be totally appreciative of any comments of how to get this to work.
Secondly, does anyone know of a module / mambo to show "snapshots" images from coppermine and recent posts from phpbb forum on the home page of my Joomla site? At present on the live site (http://www.creamofbristol.co.uk) I am using Simpleboard and PonyGallery for forums and galleries respectively and have a module to show forum posts and gallery snapshots.
I all fairness I'd appreciate any comments on whether using phpBB is the best route for me or if any of the above is possible.
I'm really impressed with Joomla and I'm so glad I'm in the process of migrating my site to it - only things holding me back at the mo are the forums and galleries

Thanks for any help in advance.
Sheps