I am wondering how to get posts in the forum to be stright down like in IPB and YaBB? So you dont have to click a link to go to the next post. Like the way these forums are set up.

Check to see if there is a "Flat" option. Selecting Flat will make the posts all show on the page without having to click next, back, or on the topic.

Other than that, I myself am a newb to xoops. Sorry if I am of no help.

Where is this option? I think I remember seeing something like that. I just dont see anything like that. But tell me where Flat is?

in XOOPS prefences i guess, i saw something like that in there...

It's not where you would think it would be. The forum (assuming newBB) uses the system 'Comments Display Mode' configuration option for 'Flat' or 'Threaded'.

In the admin section 'System' -> 'Edit User', you can change it for each user individually. Look for the 'Comments Display Mode' option.

You can also change your own user setting (as can each individual user) quicker, in the 'Edit Account' on the home page (that is if you've given yourself access to it).

One more spot. If you want to change the default for new users. In 'System' -> 'Preferences' -> 'General Settings', you can change the 'Default Comment Display Mode' option to whatever you want new users to default to when viewing the forum.

Note, newbb does not have a 'Nested' view, if it sees 'Nested' it will assume 'Threaded'.