Can the submission form have custom fields? I need the form to have 10 data fields and I only want 7 of those 10 to display on the front listing or feed page of the forum (as I want to keep the initial listings as compact as I can for Mobile) ; these 7 fields will be the same for all posts as will the order of each field (a specific order for all posts). Then have the ability to click and get more information on the posts; this is where all 10 fields would be displayed. All fields need to be searchable.
Can this be done with the tool-set within FudForum? Or would I need some coding done?
I think this should be possible with some small added code via FUDAPI. You should have a look into /scripts/fudapi.inc.php
There you see how to add a user to the forum from "outside" with quite many fields.
Then "misusing" some of the fields not need (jabber, affero ...) for other purposes should be possible.
So nothing "out-of-the-box", but with little coding in the form and some changes in the description of some fields not a gigantic job