I would simply "piece" it out and post in the unpaid forum request area OR in the respective forum so for example you could post a new thread asking in design or programming discussions for vB4 on how to do the login in a widget (if using the vB CMS) or sidebar block as well and see the replies some members may also post links to known mods.

This way you get free help from members who have time before you "pay" for something thereby saving you money and the helpful replies may save you frustration as well i.e. no need to track it down yourself if you can simply ask and someone be nice and reply back accordingly ;).

For a CMS, you may want to check out, vBadvanced CMPS

My note was merely cautionary to the OP, since the OP wants to emulate the bloat, on his own site.:D

It's always a war between form and function if you have a site, annit?

Ahh copy that now and that it is, then sometimes stubborn forum owners who do not head warnings end up getting exactly what they wanted. We did warn them though to be fair ;).

That's all I try to do my friend.:up:

I am not sure why you would want to copy another site. Sure it is fine to get ideas but why would anyone go to a clone of a site worth millions when they can just go the real thing? Just saying...

Better off being original...

In terms of load times, BBD is the biggest bb forum in the world. They sponsor major events world wide, make videos, have writers, reports, the whole thing. If thier pages take time to load then people are willing to wait which is unfortunate to others(me) who own bb forums. Also, I am sure they have major servers all over the world to help with thier bloat. I do not think the op has the resources to cope with the bloat like bbd.

i agree, but my site if for dreadlocks not body building. The intension is to build the features and tailor them for dreadlocks developement

People WILL tolerate alot for a site with the right niche. Slow loading, bloat, adverts, even spam. Plus there's always the herd mentality, the sheep factor. Plus once a site is designated a authority by google and other search sites, it definitely gets the traffic. Snowball effect.

It doesn't change the fact that they have alot of optimization work to do and that it is proven, slow loading does hurt the bottom line. Article on that here.

Here's their vBulletin installation test by the way, it's a 4.1.4 and it is terrible - not for glut, but for loading. Three test attempts and never could get it to not time out, using IE 11.

Here's same test using Firefox. Clearly IE 11 doesn't like the site nearly as much. A problem they'll need to address.

To the OP - Richie has a great point about being a "me too" or a copycat. You most especially don't want to copy the bloat! :D

certainly not :p

just trying to achieve my vision and getting inspired. Its early days for us. Still gathering information and researching possibilities. :)

Er, isn't this kind of an ironic thing to say on site where all use the exact same forum script?