@N9ne: hehe, i've had a look at his code, and it's like always, every code can be optimized :)

as it's for a frontpage (which doesn't change the face every time someone views), a cache could be added so it would use less queries :)

Xenon, I challenge you to make a better home page than Teck has done.... and then release it :p lol jk

For my new forums, a home page will be coded, purely by me :)

ok, so I can conclude:

TECK - Query Master
Xenon - Cache Master
N9ne - Ruler of all :p

re: other "portal" threads, all I can say is in my frustrating experiences so far, there's far too many categories and places to look and search, and just when you think you've found a thread with the answer, a moderator is asking the poster to confirm his/her license ownership.

So, thank you, Allan, for posting this question (and for getting the poll right). However, there's one I noticed you must have inadvertently omitted:
What about vBindex (not to be confused with mYvBindex)? Interestingly, vBindex was done by a fellow "colleague" of Teck's at TeckWizards.com, NTLDR.

I use vBindex and am very happy with it.

vB Index does seem like a great system, but needs a bit of modification to get it the way you want it :)

no more than vBhome :)

All portals need a "bit of modification" to get them customized. Otherwise ... they just aren't custom! ;)