Pros and cons of installing VB in root folder or a seperate folder?
 

What are the pros and cons of installing vB in the root folder?

Are there any benefits of it over installing in a folder one level up?

Your thoughts appreciated!

anyone?

Probably just preference, I installed mine on root, I wasn't interested in using the root of the domain for anything else.

Most use /forums or forums.foo.bar because they want to have another part of the website that is first before the forums.

There aren't any pros or cons, just that if you ever wanted a different index page it'd be difficult to move the forum into its own directory afterwards. (Well not difficult, but definitely a hasle)

I find it easier to upgrade if it's not in the domain root.

If your site revolves around the forums, put it in the root dir, otherwise put it in another directory

site.com/forums/
site.com/articles/
site.com/blog/
site.com/gallery

is nice if the forums are just another application of your site.. but if the others are extensions of vB, then:

site.com (forums)
site.com/articles.php
site.com/blog.php
site.com/gallery.php

makes more sense

there is no pros and cons

with that said...
vbulletin is a powerful tool and should be utilized in all sections
stick everything in root ... everything else should be extensions of vbulletin

thanks - that is something to bear in mind.

Thank you all

I have to ask... why limit your options later on by putting vB in the root if you don't have any real specific reason to set this up that way?

If you install vB in a /forum or /forums subdirectory, then you always have the choice of using the root for a variety of different purposes.. a portal, a home page, a flashy splash intro page, a seasonal bulletin/annoucement, or some other type of introductory material. But you can also redirect one link to another to route all your traffic directly to the forum and just keep the root in reserve in case you change your mind later on.

On the other hand ... if you install your forum at the root, you've just locked yourself into that type of site configuration/arrangement. For no other reason than you couldn't anticipate something you might wish to change at some point in the future.

I don't see why anyone would do this. :surprised:

because vbulletin could do all of this -- you just need the knowledge

Normally I install it in the wwwroot and rename vBulletin's index.php to forum.php.

is it possible to install in the root but specify a folder/directory where the forums are 'shown'? so eg after adding hacks we could have:

- vB installed in root, index.php remaned to forums.php (then add custom index.htm)
- forum pages showing in /forum
- vbjournal plugin showing in /blogs
- memberslist showing in /members
- articles shown in /articles
- non vb pages shown in /nonVBdirectory

etc etc

is this possible?

So if you don't have the knowledge, or don't care to expend the energy to gain said knowledge, you could pretty much accomplish the same by simply placing vB in a /forums subdirectory. This keeps the structure more straight-forward from an expansion standpoint, and will make troubleshooting a helluva lot easier if you're new to these things.

I've always felt that just because something can be done... doesn't mean it should.

mine's in a root/forums directory

Thats what redirects can come into play. If you know your sh*t you can install on the root/forums/ directory and move it to /root/ or the other way around.

It is possiable to redirect all old URL to the new proper URL ;)

<a href="https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=108784" target="_blank">Where to install vBulletin ... root or "forums"?</a>

Could you let us know how please? :)