vb compared to the newer ipb?
 

Okay, vb is a super popular paid forum system. 90% of the forums I go to are vb. You guys are making bank.

This is my friends new site, powered by IP.Board.

This site is a brand new install with ONE tiny mp3 mod installed.

LOOK at that! Clean, beautiful default skin, wonderful AJAX powered complex profile system, full user file upload system, full gallery system, with video support and yada yada.


Why hasn't vb updated their software with stuff like this? I am beginning to wish I had started my new site with IPb instead...

Arg. Can we expect updates like this? If not then my next site, which I'll start in 2 or 3 months, will have to be IPb instead, even though I'm "set in my ways" with vb. I will be willing to learn a whole new system for the "cleaner" features for the users.



Sorry, if this sounds like a flame, I love vb, I must, I own 3 medium sized forums. It's just, how can I be expected to use it when this kid who just freshly installed a cheaper forum software and it looks and has more abilities than most of the vB forums out there?


I doubt I'm the only one who feels this way but maybe I am. If no one agrees then I'll shut up and put up. ;)

It's personal taste. Also, you don't know how much easier it is to code using the vBulletin framework.

<i>My understanding is that vBulletin is the be all and end all of message boards, and everything else is just second-rate in comparison. It's also my understanding that it's the simplest to use and modify, for those of us non-coders. For that reason alone, I know I'll never use anything else.</i>

Indeed it's nice, however, vBulletin can do the samething, but much better. Not to mentino, IPB has lack of support and modification by users. I hardly can find good mods in that community.

Unlike vBulletin, we have an official site for issues (vbulletin.com) and a mod community (vbulletin.org).

What does IPB have to offer? Crappy services, crappy modification. IPB is good at some point.

Maybe an experience coder could do what IPB did on the usergroups and on the members layout page (which u link us too).

after follow link I did not find nothing that make me say WOW I seen better forum using vb here for review.


you can hate vb all you want but I just don't like IP.Board at all .

proud owner of a vb forum and this is how I feel.vb all the way :cool:

<font size="3">vBulletin Rules</font>

Use IPB, then? You made the choice. AJAX is pretty, but that's about all. It wastes resources.

Well VB is doing a great job with its features, hacks and support.

eh, the replies stink of fan-boy like text. I never said I "hated" vb, I actually like it but this software seems to be dependent on "free, sorta supported, community mods" and not code by the professionals at the vb team. The only major additions to vb itself in the last years have been quick quote and ajax quick replies.

The fact that I have to pay $120+ for photopost to get a nice (it's not very nice, support staff acts like "why are you bothering important me?") video support and ipb comes with it for free pisses me off.

But, whatever, I'm set in my ways and no longer have time to screw around with new forum software. It's just, my friend had a choice, vb or ipb, he compared, he went with ipb and it looks like he made the right choice.

What will other newbie forum owners choose? Again, this isn't a flame thread, it's just a concered forum owner wanting the best for his customers and future customers on future sites...

It doesn't actually. The gallery portion of Invision board is a paid addon. It isn't free. Maybe you should go look at their site and their prices before comparing. The file download system is also a paid addon. They do allow you to purchase a suite that includes three products at a price discounted from what it would cost if you bought them separately but they don't offer these things for free.

I'll admit that we have to play catch-up in the commercial addon business but what is coming is great.

I don't know ... it took me years to understand fully vBulletin, and after comparing to all other boards I still think it's a great choice. Sure - one day or another, some of the other boards may go over the top with some feature, but I'm also sure the vBulletin developers will evaluate to add that feature later. ;)

The 'beautiful skin' is an opinion thing. There are many here who like vBulletin's default style more. Heck, there are even those who like the version 2 style for phpBB more and those who like the UBB default skin more. AJAX isn't everything. The profiles, while complex I think personally look horrible, over cluttered and non designed. I also hate Myspace profiles if that means anything to you. Not sure about what you mean by the full user file upload, you can already upload files. The gallery costs extra and is an extra add on product, not free with Invision Power Board. Video support is extremely easy, and requires simple BB code additions.

Granted, some of their stuff by default is cool, but lots is just the equivalent of getting a few free simple hacks or BB code or template changes from here.


http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=224446

They are adding similar stuff. And since most stuff is basic modifications, they will probably be in there sooner or later.



Management, style and promotion are as, if not more important than features, and content beats all of them. Features are not the be all end of all of success, I know from seeing forums succeed and fail before when I visited them for some reason or another.



Why do you expect a non biased answer on an official forum? Seriously, re posted from my own forum where I said about this to someone:

No one was offended, or flamed or anything as far as I can tell. Besides, you also have to consider which of these forum software packages has the best support, and which has the best community and such. And many people I have heard say vBulletin for this is better compared to Invision Power Board.

One thing that has always rather bothered me about vBulletin in comparison to other forum software is how clumsy its AJAX implementation is. I'm not complaining that there ought to be more or less of it, but that it feels slow and clunky to use. When I press the Post Quick Reply button to post this, I'll see a momentary "Please wait" message and then the post will appear on the bottom of the thread in a slow and clunky manner, and if I want to edit it afterwards, I'll press Edit and have the edit box appear slowly and clunkily in place of the post. Even at a free board like MyBB it looks a lot neater somehow. :/

Eh, your reply sounds like you're set in your opinion and you're trolling for arguments. What did you expect on a vB forum? Everyone to resoundingly say "Yeah, IPB is better"? If you're looking for fanboy-like text, look no further than your own post.

The site you linked looks like a generic forum with a generic portal and an easily coded bit of AJAX for swapping windows out. It's hardly groundbreaking and something I'd be apt to drop vB for.

I agree. I've run three boards over the million post mark, and my current project is at 500k. I consider myself an experienced forum admin as well as a half decent coder, and vB is the only thing I'll run on my sites. My only gripe (if you can call it that) is that I'd like to see a fully CSS version of vB in lieu of tables.

I would also like to vBulletin with no/few tables and CSS layout control. And a lot of people's arguments against it may be older browsers, but the idea of CSS layout and such is for forward compatibility and only working effect in older browsers rather than being tied down to Internet Explorer 4-5 and earlier versions of Netscape.

If they are not at least using Internet Explorer 5, companies should stop trying to give them a perfectly exact layout than to modern browsers.

He even edit his original post and then start acting offended by us.
I guess i was the one call fanboy oh well is better than be a troll .



I agree 100% nothing to make me feel I want to change forum software.
vbuelletin the best there is The best there was And the best there ever will be You know it.:up::up::up::up::up:

When I was deciding which forum software I was going to support first for my initial software release at Raven Technologies, I came across two problems:

Wordpress forum support was poor and that vBulletin didn't have a Social Networking system like IPB, so I started writing and researching about these two issues. The result were two solutions that will be release as product and free limited versions.

Wordpress Social Network System, I will talk about this later on.

"He even edit his original post and then start acting offended by us."

Eh? I'm not into the whole forum drama thing, I just wanted to express my concern over this.

EJRaven, sir, you've got my attention! :)

Like I said, I still like vb, I just... I just want it all and can ya blame me? ;)

the Bret Hart of forums if you will :)

none the less I hated IPB, I cant tell you how many exploits that thing has...not to mention that the mod and skinning community there is pretty much dead

Well here's my 2cents lol

I started off with IPB afew years ago, Well....I started to help a friend out with a board cause he got stuck ( mods ), so i had a random go at it and made them work ( shock horror lol )... So i thought to myself *umm id make a forum for a laugh* got into it quite well, then got hacked left right and centre which made me stop runnin a forum, Then i found out about vBulletin.. at 1st i thought nah aint going to like this one bit, afew months a brought a licence, made afew forums, It's all down the choice, personally alot of people do like IPB more i do abit, but when it comes to mods i just cant bare the though of sitting there for like an or so editin 7 files files just for one mod to work lol! Bet bit about vBulletin is "import product" done, maybe one or 2 skin edits but thats nothing compared to IPB lol

So, moral of the story is?

If you want a simple life choose > vBulletin

If you wanna sit for hrs doing mods and being hacked due to exploits > pick IPB

I own both an IPB and VB license. After purchasing IPB there is no built in mod system. Also the modding community is well quite undeveloped and unique design is what brings a forum to life.

I see many, and I mean MANY VB hacks here on VB.org that are unsupported as well. Or claim they are supported but you are lucky to ever get a response. No matter what the problems are. Lots of potentially good plug-ins fall by the wayside here because of it. Or how severe they are. Anytime you add a hack or plug-in to a forum you are opening the doors for hackers. VB, PHPBB, IPB or anyone else.

IPB does seem to be more advanced when it comes to social networking + the ajax profiles look great!

My VB profiles don't even have a friends list never mind those neat ajax tabs :(

No matter if something is better than vBulletin, because what I love is vBulletin and it is enough for what I need.

Having used phpbb for some time and hacking it to get it to the same abilities of off the shelf vb I had to install something like 90+ mods and it still isn't 100%. I'm glad to say that I love the simplicity of vb and I hope that it continues.

I can't speak too much about IPB but it doesn't seem any different aside from the much smaller development community.

I also looked at the big boards that are being run both by corporates and small business and I'm impressed to see that most of them use vbulletin.

I've been running vbulletin since version 2.0.3 and its come a long way. I feel that vb 3.6 has the best permissions, templating and hook systems on the marketing making the development and use of add-ons a breeze.

That being said, while I appreciate the simplicity of the backend from an admin perspective, I find the front end is quickly falling behind the times. Users want more more than just a forum and as admins we want to give it to them. The modding community on vb.org is great but the nature of the modifications have become so complex that they are no longer quick hacks to accomplish something innovative but rather they are complete products in their own right which require time and resources to support and develop. For the hobbyist, I am sure that is fine but for the non-hobbyist that appreciates the time and energy and complexity of the applications, we are willing to pay for the work so long as its professionally developed and supported. Its why vbseo, vbadvanced, and a few others are thriving and we would love to see Jelsoft roll out additional products which will meet the growing demand of its user base.

There's way less edits to do on vBulletin than IPB when installing mods, and also IPB is more exploitable.

I'll be using IPB for next project. Nothing against vB, IBP just looks like it'd do the job better. Just like MyBB is doing a good job on another project.

I think it just depends what you want out of the software, they all have there pros and there cons.

Anyone seen phpBB3? It's pretty!

First vB, next phpBB (For the FREE is one of the best) and then ikonboard, probably in never I will use IP.Board.

Vbulletin is the best forum software on the net & although its paid for, you can virtually do anything with it within your coding abilities (or others). Vbulletin is not just a forum, with mods you can make it your whole website & using the other competitors out there instead, is so much harder and costly than vB!

Very true. So good in fact that Photopost has started developing their own forum software (released last week). At this point still basic, but it is surely a sign that vb is way behind on expanding.

I am in awe about this:
Note that Google has connected Jabber to AIM, MSN, Yahoo and a bunch more.

I really hope that Jelsoft starts hiring a mass of developers and rolls out a series of high quality add-ons or improves vbulletin. It is already a great system, but the net is evolving fast.

I just hate IPB. I go to a bike website a lot that uses it and it is cumbersome and goofy as a user.

It's the main reason I chose vB for my commercial needs.