Must Have Modifications
 

If I said, "Name your top three 'must-have' vBulletin4.x modifications", you would say what?

Me'd say look into the Mod-of-theMonth-Forum https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=203 or which addons have most downloads/installs/ratings :p

With breathtaking 18 votes overall in June 2016? ;)

This does absolutely no good when the vBulletin4 product itself is six years old and many of the modifications which were once hugely popular have been either made part of the core software, deprecated, left to rot, replaced with better or more recent versions.

The entire add-ons and modifications section is a gigantic Charlie Foxtrot.

I've done, literally, hundreds of vBulletin4 installations for clients and the vast majority of those use no modifications. Many don't even use a custom theme.

But I have a new project and I'm trying to decide between vB4 and vB5 for the customer. Each has its merits and its drawbacks for what the customer would like. If there's something I'm overlooking in the way of add-ons or mods due to the above I'd like to know.

Again, the entire section is a complete and utter disaster. No one has time to read every page for every mod to see which still work and which don't. It's easier to ask who is using what.

Your/your clients approach is flawed, if I may be so bold.

You don't go through the modifications forum to check all addons to find what's nice to have. You define what you need first, and then you go and check what's available. Don't install addons for the sake of it.

That's not really the approach. I have full latitude on the design. Obviously the core vBulletin4 product is far more developed and tested and, despite all the initial complaints, has six years of third party development.

vB5 is not nearly the lemon some would make it out to be. It's actually far more customizable than is vB4 in terms of coding. The biggest gripe seems to be with the lack of php hooks which is of no concern to me since every page can be manually coded to exacting specifications.

vB5 necessarily comes with a great deal more time spent doing said coding whereas vB4 has a great deal of that coding done in the available add-ons and mods.

I'm going to present the client with a few different options. I just thought I would ask the vBulletin Community what they consider critical or at least important additions to the core software.

I agree with Cellarius that it depends on the site, what they need in the terms of mods or if the default software meets those needs without mods. Whether it be a classified ads mod or a download manager or whatever. Every forum has it's niche and will need different mods based on that niche. Of course you already know that but for the sake of other readers who don't, I figured I would elaborate.

The one thing I do think is needed for vb4 is a responsive style to cater to mobile users with a nicer interface than the mobile style.

I myself have become so used to the vb5 interface that I feel like vb4 is lacking features to be used for a modern site. I think going forward for a new site, vb5 would be the best choice in that the interface is more modern, most features people use are implemented or can be fairly easily, and is coded using modern coding conventions.

I do agree also that VB5 has matured into a solid product and is easy to modify once familiar with the API. The new hooks system is also a plus for more serious mods albeit the hooks have to added manually which for the time being is a maintenance issue but if there aren't too many, is no big deal for just one or two sites.

This is where I am mentally. Ironically, I still use vB4 without any modifications for my own site but I'm even thinking of moving that to vB5.

How is a "complete and utter disaster" ?
The fact you are to lazy to do research yourself and instad get others to do it for you ?

So, you think I should install every mod which might potentially serve a client's interests individually to see which still function? You're typically more reasonable than that.

I don't personally use any modifications on my sites so I asked a simple question to which I've received nothing but complex answers.

Answers at this juncture would be moot in any case. I've reached a decision.

As I said before: You should know what you need, then its really not that much of a problem. For most popular addons looking at the last page of a thread is quite sufficient to see if it still works on current versions of vB4. If, of course, you have no idea what the needs of the site are, then this will lead nowhere. But you really should not install addons for the sake of it.

I've determined it will be easier to go with vB5 and develop any necessary plugins from scratch rather than attempt to decipher which vB4 plugins might meet this client's needs. I can tell you one necessity is fully functioning social media connectivity. That appears to be problematic regardless of software choice or version.