Site using vB but need insight into "Hacks"
 

I am planning to deploy a new web site, hopefully commercial within the next few months.

I am 90% sure it will be vB.

First a side note of annoyance: Not being able to click and see large views of the screen shots without a license is... well counter intuitive. I am interested in vB, but how do I know if I have to look at a 800x600 image shrunk to 100px x 60px? There is no way for me to tell if the result is what I am looking for. Sorry but most descriptions presume that I am an owner of vB already and that I know all the details. "Just flip the gizmo, on the widget and it will dingle the watchamacallit." Most hacks do not include an example. Extreem annoyance.

As I said I am planning to deploy a hopefully large scale community.

I saw several CMS, but the two that seem to have the most support/add-ons and features are vBadvanced CMPS and VBIndex.

I would like to have the following hacks installed. I am aware some are commercial but that is not an issue.

1. vBAuction
2. vBadvanced Links
3. Reoccuring Paypal Subscriptions
4. vBChat or flashChat
5. vBSurvey
6. VB-O-GRAM

My questions:

1. Which CMS works well with the above list of hacks?
2. Which chat system is more stable, smoother, and works well with the selected CMS & vB?
3. Which CMS has more features?
4. Which hack works best with the selected CMS, and provides advertising boxes/modules/whatevers on forum and non-forum pages (Google, Amazon, ComissionJuction, LinkShare, B&N, Doubleclick, etc.)?
5. Is there a "hack" that allows the easy creation of static pages using the default or current template/skin?
6. What would be the estimated time to install vB, and the above list of hacks?
7. How well these hacks work with languages (i.e. all use language selections)?
8. How easy are these hacks to manage through Control Panel?
9. How well these hacks work with templates/skins (i.e. all use active template/skin)?
10. Are there alternatives that are better (smoother management, seemless to vB and others, etc.)?
11. Are there any other hacks that would be of general interest, or aspecially used in most vB community sites I missed?
12. Where would be the area(s) & sites to hire a programmer, a designer, a copyrighter whom are experts with vB?

Thank you.

(Why is color Navy shows up as green?)

Bump :rolleyes:

Would anyone be willing to answer at least some of my questions?

1. Probably vBadvanced CMS
2. Not sure
3. Not sure
4. Not sure, but it is easy
5. Not a hack, a new file, but yes - tutorial 1 - tutorial 2
6. Not sure
7. Not sure
8. Only use vBadvanced CMS and vBchat - which are easy
9. All 100% I'd imagine
10. Not sure
11. Personal preference, I see arcade & journal used quite a bit
12. here, under service requests, you can try vbulletintemplates.com too for things more on the template side

Sorry I couldn't answer them all, but there's a start.

Thank you TheSpecialist!:banana:

My questions:

1. Which CMS works well with the above list of hacks? vBaCMPS
2. Which chat system is more stable, smoother, and works well with the selected CMS & vB? I use Flashchat, find it to be far more impressive than vBChat.
3. Which CMS has more features? Dunno. I use vBaCMPS and it is fine.
4. Which hack works best with the selected CMS, and provides advertising boxes/modules/whatevers on forum and non-forum pages (Google, Amazon, ComissionJuction, LinkShare, B&N, Doubleclick, etc.)? You can add modules to your vBaCMPS. They appear as boxes. I guess you could have a whole lot of ad boxes...
5. Is there a "hack" that allows the easy creation of static pages using the default or current template/skin? Yes. Logicians Webtemplates hack. In Major Additions.
6. What would be the estimated time to install vB, and the above list of hacks? For who? For me, maybe 2 hours on the outside. For a veteran, probably less than an hour. For a non-vB person who has never opened a php file, probably 5 or so hours of cursing and crying?
7. How well these hacks work with languages (i.e. all use language selections)? Depends on whether or not they are phrased (have words in the phrase system, rather than hardcoded).
8. How easy are these hacks to manage through Control Panel? Well, flashchat doesn't natively reside in the AdminCP, but can be hacked in...the rest, assuming the instructions are followed, pretty easy.
9. How well these hacks work with templates/skins (i.e. all use active template/skin)? They would all take on the appearance of whatever skin you were using...some fixed-width styles tho, can cause page breakouts (stuff overlapping).
10. Are there alternatives that are better (smoother management, seemless to vB and others, etc.)? *shrugs*
11. Are there any other hacks that would be of general interest, or aspecially used in most vB community sites I missed? An Arcade hack can be fun. A cash/points system as well. Ucash/Ushop is the Points hack that I use, and it is great.
12. Where would be the area(s) & sites to hire a programmer, a designer, a copyrighter whom are experts with vB? Service Requests.

(Why is color Navy shows up as green?) I think many colours come up as green...it has something to do with how they look on a certain style here.

Thank you very much!

vB take note and give this man job in your customer support.

Hacks aren'ts supported by vB :P so he would be out of a job right quick if his job were to support hacked boards :P

But, if my job were to support hacked boards, and I have provided libertate support regarding hacked boards, why would I be out of a job quick in that situation?

:P

Of course, in all seriousness, CS can be transferred basically anywhere. It's all in how you treat the person and their enquiry.

[high]* kall is actually a Customer Support Person[/high]

i would hit half of the people that asked for support ^^

hence why i being a pathologist and not a surgeon >_> dead people don't speak

In answer to your questions:

1. Which CMS works well with the above list of hacks?

vbindex and vbadvanced cmps are both great. I lean more towards cmps however because of its backend module system. It also allows you to create static pages. For that matter, you could easilly create them a half dozen other ways.

3. Which CMS has more features?

Both vbindex and vbadvanced have a ton of add-ons. I've used both and have found it very easy to make a module for one work the other.

5. Is there a "hack" that allows the easy creation of static pages using the default or current template/skin?

see above

6. What would be the estimated time to install vB, and the above list of hacks?

Depends on your familiarity. Most of the instructions are fairly simple to follow. Just be sure to install one at a time and test it before moving on to the next so your not wondering where you screwd up a file edit. :)

11. Are there any other hacks that would be of general interest, or aspecially used in most vB community sites I
missed?

vbgallery (paid product at vbadvanced.com) ?
(made by the same guy that made cmps)

12. Where would be the area(s) & sites to hire a programmer, a designer, a copyrighter whom are experts with vB?

You could post a service request here or try sitepoint.

FYI to all. On your comments and some others, I have purchased the vB license. Next is actually getting it loaded.