[michaelbenson]

Originally Posted by princeton

if the PRODUCT is well integrated with vbulletin they will have their own "folder" while having vbulletin in root

optimally, an end-user should NOT be directed to a "folder" (eg. /gallery/index.php); this should be done as a last resort

here's an example of how a gallery application should be set up:
gallery.php (root)
depends on gallery setup but you can also have..
newgalleryreply.php (root)
newgallery.php (root)

all related functions and config files should be in GALLERY folder

I don't know about you but my goal as a site administrator is to

1. decrease workload
2. increase revenue (done by decreasing workload)
3. make site usable (Usability) - a good start would be to create short urls whenever possbile

Please understand that I'm not saying that it is wrong to create "folders" for each application. What I'm saying is that ultimately it will cost you more money if you do (time is money).

I don?t see how creating additional folders for navigation, hierarchical and structural purposes can at all conflict with the websites usability. Rather it would do the complete opposite; by logically organizing your website into subject areas you are ensuring that your users are ascertaining a better understanding of the websites layout.

Although I agree that for instance a good example of integration is Wordpress with vBulletin, Wordpress only requires a singular ./index.php page inside the forum root whilst the remaining configuration files can serve elsewhere in a ./blog/ folder for example. But unfortunately not all products are so forthcoming with their integration.

It makes much more sense for a website to be organised as so;
(BTW i am not very good with these virtual diagrams!)

/ (homepage root)
!
!
/forums/ -- /blog/ -- /gallery/ -- /directory/
(including appropriate configuration files within each directory)

Rather than the following;

/ (homepage root) - forum files -- gallery user files -- blog user files -- directory user files
!
!
/gallery configuration files/ -- /blog configuration files/ -- /directory configuration files/