Newbie questions...

[Billy Bandit]

Hello all,

I just joined the vBulletin family and am interested in installing all kinds of hacks. A couple years ago, I spent some time with hacking UBB but I haven't played with any forum software since then. A simple glance at some of the PHP files in vBulletin made me realize how little I know about this system.

Are there any tutorials on how the vB files are set up and which files control what functions? (ie If I want to add a button to the home,forum,register menu buttons where would I start?)

What hack was used to create this part of the vbulletin.org site?
http://www.vbulletin.org/hacks/index...howcat&catid=7
http://www.vbulletin.org/hacks/index...ack&hackid=369

Are there any tips on how to write custom PHP pages that use the vB username and password for authentication?

What portal addons are available for vBulletin? I'm aware of vbPortal 3.0 but are there others that are out there? What is THIS site using for the homepage?

Anyhow, I'd appreciate any direction that can be provided to get me started.

Thanks!