Considering vBulletin, have a few ?s re: mods

[eam]

I run a site currently that uses Postnuke, and after looking at vBulletin I think it might possibly be a better fit for what I want to do.

Actually, vBulletin in and of itself isn't quite what I want, but more specifically vBulletin combined with vbAdvanced looks pretty good. I had some questions...

The reason vbAdvanced looks like it might be perfect is because I can take certain threads and have them appear on the main page. My site takes news from the major sports teams in Detroit, and the way it is now we post the news stories and we also have forums, but they are not integrated with the news stories.

From what I see of vbAdvanced, and if I'm understanding this right, I have to select a forum for the news, and only threads in that forum appear on the main page. Is that right? And can there only be 1 news forum?

What I really need is to be able to specify any post as a news story, as there will be news from all 4 or 5 different teams. If vbAdvanced can't do this, is there a mod that will?

Hopefully I'm explaining this right. If this is possible, then I'm sold on VB.

[Tigga]

In vBa you can specify any number of forums that you would like to pull news posts from. There's not currently an option to specify exact posts that you would like to appear as news though, only forums.

[eam]

Originally Posted by Tigga

In vBa you can specify any number of forums that you would like to pull news posts from. There's not currently an option to specify exact posts that you would like to appear as news though, only forums.

Thanks for your help. Here's another question - I was browsing another site that uses vbAdvanced and noticed that the image that appears with an article on the portal page is the poster's avatar. Can this be changed to something else? I will be using this for a sports site and would like the logos of the team the article is about to appear, not my avatar.

Also, regarding the Calendar - is there something that displays the events of the day in a block instead of the entire month (which you have to click on to see the contents for all days)?

Finally, is there any kind of control panel for vbAdvanced that would, for example, move the blocks around easily without having to manipulate code?

Thanks again for any help.

when a feature is missing, you can always ask for someone to create it, instead of making a negative judgement... btw, most of these features are easy to deal with... if you create a forum for each team you make News for, you can apply a icon for that forum, the team's logo, and it takes only a simple hack released here.. you can then apply it on the portal too.

[eam]

I don't get it - are you saying I made a "negative judgement"? Where on earth was there a negative judgement made in my post?! I thought they were pretty simple, straightforward questions.

I have not purchased VB yet and have NO way of knowing if any of this stuff exists, who/where to ask, or how often requests/suggests get answered (in fact, it looks like I'm going to have to plunk down $85 just to find out if it will work for me since I can't put any portals on the admin demo). My experience in the past with special requests like that haven't been good - which is fine...I don't expect anyone to jump up and do whatever I ask for. And if something exists already, it makes a lot more sense to ask then to make a request for it. I didn't think I was asking about a "missing" feature...I was asking if there were options (i.e. via a control panel like I said) to modify things. Like I said, it's not like I can play with a demo of it - at least not that I know of.

nah, sorry, i was not focussing on your comment when i was talking about negative... it was more like a "ho, no, i can't buy it because of a missing feature..." ... i was not pointing you directly, sorry... but you have it right!

[eam]

OK, so it looks like I can change the icon in a post. Thanks. One more question - is it an option I can set in the Administrator's Panel or do I have to get a hack that does it?

My other questions (any input is greatly appreciated) -

2. Regarding the Calendar - is there something that displays the events of the day in a block instead of the entire month (which you have to click on to see the contents for all days)?

3. Is configuration for vbAdvanced done via a special control panel? If not, is there maybe a better portal that does?

Sorry if I'm not asking these questions right - like I said I don't anything about it, and what little I know is from working with phpBB and PostNuke.

[zetetic]

Originally Posted by eam

OK, so it looks like I can change the icon in a post. Thanks. One more question - is it an option I can set in the Administrator's Panel or do I have to get a hack that does it?

My other questions (any input is greatly appreciated) -

2. Regarding the Calendar - is there something that displays the events of the day in a block instead of the entire month (which you have to click on to see the contents for all days)?

3. Is configuration for vbAdvanced done via a special control panel? If not, is there maybe a better portal that does?

Sorry if I'm not asking these questions right - like I said I don't anything about it, and what little I know is from working with phpBB and PostNuke.

Not positive about the calendar, but yes vBAdvanced is configured through the Admin Control Panel. It's very easy to move blocks around that way.