vBulletin expert knowledge sought

[camerman]

1. I need some help in verifying whether vBulletin can do some things that my existing forum does and if it can do some specific things that my existing forum can't. A simple example, one of several: I like a threaded view mode and this is the default on my forum, but vBulletin boards I have seen shows the thread above the selected post instead of underneath - can the thread display be moved to underneath the displayed message? I have several more questions a bit like this that I'd like to discuss with someone.

2. My site has a particular page format and style - I need to know if vBulletin can be 'clothed' to fit into that style. I guess this is something to do with skins but it's also likely to be down to integrating with the CSS on my site, for example.

3. I'd like to make a selected thread visible outside of the forum - within an article page, for example. Can this be done?

4. My existing forum is aimed at people interested in digital photography. I see that image attachments can be uploaded (I need this because not everyone has their own space or the expertise to upload an image somewhere else and then deep-link in their post). I'd also like to be able offer a thumbnail gallery of images attached to posts, linked through to the post showing that image in full.

5. I need some help in understanding VBulletin's search engine optimisation features.

6. Assuming there are no major issues, I'd like to commission someone suitable to assist in the installation of vBulletin, configuration and creation of style templates as necessary for the forum to fit into the site as required.

I'm currently running a couple of Linux servers, with php and MySQL, so I don't envisage a problem there, but some advice on which server to install, future scalability and portability would be good to know.

I hope the above is enough to give a taste for what I need to do.

Thanks!