Ok so i plan to start a forum.... i am not much of an expert in forums..so i wanted to know..what are the Major differenced between..phpBB and Vb..ofcourse..one is free... but what are the major advantages of taking Vb?both have mods and all etc etc.. they why should i go for Vb?
phpBB is very cheap and tacky feeling. vb is very nice. VB feels more professional and is very user friendly.
but...feature wise..which is more better? i have done phpBB installations before..but not Vbulletin as i havent bought one yet.. so those of you who are running it..what are the main diff between the features that these two offer? i have to opt for one soon..thats why...
Four threads that may help... vBulletin vs. phpBB phpBB vs. vBulletin vBulletin vs. phpBB phpBB vs. VBulletin Installing vB is pretty simple as well, I am a complete tech novice and I figured it out. The hardest part is configuring the config file, but even that is not all that hard (I got it on the 3rd try). If you are unsure if vB will be worth it, you can always start off with phpBB and then use IMPEX to convert. I hear that works like a dream (but have never used it). I also agree with buffalo that phpBB is a bit tacky & cheap looking, as it just screams "my webmaster was too cheap to buy a proper forum" though, heh, other then that it's not bad, and I certainly like phpBB over IPB. Good luck figuring out the best one (for you)! Q
but drztfyre..the id is too cryptic..cant get the correct words lol sorry.. there are cool skins for phpbb too like the Air_x from Extreme pixels..almost the same as the air skin for Vb..i was so confused..they look so similar.. and thanks for the links..i wil compare them..although the default skin of phpBB really looks pretty naive..there are many skins.. thanks again to all..and keep posting if theres something new..
also..another thing.. can we really import the DB info of users from phpBB to VB..without hassle?? i didnt know that..whats this ImpEX??sounds good..that if i want to pahse to Vb at a later date..
Just say Christopher Many of the skins cross over, as many of the skinners do work for both. Even a lot of the paid sites offer skins for vb & phpbb. Though, skins, while important, are secondary to fucntionality. Impex is a program from Jelsoft (the makers of VB) they claim it's a sinch, and I've not seen many complaints (but again, I've never used it)
Vbulletin: - easy template customization - got more (really helpfull) hacks/mods installed by default - easy installation of hacks - all done with Admin Control Panel (practically no need to edit files). - way more secure - 24/7 support from developers - more stable - well optimized phpBB: - well, free... - got some great templates I had managed phpBB board for over 4 years and I've been managing vB board for 1 year now and... it's worth spending $160 for vB. Especially if you do/or install loads of hacks - it saves you much, much time. VBulletin all the way You can start with phpBB and after a while move to vB (using Impex to import DB data phpBB->vB), if you're unsure about the future of your forums. All data gonna be imported fine, if you don't have any addtional data/tables added to the phpBB DB, because Impex imports to vB only the standard/default DB data and tables from phpBB board. Unless you have smth like >200 000 records to import it's fine Just takes a lot more time to import all the data.
Vb...!!! Vb is the best forum community.... *P/S- i have more than 500 vb hacks/mods, so if anyone interested, just pay me for installation services.
If you have money then vBulletin is the way to go. There is actually a company I can get support from and expect replies back in a few hours at most. There are tons of mods out there and to install them is just a simple upload of a file and they're running. I also think it looks more professional depending on your site. If someone is buying something from you seeing that you run this commercial piece of software for your forum is a whole lot better than the guy who runs the phpbb that looks tacky and 1,000,000 other sites have it to. One big thing is the current phpbb lacked good bot registration prevention out of the box. At least with vbulletin I haven't had any of these problems.
Or possibly you can just install phpBB2 for a while and then when phpBB3 is released you can move to that. It'll most probably blow all of the other free forum software out of the water. Or you can just use vBulletin. Correction... phpBB - easy template customisation - massive amount of mods available and then later when it's released... phpBB 3 - easy new installation of mods - easy template customisation - etc etc
Just to throw a spanner in your thinking, I recommend SMF. Better than phpBB2 IMO and free as oppose to vB. Very feature rich, slick and overall very good. Good community behind it too and all the usual mods are available.
hmm..but T0PS3O..the only two i always hear of are phpbb and vb i do know about SMF, but i never did install it.. do we get good skins? i know extreme pixels makes skins for IPB Vb and phpbb..but what abt SMF?
Don't worry, I've returned with another link Vbulletin vs MyBB vs SMF ~ OOPS, never on that I guess, I misread the myBB for phpBB ~ And here is another related one I started: phpBB2 vs. SMF (1.1.2)
You should go for SMF its free and absolutly better then phpbb, if you want to purchase then you should go for VB but i don't refer PHPBB!