Thinking about buying Vbulletin

I'm thinking about buying Vbulletin.
I'm using phpBB at the moment and got familiar with it so much that i'm a bit scared of modding vbulletin.
I'm using phpBB since v 2.0.3 so that's a long time.

What's the best approach?
Obviously testing and modding on a local server but are there any more things i should be aware of before i use it on a live environment?

 

You can get a demo account before paying for it. As for hacks, vBulletin 3.5 has a plugin system, this means you won't have to edit files. Just about everything can be done using the plugin system. The most editing you would have to do is template edits, and that's very easy.

vBulletin is well worth the money, I highly suggest it. So far I have 6 licenses.

If you do with vBulletin I really suggest you give your members notice ahead of time so they are warned that the forum isn't going to look like it did before since it's different software.

 

Thx
Can modding still be done manually?
I like to do it manually so i can learn from it.
Is the phpbb to vbulletin convertor included in the package?

I'll set up a testforum first with an imported phpbb database and show it to my users first before going live.

 

Have you checked out SMF? It's got a great interface, great support community, lots of plugins, and it's free. Here's the link to the download page, it's got a phpbb converter in one of the packages. http://www.simplemachines.org/download.php

 

I don't think you'll be able to do that without purchasing a license first. The test forum is just a demo site where you can play with the admin settings.

The PHPBB importer is included with the package, as a separate download called "impex." I just converted a hacked PHPBB forum to VB and all went surprisingly well.

After having a VB forum for 2 years, a couple months on PHPBB was more than I could stand, and the $160 all of a sudden seemed a small price to pay. Considering the import process of going to VB is so easy, though, there's something to be said for starting a forum on PHPBB and if it starts to take off, jumping to VB.

 

Thx, i wired some money to my paypal account so i'll have to wait a few days.
Before i go live i'm going to do this:
Make a backup of my database.
Use that backup on a new database.
Import that backup in my new VBulletin and test things out and work on the theme (logo and stuff).
If everything goes right; make another backup of my live site, close my live site and run the import.
Is this correct?

 

Sounds like a good plan. If you want to get an idea of what's involved with impex, just do a search for "impex" here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/

And you'll get all the instructions.

 

I'll throw in my 2 cents. I used to be a phpBB user and wanted more functionality. I went ahead and bought vBulletin. Then a second copy, and I'm planning on buying a third. The software is amazing and it has great support. It has a great community too. I highly recommend it to everyone. It's incredible software, worth every cent I paid for it.

 

Yes. You can still modify templates/files manually.

 

vBulletin is great. Especially with the Plugins that can be used now. Im hopeless at modding, but the new version makes it very easy

 

Yes You can mod it manually

Yes the converter is included

I wouldnt show it to your users - just do it. Ive converted to forums from phpbb and got resitance both times - but they liked it after a week or so of using it.

 

Yay, i got it.
I'm playing around with it but erm....where are the template files?
I noticed you can edit the template from the admin panel but can it also be done offline, like with wordpad?
I've imported from a heavily modded phpBB 2.0.18 and it went flawless.
Lots of things to try now before i go live.

 

Congrats! Glad to hear the conversion went well.

Best way to edit the template files (IMO) if you want to use a text editor is to copy all and paste into wordpad (or whatever) and then paste back into the template code on the cP when you're done. The CP editing is really handy for minor stuff. It even has a built-in search function at the bottom of the edit window!

 

Thx, so the template is database driven.
Something getting used to i think

 

Now that you are a vB convert you need to check out http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/portal.php?

I've had vB for a while now and these guys are amazing.

 

Thx, already registered there and got some mods like the portal.
What's the best place for the forums on my site with the portal?
Since the portal can be used outside a folder, should i upload the forum in a folder and the portal to mydomain.com or should i upload the forum to mydomain.com and rename the portal to portal.php and use htaccess redirect to the portal?
Uploading the forum to a folder and the portal to mydomain.com, so i get domain.com/index.php (portal) and domain.com/forums/index.php (forums) would be the best bet for search engines?

 

Depends on if you plan to purchase VBSEO. Last I checked, putting the portal in the /forums folder was the best way to SEO the portals/pages using that plug-in. (keep this in mind for any extensions you use- photopost, reviewpost, VBA links, etc all need to be in /forums for VBSEO to work right with them)

 

Not planning to use VBSEO.
I am planning to do some SEO to the site but that's on the longer term.
Currently i figured out how most of the things work but it's still getting used to.
You can see what i did so far here: http://www.twenteracingscene.com
I need another template to use as default to please the search engines more since this one is a bit intensive.

 

The "steel" series skins from www.vbenhanced.com have some nice SEO features built-in. You can see mine (Steel blue) on www.mwusers.com

Your page is going off my screen with the current skin. Try pulling back on the main table width, to 85%-90%

You can do that in admincp-->Styles & Templates-->Style manager-->all style options-->look for the first text box underneath the footer code. MWusers is currently running at 90%.

 

I have recently switched myself and this is what i have so far http://www.thelocalforum.co.uk/forum/index.php

I got used to the template system but the thing i miss about phpbb is that main CP page where you can see what is everyone doing.