Do I need more than vBulletin for a forum site?

[Harryf]

Hi all!

I'd like to start a niche-market forum - but I do not have a website, and I am tired of trying to figure out what to do to get one up and running!

I've taken a look at MS® FrontPage, Dreamweaver®, Joomla! etc in ordeer to get a simple site up and running before "adding" vBulletin to it BUT am completely discombobulated (one of my bigger English words, btw!) by it all.

All I want is a forum - not a blog, a forum. Just that. I don't want any home page except for the forum's "landing page", no seperate "sales pitch" pages, no fancy graphics - just a forum.

The only possible "other" pages that I may require are a "contact", a "FAQ" and an "Archive" page. My web server runs on Linux and supports (is that the right word?) php, cPanel, MySQL and centOS. He also has all the "standard" FrontPage extensions etc available.

Please tell me that all of the above can be achieved simply by installing vBulletin! I'll (obviously, you may have guessed!) buy the option to have someone from vBulletin do the database thing at an additional fee, of course (for what the bleep do I know about that, anyway!) - just tell me my days of trying to sort out a web site has been solved!

By solved I mean that vBulletin will be all I need, no web design with FrontPage, Dreamweaver or Joomla!, amongst countless others . . .

Kindest possible regards

Harry

[Mark K]

vBulletin requires a web server that includes PHP (minimum version 4.3.3) and MySQL (minimum 4.0.16) installed, as long as u fall into this category you can do all of the above with VB to my knowledge

[Harryf]

Hi Mark!

That's great! (said with as much enthusiasm as Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black)

I see all the links at the top called UserCP, Projects, Blogs, FAQ etc and hoped that all of them would be part of vB - and now you tell me that they are!

That's great (even more enthusiasm)!!!

Thanks for the speedy reply!

Harry

[Dean C]

Hi Mark!

That's great! (said with as much enthusiasm as Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black)

I see all the links at the top called UserCP, Projects, Blogs, FAQ etc and hoped that all of them would be part of vB - and now you tell me that they are!

That's great (even more enthusiasm)!!!

Thanks for the speedy reply!

Harry

Project tools, and blogs are separate products that integrate seamlessly into vB, but do require extra purchases

[Harryf]

Hi Dean!

Thanks for that tip

What does it do - the Project Tools? I tried a search but really only found that it is something that sorts out bugs and such stuff. What bugs?

Another thing I just thought about:

As part of my "site", I'd like to offer members the chance to subscribe (via an opt-in system) to a monthly technical report about stuff relevant to the industry and that are not necessarily (another big word for a foreigner like me!) addressed through questions on the forum - or even a compilation of Q&As, who knows?

If I use a third party autoresponder like GetResponse or Aweber and they say that I need a "simple" (huh, what's that?) HTML code on my web page to capture names, can I place that to the side (or somewhere) in vBulletin? The next questions should be aimed at them, I suppose, but I'll ask it anyway: And who handles the database? Their software? Placed where?

I am quite chuffed with the members of this forum's friendly, fast help. each one had a !

Great to feel so welcome!

And thanks for the tips!

Harry
P.S. Where do I find the cost of these additional things - Project Tools and Blogs? Or did I miss yet another thing somewhere?

[Mark K]

Here are some overview links for you

Project Tools

Blog

That should help describe what these two add ons do, if you need more help with them, simply click the two links in the nav bar and browse through the programs

[Vile]

Harry
P.S. Where do I find the cost of these additional things - Project Tools and Blogs? Or did I miss yet another thing somewhere?

As pricing goes, vBulletin itself is $160.00 (owned) and $85.00 (leased)
As for the addons, vBulletin Blog is $50 and vBulletin Project Tools is also $50.
Keep in mind that both the addons require an installation of vBulletin 3.6.8+ to work.

[Harryf]

OK, thanks Mark, I see.

I cannot really see what it'll (PT) do for me - but that will become clear as soon as I start with vBulletin, I am sure.

Anybody able to help with the other question - autoresponders and opt-in lists added to the site while only using vBulletin and nothing else?

h

[Harryf]

Ah, Vile!

I missed yours - thanks

I couldn't see the prices for the add-ons and am glad you mentioned it.

My day is getting to an end (I am in South Africa, btw - I see that I'd not updated my profile in my haste to ask a question!) while yours have only just started - enjoy it!

h