vBulletin v.s. Invision Power Board

[Guide]

thanks

[GoTTi]

its all about vbulletin.

i run a few websites and i have a vbulletin running on all of them. i sell vbulletin to my customers like candy. especially when i show them the capabilities and options, the admincp area sells itself.

vbulletin is MUCH better then invision, or any forum software out.

i wont even help or work on a site running a forum other then vbulletin.

[Rob B]

Invision is ugly and badly designed in my opinion, too many text links dotted around which makes it confusing, and hence more time you need to spend on templates. vB not only has more features it looks great by default = less hassle.

[whitetigergrowl]

Here's a tip

DONT BUY IPB!!!!
If you want to try it to see how good/bad it is then go on torrents, get a copy off there and try it.
If you then like it, change the version and copyright to match that of the last developed free version.

However DO BUY vBulletin!!!
The support is excellent, they don't get mad at you for saying things could be improved and offering constructive criticism, the dev. team are experienced and skilled, all the "posh" forums have it :P

P.S I'm sure the vBulletin team delete posts too, just not as many as IPS do!

And while your there you will most likely do the same thing with Vbulletin.

How and why did this dead thread from over a year ago get dragged back up?! This is fanboyism at its worst.

Invision is ugly and badly designed in my opinion, too many text links dotted around which makes it confusing, and hence more time you need to spend on templates. vB not only has more features it looks great by default = less hassle.

Odd. Vbulletin seems to have more text links than IPB 2.1.5. So how you come about that conclusion the world may never know. I own both IPB and VB and use both. I have no problems editing templates for either. I know people that use IPB that claim the same for VB. But does it mean VB's or IPB's templating systems are any harder? No. It just comes down to experience. IPB relies more heavily on CSS while VB uses tables. Which many are trying to get VB to move from. I can do template edits just as fast in either. And the IPB 2.1/2.2 Admin CP overall pwns Vbulletins IMO. A nice tabbed interface that gets a bit of an improvement in 2.2. Whereas with VB I get to do alot of down scrolling. Oh well.

[Cal813]

Here's a tip

DONT BUY IPB!!!!
If you want to try it to see how good/bad it is then go on torrents, get a copy off there and try it.
If you then like it, change the version and copyright to match that of the last developed free version.

However DO BUY vBulletin!!!
The support is excellent, they don't get mad at you for saying things could be improved and offering constructive criticism, the dev. team are experienced and skilled, all the "posh" forums have it :P

P.S I'm sure the vBulletin team delete posts too, just not as many as IPS do!

If I were you.. I wouldn't advise anyone to get a illegal copy (torrent) of ANY software... even if it be a pirated vbulletin or a pirated invision board....

[Quillz]

And while your there you will most likely do the same thing with Vbulletin.

How and why did this dead thread from over a year ago get dragged back up?! This is fanboyism at its worst.



Odd. Vbulletin seems to have more text links than IPB 2.1.5. So how you come about that conclusion the world may never know. I own both IPB and VB and use both. I have no problems editing templates for either. I know people that use IPB that claim the same for VB. But does it mean VB's or IPB's templating systems are any harder? No. It just comes down to experience. IPB relies more heavily on CSS while VB uses tables. Which many are trying to get VB to move from. I can do template edits just as fast in either. And the IPB 2.1/2.2 Admin CP overall pwns Vbulletins IMO. A nice tabbed interface that gets a bit of an improvement in 2.2. Whereas with VB I get to do alot of down scrolling. Oh well.

I completely agree. IPB's ACP is much, much better than vB's. I have no problems with the styling done via tables, but I'd love for vB to use a tabbed ACP.

[Zachery]

What do you suggest we use tabs for? I've tried that interface, I detest it, along with how their options etc are all layed out.

I agree that the admincp could use some slight orginzation, hwoever I pray that if there are ever tabs, they are only for seperate products, not differnt areas of one products admincp.

Its real simple right now, if you want to do something to a user, you look at the users, usergroup? same thing. Its all laid out in plain english for the most part.

Tabs are great for working with differnt things inside of a single administration point, however tabs are not great for working on the same thing.

[user02934123123]

What do you suggest we use tabs for? I've tried that interface, I detest it, along with how their options etc are all layed out.

I agree that the admincp could use some slight orginzation, hwoever I pray that if there are ever tabs, they are only for seperate products, not differnt areas of one products admincp.

Its real simple right now, if you want to do something to a user, you look at the users, usergroup? same thing. Its all laid out in plain english for the most part.

Tabs are great for working with differnt things inside of a single administration point, however tabs are not great for working on the same thing.

Hello Zachery. I agree with some of what you said (though I've not been an IPB user, so I cannot compaie the ACP there that of vB; I go on experience from other systems). However, I might be a little more open to the idea that tabs can have a useful place in single-product organisation. Several of the vB AdminCP area in fact basically do the same thing as tab-paged organisation, but simply use a drop-down list instead of a series of tabs to segregate separate sections of options. Fine. It's a different method for achieving the same thing: some main options of an interface have (and need to have) several subsets; these have to be subdivided somehow -- tabs are one method, drop-down lists another. The advantage to drop-down lists is that you can fit more options into a grouping (e.g. the main forum options drop-down list in the AdminCP), whereas with a tabbed interface that many groupings would look cluttered. The advantage of tabs is that you have the whole scenario set in front of you: you see the entire range of options sets as a visible unit, which does a fair amount to improve clarity, both aesthetically and in terms of related options.

And then there's the simple matter of style and familiarity. While there are people like me who still think ASCII numbered options listing on a shell window were the pinnacle of clarity that's only been lost since WYSIWYG, to most webmasters and moderators the AdminCP interface in vB, powerful as it is, looks and feels a bit arcane.

I don't see why some consideration of style can't also figure in, if wisely approached.

[whitetigergrowl]

VB's admin cp is outdated.

With a tabbed interface you can seperate things much nicer and make for a lot less scrolling.

One thing I despise is that plug-ins that have cp's, really love to just go wherever they feel like it in the admin cp when installed. No organization at all. Which in turn messes around with the layout and structure of the admin cp. There was a plug-in for that too and that still didnt work the greatest.

With tabs you can seperate into areas much better. One for skins, another for plug-ins, another for general purpose, etc etc

Like anything its a matter of getting used to it. IMO experience with IPB and VB...IPB's CP Is much better organized overall. And with 2.2 it looks even better. Seriously...it doesnt matter if you like or hate IPB...the admin cp for it is overall superior to VB's on many levels. VB's is still stuck in the early 2000's.

I agree that the admincp could use some slight orginzation, hwoever I pray that if there are ever tabs, they are only for seperate products, not differnt areas of one products admincp.

IPS has different products that run out of one of the tabbed areas very nicely on IPB. (The components area.) However if its a major project, then odds are it will have its own seperate admin cp anyways and not need tabs.

Its real simple right now, if you want to do something to a user, you look at the users, usergroup? same thing. Its all laid out in plain english for the most part.

Under the mgmt tab for IPB its laid out plain and simple too. Its right there in front of you.

Tabs are great for working with differnt things inside of a single administration point, however tabs are not great for working on the same thing.

I think thats been proven wrong.

[Zachery]

Show me where its been "proven". please.

[FeelTheMagic]

ManagerJosh, in the end do you think both are about the same and there really isn't that big of a difference between vBulletin and InvisionPower. Both are top notch and both appear to have relatively the same functionality and user friendliness.

It's true. And, if Jelsoft Enterprises merged with Invision Power, it would be the best forum software in the world, literally.

[Zachery]

It's true. And, if Jelsoft Enterprises merged with Invision Power, it would be the best forum software in the world, literally.

No... it wouldn't.

[whitetigergrowl]

Show me where its been "proven". please.

IPB 2.1 (and 2.2).

They have ALL of their products tied into it using the component system which is under a tab. However products that have their own admin cp can because of the complexity and size of the product can still be tied to IPB under 1 one of current tabs. Anyone that has ever spent time with the admin cp with IPB 2.1 knows this.

Its either that or scroll down 3+ pages in a mish mash of control panels from VB and various mods that have no rhyme and reason for where they are at.

[Zachery]

IPB 2.1 (and 2.2).

They have ALL of their products tied into it using the component system which is under a tab. However products that have their own admin cp can because of the complexity and size of the product can still be tied to IPB under 1 one of current tabs. Anyone that has ever spent time with the admin cp with IPB 2.1 knows this.

Its either that or scroll down 3+ pages in a mish mash of control panels from VB and various mods that have no rhyme and reason for where they are at.

They are xml files for a reason, you can control where they are placed. I do not consider one specific companys implimentation of tabs to be "proven" better than any other way of displaying admin options at this time. I want at least 2-4 more products that are widely known and used, and then I'll consider it to be proven.

[Luxury]

I don't find tabs that useful, although I don't like frames either. I use Firefox but never ever those horrid tabs that people always praise about.