Not comfortable

[kersti]

It's a fair amount of money compared to my free system at the moment. I've played with the admin and read the manual fully but really I wouldn't know if this would truely suit until I started to actually set it up.

I guess I'm worried about little things like just WHAT can I set up as being for certain members only, how does the membership section really work in reality, can I make it look as pretty as my current system? Every example I've seen so far looks very much the same.

My users are very anti-change and while I'm looking for speed and stability, I'm just not convinced yet that this is the system for me.

[cbiweb]

...can I make it look as pretty as my current system? Every example I've seen so far looks very much the same.

My users are very anti-change and while I'm looking for speed and stability, I'm just not convinced yet that this is the system for me.

What does your current system look like? As far as appearance goes, you can make a vBulletin forum look like anything you want. It might mean some heavy customizations, but it can be done.

That's only one of the many things that are great about vBulletin.

[kersti]

My current site is www.etatters.com
I guess I find most vb sites very blocky.

Looking for some outstanding design ideas to inspire me

Although it really does come down to features and I'm just not really sure that it has enough. For example, I couldn't see in the demo how I could make avatars and signatures and personal messages ONLY available for certain members.

[HR3rdGen]

My current site is www.etatters.com
I guess I find most vb sites very blocky.

Looking for some outstanding design ideas to inspire me

Although it really does come down to features and I'm just not really sure that it has enough. For example, I couldn't see in the demo how I could make avatars and signatures and personal messages ONLY available for certain members.

You can do that in vbulletin though.

[Zachery]

My current site is www.etatters.com
I guess I find most vb sites very blocky.

Looking for some outstanding design ideas to inspire me

Although it really does come down to features and I'm just not really sure that it has enough. For example, I couldn't see in the demo how I could make avatars and signatures and personal messages ONLY available for certain members.

You'd make an additional usergroup and put the users you want to use thoses features into that group.

[Vtec44]

Yep, you can be as flexible as disabling signature, avatar, and PM on newly registered members and only allow them for paid members, or as simple as automatically upgrade the users after a certain number of posts. As far as features, have you looked at vB's AJAX quick edit, AJAX quick reply, the template system, user ranking, paid subscription, custom BB codes, statistics and logs, custom user field, and best of all the Plugin system? I don't believe phpBB has any of those. You'll definitely love the Plugin system since it makes modding a forum like installing/uninstalling regular software in seconds. The transitioning period will be a bit difficult because there is a learning curve, but I believe you will appreciate the features once you're familiar with where things are.

[ChrisLM2001]

My current site is www.etatters.com
I guess I find most vb sites very blocky.

lolololololololol

Ohhhhh, Waaaaaaaayne.................................

Looking for some outstanding design ideas to inspire me

Any idea what style you like? Colors? Theme?

Although it really does come down to features and I'm just not really sure that it has enough. For example, I couldn't see in the demo how I could make avatars and signatures and personal messages ONLY available for certain members.

Easily done with group permissions.

Chris

[Onimua]

My current site is www.etatters.com
I guess I find most vb sites very blocky.

Looking for some outstanding design ideas to inspire me

Although it really does come down to features and I'm just not really sure that it has enough. For example, I couldn't see in the demo how I could make avatars and signatures and personal messages ONLY available for certain members.

Yep; after looking over your site a bit (a tad too clow for me, by the way), you can easily achieve the same look to vBulletin with little trouble.