Questions

[Mr Peabody]

Being a Vbulletin user for years I have to say Vbulletin 5 is looking good with lots of nice features and I think I'm ready to pull the trigger however the the only thing that has been stopping me is the plugins I use. Some have been ported over but the main one that really suits my site is the old VB Sponsor plugin that allows you to put linked banners just about anywhere which is really useful for our sponsors. Have a look for yourself how its implemented www.aussiearcade.com
How does VB5 stack up in this area? I don't want to spend hours editing templates and files to achieve something that seems pretty simple.

The other thing's are
Hows the search function these days? I only just upgraded to Sphinx after many years of complains (I only found out of its existence)
Any problems with the migration process from VB 4.2.5 like permissions, paid subscriptions etc?
Anything else I should be aware of?

Cheers
Travis

[Wayne Luke]

You can use vBulletin 5's Ad module to put advertising banners just about anywhere on a page. The header and conversation display modules have their own ad locations as well. You can create separate Pages for each forum to display different ads if you wish. You shouldn't need to edit any templates to insert ads if there is a location you need an Ad that can't be handled by the module. There are a number of template hooks in the software. You can create a custom template and assign it to a hook within the AdminCP under Products & Hooks -> Template Hook Manager.

vBulletin 5 uses a keyword based search instead of the pseudo natural language search in vBulletin 4. We provide the Sphinx configuration files in the download package. We use Sphinx on this site. You would have to use the search to see if the results fit your needs.

All vBulletin 4.X data except Calendar Events are migrated into vBulletin 5. vBulletin 5 treats Events as a content type so they work like any other topic.

I suggest doing a test installation first before pulling the trigger on your live site. Copy your database and upgrade that. Invite your site staff to go though the software and provide feedback.

[Mr Peabody]

Thanks for your response Wayne
Just to clarify I can recreate say my sponsor page HERE
I'm looking at the vBulletin 5 Connect + Mobile Suite Bundle what are the ongoing costs?
Cheers

[Joe D.]

There is no way to put the ads in the location you have (within the forum list) out of the box in VB5. I would strongly recommend NOT editing templates in VB5, the responsive design would easily break with template edits. There are different ways of doing things in VB5, try the free trial to play with your options.

[Wayne Luke]

For your example page, you can put the HTML for your ads right into the Forum Description. This is actually possible in vBulletin 4 and doesn't require an addon.

However, there are two template hooks in the Forum List that you can assign advertising to as well:

forumitem_below_description
forumlist_after_category

You can use custom templates to assign ads to these locations within the AdminCP

Upgrading from vBulletin 4.X would cost you $169.00 until the end of the year. Use the coupon: vB5UPGRADE

The Mobile Suite is $199.00.

[Mr Peabody]

I probably didn't make my question clear enough on pricing. What I meant was is there any ongoing annual fee for updates etc?
Thanks for your patience.

[Wayne Luke]

There is no ongoing fee for updates.

[Mr Peabody]

I'm a bit concerned by banners, I really didn't want to have to mess around with templates however the pro's of having up to date forum software outweighs it in my mind.
Thanks again for your help. I'll be sure to take advantage of that discount

[Mr Peabody]

I've purchased the upgrade with mobile suite, I've got 2 VB accounts how do I know which account is linked to my forum account? and whats the best up to date guide on setting up a test forum using a copy of the current VB 4.2.5 database?

[Wayne Luke]

Whichever customer account has the same email as your forum account is the one linked.

[Mr Peabody]

I just got an email saying 50% off sale until nov, 30th is this legit? I only just bought mine with the code already available a few weeks back. A heads up would have been nice..

[Wayne Luke]

Sorry. We often don't know what sales and discounts the marketing people are putting out until just before customers do.