vBulletin Blog 1.0.0 Released

vBulletin Blog 1.0.0 Released

Jelsoft is pleased to announce that the next vBulletin add-on product, vBulletin Blog, is now available to purchase from the online order system.

About vBulletin Blog
vBulletin Blog is a fully featured blogging add-on that enables community members to create their very own online blogs within vBulletin. Giving members a place to post thoughts, ideas and musings will keep users returning to the community again and again, and advanced administration features allow forum owners and moderators to keep control and integrate Blog into vBulletin’s existing look and feel.

Fast Start
vBulletin Blog makes it simple for community members to create their own space within the community. Getting started is as simple as posting the first message (using the same familiar vBulletin editor). There is no lengthy setup process - blog owners are free to personalise their blog at any time by defining a title and a description that will appear at the top of every blog post.

Fully-Featured
It is a feature-rich blog application, with support for fully formatted WYSIWYG posts, attachments, comments, trackbacks and pingbacks, draft posts and categories, as well as seamless integration with the overall vBulletin system.

Blog Home Page
Available via a single click from any vBulletin page, the blog home page aggregates activity from all member blogs into a single page – with information about the most recent and highest rated blog posts, recent comments, a featured blog post (selected by the administrator or at random), full support for browsing posts by date and overall blogging statistics.

Syndication and Subscriptions
Site wide and per-blog RSS feeds allow syndication to external readers, and full support for vBulletin subscriptions enables users to join their favorite blogs and receive regular email updates.

Blog Control Panel
The Blog Control Panel empowers members to control every aspect of their blogs, from permission controls (who has access to view and comment on the blog), to full management of blog categories, draft posts, trackbacks/pingbacks and subscriptions. Blog owners also have the ability to moderate comments on their own blog.

More information:
Find out more about the Blog (http://www.vbulletin.com/features_blog.php)
View the Blog manual (http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/blog_main)
See the Blog in action on the vBulletin.com community forums (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blog.php)Note that to install the Blog, you must be running vBulletin 3.6.8 or newer!

Pricing and Ordering

vBulletin Blog is priced at $50, which includes one year of software updates. The renewal fee for an additional year of updates is $20.

Existing customers with active vBulletin licenses can purchase vBulletin Blog immediately via the members' area (http://members.vbulletin.com).

(Note: you will need to log in using your existing vBulletin customer number and password)

New customers can purchase vBulletin Blog via the online order form - a vBulletin license must first be added into the order as per the directions on the first page. Go to the order form now! (https://www.vbulletin.com/order/)

Please note that by running the Blog and vBulletin, you agree to adhere to our license agreement. Review our updated agreement (http://www.vbulletin.com/order/license_agreement.php) (with provisions for the Blog).

Suggestions and Questions

We have created several forums for discussion of the Blog:
Blog Suggestions and Feedback (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=129)
Blog 'How Do I' Questions (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=130)
Blog Troubleshooting and Problems (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=131)You may also submit any questions you have via the support ticket system!

Thanks!

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our beta testers for assisting in the final stages of the development of the Blog, and everyone else who has provided feedback and suggestions via the vBulletin community forums. We hope that you enjoy our new addition to the family, and we thank you for your continuing support of vBulletin.

All the best,

The vBulletin Development Team


More... (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?t=241268&goto=newpost)


More... (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=156534&goto=newpost)

Well, they got it out. Looking at the features, and knowing that I can't skin it separately from the forum skin, I won't be purchasing it. I'm actually rather surprised that they kept the price at $50, having taken away the SN features.

I wasn't as interested in the blog portion of the add-on, as I was/am in the social networking features. Since that's now being integrated into the vB 3.7 upgrade, I hope they'll be concentrating their efforts on this next vB version upgrade.

I just don't see social networking as useful to forum owners unless it's forum owners and webmasters that exchange links.

How many social bookmarking sites is the average joe a member of? I don't think many. But the idea is awsome from a webmaster point of view.

That's not to discount the value you will get, Peggy. I'm just thinking it's a niche advantage.

I want the blog! I am getting the Blog.

As for skins, keeping it looking like the rest of the site is my intention, so that part works out.

P.S.
Who made the Talk Ohio banner, Peggy? It's awsome!

Miner did that for me from a selection of pics of Ohio attractions I sent him.
I'm SO proud of it! :D


When you understand the workings of a talk/chat site like talkOhio, which is very niche, then you'll see the advantage of the SN features for a site like ours. My members are very excited about it.

Miner did that for me from a selection of pics of Ohio attractions I sent him.
I'm SO proud of it! :D


When you understand the workings of a talk/chat site like talkOhio, which is very niche, then you'll see the advantage of the SN features for a site like ours. My members are very excited about it.

Well, please do tell. I'm very curious to see what I'm missing. I mean, in the big picture, getting biker rallies together is "social networking". I may be missing out on a useful tool.

I think my perception may need an update listening to you.

Thanks!

Yes, your biker rallies is social networking - in person. The point to this aspect of SN is networking between people who can't get together in peron, such as on MySpace. I hate to use that as an example since I despise myspace, but -

This is social networking online, and actually it's really only taking it a step or two further, since these forums is a forum of social networking in and of themselves - bringing people together from all over the world who wouldn't normally ever "meet". Add the social networking features to the forum, and you've got a great tool for bringing in more members, and keeping them on your site for longer periods of time. I would suggest it for your biker forum, absolutely!

With the enhanced user profiles, ability to add more pics to the profile, make comments right on the profile (almost blogging, per se'), more profile fields to fill in (hence no need to make the extra profile fields) - can't you imagine the possibilities???

I *might* install the blog on here. But I dont see it being useful anywhere else.

I think I have a completely wrong idea of social networking and I think I'm thinking of social bookmarking.

I must know more of this!

Nope I'm not talking about social bookmarking. This is social networking, an entirely different thing!

This is what Wayne had to say about Social Networking -


Originally Posted by Wayne Luke http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1408390#post1408390)
Definately isn't linking you up to MySpace. They don't even provide that functionality. Its enhanced user profiles where people can communicate via profiles. The closest example would be something like MySpace or Facebook. Social Networking is more of a way of doing things though than how it is done. Technically if you have a vBulletin forum, your site is already involved in social networking. Most people consider it to be more with friend lists, comments in profiles, customizable profiles and things such as that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking)

I *might* install the blog on here. But I dont see it being useful anywhere else.
I can't see a need for it here, but then, you never know :)

I had originally installed vBlogetin on my flooring site, but the lack of updates and professionalism from the developer resulted in my purchase of vBa Dynamics. Brian put together an import script and I then sold the remaining portion of my vBlogetin license.

My fear now is that a blogging system on my flooring site will, 1. be lost and ignored by the great majority of my members and, 2. cause the few who do use the blog to participate less on the forums. Being just over a year old, my site is still in its infancy and I can afford to experiment a little. But it needs to develop distinct and unique areas that will appeal to a wide and diverse audience. A blog system may tend to dilute that.

Fortunately, vBa Dynamics can and does adapt to a variety of uses. I think my site would best be served by using it now as a type of link directory. True, vBa also has a Link Directory, but it is focused on linking to websites. The fact is, the flooring industry is still behind the times and there are a great many of my industry brethren that don't have websites, but still would like to have a way to bring attention and traffic to their brick and mortar stores/businesses.

But, returning focus to the new vB Blog, I believe there are sites that can use it to great advantage - and will. There will be a large assortment of add-ons and plug-ins, hacks and modifications in a very short period of time. It will no doubt be a great profit generator for Jelsoft and their parent company. The lack of development on vBlogetin will result in a lot of reluctant converts to vB Blog (vBlogetin has features that, on the surface, make it a more comprehensive and versatile product). The complexity and lack of documentation of vBa Dynamics may drive some of its potential customers to vB Blog, even though Dyna has greater potential.

I'm also looking forward to the social networking aspect of vB 3.7. I believe it can be as big a business tool as it can a social tool. All in all, the future of social/business networking based websites is good. I am very happy to be involved in its growth and hope that niche sites like mine will have an influence on its development.

R'gards,

Jim

I'm with you there Jim. I'm very excited to be involved in the SN feature of 3.7 at its infancy. I believe that it can be a big boost to business sites as well as social sites, and I look forward to seeing what it will do when released with 3.7, as well as what the potential will be when they start upgrading it.

PLUS can you just imagine the potential with the hacks that are sure to be coded for it?
It's astounding.

Jim, did you ever get your site moved and the vBa blogs up and running?

You've got a pretty slick site and I'm interested to see how you integrate the Dynamics package into it.

Hi Mike,

Jim, did you ever get your site moved and the vBa blogs up and running?

You've got a pretty slick site and I'm interested to see how you integrate the Dynamics package into it.
Thanks for the compliment. Here's what I mentioned above:

I had originally installed vBlogetin on my flooring site, but the lack of updates and professionalism from the developer resulted in my purchase of vBa Dynamics. Brian put together an import script and I then sold the remaining portion of my vBlogetin license.

My fear now is that a blogging system on my flooring site will, 1. be lost and ignored by the great majority of my members and, 2. cause the few who do use the blog to participate less on the forums. Being just over a year old, my site is still in its infancy and I can afford to experiment a little. But it needs to develop distinct and unique areas that will appeal to a wide and diverse audience. A blog system may tend to dilute that.

Fortunately, vBa Dynamics can and does adapt to a variety of uses. I think my site would best be served by using it now as a type of link directory. True, vBa also has a Link Directory, but it is focused on linking to websites. The fact is, the flooring industry is still behind the times and there are a great many of my industry brethren that don't have websites, but still would like to have a way to bring attention and traffic to their brick and mortar stores/businesses.

...
So, although Brian helped me convert my vBlogetin blog system to Dyna, I've decided that a blog system wouldn't be in the best interests of my site or its visitors. There really wasn't many entries - most were mine and most of those were directions on how to use the vBlogetin system. I will soon turn vBa Dynamics into "The Floor Pro Directory". It's possible I will use another one of my domain names to develop a blog system with maybe Drupal or WordPress and offer blogs to flooring professionals that way (via "a Floor Pro network" ala aFloorPro.net).

Thanks for asking. And thanks again for taking the balance of my vBlogetin license off my hands. I hope that was a good move for both of us.

Jim

im gonna wait to install it....see if a 1.1 version comes out with more features...even though my members are begging for a blog....you know brides...they are chatty

im gonna wait to install it....see if a 1.1 version comes out with more features...even though my members are begging for a blog....you know brides...they are chatty

Words of wisdom. I'm very interested in adding a blog component to my site as well as a perk to members who participate in my Tiered Membership Program. That said, I want as many features crammed in as possible before I give the world of vB any more of my hard earned cash.

Paying the 50$ to be able to be involved in getting "as many features crammed" into the new blog may be worth it.

Now's the time to find out what the members want and give feed back to vBulletin. At 1.1 or 1.2, things will be set by other's feedback.

The vBulletin folks are listening too. It's good to have a voice in it.

I understand that not everyone can do the work of upgrades and sorting out bugs and giving feedback, but is is important to the process of creating a great product that the people you service want.

But I wouldn't buy a v1.0 car.

Ultimately, sales will dictate if the Blogs are enhanced or completely overhauled.

It will also take some time. Very few hacks have been written for the blogs. Over time, as more hacks become available, they may see more interest.

I have thought of a couple of hacks already. But rather then complicate the debug process, I'm holding off.

People are asking for hacks, so the ideas are on the table.

Ultimately, I want to be able to skin the blog separately from the forum.
I want to be able to offer my members pre-made blog skins, as well as custom skins.

There were ALOT of people crying out for this before the private beta began, and we didn't see it in the release. When/if the devs listen, and make this possible, I just may purchase the blog. Until then, I'm just not interested in it. To me, it looks like just another thread being posted, in a different part of the forum.

Ultimately, I want to be able to skin the blog separately from the forum.
I want to be able to offer my members pre-made blog skins, as well as custom skins.



I agree with this idea simply because users will want to customize their blogging experience, otherwise it's not really a blog, more of a robust journal.

That sounds like a doable hack. User editable css on the blog to change the colors perhaps.

what about a background image? header image?

what about a background image? header image?

I don't see why not. I'm just kicking around ideas.

It seems to me it would be easy to create a hook on the blogs, grab the existing CSS and/or replace it with the members css.

Coding the control panel could be PITA though. I can visualize the block code. Maybe someone could duplicate the APC CSS controls. Put them on a members page full of the forum defaults and save them in the DB. When a blog is called up, check for custom CSS and do a replacement in the headeinclude.

I know we wouldn't allow all the stuff in css to be changed, but changing the basics could be doable.

It's just too much for me to even try to take on now. If you are looking to sell styles, maybe you could hire someone to make the hack so you can make the styles?

no no I'm not looking to sell them. Just trying to give the people what they've been asking for this since the blog was first mentioned.

I'm not going to fret too much about it tho, since it's the SN I want.

Yeah, you mentioned that. But, if someone does this hack, you folks that make styles could clean up.

I wouldn't do it for free, I'd be the styler that owned the script. Take the whole package. ;)

haha that would work! :yes:

Aw come on everybody!
Take a chance! :D

I did - I've successfully installed the new Blog tool. I like it alot.
Check it out when you have time:

http://www.logodesignforum.com/forums/index.php

You can view my announcement section to see a screenshot or two on how it works.
It's actually a pretty slick little tool.

- Marc

Thanks for posting that link, Marc. I've been wanting to see the vB Blog in action.

Clearly it is not as polished as a Wordpress blog would look, but we are talking 1.0 - I guess that refinement will come in time.

I think my only serious criticism of the software for now is a navigation issue. The route to get a list of blogs available on any particular site is not really obvious. Clicking on the number in a line saying Total Blogs in a Blog Statistics box... there has to be a better way.