Whats your opinion of vBulletin 3.5?

Whats your opinion of vBulletin 3.5?


We've all had some time so let the new version soak in a little - what do you think?

Based off what I've seen I don't really see a great deal of "end user" benefits.

I currently am running 3.0.9. I've installed many add-ons and have done quite alot of hacking to existing vbull files over the past three years. Including intergration with Photopost. My Forum is running like a charm with no problems or errors.
I recently downloaded 3.5 and installed it on my non public testing site. I really don't see any advantage of 3.5 over previous 3.0.xx

I guess they are tring to make vbull 3.5 easier to add modules, add-ons, etc, with out the need to do heavy editing of the files. I've never had a problem with doing editing, as it is a great way to learn coding structure.

From what I see, converting over to 3.5 on my forum would mean massive editing of all my existing add-ons and files. Something I'm not so eager to do!

Other than security issues, I beleive in the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

John

The big hype is AJAX. The big benefit is hacks the don't get lost on upgrades if coded properly.

However, I am curious of the performance issues that may exist on a large board that utilizes alot of hooks for alot of hacks. I have no way to test that. If anyone knows of a site that is just that, I'd like to see the board in action and hear some admin feedback.

The conversion may look like a bear, but it may be worth it.

The big hype is AJAX. The big benefit is hacks the don't get lost on upgrades if coded properly.If one has a heavily hacked forum, doing an upgrade can cause major headaches. I just upgraded from 3.0.8 to 3.0.9. As then and on previous upgrades, I use a comparison program, "Beyond Compare", to compare the upgrade files to my previous files. I've always kept a changed files log so I know what files I've hack etc. I also back-up everything (files, templates, language, settings, database, etc) before the upgrade. It may take awhile to compare the files and just apply the necessary changes, but it's worth the time if you don't want mayhem.However, I am curious of the performance issues that may exist on a large board that utilizes a lot of hooks for a lot of hacks. I have no way to test that. If anyone knows of a site that is just that, I'd like to see the board in action and hear some admin feedback.I know of none, so I can't comment on this. But that is a good point. I'd be curious too.The conversion may look like a bear, but it may be worth it.Not so sure. I'm in agreement with CricketWeb. When I tested 3.5 on my test site, I didn't see any user advantages. 3.5 seems to be more oriented to Admin advantages. Not there is anything wrong with that! But is it worth the conversion? I may convert someday, but 3.5 will have to been in final release for sometime (to be sure all the bugs are out), and all of my add-ons are 3.5 compliant before I go through the aggravation.

Agree totally wirewolf.

It really comes down to what is the purpose of a forum? It's to help build and create a community on a certain topic so why bother upgrading if the new version doesn't improve the user experience and offers good useful features?

I've kept the hacks on my forum pretty light, and my test forum for 3.5 seems to work nicely.

One feature my users have been waiting on is the persistent mark read system....hopefully, the server load isn't too high on that feature.

I've been using 3.0.7 and haven't seen any real advantages in upgrading since 3.0.3... so I let my "support" run out and haven't planned on downloading anything new. I can enhance my forums better by using consumer modifications than upgrading to a new system every few months and having to reinstall. I don't know much about 3.5 but i would assume it would be the same.

I think that from the point of view of upgrading an already hacked forum, it may not be the easiest thing to accomplish, although some of the major Hack Coders are putting in upgrade conditions into their upgraded hacks which I commend them for.

But, to focus on just 3.5 alone I would say, this should have been deemed version 4.0 IMHO.

The Plugin / Products Management system is the greatest thing ever. I love being able to just upload a couple of files and import an XML to add functionality to my forum. Nothing beats that.

And AJAX does add some great functionality which allows the end use to better interact with the interface.

I think my favorite AJAP piece is the ability to lock and unlock threads just by clicking the thread icon....

I give props to the people at Jelsoft for this one.

I just upgraded from 3.0.8 to 3.0.9

You missed my point. The old way of doing things in 3.0.x is a pain in the butt. The new 3.5 methods will relieve us of that pain. I have coded a hack for 3.5, the benefits are real and you WILL like it!

In all fairness to Jelsoft regarding hacking. We all knew going in the ramifications of adding hacks. We really can't complain when upgrades are necessary.

The same applies to whether hacks for 3.0.x will be ported to 3.5 and available when you upgrade so your board has those features avaiable to your members. We are responsible. We can't pi$$ and moan to Jelsoft or about them, we knew.

In all fairness to Jelsoft regarding hacking. We all knew going in the ramifications of adding hacks. We really can't complain when upgrades are necessary.

We are responsible. We can't pi$$ and moan to Jelsoft or about them, we knew.


On this point I disagree. Jelsoft has been negligent in providing features that many forum owners want. Such as a homepage portal or a photo gallery. They do little in the way of truly new features, thus forcing us to hack to have a marketable forum.

Add to that, Jelsoft owns vb.org, it clearly sanctions hacks.

havent upgrated yet!
i'll wait till 3.5 is stable ;)

You missed my point. The old way of doing things in 3.0.x is a pain in the butt. The new 3.5 methods will relieve us of that pain. I have coded a hack for 3.5, the benefits are real and you WILL like it!

In all fairness to Jelsoft regarding hacking. We all knew going in the ramifications of adding hacks. We really can't complain when upgrades are necessary.

The same applies to whether hacks for 3.0.x will be ported to 3.5 and available when you upgrade so your board has those features avaiable to your members. We are responsible. We can't pi$$ and moan to Jelsoft or about them, we knew.I know, it's a royal pain in the butt!!! And I'm not complaining at all and I have never held Jelsoft responsible for my hacking of the original scripts. Like I said, I've leraned a lot about code structure from editing the scripts from not only hacks, but from doing a few small ones my self.

I know of some forum admins who are running much earlier versions on vbull and are quite happy to leave as is. Like I said, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". What ever works for ones' board.

Add-on. As an example of converting hacks and or add-ons over to 3.5, and the possible problems that one can incur, one of my add-ons is cinqs Articles. I just noticed, from some posts over at vbull.org, Cinq - gone, or has your forum been hacked? (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=96041), that cinqs seems to have dissapeared, Articles Section Powered by vbArticles.com (http://www.vbarticles.com/). Nobody seems to know what happened to him, or if anyone will convert the articles add-on to 3.5. Has anyone heard anything about cinq?

On this point I disagree. Jelsoft has been negligent in providing features that many forum owners want. Such as a homepage portal or a photo gallery. They do little in the way of truly new features, thus forcing us to hack to have a marketable forum.

Add to that, Jelsoft owns vb.org, it clearly sanctions hacks.Couldn't have said it better!!!

Damn! And I thought I was hard on those guys!

Well, Its true. They havent added any real functional features and offer no add ons. Personally I think its a dumb move businesswise. They could create a gallery for example, and charge for the addon

The thing that sets a new standard is the plug-in architecture. I don't know of any other forum software that has this. (But I could be wrong.)

This basically turns a stock vb forum into a starting point to easily add whatever functionality you want, whether it is by an individual making a hack or by Jelsoft themselves developing additional add-ons. And all while still allowing complete support.

If we're talking about pure functionality, vb is just as good as any other. But what sets them apart is their FANTASTIC support. I've never had such high quality support in the 15 years I've been in the IT world, except maybe from IBM. And with the new plug-in system, this support will just get better. That's the strong point of 3.5 and beyond.

As far as my own conversion, I do have a moderately hacked board, so I'll be following this train of thought:
I may convert someday, but 3.5 will have to been in final release for sometime (to be sure all the bugs are out), and all of my add-ons are 3.5 compliant before I go through the aggravation.

I like the idea of 3.5.0 and i cant wait til the final version comes out, and then it could help me to make my forums more interactive.

I like the idea of 3.5.0 and i cant wait til the final version comes out, and then it could help me to make my forums more interactive.


May I ask how? If your forum is not "interactive", it's because you are not interacting. "You" have to give members a reason to post. ie. Good topics, good posts, questions responded to and comments commented on.

May I ask how? If your forum is not "interactive", it's because you are not interacting. "You" have to give members a reason to post. ie. Good topics, good posts, questions responded to and comments commented on.I think what was meant is that hacks can be added more easily adding to the interactivity.

Well, good for it, its nice to see a new version, but I am gouna wait a few months after it is stable and out to where all my hacks are ported over, and I can get my skin done for it....Ive done all the patches for my 3.0, So I am fine for a little while....I wounder how long it will be till we hear of a 4.0....

Whilst I like what I see when I use vB.com, I have been up and running on vB for several years now and have made many amendments to the vB source code and have far too many addons/hacks installed.

I also have a unique custom style which I am sure will take some conversio, so all in all it's a heck of a lot of work for me to upgrade. I will wait until 3.5 is totally stable, then will contract with a developer to fully upgrade the site for me in due course.

I think what was meant is that hacks can be added more easily adding to the interactivity.

If I follow you folks, I think we are talking intuitiveness.

If upgrading from 3.0.8 to 3.5 (stable), I could choose to import my CSS, but none of the hacks installed on the forum would work. Right?

correct... I dont think the styles either.

...then will contract with a developer to fully upgrade the site for me in due course.Where do you find such a person/company? I've been needing one sooooo badly to outsource a lot of work to, but all leads are dead ends.

Where do you find such a person/company? I've been needing one sooooo badly to outsource a lot of work to, but all leads are dead ends.

What do you have in mind. I mean well, but sometimes I lose track of my commitments and have to be harrassed. :)

The big hype is AJAX. The big benefit is hacks the don't get lost on upgrades if coded properly.

'The benefit is hacks the don't get lost on upgrades if coded properly' is a good thing but is vBulletin easier for the end user to use???

vBulletin is a fabulous application and it's getting even better as time goes on but the developers need to remember to keep the user front end simple for the people out there that are new to discussion forum sites as well as those that can't deal with complicated websites with too many functions or options.

Many web experts advising small businesses will tell you that there's a problem with your website if you have to spell it out to your users how to get around your site.

I previously suggested that Jelsoft should consider doing some 'usability focus groups' on 3.5 before it gets released but there was never a response from Jelsoft to my suggestion. The people involved with vBulletin (developers and forum owners) know the product as they live and breathe vBulletin. They'll definitely get some good and valuable feedback from these focus group people - people who will be looking at the product for the first time - they'll have questions and ideas that Jelsoft may not have thought of.

I have held back, but there in lies the biggest problem of all with Jelsoft. They know it all and god forbid, we the actual users and customers, second guess them. That is very frustrating. They seem to resent help/suggestions. We have seen it many times.

One example of the customers being kinda fed up with that attitude is the fact they had to beg for bug reports recently. But I wonder if they "get it"?

I won't get into the kurt attitudes of the know it all teen agers they call "support".

P.S. The third version/release of vBulletin 3.0.9 was posted Monday September 12, 2005 at 3:35pm. This would in essence have been 3.0.11.

If you have downloaded and installed vBulletin 3.0.9 before then, do it again.

They most certainly should have sent out an email.

The only plus in 3.5 is hooks and plugins, I am no big fan of AJAX well its good but I can live without it. I plan on running 3.0.9 atleast till the end of this year might think about upgrading next year but currently there are no such plans. Besides our activity period is starting soon as cricket season starts over here so I dont want any hassles.

I'm just an end user, but I like it.

Well Im on 3.5.0 Release Candidate 3

On good thing is the hooks and plugins ( if you know how to use them ) but must admit spot on the Jeff should start doing portals and gallery inclusion ect

I recently upgrade my forum (not public, yet) to vB 3.5 RC3. I like the new inline editing and easier moderation system. Because I didn't have many hacks installed and since I only recently purchased my license, it was a no brainer to upgrade. I'll definitely upgrade when the stable release comes out.

Inline moderation - £20
Real Read System - £40
Having to recode your custom template and hacks - Priceless

But I like the look of those hooks.

Inline moderation - £20
Real Read System - £40
Having to recode your custom template and hacks - Priceless

But I like the look of those hooks.ROFLMAO... now that is sheer class WiBu... total, unadulterated class... simply has to be a contender for quote of the year on some competition...

Brilliant...