vBulletin - Site Development

[Ashman]

Maybe Chris can answer this question:

Is there any reason you haven't upgraded the dntrade forum from vBulletin v3.8 to vBulletin v4.2 ?

vBulletin v5 Connect is now available too but the reviews have not been positive.

Can anyone recommend which vBulletin version they prefer and why. Any feedback much appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[chris]

Hi Ashman,

Good question, here's my 2c. Around December I started building the new DNT site using v5 but there were a few too many issues for my liking to go live with it, mostly performance related. Most people predicted that v5 final would be released by the end of the year but it didn't happen so I chose to work with v3.

I might be in the minority, but for the most part I think v5 is pretty good. It's responsive, has a few nice new features, adding content as a member is much easier and it's definitely easier to customise. But v5 it just the forum - no CMS integration yet like v4 which is a deal breaker for a lot of people.

I started with beta 15 and as of yesterday they've announced beta 25. I still plan on moving to v5, I just want to make sure it's ready.

Here's a rough breakdown:

v3 - forum only, stable, good selection of add-ons and hacks, not many nice style options
v4 - forum, CMS, stable, good selection of styles and add-ons
v5 - forum only, still a few bugs, not many add-ons (yet, that will change)

I know there's a lot of negative stuff out there about v5, but vBulletin will push it and the theme and plugin developers will follow.

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Ashman]

I don't understand the purpose of the CMS as it's used in v4. Does that mean v4 backend is done via the CMS and v3 & v5 backend is hard coded?

Thanks.

 

[chris]

Currently if you want to create a static page using v3 you need to jump through a few hoops and it's clunky.

Or you can install a 3rd party add-on or use a separate system such as WordPress. You can still do it, but it's much easier with the native vBulletin CMS functionality.

The CMS integration just makes it easier to manage pages using the same backend system the forum uses. You can also do things like promote forum posts to articles and there is also basic blogging functionality.

Here's what you get extra with the CMS version:

Cheers,
Chris

 

[Ashman]

Thanks for all that info Chris. Better to get good advice from someone who uses it everyday.

 

[chris]

No worries, I'm still learning and had the same questions. There are a few members here that use vB that I'm sure will be able to add to this.