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PHPBB Vs vBulletin?

  • 26-02-2007 12:48pm
    #1
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,781 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    I'm starting a website based around a forum - want to form a community of people with a niche interest. With my hosting I can easily install PHPBB which I have done and set up my forum easily with a nice skin etc and its pretty much done.

    However, PHPBB is pretty basic and limited. It probably does most basic well, but I don't know how big this is going to grow, and I may want more functonality in the future, so I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and get vBulletin now, or wait and see.

    My questions: Is vBulletin really that much better than PHPBB?
    Is PHPBB difficult to install and configure? (I only have basic web knowledge, html etc but no programming experience).
    If I stick with PHPBB and in a few months want to change, can I magrate the existing posts etc over easily?

    I'd apprecie any advice you can give me.
    Thanks


Comments

  • #2
    layke
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,956 ✭✭✭layke


    Go back and have a look at phpbb3. It's nearly ready for release and has LOADS more bells and whistles. Apparently the code is a lot better then v2 as well.

    Basically you pay for what you get and phpbb is free, dependant on the community to pop out mods for it. Where as mods are developed for vBulletin, you pay for them in your license.

    Phpbb took me about 1 month in total to get my head around and i'm no programmer myself. Just manually add a few mods using the instructions. Once you've done it a few times you can do anything.

    My advice, if it's for biz go vBulletin for personal go phpbb.

    /Edit

    http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=15&sid=85381f40f3779ab132505065d40aaac8
    Is where you find the phpbb mods.


  • #3
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,781 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    Is pHPBB3 the new version? Or is it a different thing all together?
    Do you have a link where I can see a demo & download?
    Thanks


  • #4
    layke
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,956 ✭✭✭layke


    You can get all you need from phpbb.com. Their main page has the beta available for download. If not try their forums.

    It's in late beta stages at the mo so your going to be waiting a month or tow (at least). Read the changelog tho, it's got a lot of the stuff vBulletin has.


  • #5
    thelordofcheese
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,368 ✭✭✭thelordofcheese


    Although it's muddying the waters slightly, you might want to have a look at Simple Machine Forums as a more stable alternative to PhpBB3, it'll probably be a wee bit jittery for the first while.

    It runs on php & MySQL, and a full feature list can be found here


  • #6
    H3LLg0d
    Closed Accounts Posts: 104 ✭✭H3LLg0d


    Yes its alot better and you get what you pay for

    Although it's muddying the waters slightly, you might want to have a look at Simple Machine Forums as a more stable alternative to PhpBB3, it'll probably be a wee bit jittery for the first while.

    It runs on php & MySQL, and a full feature list can be found here

    Yes smf is also a really good free board


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  • #7
    Rollo Tamasi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,514 ✭✭✭Rollo Tamasi


    layke wrote:
    Where as mods are developed for vBulletin, you pay for them in your license.

    How sure are you about this? doesn't sound right to me one bit.

    I have used both phpbb and vbulletin and vb is far better but far more complex too. Although it is more complex, it is only really in the admin panel where it is a bit complex. it is a lot simpilar to modify the layout, install mods/plugins and a lot easier to find plugins for placing adverts in your forum. It is also more secure and adds value to your forum which a free forum engine won't provide you with.

    A lot is made of spam issues with forums. Just because you pay for vBulletin doesn't mean you're protected by any inbuilt anti-spam features. I wrote a blog post a while back on a couple of plugins that are available to prevent spam on vBulletin forums, you might find that interesting if you decide to go with vBulletin.


  • #8
    Zascar
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 12,781 Mod ✭✭✭✭Zascar


    Thanks that's very useful. I think I'm going to stick with PHPBB for now cause I just can't be bothered setting up a new one again and I'm happy with the one I have: link

    I can always migrate later. I found a great site online where you post a project and get freelancers to bid for your work. I found a great Indian guy who works for peanuts! I'll just get him to go the migration later if needed :)


  • #9
    Rollo Tamasi
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,514 ✭✭✭Rollo Tamasi


    Do you mean the migration from PHPBB to vBulletin?
    VB comes with a tool called Impex which allows you to import your PHPBB database into VB...


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