Want to Setup a forum - A few Q's (Proboards or Vbulletin)

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

Gimpymoo

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Nottingham
I am wanting to setup a forum.

I have used Pro-Boards in the past and find it is great (and free) but prefer the look and feel of Vbulletin boards but dont know where to start with VBulletin.

My HTML knowledge is basic but am prepared to learn for the sake of having a nicely designed forum.

I know Vbulletin is server based but how much (roughly) a month does this cost.. any hosting companies who offer support for Vbulletin all-in.

Could I use Vbulletin with limited HTML knowledge or is PROboards the best option?

Is there anything better than PRO Boards?

Thanks for any help.
 
vBulletin is PHP & MySQL and most hosts will have this. Check www.ochostreview.co.uk for reviews on hosts. You'll most likely want a linux-based host instead of a Windows-based one, but it doesn't really matter.

vBulletin requires lots of effort to setup but that's not related to the coding-side, more the configuration of the forum (permissions, allowing private messaging, etc etc). I believe vB will install the forum on your hosting for you.

The cost of vB is listed on their site, ~£70 I believe for an owned license which includes a year of free updates.


/Finishes e-mails, runs back to Eurovision :)
 
Have a look into YABB, im using it atm, and it seems sound... :)

If you get hosting with someone like TSOHOST, theres a 1 click installer in the control panel for it :)
 
phpBB is old and comparatively rubbish now, I wouldn't bother with it.

Other free alternatives include punbb and SMF, not used them much though.

The two big paid forums are Invision Power Board and vBulletin, and vB is the best. It really is something else and I'd choose it if my forum was more than a small site :)
 
I swear by PHPBB... if I could marry it I would.... then again, on the flip side it proberbly helps that I know PHP coding ect....
 
Beansprout said:
Other free alternatives include punbb and SMF, not used them much though.
Click to expand...
Quite a few people on here like punBB, so that's a solid OcUK HGP Regular User Endorsement™.

As already said phpBB is a bit cack now and it's had that many security updates recently that it's become a pain in the derrière to use it.
 
yoda said:
I swear by PHPBB... if I could marry it I would.... then again, on the flip side it proberbly helps that I know PHP coding ect....
Click to expand...
Honestly if you're on phpBB then you have no idea what the other side of the fence is like :)

For a number of reasons I like phpBB - it's the first forum software I used - but when you get down to the serious business of running a forum, I was incredibly surprised when I popped back onto a phpBB forum recently and saw that in the last two years there's basically been no advancements.

vBulletin 3.5 I love...it took several hours to setup and so on, but it's really worth it for anything more than a small community forum where, to be fair, complexity isn't really needed :)
 
Beansprout said:
vBulletin is PHP & MySQL and most hosts will have this. Check www.ochostreview.co.uk for reviews on hosts. You'll most likely want a linux-based host instead of a Windows-based one, but it doesn't really matter.

vBulletin requires lots of effort to setup but that's not related to the coding-side, more the configuration of the forum (permissions, allowing private messaging, etc etc). I believe vB will install the forum on your hosting for you.

The cost of vB is listed on their site, ~£70 I believe for an owned license which includes a year of free updates.


/Finishes e-mails, runs back to Eurovision :)
Click to expand...


got a feeling bean its $160 (£91) to be right if i remember correctly when i bought my licence, however its defiantely worth the money
 
It's about $85 for a leased (1 year licence) and $160 IIRC for an owned licence. Which is £48 and £91 respectively. :)

The thing with the owned licence... is what do you do in 18 months time when you need a critical security update? :confused:
 
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