Confused!

[Mark Acumen]

I'm looking for a professional looking forum for my business and like the look of vbulletin, however some things are confusing me (I'm not very tech savvy)!

I already tried out a forum at www.forumco.com and thought it was dead easy to set up and use etc. I didn't need to install anything and basically had it going within half an hour.

Vbulletin seems to require installation etc. Can anyone explain why this is? Forumco did not need any installation. Is it difficult to install and do I need to have some hosted webspace to do this installation (it mentions about uploading to your webserver - does this mean to your actual webspace?)

Also I tried o simply chnage the colour and didn't seem able to do this. It looks like you have to get involved in the html coding etc to do this. Is this correct?

Thanks everyone

[NasrAskar]

even though you think you didn't need to install anything at forumco.com, you actually did. but you didnt know it.

like any other software, either on cd or online, you have to set it up to get it working the way you want it to work.

vBulletin is very easy to install. just a few clicks away to set up the regular stuff. the staff will do their best to help you set it up. so don't sweat the installation process. it's very easy.

you will need webspaces regardless .. if you have a website, the company you buy or host from gives you certain amount of webspace, your vBulletin files will reside in your webspace.


there are many skins and styles you can choose from to change the look of your vbulletin. some free and some not. you can find one you might like for cheap.. 30 bucks or so..

hope this helped

[Wayne Luke]

The difference is this....

At Forumco.com, you are leasing or borrowing a forum from them. You depend on them to remain online to maintain your forum. You are also limited to their featureset and what you can do with your community. Then you either need to pay for banner-free services or have their banner ads on your site.

With vBulletin, you own the community. It is installed on your server and you are in control. Your database is yours to keep and you own that content. If you have a problem with one hosting company, you can move your forums to another. Don't like the features? Then you can change them or add new ones easily. In short you own the community.

[GHOwner]

Do not use Forumco.com or services like them for a business/professional solution. I'm not saying free forum services are bad, but the for a business or professional need, they are not the right choice. It would be like hosting your business on geocities, or so.

With vBulletin, you host it on your environment, and it is quite easy to setup. However, if you're unsure of MySQL or general file uploading, you can pay vBulletin.com to professionally install/upgrade the software at any time. This costs $135.00 one time fee.

The hosting company you're with might help you setup what you need, but the documentation (installation/etc manual) is very detailed on how to install. The installation wizard is very easy and virtually automatic as well.

[Mark Acumen]

thanks guys really appreciate the help.

So am I right in saying that I need my own webspace on the installation is effectively uploading or FTPing the files that Vbulletin provide unto this webspace?

Also can someone please give me a very quick and basic rundown on how to say change the colour? I have been trying to do it in the demo and it seems that I have to create my own template via html. I was hoping I could just tick a box or something:confused: