Forum-specific interfaces

[hayfever]

Hello vbulletin people, users, staff, ...

We are considering VBulletin as the principal board
software for a small independent film company.

We would like to know if these requirements can be
handled by VBulletin, and if -- in the opinion of users --
they work effectively.

* We will need totally different interfaces for different
fora. For example, a standard interface for news from
our own company, an interface for each of our film
productions, etc. By 'interface', we mean graphics,
colors, forum structure, etc.

* We would prefer that the forum for each production
were isolated from all the others. For example, each
film has its own web site, but the board software
would be installed on the company site. So visitors to
our-film-1.com would have a forum installed on
our-company.com, but would not be able to navigate
directly from that forum either to our-film-2.com or the
forum for other films. Each forum (except for the top
level) should appear to be independent.


Also -- but much less important --- we would like to be
able to post messages to the board by email (as you can
with Phorum, which is other respects unuitable for us).

Thanks for any guidance you can offer ...

[John]

* We will need totally different interfaces for different
fora. For example, a standard interface for news from
our own company, an interface for each of our film
productions, etc. By 'interface', we mean graphics,
colors, forum structure, etc.


This is supported to a limited degree by the 1.1.x series of vBulletin. However, our upcoming version 2.0 will support this completely, so check out the online demo here:
http://beta.jelsoft.com/


* We would prefer that the forum for each production
were isolated from all the others. For example, each
film has its own web site, but the board software
would be installed on the company site. So visitors to
our-film-1.com would have a forum installed on
our-company.com, but would not be able to navigate
directly from that forum either to our-film-2.com or the
forum for other films. Each forum (except for the top
level) should appear to be independent.

The forums could certainly be placed on separate servers, they would just need to point at the same database. This would not be a problem. Completely isolating each of them could also be done using templates. You may have to change to code to prevent users who actively try to get on to different forums, but your average user should not be able to tell that there are other forums present.


Also -- but much less important --- we would like to be
able to post messages to the board by email

This feature is not available at the moment.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact James Limm at sales@vbulletin.com.

John

[hayfever]

... our upcoming version 2.0 will support this completely ...

And the upgrade will be free, yes?



The forums could certainly be placed on separate servers, they would just need to point at the same database

Actually, that is not quite what I meant -- but that
sounds even better.

What we are planning is that the main web site, and
the subsidiary sites will all be on the same physical
server, ie: they will all be virtual servers.

It's nice to know that the forums could be on separate
domains, sharing a common database.

[Mike Sullivan]

Correct, the upgrade is free.

You confused me a little with this:
* We would prefer that the forum for each production
were isolated from all the others. For example, each
film has its own web site, but the board software
would be installed on the company site. So visitors to
our-film-1.com would have a forum installed on
our-company.com, but would not be able to navigate
directly from that forum either to our-film-2.com or the
forum for other films. Each forum (except for the top
level) should appear to be independent.But, if I understand you correctly, a little bit of creative template work, you shouldn't have a problem.

[hayfever]

You confused me a little with this

I meant ....

* One database installation.
* Several forums running on different domains
(but on the same hardware).
* Forums independent of each other, for example not
like this one, where we can navigate directly from the
vBulletin Questions forum to other forums like
vBulletin Templates via the top level.


... a little bit of creative template work ...

Creativity - yes, that is what I do.
But preferably not code hacking ... not in a commercial product.

[Wayne Luke]

Templates are bits of HTML that are stored in the vBulletin database. These do not require any changes in the code.

Hacking on the other hand refers to adding features to the code. For instance if you wanted a POLL feature in the current version you would have to hack it in. Many people do this and it is not necessarily a bad thing.

Many of the current hacks will be features in 2.0 though so unless you have something exotic you want to do, chances are you will never have to touch the code.