help ?!?!?!?!

[ethermaster]

er..... vbulletin seems the best their is but i need some questions answered first (thats if i ever get £182 together)

1. whats Vbulleting like to set up is it ne thing like front page ???

2. whys it so damn dear im a student and never see that money to pay for that with my income going on bills

3. my forum's only small so is their ne thing else that does the same as vbulleting that i can use ?? (cheap i hope) :S

5. do i need to able to write PHP and mySQL ??

well thats all i wanted to know because my forums a free one @ the min
http://gamerszones.cjb.net but i wanna make its more ........ user friendly and more well I'ii be have all day remember tho that this forum has only been open a week and ain't had much advesting

thanks for your time

yours turely,

Ethermaster

[Steve Machol]

1. IMO vB is easy to install and set up. I don' know what the reast of your question means though.

2. It sounds like you would be better off with one of the free alternates.

3. Try a Google search for bulletin board systems.

5. Not sure of this question either. vBulletin requires a web server that includes relatively recent versions of PHP and MySQL installed. As long as you choose a host that meets these requirements youwill be able to install and run our software.

[ManagerJosh]

The setup is really easy. All you need to do is configure one file with your MySQL and PHP information and run install.php :)

As for trying to save money, you might consider joining the affiliate program vBulletin offers and buying it through there. Yeah its a cheap move, however sometimes desperate times calls for desperate measures.

There are always alternatives available. They have their strong points, however I feel vBulletin is always stronger in all the areas.

You don't need to have prior knowledge in PHP and MySQL however it never hurts to have it since it will help you down the line when you want to add your own features or codehacks from vBulletin.org

Good Luck on your DecisioN!

[ethermaster]

hmmmm okies thanks but as for these other boards what are the better ones ?? and are they easy to use ??

[ManagerJosh]

People will always claim their boards are more superior than others ethermaster, so the definition of "better" is more or less in the grey. It is your choice to define which is better.

As for being easier to use, again, also a grey area. You will need to define it yourself.

[ethermaster]

easy as in front page easy what ya see is what ya get !
and the better in my view right now is free easy to make forums that do every thing i want eg battle systems a mate told me how to do this :S
but the other thing y i wanted vb is because it does every thing i what it to do.

[Steve Machol]

but the other thing y i wanted vb is because it does every thing i what it to do.If you want vB, then the only legal way to get it is to purchase a license.

[crowfield99]

Another good way of putting it is you get what you pay for. So if your starting off you may want to use a free forum such as phpBB or Invision Board. You can always import to vBulletin at a later date.

Myself though would go straight to the top and will save you a lot of time. vBulletin might be a lot but its worth it. The team put a lot of work into the software from people's requests etc.

And MOST forums need PHP and MySql so make sure that your host has these installed. Thats the same for the free boards such as phpBB and Invision Board.

My view also if you do use a free board, once you try vBulletin really you don't turn back!

[ethermaster]

oh yea i was going to use invision or burning boards but i can't seem to chande them offline or Mywebs :S

[Andy Z]

You cannot run vBulletin or any other bulletin board system off of your home computer without first installing Apache (or another webserver), PHP, and MySQL. vBulletin is not a program that just installs and runs on your home computer. You will most likely not be able to use a free webhosting service to run a forum.
FrontPage is a Microsoft program that runs on your computer, and cannot be compared to vBulletin or any other server-side program.