Is the default setup good enough?

[boozecrooze]

Hi,

I think I've setup the colors and look for my forum with minimal adjustments. It's so simple, but I like it and haven't changed much from the default except for a few colors here and there.

Are the default feautures of the original setup good enough? Are there any tweaks that you would recommend?

Thanks!

[Andy Huang]

It's good enough only if you think its good enough Theres no required changes unless you think something needs to be done. So go by your gut feelings and make it work the way you want it to.

[fusion2]

Are the default feautures of the original setup good enough? Are there any tweaks that you would recommend?

Thanks!

I think the vBulletin default setup blows away the default forum setups for other forums.

With that said, here are some tweaks i use myself and recommend. See my website at http://forum.southfloridafusion.com to see these in use:

1. I uploaded country flags and other avatars for members to use and restricted them from linking to other avatars due to inappropriate content issues.

2. I added a welcome message add-on, where it will display different welcome messages to the visitor or member based on demographics (i.e. messages like: please join, its been awhile since you posted, welcome our newest member etc).

3. I tweaked the threadbit to show a thread preview below each thread post rather then use the default hover-over feature. So each thread has a "written by" underneath it followed by 2 or 3 sentence preview of the thread.

4. I tweaked code to allow google ads after first post, google ads at top of forum and google downloads at bottom of forum (ie. firefox etc).

5. I integrated google search into the vBulletin search field. (NOTE this was temporarily disabled as i am doing some changes this week)

6. I tweaked the code to show the last 10 forum posts at bottom of forum under "Whats Going On".

7. I added a second customized tool bar that has links about my forum, investment opportunities or to my normal website etc.

8. I moved my logo to where the Breadcrumbs is by default. This shortened the header/navbar area. So now my logo is to the left of the signon fields.

9. I moved breadcrumbs to be under the NAVBAR menu and to be on a single line. This is more common placement for HTML websites, so i wanted to keep with what people understand. It also shortens the header/navbar area.

10. I use an add-on that allows limited viewing for guests. Basically after they view 15 threads it gives them a message saying they exceeded the limit for today and to join my forum and have unlimited free access. (NOTE this was temporarily disabled as i am doing some changes this week)

11. I use an add-on that allows me to modify the forum statistics (posts, threads, members) with fake ones. This allowed my forum in the beginning to look bigger then it actually was, which got members to join as nobody wants to join an empty forum.

12. I modified the settings to show both the forum and subforums on the same page.

14. I took the "view my previous posts" link that shows up when you search for a members name, to the NAVBAR menu. People complained they couldnt find their own posts, so now their is a link they click and see all their posts from recent to oldest. (NOTE this was temporarily disabled as i am doing some changes this week)

14. I tweaked the code to show a default profile picture. I also uploaded a silhouette with a "add your picture here" message. This way something is in this field, since most people leave it blank.

15. I added my Terms of Use, Posting Guidelines and other forum rules to the QUICK LINK section.

16. I wanted Internet Explorer to be the default that people use, so i have added code that pops up a message when someone visits the site and doesnt have IE installed. It gives them the option to install it from microsoft.com. Once Firefox problems get resolved (ie. doesnt work well with vBulletin sometimes) then i will make that my default browser option).
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There are several other changes i recommend, but i havent implemented yet, still figuring out how.

1. There are mods that will make your member profiles look more like myspace profiles, with blogs and picture galleries etc. I will be adding this soon.

2. I will be adding picture gallery add-on soon, to allow people to post picture galleries and rate or comment on pictures.

3. I will be adding Blogging add-on to allow members to maintain their blog via their profile and these blogs will be posted to my main website.

4. Get the VBadvanced CMS add-on. Its free and allows you to create a more customized main page.

5. There are many other add-ons. My real focus for my site is maximizing the member profile area to be more like a social network like myspace. I want fitness members to be able to track their diet progress and post before and after pictures. I want video game members to be able to post their BF2 game stats etc. So i will be doing a lot of work with the profile section.


Other than that, you might want to try vBSEO which renames your URLS to be like normal URLS not php tags.

[SSSlippy]

Honestly the only thing you should do is go through the options in the admin panel and change the settings to your liking.