IPB 3 or should I move to VB?

[Tauhid]

I am very much of a IPB Fanboy but I have seen so many vb forums with photopost gallery (www.photopost.com) integrated that it makes me feel that vb is actually a better choice though it lacks many features and functions. IPB can be really well customized and I have to say that it is the actual best forum software today. It is very advanced. I am lucky enough to see and feel the IPB 3 and I have to say, vbulletin has to be scared because, IPB is coming up with something really crazy. I want your honest opinion, should I leave IPS and move to Vbulletin for the good of my community or should I stick to IPS? I have two perpetual licenses with IPS and they are worth a good amount of money.

Its expensive for me to maintain the IPB forum rather than vbulletin. VB has lots of free skins and mods that IPB doesnt have. In fact, one of my main concern is the forum integration with Joomla. Jfusion is free and they provide complete integration support with Vbulletin instead of IPB. I had to buy and ask for installation for my Joomla Integration with IPB. I had to buy photopost and integrate it all by myself with IPB. With VB it would be a piece of cake for all these integrations and on top of that Photopost has enhanced integration with Vbulletin. That alone makes me wanna move to VB.

I have had to do a lot of modifications to almost make the Photopost suit my IPB Forum. Its been painful but its worth it. I know its like I am asking you guys to do the hard work for free, but eventually just like what you have with VB, you will get so many customers, its unimaginable. To be honest, Invision Gallery is not user-friendly, it is very advanced but its not even close to Photoposts Capabilities. I am not dissing anything, its the truth.

My Website: http://www.wheelsbd.com
Forum: http://www.wheelsbd.com/forum
Gallery: http://www.wheelsbd.com/gallery

I am a loyal IPB Customer for the last 3 years almost, I love how IPS supports its users, I love the work Mark, Brandon, Charles, Rikki, Lindy and all the rest have put on. I am also a good editing expert using the IPB Forum Interface. I love the admincp and its one of the most difficult things to let go off. My website is a very highly ranked website currently standing almost at 88,000 in Alexa, its the largest automotive website in Bangladesh and its quite a big web community. My users crave for user friendliness and simplistic functions. Our site isn`t commercial either, though our parent company is. We intend to get ads and all since so many have stepped forward to put ads on our site. I know I might seem like a loser thinking of switching to a rather outdated forum interface rather than IPB but its just too painful for me to see that the site and the gallery cannot integrate with the Forum much, because the third party websites don't bother enhancing the integrations.

Right now, the forum and the gallery is integrated along with Joomla, but once IPB 3 comes out, me like most other admins, I will crave to update to IPB3, but we cant do so since most of the other integrating communities wont bother supporting IPB3. I wont be updating to IPB 3 just after its released since you know it goes over bugs and all. Please let me know if you think VB would be a much smarter choice. I can buy VB Forum and renew the license every year with no problems. I know converting to VB would take a lot of time and hard work but at the end of the day, it might be well worth it. I will be installing the Photopost Classifieds after I buy it, pretty soon, but I am holding off just to make sure whether VB would be a better choice or stick to IPB. Your suggestions will be very well appreciated.

Thanks.

[kiks]

I've been also a IPB user since 1.3.x and now I'm using 2.3.6 and I've also seen IPB 3 and I'm not really impressed.

That's why I'm also contemplating on converting my board to vbulletin.

[Tauhid]

I've been also a IPB user since 1.3.x and now I'm using 2.3.6 and I've also seen IPB 3 and I'm not really impressed.

That's why I'm also contemplating on converting my board to vbulletin.

ahh too bad, IPS did work hard on their forum interface, but it just doesn`t become as user friendly as the VB is. And its true, almost 8 out 10 forums I visit, all mostly use vb...

[NegativeSmoke]

Make the leap over, I saw the IPB3 preview (won't say how hehe) and I'm not impressed at all, in fact, i'm a bit disgusted with IPS.

I've been a IPB user since 1.3.x but this past april i made the switch from IPB 1.3 to vBulletin and will never look back. I never got the chance to buy a perpetiual license from IPS so I would've been stuck paying an arm and a leg for upgrades, it's cheaper to just buy an owned vB license, so I did and I must say, best investment ever made.

vB is not only user friendly, it has a sleak design that makes navigating easy, unlike IPB's bloated admin panel, vB uses the traditional styled admin panel and has it set up so that it isn't bloated and is very easy to navigate around and get used to in just 2 minutes.

Modifications are also a snap to install, NO core file edits required and rarely any template edits, but most mods can be installed directly from the admin CP with little to no editing of a template.

[Tauhid]

Make the leap over, I saw the IPB3 preview (won't say how hehe) and I'm not impressed at all, in fact, i'm a bit disgusted with IPS.

I've been a IPB user since 1.3.x but this past april i made the switch from IPB 1.3 to vBulletin and will never look back. I never got the chance to buy a perpetiual license from IPS so I would've been stuck paying an arm and a leg for upgrades, it's cheaper to just buy an owned vB license, so I did and I must say, best investment ever made.

vB is not only user friendly, it has a sleak design that makes navigating easy, unlike IPB's bloated admin panel, vB uses the traditional styled admin panel and has it set up so that it isn't bloated and is very easy to navigate around and get used to in just 2 minutes.

Modifications are also a snap to install, NO core file edits required and rarely any template edits, but most mods can be installed directly from the admin CP with little to no editing of a template.

hehe, yeah its true how vb is so much more user-friendly for forum visitors all over the world. to me, modifications and hooks were never a big deal, I am a Computer Science Undergrad Student so yeah I am quite ok with minor codings and skin edits, but its always good to know that hooks and plugins are so easily to install in VB. I have administered vb forums before, I might not like the vb admin interface because its not the best thing for an admin and I know vb will tweak it better for future versions, but every single vb boards have so much more activeness than ipb forums, its just shocking...

[jmurrayhead]

I might not like the vb admin interface because its not the best thing for an admin...

Yeah, I find it to be a bit hard to find items I need at times, because there are so many options and settings. I wish the help section was improved to help us around a bit.

Regardless, I've been using vBulletin for some time now and am very pleased with it. I haven't used IPB, but have used another forum software (phpBB). I, too, will never look back...especially after all the money I've invested into vb

[NegativeSmoke]

hehe, yeah its true how vb is so much more user-friendly for forum visitors all over the world. to me, modifications and hooks were never a big deal, I am a Computer Science Undergrad Student so yeah I am quite ok with minor codings and skin edits, but its always good to know that hooks and plugins are so easily to install in VB. I have administered vb forums before, I might not like the vb admin interface because its not the best thing for an admin and I know vb will tweak it better for future versions, but every single vb boards have so much more activeness than ipb forums, its just shocking...

It's cuz vB is the best man.

*puts on flame-suit*

[Comtech]

hehe, yeah its true how vb is so much more user-friendly for forum visitors all over the world.

That is an opinion and not a fact. vBulletin so far has nothing over on IP.Board beyond the vbulletin.org community. It is my opinion that IP.Board is overall better than vBulletin.

[Tauhid]

That is an opinion and not a fact. vBulletin so far has nothing over on IP.Board beyond the vbulletin.org community. It is my opinion that IP.Board is overall better than vBulletin.

imho, I still prefer IP board over VB, but all these integration features and better integration with major and popular cms or galleries are just making me wonder what can be the right decision...and as I already said, IP Board 3 will be one of the toughest things vb will have to tackle....

[NegativeSmoke]

From the looks of it, it won't be all that tough.

[aussiefooty]

Probably a better idea to transfer your forums across to vB if you think that IPB 3 is bad news.

[ikillbill]

I have one IPB and 5 VBB
From experiences, VBB is MUCH better to integrate everything with tons of modules. IPB is too eagered to charge everything before door is fully open up, that is why you see much less modules there and less people are willing to develop. If there are good modules, 65% of them are $$.
That is a bad cycling there on IPS end

on VBB, long history brings large customer base, which is the best advantage here

[aupurbo]

mama, vb always smarter choice then IPB.. ami IPB kinna falaya rakhsi huda kame. mela time thakle IPB chalano kharap na. r dekhlam abar apner joomla o ase.. vb r joomla valo vabe chalano jay joto tuku jani.

all the best...

[RvG]

see my sig

[Tauhid]

mama, vb always smarter choice then IPB.. ami IPB kinna falaya rakhsi huda kame. mela time thakle IPB chalano kharap na. r dekhlam abar apner joomla o ase.. vb r joomla valo vabe chalano jay joto tuku jani.

all the best...

dhonnobad(thanks) for the reply. good to see a bengali running vb forums. i will be seeing what I can do to move to VB asap.