Innovation is needed. My 2 cent

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • Miykichii
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2007
    • 212
    • 3.6.x

    Innovation is needed. My 2 cent

    I really hope VB Devs and IB come together and sit down and start examine what they did wrong with VB5 and start rebuilding it. Here are my feedback and advise. My opinion is that I don't like VB5 so far. The design is very clutter with txt in a way that is not organized at all. VB should try to come up with a simple design yet elegant. Innovation is needed.

    The site is also loading very slow, it is a bit faster than before but it is still slow and I presume VB5 will eat a lot of resources from a dedicated server. My members wouldn't like the design and the functions/feature of VB5 compare to what I am currently using VB 3.7.6. Many features have been stripped away like the reputation system, members list and so on. I know these features some might be added to VB5 later but honestly that is a bad business decision. If you want to impress customers, you should provide them with new features that promises a deep rich experience, not strip features away. Honestly, Vbulettin should not have moved to VB5 now and put it public.

    Vbulletin hasn't come up with simple yet elegant design, featuring new and rich features. Google came with Circles, what can Vbulletin come up with? If I were a staff working for VBulletin, I would start with revamping the design. Then lay down my features by start thinking about rich features that will enhance my members' forum experience.

    How to connect my members better? Do we just want to have a friend list or do we want to have a Fan list. What would keep members coming back and using a Vbulletin software over others, is it the reputation system? Or is it the way members can connect with each others and share the same interest based on topics that have been submitted by them.


    The use of Social media, do we just want to add a fb, twitter, and Google+ buttons or do we want to enhance that experience by allowing the applications to run on user profile of Vbulletin, like news feeds. How about Youtube? Can you connect your Youtube videos feed to your Vbulletin profile. How about blogs? Blogs design needs a revamp, simple yet elegant. This is very ugly [URL="http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blogs"]http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blogs[/URL="http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blogs"] an example of a good blog yet simple look is this [URL="http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2013/02/24/on-steve-jobs-birthday-here-are-some-of-his-funniest-moments"]http://thenextweb.com/shareables/201...nniest-moments[/URL="http://thenextweb.com/shareables/2013/02/24/on-steve-jobs-birthday-here-are-some-of-his-funniest-moments"]

    Vbulletin staff and devs needs to sit down and start planning how things would look first. Always remember the first "WOW" impression appeals to how the software look and feel, then the rich features comes next. When you have an elegant and a beautiful design yet professional and simple, it allows you to add more features in a good way.

    Why not hire a design firm from many of the talented ones or open a contest. [URL="http://www.behance.net/"]http://www.behance.net/[/URL="http://www.behance.net/"] This VB5 current design makes me feel like we are in 2006-7. I am not impressed at all with it and i feel if you're going to add features, it is going to be cluttered.

    I never liked VB4 and now comes VB5 and it is worst than VB4 so far. As a customer, i want something that would make my members feel wow, and there are nice features, not the same structure with different look. You haven't come up with ideas so far nor innovation, you seem to just want to deliver a new version of a product and call it the next version. NO!

    Look at FB and coming up with Graph search, that is an idea; Timeline is another idea. Google+ coming up with Circle feature, that is an idea. What ideas has Vbulletin came up with in VB5? How are you enhancing members' experience to enjoy staying on the forum more? It is not always about the content, that is a major part but also the way functions work and how members can connect with each other better by sharing the same interest. That is what a forum software should be thinking of. Out of the box, you're not delivering any of this.

    Both Vbulletin Dev and IB needs to sit down and plan together. From what it looks so far, I think IB just wants to launch VB5 to start collecting sales/revenue but without thinking about how customers would feel about the product being incomplete. And VB Devs are working to impress IB by launching VB5 to show it to public but they aren't working together with IB in term of structure and plan and what should VB5 serve in term of features and how is it different from its predecessors. That is not a good business plan, I feel like IB is working on its own and VBulletin Devs are working on their own and the result is the incomplete VB5.

    My other advise and this might seem harsh, really start hiring talented Devs, with good backgrounds. That is a good investment which will pay in long run.

    This entire VB5 needs a revamp. You've rushed a product that could have potential. Really!
    If you like these ideas, vote for them! (:

    http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBV-12406 (Blogs & Articles redesign)
    http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBV-12379 (Group redesign)
    http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBV-12337 (Members Feeds)
    http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBV-12676 (Media tab & Album)
    http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBV-12698 (Notification system)
    http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBV-12663 (Members list redesign)
  • InfoNirvana
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2007
    • 130
    • 4.2.X

    #2
    Originally posted by Miykichii
    You've rushed a product that could have potential.
    Your Honor - I object: Speculation.


    Comment

    • DemOnstar
      Senior Member
      • Nov 2012
      • 1912

      #3
      I am not sure that Vbulletin wants to be the new FB. It would be more than excellent if VBulletin could surpass FB or any other forum delivery. It would be top class but............I really can't see it happening in the near future which is what I am concerned about.

      I like all you say and it gets my thumbs up.

      However, I have to say also that I think it was a good idea to go live with VB 5. At least we all have the same platform reference when reporting things like bugs etc. And we can all explore the possibilities and further improvements, even new features but alas, we may not see them in this version.

      And ultimately, we are all open to exploitation. By that I mean suggestions we make here may be used in the next version of which I think we will have to pay for if we want it. And currently that is looking like a rather BIG If.


      Last edited by DemOnstar; Fri 8 Mar '13, 3:06am.


      Comment

      Related Topics

      Collapse

      Working...