Starting to be impressed by 5.0

[woffie]

I know I have been critical recently about 5.0, but I am starting to come around. I was able to get a test forum up quite easily after trying everything and failing with earlier versions. I like some of the new features and it seems MUCH quicker now. Keep up the good work guys!

[Mark.B]

I know I have been critical recently about 5.0, but I am starting to come around. I was able to get a test forum up quite easily after trying everything and failing with earlier versions. I like some of the new features and it seems MUCH quicker now. Keep up the good work guys!

Thanks for your feedback.

I agree, once you start to get into vB5, you start to notice it has some really nice features. The speed is also still being worked on, (amongst many other things) so expect this to improve further.

[Mark.B]

Top of my head....just from day to day use:

Site Builder! Huge, huge game changer for the forum market this. And this one in itself has about a dozen features inside it that I love, eg navbar manager, building custom page, adding widgets. There's four features just out of that)
The photo features
Ability to attach links
Floaty bar (bit of a love/hate one that I will admit)
Individual activity streams (eg Forums, topics, etc)

[beishe8]

The photo features

It's gone:

No photos found or this post has been deleted. Try reloading the page.

[Mark.B]

It's gone:

I mean the way photos are handled and given prominence generally, not what was specifically created for the demo, though that was a good showcase as well. Wayne said there were some issues with it relating to an earlier upgrade I think.

My feelings on vB5 are genuine, having played with it. It is a true attempt at taking the somewhat stale forum software platform and trying to be a bit different, while still providing end user familiarity. The power of some features will possibly be realised more as the product matures.

What we did NOT need in vB5, in my humble opinion, was "here's another forum, nice new style, but basically looks and functions just like all the others".

[Mark.B]

Scott I get that you're not that impressed with vBulletin 5 Connect, and that's fine. really, I'm not out to convert anyone. I'm certainly not claiming it's perfect and in any event it's not out of beta yet.
I do think that it shows great promise, and I do quite enjoy using it on my own live "demo" site. I tweaked the style a bit and I think what I have looks pretty smart. In short, I rather like it and when it goes Gold you can be sure I'll recommend it to people.

If I didn't like it I'd be quite happy to admit it wasn't really my cup of tea.

[Acerath]

Alot of Issues to Work On

I know I have been critical recently about 5.0, but I am starting to come around. I was able to get a test forum up quite easily after trying everything and failing with earlier versions. I like some of the new features and it seems MUCH quicker now. Keep up the good work guys!

I like the interface and better control over the layout as compared to earlier versions. But it ends there.

1) Unable to attach any other document other than image file.
2) Creating a page and forum is easy. I agree. Changing them messes up somehow. For example, I changed domain.com/main-forum to domain.com/general-forum. The name is changed. Then I changed my mind and switched back to Main Forum. What happens is that Main Forum still points to domain.com/general-forum.
3) Same for page. I created a page and changed the name. Later when I changed back, it keeps redirecting back to the old page. For example, created a page called "terms" and later change to "privacy", then later back to "terms" again, the domain.com/terms point to domain.com/privacy? with some cache issue.
4) Unable to delete any new custom module created. That becomes an eyesore.
5) No category listing on the side bar. Try creating 10 blogs (categories) and they all appear at the submenu (below top menu). Are they going to be 2 or 3 lines to accommodate this? Still waiting for the category side bar module to be available. The workaround is to add ourselves to the navigation menu now.
6) If you assign someone with full admin rights, he still be be assiged role as a Blog Moderator before he can create a new blog. This is funny, as I thought the Administrator has all the rights.

It isn't as smooth, but I think it is in the right direction and that is why it is still in beta. I really hope the development can catchup asap as I am not testing it but trying on a new site.

[waldvb]

Top of my head....just from day to day use:

Site Builder! Huge, huge game changer for the forum market this. And this one in itself has about a dozen features inside it that I love, eg navbar manager, building custom page, adding widgets. There's four features just out of that)
The photo features
Ability to attach links
Floaty bar (bit of a love/hate one that I will admit)
Individual activity streams (eg Forums, topics, etc)

I don't care what is under the hood. As a visitor I still see just a very limited, raw forum with no CMS and blogs, no photo and video galleries. No gadgets at all. Remember - website is for VISITORS - not for owners.
You have to make VB5 TRENDY - gadgets first - forum later.

[soniceffect]

You have to make VB5 TRENDY - gadgets first - forum later.

Forum later? On a peice of community software that is traditionally known for being forum software. Seriously?

[waldvb]

Forum later? On a peice of community software that is traditionally known for being forum software. Seriously?

Disagree. Today - forum should be just a PART of something bigger. They added CMS and Blogs to VB4 (This is why I bought VB4). But this is not enough. If VB5 will be same like VB4 - just CMS, forums and no real Blogs - (with a new engine under the hood) - it can be a huge failure.

[Ramsesx]

Let me guess, you don't know what you mean with "bigger" exactly?

[Alfa1]

Unfortunately I still find vbulletin 5 depressing as hell. I check it regularly in the hope to find some dramatic change and improvements.

At this rate I sure hope that vb5 Gold is not released within 12 months from now, but I'm sure it will.

[rexxxy]

Starting to be impressed by 5.0

It's missing a wow factor to me. At this rate ill be waiting for a CMS for at least another 6-8 months if not more and not a few weeks after gold

Some wow factors I'm looking for;
Media gallery (video, audio, picture)
New improve search
New improve CMS
New improve blogs
Improve notification system
Improve profile (social media like)
Improve profile visitor message (conversation style)
Facebook and twitter integration in CMS

To name a few

To me the default skin is so plane like if I get vb5 I would have to get a new skin. At least the speed of the vb5 improved and a lot of bugs being squashed.

[Ramsesx]

Like Scott I'm only impressed by the picture feature and the avatars shown in the forum or thread view.
What I don't like:
- the fonts are blurry
- all the missing features from vB4
- the floaty bar, I don't like stuff on a website moving up and down and b.t.w. doesn't work on all browsers
- the new notification system, it's really stupid having to go on another page to view what happened and see notifications like "xx commented on xy's reply (Untitled)" or "This notification is no longer relevant", an implementation like xenforo has done should be at least the measure for this function. Even the vB4 notification system is better.
- posting is more difficult and in some parts confusing
- the grayish coloring, looks all the same

[CallieJo]

Like others, I keep checking the progress of VB5 in hopes of being impressed. Unfortunately, beta or not, I'm still not that impressed as I hoped I'd be...sorry.

Maybe my expectations are just too high for IP/VB to achieve. Maybe I just expect VB5 BETA to not only have what previous versions have, but then some as well. Isn't the point of major releases to be a step up from previous versions while including current features with enhancements and added functionality?

I'm still trying to find great features in VB5 compared to it's competitors and it's previous versions. Content sharing is one. Maybe some of the VB5 fans or staff can help.
What are the biggest differences in the following (not counting the obvious costs, developers, unofficial addons, & technology used):

VB3.8 vs VB5? What features does VB5 have that VB3.8 lacks? What features does VB3.8 have that VB5 lacks? IMHO, VB3.8 has the best features of any VB version to date. If only we could have enhanced those features for end users as suggested over the years in the suggestion forum. Some would argue otherwise or point to VB4.x.

VB4.x vs VB5? What features does VB5 have that VB4.x lacks? What features does VB4.x have that VB5 lacks?

IPB3.4 (plus official addons) vs VB5? What features does VB5 have that IPB3.4 lacks? What features does IPB3.4 have that VB5 lacks?

XF vs VB5? What features does VB5 have that XF lacks? What features does XF have that VB5 lacks?

Woltlab BB (plus official addons) vs VB5? What features does VB5 have that Woltlab lacks? What features does Woltlab have that VB5 lacks?

All the free & hosted forum community scripts vs VB5? What features does VB5 have that the free & hosted forum community scripts lack? What features does the free & hosted forum community scripts have that VB5 lacks?

I guess I'm looking for reasons to be impressed and/or reasons why I'm not so impressed. The BETA excuse means nothing to me, so please don't throw that one. Beta, in short, normally means feature locked and ready for mass testing before becoming stable...IMHO.

Thank you and have a splendid week*