Some questions about converting from phpBB2

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  • SSandgirls
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2007
    • 175
    • 3.7.x

    Some questions about converting from phpBB2

    Hello everyone, I have been looking at the Demo for VBulletin and I like what I see, however I am wondering how difficult it will be to transfer from my current setup.

    I am finding that phpBB is a nuisance, recently I had to upgrade the software for 3 versions ( so many keep coming out so quickly) anyway, I lost all my mods, and now have to put them all back again. My other option was to just alter the code that had changed but I would have been there forever doing that. To get the functions I would like on the phpBB, There would be far too many mods I would need to add, and its far too time consuming to be continually doing that. Most of the mods I like are standard with VBulletin from what I am seeing ....

    I have some questions about VBulletin.

    Will my forum be as fast as it is currently? I have no speed issues and members are very happy. The community has 1800 members and 200,000 posts, though I do prune them routinely.

    I have severe cookie problems on my board with using phpBB, Many AOL users cannot even log in. Is VBulletin AOL friendly? ( Not that I use it, but many members do)

    Recently I tried to integrate something called "Photopost classifieds" into my forum, this has been impossible and another reason I am here, since I believe its much more VB friendly.

    Here my forum www.mlptp.net

    Currently it has a side navigation bar ( frameset) and then the forum along side that.

    Can I do the same thing with the VBulletin? and if so, how would I do that?

    Im sorry for asking so many questions, its just I want to get this right, and dont want to upset 1800 members.....

    Thankyou so much for any input,


    Terrie
  • feldon23
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2001
    • 11291
    • 3.7.x

    #2
    phpBB to vBulletin is probably the #1 conversion people do. It's really quite easy and pretty much everything including passwords come over. Some of the avatars will probably NOT come over. You are welcome to check out the Imports forum to see people's results, although people who have success rarely post, so most of the posts will be people with questions or have missed a step somewhere.

    For AOL users to login to phpBB and vBulletin, they must click the "Remember Me" button. This is because AOL rotates IP addresses constantly for each user.

    Realize that most of the add-ons people use for phpBB are built into vBulletin. So software upgrades will be a LOT less work.

    PhotoPost stuff integrates well with vBulletin as far as I am aware, but I have not used it. You will need to deal with PhotoPost.com tech support for any problems you have with their script though.


    Adding side navigation is relatively easy. There's actually code here at vBulletin.com on how to do it. Note that a lot of the stuff you have in that left navigation bar, you could probably put into a popup/dropdown menu at the top. It depends what your users are willing to do. You can fully modify the navigation bar in vBulletin and add your own links and menus.

    In phpBB, to modify how the forum looked, you edited PHP files. In vBulletin, to modify how the forum looks, you modify templates, which are snippets of HTML code that are glued together in different combinations. It's all done from the control panel (no more uploading files by FTP to try things out). I think you can customize vBulletin more than you can phpBB.

    And it's a hierarchal style system, meaning you can have 1 style fully customized and then make a child style that's blue or red, and it inherits all the other changes from the main style. You don't have to "start over" every time you make a new style. So it's a lot easier to try different color schemes or create "themes" for different forums without increasing your workload.

    Comment

    • antotony
      New Member
      • Dec 2006
      • 24
      • 3.6.x

      #3
      i think its better to start a new site with vb rather than converting that

      Comment

      • nexialys
        Senior Member
        • May 2004
        • 2183
        • 1.1.x

        #4
        all your requests are easily answered here...

        vBulletin ImpEx system can import your forum content and your users database...

        Photopost behave pretty well and is a quick install on vB (i just installed 2 this morning... 3 minutes each!)

        feldon23 answered well the technical questions, and i can report that you can easily do everything is needed on your board... i can evaluate that it would take something like an hour to upgrade and install the needed parts... would take about a day or two to make a skin to fit your actual design...
        (you can contact me if you need some pro doing it! but i'm not free)...
        oh no, i'm not going with Xenforo... come on, i'm better than that... i stick with Wordpress... rofl

        Comment

        • feldon23
          Senior Member
          • Nov 2001
          • 11291
          • 3.7.x

          #5
          Originally posted by antotony
          i think its better to start a new site with vb rather than converting that
          Since all you have done here on vBulletin.com is ask for help with a pirated copy of the software, I think your advice can be cheerfully ignored.

          Comment

          • nexialys
            Senior Member
            • May 2004
            • 2183
            • 1.1.x

            #6
            and i think that such advice have to be given by one of vBulletin teammates, not a lone ranger with 9 posts who have not a single line of experience with the software...

            (this is a suggestion for the persons who would tend to read and follow his suggestion!)
            oh no, i'm not going with Xenforo... come on, i'm better than that... i stick with Wordpress... rofl

            Comment

            • SSandgirls
              Senior Member
              • Apr 2007
              • 175
              • 3.7.x

              #7
              Many thanks to everyone who answered, much appreciated.

              I gather that I can install the new VBulletin software and then change the styling to suit , once I have that set up, I can then run the impex to convert the phpBB?

              I was also going to remove photopost classifieds from the phpBB database ( since its not intergrating like it should anyway) and then integrate that to the VBulletin after everything else is done..

              would this be the right order to do things?

              Just want to get thing straight before I go to purchase the software and make a start.

              Thanks again

              Terrie

              Comment

              • feldon23
                Senior Member
                • Nov 2001
                • 11291
                • 3.7.x

                #8
                All sounds correct to me.

                Comment

                • SSandgirls
                  Senior Member
                  • Apr 2007
                  • 175
                  • 3.7.x

                  #9
                  Thanks Feldon23,

                  Just deleted photo classfieds, so off to get the software and are ready to go...

                  I like too that there are no "member having cookie/login problem" threads

                  That has been one of my biggest problems with the phpBB, the cookie problems for so many users.

                  Looking forward to getting rid of that problem

                  Comment

                  • TheMusicMan
                    Senior Member
                    • Oct 2002
                    • 2140
                    • 3.7.x

                    #10
                    Originally posted by antotony
                    i think its better to start a new site with vb rather than converting that
                    What are you on - you are talking utter rubbish, and by making such a post you show you know absolutely nothing about vB at all.

                    If you have nothing to add... don't add.

                    @SSandgirls: I converted my forum from phpBB to vB a few years ago; it had 200,000 posts but I can't remember the number of users at the time. All went well with ImpEx and I haven't looked back. You have made the right decision.
                    John

                    Comment

                    • feldon23
                      Senior Member
                      • Nov 2001
                      • 11291
                      • 3.7.x

                      #11
                      Originally posted by TheMusicMan
                      What are you on - you are talking utter rubbish, and by making such a post you show you know absolutely nothing about vB at all.

                      If you have nothing to add... don't add.
                      Let's please stop feeding the troll.

                      Comment

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