Switch from IPS?

[iPenguin02]

I am considering switch from IPS to Vbulletin. I've invested a bit of money into IPS for mods and so on, but find it a little difficult to play with. That being said I never got my forum to launch because I couldn't get it to look the way I wanted primarily in the CMS area.

I do like the overall look of IPS and the aspect of their social networking mod. They did update pretty often. Their support and forums were not much help on customizing certain aspects of their software especially with helping me with CMS.

A buddy of mine allowed me to play with his dev vbulletin site don't remember if it was v3 or v4 it was about 2 years ago. Found it a lot easier to manager and customize. He used a 3rd party CMS which was a lot easier than the CMS that comes stock (or any mod I can find) on IPS. Changing the words you don't like in Vbulletin is a lot easier than that of IPS, I'd have to create a new language pack then hope I find it and hope i'm changing the right word to what I want it to be... All the mods for IPS are hard to customize layout and settings. I hate the fact that I have to renew your license every 6-12 months.

Here's my questions for current Vbulletin users
how easy is it to change the layout and settings of the blog that comes stock with vbulletin?
How easy is it to change the layout of the url? IPS was kinda easy.
Anyone able to compare IPS vs Vbulletin's social network mod (changing stats, settings and so on)
Any other reasons why I should switch?

I've read a lot of places that the support for IPS and the development (more updates) is a lot better than that of vbulletin can anyone confirm that? I've read that v5 is a joke, is there anyway I can demo both v4 and v5?

Mods that I have on my IPS that hopefully are in Vbulletin 4 or 5
Tutorial System - This one is big for me, creating guides for others to use like a knowledge base
Donation system - Self explanatory
Garage System - Users can add cars they have allowing them to discuss cars and create galleries
Store / ticketing system

I'm pretty novice when it comes to changing CSS and other scripts. i'm looking for something easier to play with, If I remember correctly I didn't have to play with my friends CSS at all on his dev site. Anybody tried both and which did you choose? Why?

[BirdOPrey5]

You can demo VB5 here: http://www.vbulletin.com/vb5-trial/

There is also a link on that page to create a VB4 demo as well.

I feel VB 4.x is far better than IPS but I can't honestly say it is easier because I never used IPS so I can't compare it as an Admin, only as a user. As a user I prefer VB4 by a landslide.

There are way more free VB4 mods than IPS mods as well, you can view them at www.vbulletin.org, the official modification site.

[iPenguin02]

How easy is the vbulletin admin? Any other input?

[feldon23]

I am considering switch from IPS to Vbulletin. I've invested a bit of money into IPS for mods and so on, but find it a little difficult to play with. That being said I never got my forum to launch because I couldn't get it to look the way I wanted primarily in the CMS area.

I do like the overall look of IPS and the aspect of their social networking mod. They did update pretty often. Their support and forums were not much help on customizing certain aspects of their software especially with helping me with CMS.

vBulletin 5 doesn't even have a CMS yet, so you'd be looking at vB4.

[beishe8]

I am considering switch from IPS to Vbulletin. I've invested a bit of money into IPS for mods and so on, but find it a little difficult to play with. That being said I never got my forum to launch because I couldn't get it to look the way I wanted primarily in the CMS area.

I do like the overall look of IPS and the aspect of their social networking mod. They did update pretty often. Their support and forums were not much help on customizing certain aspects of their software especially with helping me with CMS.

vBulletin 5 doesn't even have a CMS yet, so you'd be looking at vB4.

Sorry, Feldon, vB4 does not have a real CMS as well...

[DemOnstar]

I am considering switch from IPS to Vbulletin.

Why?

[dilbert]

I went the other way. Long time vB user, gave up waiting for it to be finished. There are way too many standard items missing or broken.

[DemOnstar]

I am waiting, I am used to that now.

Not just with VB5, but with everything and anything.

Living in China is waiting, we wait for everything here. When it is eventually delivered, it is either the wrong item or broken in some way.

VB5 is on the mend, I see evidence of this everyday.

Not sure how long it will take but 5.0.4 looks promising.