Upgrade concerns with private message notification popups

[Denyer]

Hi,

I'm likely to be responsible for the upgrade of a vBulletin 2 board (medium-size, a couple of hundred active members out of a few thousand registered) and was wondering if you could lay a few fears to rest.

1/

In vB2, private messages are presented in the user control panel—clicking on the link sends a read receipt, or users have the option of denying that receipt by clicking an alternate link.

From the forums I've used, vB3 seems to perform this with javascript. Users click to view the message, and then are presented with a javascript yes/no option (launching a popup) or (if that is dismissed or doesn't appear) a tickbox form to send a read receipt. Were javascript turned off, or a popup blocker, most users would therefore not bother to send read receipts. The system seems to have changed to 'opt-in' receipts rather than 'opt-out'.

Can the vB2 behaviour be implemented in vB2 without much hassle? (eg, Making default behaviour to automatically send receipts on viewing?) Ideally as a configurable option (or in templates at a push) and not through modification of the underlying code.

2/

Is there any configurable way to integrate the buddy list into a user control panels as with vB2, rather than as a popup? Many global variables (eg, forum list) seem not to be available to all templates, and none of the people working on this upgrade project has much idea about how to make them available. (Nor any desire to have to re-hack files when updates to the vBulletin core files are made available.)

We just want an assurance that we won't lose functionality users are familiar with by putting our eggs into the vB3 basket, and the popups and apparent extent of reliance on javascript are currently real concerns.

In recap: can read receipts be made automatic and opt-out, and can the buddy list be added to a normal page?

Fingers crossed, I'm hoping to have good news to tell the guy I'll be doing this for. If an approximation of the vB2 interface is no longer available and users will have to face changes whichever path we take, it might (relunctantly) be worth our while to consider other forum systems. (Which is why I'm posting this in Sales rather than Tech—please move the thread to the most appropriate forum if the sales team can't answer these questions.)

Thanks,
Stu.

[Steve Machol]

To get vB support on these forums you first need to be a licensed customer and register for Priority Forum Support. To do this, please go here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/members/membersupport_priority.php

...and enter your email address in one of the boxes. You'll need to have your customer number and password to access the page.

Once you've done this, please post in the appropriate support forum for your version.

[Denyer]

I'll go and bother Brendan to do stuff. Think I'm currently more in his timezone than mine.

I'm reasonably hopeful at this stage, given that I haven't seen any particularly vicious complaints about changes in vB3 apart from about the template system from the point-of-view of those really quite unfamiliar with php.

Cheers for the quick reply.

[Mike Anime]

you still need to show up as a licenced user to get support. if this is for a friend who you help coadmin just have him log into his members area and add you in there.

[Denyer]

I don't admin as such; I'm just doing this as a favour. I've passed on the request for ID, and becoming a temporary admin won't be a problem.

Whilst I realise vB has a vested interest in seeing support not provided to any users who may be using unlicensed installations, I didn't see the information I'm after (are there options to perform "X" action without hassle; is "X" feature still present in the new version; is "X" possible by whatever means) as particularly technical. I'm less interested in "how" and more in "is this software capable of doing what its previous version was capable of".

I use both vB2 and vB3 boards as a member, and how they differ in implementing read receipts is something which would concern me as a potential purchaser for clients or for myself—especially with popup blockers being so common these days. Javascript is rapidly becoming more hassle than it's worth for developers, so anything which might rely on it when there can be alternatives is a worry.

[Denyer]

To get vB support on these forums you first need to be a licensed customer and register for Priority Forum Support. To do this, please go here:

http://www.vbulletin.com/members/membersupport_priority.php

...and enter your email address in one of the boxes. You'll need to have your customer number and password to access the page.

Once you've done this, please post in the appropriate support forum for your version.

Right, done that.

Before I head off and look through the support section, I'd be grateful if you could answer the questions from their pre-sales point of view:

1) Is the buddy list in vB3 usable in the manner I've seen in vB2 forums? ie, On a flat page rather than in a javascript popup window so that all users may access it.

2) Are all parts of the software (especially the private message system and read receipts) operable without using javascript, or do users have to manually confirm their receipts if they are not using javascript?

3) If the answer to either of the above questions is no, are there any plans to mitigate the reliance of the product on javascript?

Regards,
Stu.