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whats in vBulletin 3 and how will it differ from whats in use now?

[Neil]

It will differ massively from what we use now as nearly every element of the forums has been changed or updated. Just some of the new/revised features are as follows:

General

* Quick registration system...username, password, email and any required custom fields and timezone
* Pop-up auto-refreshing buddylist with ICQ-style alerts when new buddies come online. You'll find a link in the temp buttons top right in the nav bar.
* Show the title of the last posted to thread for each forum on index.php
* Subscription to Threads/Forum without receiving e-mails
* Favorite threads - you don't get email from these either.
* User rating - Karma
* User ranking
* Password break-in watches -- too many failed attempts warning with a preset wait after too many failures.
* Threaded view
* Password protected forums
* Similar threads display
* Send an email "thanks for registering and welcome to .." on user registration (welcome email)
* Validity check for homepages
* Search engine friendly archive of open forums
* Happy b'day emails
* Much improved calander system (too many changes to mention)
* hit counter on announcements
* Digests: new posts/threads in selected forums daily/weekly/monthly
* "excerpt of message:" are now in the new reply email notifications
* 'report post to mod' sends anonymous copy to the original poster of the message
* Restyled FAQ section now looks similar to a forum

Posting

* WYSIWYG Editor for major text input fields (IE 5.5+Only)
* Minimum number of characters in post
* Insert smilie/vB code where cursor is (IE 5+ Only)
* Preview on edit
* Ability to add attachment when editing a post instead of just when creating
* Reason for editing
* Reason for deleting (for admins and mods)

User CP - Profile

* User Pictures - user can upload a personal picture. This picture is shown in the profile of the user.
* Completely revamped PM system
* Longer signature field with optional limit

Search

* Get daily for just one category
* Search only in subscribed forums
* A list of ignored words or words used in a search are added to the results page
* Option to find only started by 'username'
* Display matching forums in results
* Support for searching custom profile fields
* Search for exact username (e.g. turn off wildcards)

Polls

* Option for users to see who voted for which option (public vote)
* When you vote your name is highlighted when viewing results
* Poll results ordered by most to less voted
* Ability to post a poll AFTER a thread had started

Usability

* Hitting the back button no longer necessary when you have too many images
* Option to save cookie *on this computer* when logging in
* Login/logout ability in all pages, with user/pass form -- single login system

And lots, lots more.

[mikenifficent]

i have saw some vbulltin 3 boards, thier quite sweet, i just wondered why aberdeen-music didn't use a php or a IPB though?

[Neil]

Originally posted by mikenifficent:
i have saw some vbulltin 3 boards, thier quite sweet, i just wondered why aberdeen-music didn't use a php or a IPB though?

Because in my opinion vBulletin has better features, better support, better scalability and a bigger development/hacking community than those two alternatives.

[mikenifficent]

yeah, but people say IPB have the best hacks and you don't need to pay for a liecense, when would the board be updating to VB3 anyway? and would that mean everyone would have to re-register etc?

[Neil]

I intend to upgrade vBulletin 3 after the fina version is released (it is at RC4 just now) and after the new web site style has been completed. No, you won't have to register again and all posts/private messages/photos will be transferred over.