Floris
24th March 2006, 05:33 PM
Making vBulletin your Very Own
vBulletin (http://www.vbulletin.com/) is an extremely powerful piece of software that allows communities to efficiently maintain their forum to be in peak working order. With so many communities starting up out their though, it’s extremely important to make sure your community is as unique as it possibly can be. Thankfully, vBulletin makes it extremely easy to do so. There’s a variety of ways you can make your community unique, attract more visitors, and keep the members you already have. This article will explore just a few of the ways this can be accomplished.
-- vBulletin.org (http://www.vbulletin.org/) Modifications: The Easy Way --
For all of us running 3.5.x out there, this is an extremely easy process. With your vBulletin license comes free access to official resource site vBulletin.org. Simply register there and follow the easy steps to receive access to all the resources, which includes language packs, template modifications, plugins, source code tweaks and full extentions All at no cost, free for download.
If you look under the forum layout, you will see a section (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=109) for vB 3.5. They are as follows:
Plugins
Simply follow the directions, which consist usually of going into your Administrator Control Panel, and simply uploading the modification. Your board is now equipped with this add-on.
(Some simple template editing required in some cases)
Extensions
Same as above, but uploading of a few extra files is required. An extension will usually add a completely new section to your forum, like a gallery or chat (http://www.vBulletin-Chat.com/).
Source Code Modifications
Requires editing the actual vBulletin source code. Not recommended for beginners and it sometimes can be daunting. We recommend to try and use a plugin instead of actually updating the source code.
Template Modifications
Simple modifications to change the look of your message board. The templates manage the layout and design of the forum's style.
Styles
Changes the color scheme or layout of your bulletin board. These can be extremely good for making your forum appear unique. Unlike a template modification these are complete themes.
Examples of Hacks:
Automatic Welcome PM (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=91729&highlight=PM) – Automatically sends a PM to a new user. You can customize the text you send and this can be a very good way to make new users feel at home.
vB Staff Titles (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93783&highlight=vB+Staff+Titles) – Gives each staff member an individual title outside of their own title
vB Journal (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=96462&highlight=vB+Journal) – Allows users to keep their own individual journal on the forum – recommended for larger boards, as there may not be enough users who wish to host their journal on smaller forums.
There are far more addons available at vB 3.5 that change the way vBulletin works or adds new features. These can go a long way in making your forum more unique or entertaining for new users. Don’t overload though – you don’t need an arcade, journal system, chat system, store system, and warning system if you have 10 users. Adding in these things gradually is usually always a good option.
--
There are some other things you can do to your vBulletin to make it more unique.
Modify Phrases: There are plenty of phrases that you may modify in order to make your bulletin board; for example, you may modify the phrase first_visit_message by going to your language and phrases option in the AdminCP. This is the message that’s displayed when a new user visits your website. Instead of the boring old default, modify it to something that’s unique to your site.
Add Creative Forum Descriptions: Forum descriptions can be downright boring. We’ll take, for example, a standard forum description:
“Site announcements posted here.”
That’s okay, but spice it up a little bit. Think about how much cooler it’d be if it read:
“The connection to the site’s news, information, and updates; be informed of site happenings!”
Don’t forget to modify your basic options!: Some options are deep and nestled within vBulletin. Remember to customize your vBulletin Options for your own individual board, as some things work better for different board types. vBulletin provides too many options to individually list that can be customized. Here’s a few examples:
Image/Graphic Websites may want to increase the image size limit, dimensions, or maximum space available to each users
Communities aimed at children might need to look into COPPA depending on their laws
Active communities may want to increase their PM box size (or decrease the PM box size to save space!)Remember everyone; vBulletin provides lots of features and ways to customize them, but in the end, it’s up to the admins to put the time and effort into their community to make it unique.
Always remember: Make a backup of the forum files and the MySQL database before you change anything. This way you can always revert back to the latest working version.
And a final tip: Check up on the vBulletin online documentation!
- Manual: http://www.vBulletin.com/docs/html/
- API: http://members.vBulletin.com/api
Copyright ©2006 Original Author (MidnightPyro) and The vBulletin Fans Network (http://www.vBulletin-Fans.com/). vBulletin is a registered trademark of Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
vBulletin (http://www.vbulletin.com/) is an extremely powerful piece of software that allows communities to efficiently maintain their forum to be in peak working order. With so many communities starting up out their though, it’s extremely important to make sure your community is as unique as it possibly can be. Thankfully, vBulletin makes it extremely easy to do so. There’s a variety of ways you can make your community unique, attract more visitors, and keep the members you already have. This article will explore just a few of the ways this can be accomplished.
-- vBulletin.org (http://www.vbulletin.org/) Modifications: The Easy Way --
For all of us running 3.5.x out there, this is an extremely easy process. With your vBulletin license comes free access to official resource site vBulletin.org. Simply register there and follow the easy steps to receive access to all the resources, which includes language packs, template modifications, plugins, source code tweaks and full extentions All at no cost, free for download.
If you look under the forum layout, you will see a section (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=109) for vB 3.5. They are as follows:
Plugins
Simply follow the directions, which consist usually of going into your Administrator Control Panel, and simply uploading the modification. Your board is now equipped with this add-on.
(Some simple template editing required in some cases)
Extensions
Same as above, but uploading of a few extra files is required. An extension will usually add a completely new section to your forum, like a gallery or chat (http://www.vBulletin-Chat.com/).
Source Code Modifications
Requires editing the actual vBulletin source code. Not recommended for beginners and it sometimes can be daunting. We recommend to try and use a plugin instead of actually updating the source code.
Template Modifications
Simple modifications to change the look of your message board. The templates manage the layout and design of the forum's style.
Styles
Changes the color scheme or layout of your bulletin board. These can be extremely good for making your forum appear unique. Unlike a template modification these are complete themes.
Examples of Hacks:
Automatic Welcome PM (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=91729&highlight=PM) – Automatically sends a PM to a new user. You can customize the text you send and this can be a very good way to make new users feel at home.
vB Staff Titles (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93783&highlight=vB+Staff+Titles) – Gives each staff member an individual title outside of their own title
vB Journal (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=96462&highlight=vB+Journal) – Allows users to keep their own individual journal on the forum – recommended for larger boards, as there may not be enough users who wish to host their journal on smaller forums.
There are far more addons available at vB 3.5 that change the way vBulletin works or adds new features. These can go a long way in making your forum more unique or entertaining for new users. Don’t overload though – you don’t need an arcade, journal system, chat system, store system, and warning system if you have 10 users. Adding in these things gradually is usually always a good option.
--
There are some other things you can do to your vBulletin to make it more unique.
Modify Phrases: There are plenty of phrases that you may modify in order to make your bulletin board; for example, you may modify the phrase first_visit_message by going to your language and phrases option in the AdminCP. This is the message that’s displayed when a new user visits your website. Instead of the boring old default, modify it to something that’s unique to your site.
Add Creative Forum Descriptions: Forum descriptions can be downright boring. We’ll take, for example, a standard forum description:
“Site announcements posted here.”
That’s okay, but spice it up a little bit. Think about how much cooler it’d be if it read:
“The connection to the site’s news, information, and updates; be informed of site happenings!”
Don’t forget to modify your basic options!: Some options are deep and nestled within vBulletin. Remember to customize your vBulletin Options for your own individual board, as some things work better for different board types. vBulletin provides too many options to individually list that can be customized. Here’s a few examples:
Image/Graphic Websites may want to increase the image size limit, dimensions, or maximum space available to each users
Communities aimed at children might need to look into COPPA depending on their laws
Active communities may want to increase their PM box size (or decrease the PM box size to save space!)Remember everyone; vBulletin provides lots of features and ways to customize them, but in the end, it’s up to the admins to put the time and effort into their community to make it unique.
Always remember: Make a backup of the forum files and the MySQL database before you change anything. This way you can always revert back to the latest working version.
And a final tip: Check up on the vBulletin online documentation!
- Manual: http://www.vBulletin.com/docs/html/
- API: http://members.vBulletin.com/api
Copyright ©2006 Original Author (MidnightPyro) and The vBulletin Fans Network (http://www.vBulletin-Fans.com/). vBulletin is a registered trademark of Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.