IPB 2.1 vs. vBulletin 3.5

[CrimsonBat]

I am very interested in both vBulletin and Invision Power Board. However, I can only choose one and thus require your opinions on these topics so I can see which one suits my needs better.

1- Skinning
In terms of Skinning, which one do you feel has the best skinnablility? Is it easier to skin with IPB or vBulletin? Why?

2- Management
I personally tried out the demos of IPB 2.1 Admin Panel and the vBulletin's demo. However, I noticed that IPB's seems to be much more professional than vBulletin and had a much cleaner feel. vBulletin's Admin Control Panel seemed to be a bit sour for my taste. Is there a way to change the style of the skin in vBulletin?

3- Modding
Both IPB 2.1 and vBulletin seem to have pretty good mods. Which one has more? Is it easier to mod with IPB or vBulletin?

4- Features
Both software are chock filled with features, so many that some people call a few of them "bloatware". But which one has the most features? Are the features in vBulletin or IPB what you consider to be "bloatware"? Are there features in vBulletin that IPB doesnt have? Are there features in IPB that vBulletin doesn't have?

5- Ease of Use
In terms of the criteria from the 1st 4 subjects, please tell me what you feel is the ease of use. With many features in both vBulletin and IPB, there comes the fact of the comfortable setting of getting something done. Which has the upside in ease of use?

-NOTE: Value and price is NOT a factor-

 

[PacMan]

This topic comes up very often here, so do a search to see what people have said in the past. Be carefull of the VB and IPB fanboys.....

1- Skinning
In terms of Skinning, which one do you feel has the best skinnablility? Is it easier to skin with IPB or vBulletin? Why?

From what I have read, VB is easier to skin

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14978

2- Management
I personally tried out the demos of IPB 2.1 Admin Panel and the vBulletin's demo. However, I noticed that IPB's seems to be much more professional than vBulletin and had a much cleaner feel. vBulletin's Admin Control Panel seemed to be a bit sour for my taste. Is there a way to change the style of the skin in vBulletin?

Yes, there are several preinstalled skins available for the control panel

3- Modding
Both IPB 2.1 and vBulletin seem to have pretty good mods. Which one has more? Is it easier to mod with IPB or vBulletin?

VB 3.5, has a plugin system that will retain all mods that are coded as plugins whenever you upgrade.

 

[mobo]

Be carefull of the VB and IPB fanboys.....

Thats about covers it right there. Try out the demo versions then formulate based on what you like. Things like this tend to be opinionated and not factual.

 

[Outumuro]

I would tend to agree with mobo. Which is better of anything is very subjective. Try the demos out for yourself. Install vB and IPB (and some others just for balance) and give them a "test drive".

 

[ocworld]

I had a similar decision to make as you did and I chose IPB. To be quite honest, I have been a little disappointed with it - I had problems installing it and then found that features which I had expected weren't there . Also note that IPB 2.1.1 has just come out and so has very limited mods and skins available anyway you can also choose to download a previous version.

 

[bradley]

i'm annoyed at both of these software's search engine unfriendliness

e.g. using &getlastpost instead of anchor links, which just creates duplicate pages in the listings

 

[Zachery]

One thing makes them entirely unfriendly?

 

[Scribbller]

Well I love IPB and VB both (got a license for both) but lately I have been noticing that all IPB boards look alike no matter which skin you choose you can quickly say hey thats an IPB as soon as you visit a site you cant do that about VB.

 

[cricketville]

Is it just me, or is IPB 1.3 far better to customise a unique look than 2.1.1 ? Like the poster above mentioned, all 2.1.1 boards look the same no matter what you do.

IMO, if you're looking for skinning effectiveness, IPB 1.3 > vB >> IPB 2.x.x . But since there would be many exploitable security holes in 1.3 by now considering how long its been out there, vB seems the better choice from a skinning pov than IPB 2.x.x..

 

[Chit_n_Chat]

IPB 1.3 isn't avalible any more is it?

 

[Homerun]

I believe it is via most cPanel's.

 

[gprime]

@ Chit and Chat, officially speaking its no longer "okay" to distribute it. But a few websites have the neccissry zip files. I can PM you a link if you so desire.
@Homerun, that is no longer true. Its been, or is supposed to be, removed from newer versions. (I might be wrong)

Now as to the original topic, I used to be an IPB fanboy. And while I love the new software (2.1), I have to throw my support in for vB. 3.5 is incredible.

 

[PacMan]

Now as to the original topic, I used to be an IPB fanboy. And while I love the new software (2.1), I have to throw my support in for vB. 3.5 is incredible.

What led you to switch sides?

 

[gprime]

A poke around the acp of both, looking at how IZE is declining, while sites like vbulliten.org are getting better, the implementation of ajax, and so forth. Now, if only I could raise the capital to get a vB license for my new non-profit, educational profit.

 

[Bendo]

IPB are now upto 2.1.3. Thats a a lot of releases in a short period. If I was after a board, based on that I'd have to go vB.

 

[_| () R | Z]

IPB are now upto 2.1.3. Thats a a lot of releases in a short period. If I was after a board, based on that I'd have to go vB.

so because they release a new version after every fixed bug, they are better?

 

[PacMan]

VB had a lot of releases with the 3.0x series this early this year.

 

[dieselpowered]

IPB are now upto 2.1.3. Thats a a lot of releases in a short period. If I was after a board, based on that I'd have to go vB.

Where did you see they were up to 2.1.3?? I only see 2.1.2.

 

[dieselpowered]

so because they release a new version after every fixed bug, they are better?

No he is saying that due to the fact that they continue to realease new versions often due to bugs that vb is better to go with.

 

[Bendo]

Where did you see they were up to 2.1.3?? I only see 2.1.2.

Whoops sorry, meant 2.1.2. Still thats two minor releases within a month of the major being released which isn't too good.