vBulletin 4 beta released

[Jamesy]

They aren't spontaneously going to rewrite the Admin CP. They are (according to Wayne Luke) modifying the Admin CP slightly over each minor release.

From what I've bothered to browse of vBulletin 4, I like.

Their template system has been fully rewritten so any previous skins from any previous versions will not work. I'm not a fan of their new template variable systems, a lot of vb:raw, vb:var, vb:phrase, vb:if, vb:urlencode. Although their new systems are more secure as they are automatically escaped/encoded. It'll just take a little time for me to get used to.

I wouldn't go as far as to say vBulletin 4 is crap. It's still in Beta, it still has a lot of bugs. I like the fact they used a more CSS-centered layout this time around - it allows for easier changing.

Personally i'm happy with vBulletin 4. I find it faster than vBulletin 3 anyway.

@HotelUser, that is probably Live Topic. It automatically makes a thread "Live" if it has been posted in in X minutes.

Licenses do not expire any more it is a one-time payment for each version. As soon as you buy vBulletin 4, you do not have to pay again for vBulletin 4. The only time you would need to pay is if you decided to upgrade from vBulletin 4 -> vBulletin 5.

I disagree that css makes for easier changing. They've made the css mimic tables which in my eyes means you may as well keep tables.

[joshuar]

To be honest, we are going to have to wait alot longer for vBulletin 4 to be breathtaking. It's seems to have improved in some areas and not improved too much in others. Personally I think a total rewrite from the ground up would have been better, as it's taking just as long to get a semi-finished vBulletin 4 out of the door.

The CSS from what is useable seems to be a let down, all it does is post articles, and to get it to be "Static content" you have to fiddle with settings, there should just be a static page in the ACP for that, similar to what vBAdvanced could do (even though that's not a CMS).

It's just seems to be a let down compared to how much they bigged it up.

[Irrorate]

I disagree that css makes for easier changing. They've made the css mimic tables which in my eyes means you may as well keep tables.

I'm glad we have a table-less layout for vBulletin 4. I find divs easier to work with than tables, and I hate tables, even though vBulletin 4 seems to have divitis.

Plus, the styles can be changed to suit any purpose. The stylevars take some getting used to - but they're a lot more secure now!

It's just seems to be a let down compared to how much they bigged it up.

Every business bigs up their products, it's how they sell. Regardless of how we decorate it up, Internet Brands is still a company. They are going to advertise their product to be the best for the purposes of selling their product.

I agree, vBulletin has a long way to go before it's going to be breathtaking. Everything can be improved and I am glad that Internet Brands are finally listening to customer feedback for vBulletin 4 and implementing it.