View Full Version : vbulletin 4 a disappointment?
Is anyone else a little disappointed after seeing vbulletin.com running vb4? I was expecting a complete redesign all it is is the old templates without tables.
RedeemedWarrior
23 Oct 2009, 19:24
well i've looked at it there and can't say i'm impressed, i thought vb 3x series was a stronger showing than vb4
TNCclubman
23 Oct 2009, 19:24
its like Vista...
Other then the CMS they didn't introduce any features that make admins say I have to upgrade. That's key, and the CSS style big sites can pay a developer to make a CSS style and then they pretty much have vb4
Farcaster
23 Oct 2009, 19:45
If they delivered on the promise of integrating the blogs, articles and forums nicely, then that alone would make me much happier.
cheat-master30
23 Oct 2009, 19:58
I don't mind vBulletin 4 much. I'm certainly interested in using it when released, the style looks okay to me.
Winterfell
23 Oct 2009, 20:34
It certainly doesn't look new to me, if only because a lot of what they've done visually I've long been doing with my custom designs; albeit now it will be done without all the tables.
Haven't looked at it. Not interested.
Since they refuse to allow people to beta test it properly, as with previous releases, I want no part of it at all.
Brandon Sheley
23 Oct 2009, 20:38
I just wish it was faster
and b4 you say, well a lot of people are checking it out.. I've seen this forum just as busy and running just fine
\ps.. what's up with all the old announcements posted again today
http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=240
Boosted Panda
23 Oct 2009, 21:01
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Windows ME of forums has been introduces. The same thing as before with more crap.
Is anyone else a little disappointed after seeing vbulletin.com running vb4?
Not only a little bit. The first design-drafts, that were published by Kier, were new and innovative. The current vB4-style is the same old-fashioned table-style only a little bit more modern. Hopefully some good style-designers will fix that and offer here better styles.
Honestly the only thing that stops me from changing to IBP is the fact, that this community and the available hacks here are great and not reached by any other products.
Joerg
TNCclubman
23 Oct 2009, 21:08
I have a feeling they're going to rush to vB5 like Microsoft went to Windows 7...
ericgtr
23 Oct 2009, 21:30
Are we really giving it a fair shot folks? It's almost like they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. They were under a lot of pressure to get this out for a preview, granted they were asking us to pay blindly for a future update but they did give us what we were asking for and got the beta online in pretty short order all considering.
cheat-master30
23 Oct 2009, 21:55
Wait... two days upgrading is short order?
But seriously, I never got all the hatred of most of the vBulletin 4 style. Sure, some of the buttons are pretty boring and the smilies need massive changes, but it's not quite the trainwreck some people seem to be making it out to be. At least unlike some of Kier's style they changed all the images.
Adrian Schneider
23 Oct 2009, 21:58
Eric, I agree to an extent. I'm glad they listen to their customers and decided to put it up. However, it seems like they were not ready, and this was very rushed. Come on.... 24-36 hours downtime and an hour of instability and tons of errors is completely unacceptable. If I was relaunching a site and did that, I'd lose the contract and probably the client.... and yes, I have had to work with sites larger and busier than vBulletin.com, so that's not the issue here. They did not thoroughly test the site enough on their own environment. Sure, it's not the product's fault, but it's still very alarming because it's the same team.
The new style looks more like phpBB. I'm re-iterating a post of mine on vBulletin.com a little, and I apologize. There's not enough contrast... not enough attention drawn to key areas, and the new icons are terrible. It looks very amateurish, and I don't want to admit that because I'm a huge vBulletin fan.
I think the new style is a major step back visually. I'm excited to be able to modify it easier, though... so it's a bitter sweet moment. I was really looking forward to the screenshots from Kier because they captured the visual aspects of vBulletin 3 that I really liked, and also improved them to be more modern.
Honestly, I think if this was a random style released on vBulletin.org it wouldn't get much attention... I've seen better free ones.
KTBleeding
23 Oct 2009, 22:22
Yeah, the immature side of me only wants to post, "lol @ vb4", but the paying customer side of me wants to express how disappointing this is.
What's new? Tableless markup? Bravo, you're about six years too late, and the markup isn't anything to be excited about anyways. Two divs wrapping a ul just to display a bread crumb? Divs wrapping around heading tags? This excessive and unnecessary work is amateur at best. Creating a tableless layout is FAR more than just replacing your table tags with divs and spans, which it pretty much looks like is what happened. Who uses <hr />'s anymore? Seriously?
Okay, so that's me being picky, right? I guess.. I know one things for sure, it ticks me off that I've spend hundreds of dollars towards vBulletin when I've been much happier with other solutions that are : drumroll : open source. Doesn't that seem a bit backwards to you?
The design? It's awful. Terrible use of whitespace, terrible use of contrast, and SOOO many pointless features are being displayed. TONS of clutter.. You really need to see all of your "Posting Rules" on every bloody page? Didn't you learn ANYTHING from the 3.X series?
There's absolutely nothing that's innovative. This design looks exactly like every other message board does and has for YEARS.. They should have hired a professional design firm, and they should have created a "Skin" that changes the way forums work / look for years to come. Instead, they provided us with the same shit, different platform. What a joke for a commercial product.
Maybe there will be some tiny hope for vB5, but the way this has gone.. I'm skeptical. I don't think I've ever seen this many people upset with the status of vBulletin. What a sad day...
--------------- Added 1256336865 at 1256336865 ---------------
The new style looks more like phpBB.phpBB at least brought something new to the table.. Something unique. :erm:
puertoblack2003
23 Oct 2009, 22:29
personality i don't like it.the skin color is to bright for me. i had to add some contrast on my monitor so it wont hurt my eye's....The functions seem to be ok but nothing new to me.I couldn't get in to project tools and the blog.. I get that site unavailable page.
But people wanted to see so bad,so go see it now !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
edytwinky
23 Oct 2009, 23:13
The style has got to change. Its too bad on the eyes
ericgtr
24 Oct 2009, 00:01
Every time I change the theme on my site I always have to hear about it from my members, it's nice to see I'm not the only one. :)
It appears that they are going for a web 2.0 look, whatever really quantifies that is anyone's guess, but it could use a darker font.
Akademiks
24 Oct 2009, 00:07
Style its disappointingm even postbit, they really need a new designer
I'm starting to have my doubts on vb4, the design and postbit are awful.
I'd stay on vBulletin 3 anytime unless they changed but I already purchased my Suite license.
Shelley_c
24 Oct 2009, 01:15
A few little changes to the visuals and the style would be a whole kettle of fish. I quite like it on a active environment as hard as it may be to believe.
The problem i have and i find this odd. Whomever is the designer lacks consistency when designing throughout the style. Comparing the editor icons which have a superior visual presence to the smilies and post icons which look terrible.
Even some of the other icons throughout the style look like they where rushed and re-sized resulting in visual quality being compromised. If it's one thing a designers needs to have his the ability to have that innovative/creative hand which I'm not seeing with the graphics on the style
Medtech
24 Oct 2009, 01:29
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Windows ME of forums has been introduced. The same thing as before with more crap.
you mean vista?:eek:
vietfancy
24 Oct 2009, 01:37
I'm glad that I didn't make any pre-order.
:d
TNCclubman
24 Oct 2009, 02:53
technically speaking, its a huge letdown. I feel like its 2003.
What Style are they using is it custom designed for the site only ?
Winterfell
24 Oct 2009, 04:03
I haven't run vB board myself in years. I hold a license only as a designer-for-hire. A less-than-appealing default theme can be nothing but good for business. Every cloud has its silver lining! ;)
Baldilocks
24 Oct 2009, 04:07
Things I don't like so far:
1. Main text is WAY too small. (I know this can be changed thru CSS).
2. Text size is not consistent thru the whole forum.
3. The UserCP needs to re-styled into something visually appealing.
4. "Reply" and "Reply With Quote" do not bring up the advanced editor even if you have it as your default. Even after clicking Reply, you THEN have to click "Go Advanced" to bring up the full editor.
I say it will be ready in a year. :)
chikkoo
24 Oct 2009, 05:00
I have high expectations on VB4. Therefore, I am totally disappointed with regard to the design and look.
This makes me to feel as if I am using a free forum such as SMF.
What a waste of time, waiting for it long time, not worth to my wait.
Marco van Herwaarden
24 Oct 2009, 05:33
Thread closed as per Discussions on vBulletin 4 and licensing (http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=225368)
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