All About vBulletin

vBulletin (abbreviated as vB) is a commercial Internet forum package produced by Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. Written in PHP using a MySQL database server, it is comparable to other forum software such as Invision Power Board, Simple Machines Forum, UBB.threads and MyBulletinBoard.

Who Is Jelsoft?

Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd is a UK based new media company specialising in developing low-cost, high-performance web applications. We aim to maximise the end-user’s community experience, while maintaining a powerful set of administration tools to put you in full control of your community. We have over 6 years of online experience, working with community driven sites since the birth of the internet as we know it today.

Jelsoft’s flagship product, vBulletin, has created vibrant communities wherever it goes. A stable and mature product, written with security and speed in mind, it has excelled in situations where other products would buckle under the load. It has been tested in real-life situations with over 1000 users online at the same time, and with over 3 million posts. In addition, Jelsoft provides world-renowned technical support, with the average support ticket answered within 3 hours, at any time of the day or night, 7 days a week.

What Are vBulletin’s Features?

vBulletin is server requirements include at least; PHP 4.3.3 running alongside MySQL 4.0.16. Although to get the most out of vBulletin Jelsoft recommend running PHP 4.4.2 or 5.1.2 or later, with MySQL 5.0.19 or later. vBulletin’s key features include:

• Fast and efficient database back end
• Template driven interface
• Powerful search engine
• Language system
• User profiles
• Extensive admin control panel
• Unlimited forums/posts
• Email notification
• Support for COPPA

What vBulletin Versions Are There?

Since the initial release of vBulletin in 2000, there have been many improvements of the software. Below is a list of the major revisions and what they improved on from the previous version.

vBulletin Version 3.5

vBulletin 3.5 addressed some of the shortcomings of version 3.0. Here are a few of the changes:

• A plugin system that allows for modifications of the software without the need to edit the program scripts. This allows a forum operator to keep their modifications (called “hacks” in the vBulletin community) and not having to re-edit scripts after upgrading.
• AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript And XML) (Asynchronous Javascript and XML) editing of thread titles and post content.
  
  Inline moderation, allowing forum operators to manage threads and posts on their board without having to go through intermediary steps.
• An API system (referred to as “data managers”) to let third-parties integrate more easily.
• Template history and comparison where administrators can store a specific revision of a template into the database, which can be arbitrarily compared against each another.
• MySQLi wrapper that adds support for MySQL 4.1.
• A database-stored thread marking system. Previous versions of vBulletin relied on a varible stored in the database, and also a cookie, to store information about what threads had been read and not read by the user. However, this information was volatile and did not keep; plus if you merely idled for 15 minutes (some forums have longer timeouts, 15 minutes is the default) this information would be lost.

vBulletin Version 3.0

Initially, version 3.0 was intended to be an extension of the 2.x release that would improve performance and user experience. However, as time progressed, it proved to be a complete rewrite. Some of the key advantages over vBulletin 2 are:

• The templates and style use XHTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
• None of the language displayed by vBulletin is hard-coded in English: there’s support for multiple languages.
• A WYSIWYG editor for users to post in.
• Paid subscriptions that allow administrators to charge for certain features of their site.
• Multiple views for threads: linear (a flat system), threaded (display of the entire thread tree), and hybrid (a combination of both).

vBulletin Version 2.x

vBulletin 2 is no longer under active development, except for security updates. When this version was released, it had numerous new features over vBulletin 1, which it replaced:

• Private messaging to allow users to communicate in private.
• Polls could be attached to threads.
• Nested forums of unlimited depth. This allowed forums to be children of each other without constraints.
• User avatars.
• A user control panel that allows users to control various board options.

vBulletin Version 1.x and vBulletin Lite

Development of vBulletin 1 is no longer active; also, it is no longer a supported release.

vBulletin 1 was the initial release of vBulletin, sporting the same features as UBB.classic. The release was very popular as it was one of the first systems that was written using PHP and MySQL that had the features of UBB.

vBulletin Lite was a degraded version of the 1.x series that allowed potential customers to test their server for compatibility with vBulletin. The product was discontinued after vBulletin 2 because there were security issues and it was out of date, and Jelsoft did not want to spend resources into maintaining a non-commercial product.