Customizing Your vBulletin Board
There are a number of commercial hacks available for vBulletin—far too many to list them all here. However, here are a few of the more popular ones:
•PhotoPost PHP Pro—http://www.photopost.com—photo gallery software
•PhotoPost Classifieds—http://www.photopost.com/class—classified advertisement system
•ReviewPost PHP Pro—http://www.reviewpost.com—product review software
•vbAdvanced—http://www.vbadvanced.com—content management system (The main content management system software is free, but there are commercial add-ons available.)
•VirtuaNews—http://www.virtuanews.com—website creation tool (This integrates with vBulletin.)
Treat commercial hacks in the same way as free hacks:
•Always make a backup of the forum and database before installation.
•Always keep an unedited copy of all the files you update.
•Do a dry run before the actual installation to make sure that the instructions are clear and unambiguous before you begin.
•Test the hack thoroughly after installation.
•Keep a backup of the hack.
For more details on commercial hacks for vBulletin, visit the official vBulletin site
(http://www.vbulletin.com).
Summary
This chapter has been all about making modifications and customizations to your vBulletin installation. We've tried to cover a broad range of modifications in this chapter, from simply changing a few stylesheet settings to making modifications to the vBulletin templates and PHP files.
The purpose of this chapter is to show you what's possible—no one is saying you must hack your board, and there are many good communities out there that are running on boards that have minimal customizations. However, many administrators do feel that their boards need a certain level of customization and modification.
If you're just starting to set up a vBulletin board, then you probably feel that you have enough to do right now, but over time, as you get everything in place and you have more time on your hands, you will find your mind wandering to changes that would be useful. This is when you can really start to put what you've learned in this chapter to good use!
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