Thread

I have been using IPB from the very beginning of their lifespan.  I REALLY like it, however there is no way to use only one login between EE and IPB without spending a ton of money and having the connection possibly break with updates from either one so I’m considering purchasing the EE forum software.  I don’t really feel like paying the money for the hosted demo when I already know I’m buying the base EE software so I wanted to know if anyone has experience with both and what the key differences are.  I really want the unified login but I’m so spoiled on IPB I don’t want to miss any major features.  I’m pretty impressed with these forums considering EE is primarily a CMS, yet you guys have made better forum software than most of the dedicated forum software developers!

EDIT: Also if I skin the main site, how easy is it to apply to the forums from there?

I purchased my commercial license of EE tonight, so the sooner I hear back on this (or if someone knows where a forum admin demo is) the sooner I can buy it!

I’ve been putting it off for a while, but am definitely moving a project from IPB to EE.

Some people would say this is a downgrade in feature set. But IPB has got quirky/overcomplex templating and is so feature rich its verging on bloat—I have some users complain that it is too complex. (the post window is surrounded by millions of doodads/smileys, and other options!)

The EE forums are clean and simple. They may not have masses of features, but they have the core ones you need. Simplicity can be a plus for admin and users!

I have administrated both the EE forums (for a very short time) and IP.Board forums (for a fairly long time), and I do agree that IP.Board is overly complex and bloated for most purposes. Unless your forum is the focal point of your site and therefore may require things like powerful social networking features, IP.Board is a waste. Forums for most websites are used for very basic posting, things any forum package can do. I seldom see any advanced features be used, to be honest.

My one general complaint with EE forums are its very basic permissions and grouping options. Unless I am missing something (and I may be, only used the software for a week or so), you are unable to assign members to multiple groups. This is something I sorely miss from IP.Board, as are IP.Board’s better title/rank features.

Basically, my main problem with EE forums is the generally weak group and user management features (I suspect this is due to the integration with the EE core software). Everything else is top notch and works fine, and the integration is so nice - lots of things you can do because of it.

Anyway, I’d go for the EE forums. They are inexpensive, work well, and integrate superbly (obviously). They have a few feature weaknesses, but they are mostly insignificant.

Oh, as for skinning the forums to match your main site, it is definitely not simple, but then no forum software is simple to do a complete skin for in my experience. The number of things that must be accounted for is huge, unless you trim things down immensely. Just changing the colours of the default skin to match is doable in short order, but a complete revamp that alters table layout (or better yet removes tables and uses pure CSS for layout), adds graphics, etc., is no easy feat.

Thanks for the comments…I have no purchased the EE forums. 😊 It was $70 cheaper and integrates with my main EE installation, so far I’m pretty pleased but I’m still setting it up!

Yes, knowing html, css and a little php does help. for the most part EE’s forum is great but lacks all the years of modules, plugins and hacks that IPB has.. but, in time it will catch up.

Oh, and if you do know the above languages.. I see no reason why you couldn’t use hacks from other forums (wink)

I’m thinking about making the same move. But I have an issue: Does anyone know how to migrate ip.board database to EE? I want to keep my members and the 30,000+ posts they have made. It would be a shame to lose all of that.

I just asked a question about ee forum under general discussion. I have no clue if it is good or bad compared to vbulletin. any thoughts. Thanks and sorry for the double posts.

I have no experience with vbulletin, but I have replied to your other question. And, yes, please no double posts. I let that one slide, but please let’s keep the discussion over there.