Building Forums with vBulletin Ebook

Building Forums with vBulletin Ebook - Opis

Written specifically to allow you to create a discussion forum, vBulletin, provides all of the tools, features and functionality for you to set up and develop a vibrant community. Because it specializes in this one aspect of your website, all the features are geared towards this goal, and you can leave the improvement and additions to the vBulletin developers while you get on with managing the rest of your website. If you are either already running a community forum based on vBulletin, or are planning on establishing one, then this is the book for you. This book will guide you through installing, configuring, managing and maintaining a vBulletin discussion forum on your own website. The book begins with the initial installation and configuration of vBulletin on your system. You will then go on a tour of vBulletin and its features, for both users and administrators. This will grow your understanding and familiarise you with the power and possibilities of vBulletin. vBulletin's Administration Control Panel is where you can control every aspect of your board. From users, forums and word filters to skins, templates and maintenance, everything can be done through the web-based control panel. The book devotes significant sections to covering these, getting you up to speed on the options available to you, and offering advice to help you make the right choices with your board administration. To make your forums stand out from the rest, we cover skins and templates to take your first steps in customising your forum. vBulletin is one of the most popular forum platforms available. (...) więcej Well known for its power and speed, it drives many of the most popular discussion forums on the Internet. Spis treści:
Building Forums with vBulletin
Table of Contents
Building Forums with vBulletin
Credits
About the Authors
Preface
What This Book Covers
Conventions
Reader Feedback
Customer Support
Downloading the Example Code for the Book
Errata
Questions
1. Introduction to the vBulletin Board
What is vBulletin?
Why Have a Discussion Board?
Benefits of a Discussion Board
Why vBulletin?
History
Development
The vBulletin Advantage
Versatile
Performance
Customizable
Easy to Maintain
Other Features
vBulletin Licensing Options
Leased License
Owned License
Choosing a License
Example vBulletin Sites
Summary
2. Installing and Configuring vBulletin
Requirements
Disk Space
Bandwidth
System Resources
Shared Hosting
Semi-Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated Hosting
Other Options
Installing vBulletin
Tools
Downloading the Installation Files
File Extraction
Upload Preparation
Creating the Database
Command-Line Database Creation
cPanel Database Creation
File Editing
Uploading the vBulletin Files
Running the vBulletin Installation Script
Troubleshooting
Database Access Issues
Images/Styling Not Showing
PHP Errors
The vBulletin Control Panel
Importing Data into vBulletin

Downloading the ImpEx Script
Compatibility
Preparing for Upload
Editing the Configuration File
Target Database Settings
Source Database Settings
Upload the ImpEx Script
Running the ImpEx Script
Default Usergroups
Securing vBulletin
Help & Support
Summary
3. A Tour of vBulletin
The vBulletin User Experience
How to Get to the Board?
What the End Users See
Site Logo
Forum Title, Login Box, and Navbar
Welcome Banner
Main Body of the Forum
Whats Going On
Footer
Touring the Main ForumUnregistered Users
No "New Threads" for Unregistered Users
Registering on a vBulletin Board
Touring the ForumMembers
New Threads
Replying
Editing a Message
Private Messages
BB Code
What Does BB Code Look Like?
Using BB Code
User Tools
Display Modes
Navbar Changes for Members
The vBulletin Administrator Experience
Forum and Thread Tools
vBulletin Options
vBulletin Option Tools
Forum Management
Editing and Adding Forums
Editing Existing Forums
Moderation Options
Forum Styling
Access Control Options
Forum Posting Options
Enable/Disable Features
Branding
Changing the Logo
Undoing the Change
Summary
4. Customizing Your vBulletin Board
Types of Customization
CSS Modifications
Changing the Table Title Text
Viewing Changes
Undoing the Changes
Phrase Modifications
Searching for Phrases
Making Changes
Viewing the Changes
Undoing Changes
Template Modifications
Accessing Templates
Exploring a Template
Template Structure
Adding a FORUMHOME Sidebar
Two Changes
PHP Code Modifications
PayPal Modification
File Modification
Hacks
Pros and Cons of Hacking a vBulletin Board
Finding a Hack
Installing a Hack
Backing Up a Hack
Commercial Hacks
Summary
5. Administering Your Forum
Setting Up a Forum
Creating the Forum
Forum Permissions
Viewing Permissions
Opening the Forum
Super Administrators
Creating a Super Administrator
Other Changes to the config.php File
Admin Log Viewing Permission
Admin Log Pruning Permission
Query Running Permission
Undeletable and Unalterable Users
Maintaining the Database
Backing Up the Database
Repairing and Optimizing the Database
Some Maintenance Issues
Smilies
Editing a Smilie
Adding a New Smilie
Uploading a Smilie
Creating Your Own Smilies
Avatars
Adding Avatars
Storing Avatars
Summary
6. Upgrading vBulletin
When to Upgrade
Preparing for Upgrade
Migrating Changes
File Compare Utilities
Uploading the Files
Running the Upgrade Script
Testing the Upgrade
Unveiling the Upgrade
Summary
7. Changing the Look of vBulletin
Styling vBulletin
Template Lifecycles
Lifecycle 1Constant Change
Lifecycle 2Working Behind the Scenes
Editing the Default Style
Changing Image Paths
Other Editable Elements
Some Tips about Editing Styles
Adding a New Style
Editing the Style
Saving the Style
Downloading the Style
Making the New Style into the Default
Distributing a Style
Installing a New Style
Summary
8. Developing a Hack
Hacking vBulletin
Making the Changes
Locating the Template
Hacking the pm_newpm Template
Testing the Hack
Hack Distribution
Tips for Hack Distribution
Plugins and Products
Getting Plugins and Products
Adding a Product
Adding a Plugin
What If Things Go Wrong?
Summary
9. Programmer's Reference
Default Usergroup Settings
(COPPA) Users Awaiting Moderation
Administrators
Moderators
Registered Users
Super Moderators
Unregistered / Not Logged In
Users Awaiting Email Confirmation
Banned Users
Default vBulletin Database Tables
Moving Servers in Six Easy Steps
Cookie Check
Back up Database
Download the vBulletin Files
Transfer to New Server
Database Restoration
Back Online
Graphics
Global Post Text Find and Replace
Programming Standards
Braces
Indenting
Give Operators Space
String Quoting
Return Values
AND and OR
AS
SQL Queries
Naming Conventions for Functions
Summary
A. vBulletin Directory Structure
vBulletin Directory Structure
Notes
B. vBulletin Resources, Hacks, Add-ons, and Templates
Official vBulletin Sites
Main vBulletin Hack Site
vBulletin Styles and Templates
vBulletin Add-Ons
General Discussion BoardRelated Sites
Index mniej