Right now I was looking around and checking ZetaBoards Directory, well, it seems that people are getting around on the coding issues and the skinning support have improved a lot, I've found a quite good skins and it seems that now people are getting comfortable with it.

I'm not even near of releasing my board, I just found that my idea should be entirely re-worked since I found holes that should be fixed in the storyline and etc and I'm not satisfied yet... I've been even thinking about changing the focus of my board entirely, but I've been using this time for looking around for what would be the better forum software and thinking about giving a chance to ZB...

Technically, all the functions I'll be needing I can find in IPBFree and after looking around for some code snippets, I can also have them in IF and even proboards but I mean... now that the user base for ZB is growing and people are focusing on it, I"ve been thinking if is not the time to break from the safe-ground of modded IPB 1.3 and going in the wild unexplored grounds of ZB. I had a test board back in the beta stages but the userbase wasn't into skinning or modding it because those boards would be wiped and no one would know about what was would stay for the final release, but now there are people working on those aspects since it's now a stable release.

I want sincerely know what you people think of ZB now that the hype about it's release has passed, it has a supporting user base and people are not turning noses at it because is not a carbon copy of IF. Do you think is worthy? Have you thought on how to explore the built in options to improve RP experience?

Thanks in advance ^_^

I'm using a ZB, I think its simple and functional, a clean sleek look, but just haven't gotten around to skinning the board from head to toe because its new css to get used to. Its just time consuming, but I'll have to get to that eventually.

I used the custom profile fields a "money" hack, that only admin can edit, other than that I havent

I like that avatars are automatically centered and it done through css not java codes ;P I added a automatic border to them as well

I adore ZetaBoards so much that I didn't wait for the conversion process. We just up and moved everything by hand. Whether that was good or not remains to be seen, but I wasn't willing to wait.

The change in BBCode is slightly annoying (font sizes aren't SIZE= tags anymore) and subscribing to topics isn't as easy as IF, but other than that I've had a field day changing all my preferences. The custom profile fields are particularly helpful and creating multiple themes (which we haven't gotten around to quite yet) is really simple.

There aren't a lot of good skins out there right now, but there are some really decent ones. Whenever I've needed documentation, I've been able to find the help on the Support forums.

ZB really knows how to make Admin functions more efficient too. It's a more advanced set-up than IF, and you'll get some headaches trying to figure out the subforum system :angry: But once you figure it out, it's a simple process of planning ahead.

To improve the RP experience, we use the custom profile fields and set those to show up in the user panel. It gives a lot of information about the character without forcing people to read through a long application just to figure out where this character is from or what class they are.

Thanks, I guess since I've returned to the drawing board I'll have lot's of time to figure out things in the board software, test codes and try to get used to its CSS.

While I'm not sure of what software I'll use, I'm pretty sure I could benefit from some functions in ZB like the custom profiles since I won't have to use lot's of complicated coding to add faux custom profile fields and have the risk of have code conflict.

May I ask you what you guys had most trouble when actually releasing a board to the public instead of a testing run? How your members actually reacted to the change? They are liking the software and/or had any complaint?

For me, the biggest problem was that we moved, we didn't start a brand new board. All of our threads about rules, process, applications, and all that good stuff had to be converted by hand. We have a very stylized format that had to basically be redone because of the different BBCode.

And then there was the fact that I nearly ripped my hair out trying to set up the sub-forums. It a ... err, different ... set-up than InvisionFree, and I didn't realize exactly how different until it was too late :angry: I had to redone over half my work on setting up forums.

As for how the members are taking it ... we'll see. I can't quite figure out how they're reacting yet. When we announced the move, we got no complaints or cries of protest from the very active members. I'll take that as a good sign until I'm told otherwise. :lol:

Out of curiousity, does ZetaBoards have a mod installer at all?

I'm sorry. I'm not familiar with the term mod installer?

The ability to give certain users mod abilities is built in. When you do a member search, next to their name are the options to Ban, give Mod Ability, or Edit. You can also assign certain accounts specific tasks in the ACP, such as editing members or skinning.

Is that at all close to mod installer?

Err.. No.. Like on ipbfree, they have a mod installer, with like a shop, arcade, shoutbox, topsite, etc.. Does Zeta Boards have that?

From what I've got no, you have to set up those by code snippets just like IF

Hmm okay.

I do like the "add webpages" thing that they have. That would be quite useful..

I tried Zetaboards but I didn't like it. Nothing about it made me want to learn more. Then I tried IPBfree which is basically the same thing but I picked it up in 2 or three days. Ipbfree doesn't have unlimited subforums though.

I hated ZB the first time I tried it too. Part of that is that they make the template look so clunky. But I gave it a second chance and really did some exploring in the ACP. I think it's one of the best out there. It's miles better than InvisionFree. I don't know much about IPBFree, though.

I thought the same thing. And I really don't like the way ZB looks. The admin panel is nice, but skinning is not as flexible.

IPBFree is the same software as IF, with the same admin panel. They just add a bunch more features, like being able to install mods like a store, arcade, and my personal favorite is the members online today (I just like seeing all those pretty colors every day). You can also add multiple skins, track bots that come to the site, and add custom profile fields (which I use all the time).

I actually loved zetaboards from the first that I saw of it. The layout is clear and easy to follow for an admin and has loads of highly useful features, like the built in trash can and the ability to queue (hide) posts and topics.

The ACP isn't set up quite like an Invision Power Board, but it doesn't take long to understand since everything is fairly self-explanatory. Heatherbee slightly dramatized the subforum issue - it's not as hard to manage as it sounds from her above description (I've showed her where her problem was at our rpg already). Really, the only significant drawbacks in my opinion are that you can't pre-register users through the ACP, two places just have unmarked boxes for links so sometimes you have to guess at where it will take you in the ACP (ergo I created a little guide to make things easier after clicking on each link on my own...), and there aren't a lot of nice skins out there yet - and those are all highly trivial things.

The only thing I would really trade a zetaboard for is a very up-to-date version of Invision Power Board, and then maybe not even.

Now you're just being mean.

Elliot did have a good laugh at my expense as he posted a tutorial on the sub-forums for me. Okay, so it's not quite as difficult to figure out as I made it.

Maybe the issue is that not everything in the ZetaBoards ACP is as intuitive as InvisionFree. A lot of it is easier to figure out, but not everything.

I almost want to create a test board on IPBFree now to see what it's like. I've only visited those sites. I've never managed one or been a member of one before. It sounds like it has a lot of good features, though.

I just found an advantage of ZB over IPBFree, if you think your site has grow enough or you feel more comfortable with migrating to another software or hosting it yourself, by paying a fee, they can send you backup of your forum.

IPBFree says they can't do it because their software is so heavily modified that converting back to the IPB 1.3 format request too much work and they can guarantee that there would be no losses of information (as it happened in the past) and then they choose to don't offer this service.

That's enough reason to me for cutting of IPBFree from my hosting choice, though it don't rule out IF since they also provide backups of the database.

I really love Zetaboards. It has a lot of functionality even without the use of hacks and codes. I see that a lot of people have managed to install user-made codes on their ZB forums but for some reason I can't. Regardless, I'm very satisfied with how things have been going.

I didn't mind ZB too much when my site was converted over to it. Other than the fact that the size codes were different and my entire board was rather odd looking due to that. But for some reason my computer decided that it wanted to load the pages for it really slowly. That's the only problem I had with it.