How do you feel about ZetaBoards?

I don't want any of those comments saying that InvisionFree/whatever is better.

I just want some honest opinions. xD

On my browser (Opera) when I use [list] tags and [sup] tags, the text just disappears for me. XD And the whole [size=whatever] makes everything a lot bigger. It is good, but I would stick with invisionfree, personally. [=

I've been using it some, and while its different after using Invisionfree, it's actually quite nice. The Admin CP is fairly straightforward, and there's a lot of features you would have needed a code for before, such as multiple themes and extra profile options.

There are some things in there that baffled me at first, such as how to have a hidden category, or how to edit subforums after you've made them. I figured out how to do it after poking around (and getting angry about it), but it would've been nice if it was more clear.

Overall, it's a nice change from Invisionfree, and I'm willing to work with it in the hopes that it'll get better.

My experience with it is really limited, but it was enough to chase me away. I didn't like that I wasn't notified of new replies in threads I had posted it; whether ZB doesn't do that, or if it was just being screwy, I don't know. As a member, I just didn't really like the feel of it, but I'm kind of weird and picky like that.

I used Zetaboards for a while as the host of my board for writers (which is now known as Creative Muse Society, but was Inspired Writers). It was an okay host but it had some issues that wasn't too fond of. For example, despite having a thing for topic reply notifications (or rather, you can subscribe to a thread), you don't receive notifications. I think that's at least one of the major reasons the board was so inactive at that point, is because no one received emails letting them know when people responded. And I really wasn't able to do much of anything with the layout.

It's okay I guess if you want a basic bored, but honestly I wouldn't choose it as anything more than a last resort.

Edit: I took too long responding and didn't know someone else mentioned the notification thing, but...yeah. It scared me off from wanting to use Zetaboards. I thought it had been cool because it had some cool features that my other board host didn't have, but it turned out to be not so great.

I found the skinning easier to adapt than invisionfree, since I'm crap at CSS. I've never really tracked topics, so that wasn't an issue for me. But I couldn't figure out how to post HTML in threads (which was why I changed, because several BB tags weren't working on my invisionfree board). Oh, and I thought the member groups and permissions masks were better set up than on IF, but that could be because I set them up properly from the beginning, instead of implementing them as I went along.

I'm fairly certain that, by now, they've fixed the tracking topics issue.

I know we can't advertise in this board, but could those of you with ZB send me your links or link them temporarily in your signatures? I could really use some good examples of ZBs.

I can't. I deleted it because I'm addicted to the internet, and running a board with no activity was just making me worse.


... which is why I'm here. Obviously.


edit: It was inactive cos I made some bad decisions, not because it was on zetaboards, btw.

My friend and i set up our new Xmen RPG (see my sig) at zeta boards and so far i've found it really good. The theming was so much simpler to do than on invisionfree as the code was all well spaced and the support forums they had were really usefull.

I like also that the pm notifications aren't in a pop up window like they were on invisionfree, but on side of the board, meaning that my browser doesn't block them. But yeah it's still early days, but so far i really like Zeta.

I haven't really used it yet, but I'm not fussed on what I've seen, tbh.. That's only because I don't like the corporate look to it though, I prefer boards to look nice and homely and shtuff.. But that won't put me off using it if there's a site I really like the look of there, and until then I can't really give a proper opinion.

I probably never gave it a fair go, but I wasn't really all that impressed in the end. It's a very different feel to IF, and I suppose if it's what you learn on, there's no real issue.

But I wasn't comfortable with the software. What I managed to do, confused me, so I sort of gave up a little.. I am an Invision snob though, so take what I say with appropriate bias accounted for.

Do I say no to a board because it's Zetaboards? No. In fact, I'm a mod on a ZB site, and although I had to concentrate at first for the navigation of it, I'm slowly getting used to it.

Would I personally host my site on ZB? No. I find the admin CP quite easy to navigate, but the CSS drives me loco and I find that IF suits me better than ZB does as an admin.

Kitt5Roses, thanks for the example!

Yeah, I was certainly overwhelmed the first time I looked at the Admin CP. But, you know, I switched from ProBoards to ZB, and still figured out the Admin CP within half an hour, so not like it is difficult. It especially made things go quicker when I figured out that the buttons at the top were essentially 'quick links' for things they assume you'd use the most.

From a member standpoint, any complaints or kudos? Besides the probably-fixed-by-now thread notification feature.

At first I thought it was great because I'd been dying to have unllimited sub forums. But after I got my test board to check things out, I realized there were a lot of features that I no longer had. It was all very confusing. I rely on those features quite a bit and can't live without them. So I'm not converting my boards.

However, I did make a site to go along with my one RPG, AML. It's purely documentation for the characters on the main board. Some of the new features work great for that purpose.

There's a lot of things I hate and a few things I love. So I think I'm going ot wait and see what updates they make. I did notice that they have a pre-registration thingie now which kicks ass. But other than that, I hane't seen anything else.

I've never heard of it, I'll have to give it a look. I've gotta be honest though and I think downloading a forum service and uploading it via your own FTP is always the best option, that way you can install all the mods and plugins you want. Gives you full control, and those sites typically attract the most members and last the longest due to their ability to evolve.

Good luck!

I really like it. I do like IF, and I may use it again in the future, but ZB is really going where I want to go.

The CSS is actually working out great for me. There are some good docs on it out there, plus I found some nicely detailed and labeled screencaps of each part of the board, so I can easily find that certain part of the skin that I want to change. I've used IF for several years, and only this year have come upon ZB. Something about it has made me switch, since all three of my boards are now using it.

A couple of features I like, especially, are the re-ordering of forums and sub-forums, and the easy and convenient set up of themes and theme-switching.

Edit: Another thing I really like about it is the simplification of previewing my posts. It brings the preview right up on the same page, without your even having to load anew.

At one time I had a game hosted with Zetaboards and found it to be quite interesting; there were a lot of features that I found useful, while some just kind of made me go "... whats this for?". Personally, I don't think I'd ever use it again. A lot of my members come from Myspace, so having a system like Zetaboards is extremely confusing for them, since a lot of people are so used to what they've been doing its hard to adjust to a change like that. The admin CP for me is easily navigated, its laid out kinda simple in some ways and in others its too complicated. For instance, when creating a section, you have to go through all those clicks just to get a subforum. Gay much?

At first for me it was extremely confusing but now I wouldn't mind being on a board that used it. Basically I'm all over IP board. xD Its just far more customizable than Zetaboards is to me.

Horrible.

I detest Zetaboards, they seem to me to be too plain and simple. To me they seem to be big and blocky, and almost... too streamlined for my tastes : /

I know i may sound weird, but i just hate them. The ACP is set up horribly, on the test board i did i could barely find my way around it, and took me an hour to figure out how to change the skin : /

I'm with Delta on this, although I wouldn't call it horrible per se. There are those out there that find it fantastic. But we, apparently, are not part of the group. ;)