Okay, let's get into the christmas spirit and think P. P for positive, P for progressive evolved advancement. P for practicality. P for Peter even. Heck let's throw in a number which today folks is the number 12. So this thread agenda is for positive things you see in vbulletin 4. It could be anything from code related to graphic related, even feature related anything. But the goal of this thread is to say nice, positive things not anything negative that might annoy people. So I'll start. I quite like the attachment manager, or at least, the last time I tinkered around with it I did. though it could be little more friendly but it's........ swell. (Reminder to shelley: Insert happy smiley to convey your happiness with vb4 the end of this post). *watches tumble weed roll past*
The new asset manager was what really got me excited about vB 4, but from what I read, there are apparently some major usability issues with it. I also like the fact that vB 4 offers SE-friendly URLs and sports a sitemap generator. They are of no use to me, because I leave SEO to the experts at vBSEO, but it's still nice to see attempts at advancement in that aspect. I guess it's a step forward that most of the style is CSS-based, too. The new style is a step in the right direction, albeit a very small step, I'm sure they'll get it right in time. The CMS is a nice basis for something that I hope evolves into a very usable and efficient product, unlike its current state. That's all I can think of for now.
I like the shape of the product. It's better than the rigid hard corners it used to have. Everything is soft now, where you can play with it, and make it hard corners and rigid if you want to with CSS (if it's using webkit) or graphics.
I haven't paid any attention to vB4 yet, but I want to personally thank Shelly for sucking it up and posting this thread. I won't say what my previous thoughts were.
GDK for the graphics? That package you can download that has the default graphics where you can change the color and what not?
The GDK gives you oversized, layered Photoshop files so you can change just about every element independently from all others.
Quite alot of the images aren't css. Threadmarkers, editor icons, post icons forum status icons, smilies and possibly a few others. I'm curious to know whether vbulletin solutions took my suggestion in slicing the gdk like ipb did years ago way back in 1.3. And properly layer the images without embedding images making re-colouring a pain. The gdk will answer alot of questions that I put forth. Like you know, you can never get a straight up response so viewing the gdk in some shape or form will allow me to see my questions confirmed or dismissed.
I love how vB4 is completely CSS-based... however, the current StyleVar spoils all that work for me. It seems impossible to just grab the CSS files and edit them manually...
One of the main reasons I prefer vB over many other packages is the ease of templating. Is that gone now???
Not really; the syntax has just changed, which is probably the most confusing change in regards to templating.
Holyshit... I just found out the best thing ever on vB 4 =O .... a tableless markup!! that is the coolest thing about vB themes (and the only one I've found so far).
The ground work is being laid for it to become a really powerful social networking communication tool...that, I can say, is a good thing.
The ability to perform loops within templates, thus reducing the need to create "bit" templates, the Asset Manager, and the new Content Type framework.