vBulletin 4 Series Development Update

**ArnyVee** · 12-16-2008, 03:10 PM

The vBulletin 4 project is progressing quickly and we are in a position to share some further information about what to expect in our next new major version release.

In August, we announced a major overhaul of the code base. Rather than targeting all of these changes in a single, long-term release, we intend to accomplish all the planned improvements over a number of versions. In order to achieve this goal, the largest vBulletin development team ever assembled is now working within an Agile development process, allowing us to deliver new features into your hands faster.

Each incremental release in the vBulletin 4 series will include improvements in features, usability and architecture. Development efforts are prioritized towards those areas that can provide real, tangible benefits to our customers, at all times with an eye toward maintaining and enhancing the performance and reliability expected of a vBulletin product.

The goal of the vBulletin 4 series is to develop a modern, scalable application platform that will allow your communities to thrive.

Key features and improvements that will be included in the first vBulletin 4 release are:

* Cross-content search system providing a single interface to search across forum posts, blog entries and comments and other supported products
* Improved search performance
* A fresh design and layout making use of semantic markup and CSS styling
* An enhanced style and template system to enhance your ability to change the layout
* Controls to assist with the placement of advertising elements
* SEO features, including friendly URLs
* A centralized attachment system, allowing the sharing of attachments across products

Alongside significant strides forward within the vBulletin forum product, we are also producing a new content management system to facilitate the creation, editing and publishing of non-forum pages. Further details about CMS features, and how it will integrate with vBulletin will be posted in due course.

We are working hard and plan to have vBulletin 4.0 released in beta form in early Q2 of 2009.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continuing support of vBulletin. We are really excited about version 4, and we're looking forward to bringing you further updates via general announcements and periodic development blog posts focusing on individual areas.

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showt...31#post1664331

**ArnyVee** · 01-22-2009, 01:04 PM

vBulletin 4.0 will include a few features that will help your community content be better indexed by search engines.

Search engine optimisation is an inexact science, and when putting together the slate of features we spent time researching the latest thinking around what factors lead to positive benefits, including absorbing existing research on sites such as seomoz.org.

The features that have been created for vBulletin 4.0 are the main factors that we consider will have the greatest positive impact in terms of search engine ranking. Instead of including hundreds of options that can be infinitely tweaked, the features chosen consist of semantic HTML packed with content meta-data, the reduction in the amount of duplicate content and search engine friendly URLS for forums, threads and member profile pages.

Built in features

Keyword Use in Title Tag - The HTML title of the key vBulletin pages now better represents the content within the page, and extraneous information (such as "Page x") have now been removed.

NOFOLLOW tag for all external links.

Duplicate content reduced - by altering the operation of the showpost.php file to redirect cleanly to showthread.php.

Meta description and keywords - now populated with relevant, meaningful page level content, including tag data and content snippets.

Friendly URL options

For 4.0, there is a new area within the admin control panel that will allow you to switch on friendly URLs that will work in conjunction with server redirects (.htaccess) where supported.

For threads, the following URL structures for threads, member profiles and forums are created for each of the options:

Standard URLs - as exists at present:

* showthread.php?t=12345
* member.php?u=12345
* forumdisplay.php?f=123

Basic Friendly URLs:

* showthread.php?1234-Thread-Title
* member.php?1234-Username
* forumdisplay.php?12-Forum-Title

Advanced Friendly URLs

* showthread.php/1234-Thread-Title
* member.php/1234-Username
* forumdisplay.php/12-Forum-Title

Mod Rewrite Friendly URLs

* threads/1234-Thread-Title
* members/1234-Username
* forums/1234-Forum-Title

Search Engine Sitemap

vBulletin 4.0 will include a built in XML site map system that provides a machine readable index of forum posts and threads.

Google and other supported search engines will be able to access the sitemap, which will facilitate a greater amount of site content being included within the search engine index.

If you have any questions, suggestions or thoughts on the planned SEO functionality for vBulletin 4.0, please post a comment. Thanks!

More development blog posts coming soon.

-James

**Brandon Sheley** · 01-22-2009, 03:24 PM

I think it's funny how the vb dev team was so against "friendly" url's, and now they are adding them

That's okay, I'll keep using vbseo till it dies out

**Noodles** · 01-22-2009, 04:05 PM

It sounds like they're doing this half assed, I won't be moving away from vbseo anytime soon

**Soliloquy** · 01-23-2009, 10:55 PM

That content management system sounds like it will be another paid add-on.

**Brandon Sheley** · 04-23-2009, 08:08 AM

info and pictures on 4.0 development

First Look: The vBulletin 4.0 Style - vBulletin Community Forum

**juster** · 04-23-2009, 12:12 PM

Forgive me not being impressed...

**Caddyman** · 04-23-2009, 01:08 PM

i think the screens look nice...IMO

**Rocket 442** · 04-23-2009, 01:47 PM

It's alright. The Forumhome looks pretty bad, but I don't mind the rest of it.

**KevinL** · 04-23-2009, 01:54 PM

I actually like it a lot. It's an improvement over the default now

**Brandon Sheley** · 06-25-2009, 11:01 AM

By way of dev update, there are two major tasks remaining before we release the vB Forums for alpha testing:

Finish porting the new vB4 style into templates. In terms of developer-hours, this is the largest single task of the project, and because of the natural flow of development, it happens to come at the very end.

Pre-alpha regression testing. The alpha release is the earliest point at which a build is usable without major problems, so this round of testing is to make sure that the release doesn't just fall over as soon as it's installed.

Alpha will proceed in two phases: Forums first, then the full Suite. Beta will probably also be phased, but we are leaving ourselves the option of starting beta for Forums and Suite at the same time if it makes sense to do so.

Also, thanks to the hundreds of you who have applied to participate in beta testing, and especially for following the application instructions so closely. (For those who have tried email, voice mail, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, carrier pigeons and smoke signals, you get props for creativity, but please help me out and see my previous post.)

In answer to a few FAQs:

When will pricing and licensing be announced?

When all of the details are worked out. (I know it seems like it should be easy, but trust me on this, it's harder than it looks.) This will be near the time of the gold release.

When will that be?

As soon as possible, but my best estimate at the moment is August, hopefully early in the month. Yes, we were hoping to be able to release before the end of Q2, but while everyone has been working hard and fast, we're committed to take the time necessary to get it right before releasing. We know you expect nothing less. :-)

Hurry up! Move Faster! No, wait, take your time! Make it better!

There are currently more people working on vBulletin that at any time in the product's history, and the pace is intense. We are moving as fast as a software project of this size can move.

In parallel with the template porting describe above, we have decided to also take some extra time to beef up some aspects of the CMS, which we feel is a wise investment of time.

More to come as events unfold...
vB4 Development Update - vBulletin Community Forum

**FoxyWL** · 06-25-2009, 02:23 PM

Brandon will you be one of the testers of vb4?

**Brandon Sheley** · 06-25-2009, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FoxyWL

Brandon will you be one of the testers of vb4?

I've not gotten a response from Ray, so I doubt it

**Nick R** · 06-25-2009, 06:51 PM

Well they haven't even begun alpha testing, so I'm sure they haven't even gotten around to organizing the beta testers - so you just may get lucky. I hope you do.

**Mike54** · 06-26-2009, 06:43 AM

Didn't I read somewhere the alpha testers are also going to be the beta testers?

Then again, I could be wrong. I've read a lot since Pandora's Box had its permissions changed.

**GTAce** · 06-26-2009, 07:20 AM

There are more beta testers than alpha testers

**ohiosweetheart** · 06-26-2009, 07:57 AM

I'm one of the alpha testers. I believe that alpha testers will also be included in the beta testers group.

**Brandon Sheley** · 06-26-2009, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohiosweetheart

I'm one of the alpha testers. I believe that alpha testers will also be included in the beta testers group.

wow, how did you get that?
must be nice, maybe Ray doesn't like me..lol
Guess a "vBulletin Support" site doesn't mean much to internetbrands

**Nick R** · 06-26-2009, 12:27 PM

Yeah, I'm surprised, to be honest. LOL

**2dub** · 06-26-2009, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohiosweetheart

I'm one of the alpha testers. I believe that alpha testers will also be included in the beta testers group.

OOOOOhhhh keep us in the loop about it. I know you are probably bound to some confidentiality issues but share anything you can

**ohiosweetheart** · 06-26-2009, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brandon Sheley

wow, how did you get that?
must be nice, maybe Ray doesn't like me..lol
Guess a "vBulletin Support" site doesn't mean much to internetbrands

Quite a few designers and coders were contacted, afaik. I thought you said you'd been invited in the irc chat that night?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2dub

OOOOOhhhh keep us in the loop about it. I know you are probably bound to some confidentiality issues but share anything you can

lol... I like that smiley, stealing it! I'll share anything that I'm not bound to keep silent about.

**fattony69** · 06-26-2009, 05:58 PM

I hope they work more towards beating out IPB 3.0. They have a lot of cool features and I am starting to hear reviews of how IPB 3 is better than vbulletin. Still won't switch because I am ignorant like that.

**Nick R** · 06-26-2009, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fattony69

I hope they work more towards beating out IPB 3.0. They have a lot of cool features and I am starting to hear reviews of how IPB 3 is better than vbulletin. Still won't switch because I am ignorant like that.

What are some of the features you're hearing about? I'm just curious, as I've been out of the IPB loop for almost two years now.

**fattony69** · 06-26-2009, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick R

What are some of the features you're hearing about? I'm just curious, as I've been out of the IPB loop for almost two years now.

OpenID and from a review, the admincp is better, the forums setup is better, and usergroup options.

**ohiosweetheart** · 06-26-2009, 07:14 PM

*way off topic* Tony, the link in your sig to your blog is broke.
Sorry, had to do that while I was thinking about it.

/back on topic

**Caddyman** · 07-01-2009, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fattony69

OpenID and from a review, the admincp is better, the forums setup is better, and usergroup options.

openid would be pretty awesome, it would help registrations imo if we had openid, i would upgrade for that

**Nick R** · 07-01-2009, 08:39 AM

Yeah, that is definitely something I would upgrade, and even pay for.

**Brandon Sheley** · 07-17-2009, 05:42 PM

We've made a lot of progress toward the alpha release on the two remaining fronts:

Template conversion - This is the monster task, and the primary work remaining before we begin the alpha testing cycle on the Forums product. As anyone who has done major template modifications can attest, this is hard work, and there are more than five hundred templates to get through in Forums alone. As of today, more than 75% the templates have been started and more than a third are ready for alpha. As soon as the rest are ready, Forums will be released to begin alpha testing. (The alpha cycle for Suite will follow shortly after.)

CMS enhancements - As I reported in my last update, we made the decision to invest some additional time to make vB4's new CMS component much better in terms of both usability and administrative controls. Yes, it's taking a bit longer than in our initial plan, but I'm sure that when you see it in action you will agree that the extra time was a good investment.

When? When?? WHEN???

Soon! As much as I would like to be able to provide a hard date, the home stretch to release is the hardest part. However, the biggest team to ever work on vB in its 10-year history is the group that's working on it now; your vB4 is in very good hands.

That said, I believe that we are within approximately four to five weeks of starting alpha testing. That's subject to adjustment, of course, but that's my best estimate as of today.

If you're on the alpha team, get ready; it's coming soon.

If you've applied to participate in beta, sit tight for a bit. I've received a few hundred applications, and I haven't gotten through them all quite yet.

More to come...

vBulletin 4.0 Development Update - vBulletin Community Forum

**Rocket 442** · 07-17-2009, 09:10 PM

4.0 will be final in 2010.

I wouldn't mind them taking their time if they were actually doing something with that time other than what they've already slated out doing way before this in their old deadlines.

**Mike54** · 07-18-2009, 10:07 AM

Are the rest of you on the same page?

IB has a new product, called vB 4.

They don't know when it will be available. They don't know everything it will offer. They don't know how they plan to sell it. They don't know how they plan to price it to their customers.

But they do have a new product. Please don't focus on the fact Q2 has become Q3 and to be quite honest, I agree with Andy. We'll see a final release sometime after the first of next year.

I think it's time for Ray Morgan to start looking over his shoulder. I'm going to present myself for employment at IB. I am willing to take Ray's place and tell people I don't know anything. And I'm going to be willing to do it for 50% of whatever they are paying Ray. Good Lord, I've spent years looking for a job where I didn't have to know anything and this is my chance.

It's amazing vB's competitors do know what they have to offer, they do know what it can and cannot do and they are more than willing to discuss purchase and pricing options with me.

I like the vB product, but I've pretty much lost any respect I had for IB.