IPB 3.0 (stable) has been released; I'm about to try the demo again now that it's past the beta stage. They also changed their website. I'm not too fond of the new design, but it's still very professional. IPS, Inc. - We're community experts What are your thoughts?
I installed a copy of this a couple of days ago (when it was released via the client center) - it's quite superb.
As I said on twitter. vBulletin and IB really should be taking notes on many aspects of IPB 3.0. vB 4 better have some nice hidden features (or drastically updated current ones) to compete with IPB. I've always been on the vB side, but now I'm not so sure just like the 100's of others who are thinking the same thing. Maybe this will be the boot that kicks vBulletin into reality and gets them moving again, who knows. The only thing I can say I don't like is that they're not even trying to support IE6 with their new skin. It's hardly even functional. As a designer, I'd love to see IE6 kicked to the curb but too many people still use it for that to happen right now in my opinion. The good news is you can make your own skin that is IE6 compatible.
2009 IE7 IE6 IE8 Fx Chrome S O May 21.3% 14.5% 5.2% 47.7% 5.5% 3.0% 2.2% April 23.2% 15.4% 3.5% 47.1% 4.9% 3.0% 2.2% March 24.9% 17.0% 1.4% 46.5% 4.2% 3.1% 2.3% February 25.4% 17.4% 0.8% 46.4% 4.0% 3.0% 2.2% January 25.7% 18.5% 0.6% 45.5% 3.9% 3.0% 2.3% As you can see, IE6 has been progressively shrinking. As far as I know, Microsoft now forces the update through Automatic updates to at least IE7. Even big forces like wolframalpha do not support IE6. It is a dying browser and many websites do not support it anymore. I'm working on opening a website centered around debate and heated discussion, and I will not be supporting IE6. 14.5% is still a significant amount, but I would juxtapose those still using IE6 to those in the US who still have not upgraded to digital broadcasting equipment, despite a delay and several years of warnings. They probably won't and probably will not understand how to use a forum system anyway.
That's key, depending on your nice/subject. On most gaming communities, FF3 is the de facto standard, and the ones who use IE, use 7, at the very least. Those general stats are nice if you're serving a large demographic or non-technical people, but anyone who talks to someone even remotely education knows to either switch to FF, or upgrade their IE. And with MS forcing IE7 on users who update now, I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth giving a shred of thought anymore.
I'm not crazy about the new website. I liked the old one and this new one seems a bit more confusing to navigate, to be honest. I'm going to try the demo right now and I'll post my opinions.
I actually like their new website - it focuses more on their products and services, which, after all, is the purpose of the website. I'm not so sure about the font they used, though; something like Lucida Grande or Tahoma would have been much more fitting. I think I was probably one of the first people to see the IPB 3.0 announcement - I had been browsing the IPB announcements forum for some reason and saw the IPB 3 released announcement, thinking it had been posted a few days ago. It had actually been posted 4 minutes prior to my reading it...
I believe they've been offering this for quite some time, but it's apparently emphasized a lot more with the new site. Which I like, btw. It's cleaner, and a bit more professional.
I tried the latest version and I like it. The layout and admincp look more tidier than vb and I absolutely love the topic multi-moderation and permissions system. Everything about it looks and feels great untill you get into the styling area. I don't expect it would be too difficult to learn and adapt but I'm used to vbulletin now plus I have both vb in my domains so It would be pointless switching.
You can deny any update through Windows Update, and amazingly most people don't even use Windows Update. The get a little yellow shield in their taskbar but never click or do anything on it. If I didn't run updates on my mother's computer every six months, it would never get done. Amazingly, when I set it to auto update, she can go in and turn that off but can't click on the yellow shield to apply updates.
Well, automatic updates can take care of most critical updates; however, if the user keeps turning it off, I guess its not helping much. Either way, I still would compare those who still run IE6 to those who still have not taken steps to get their antennas to work with digital signals. If automatic updates won't take care of them, then they probably never will anyway. But to stay on topic, I love the new IPB website. It is easy to find what I'm looking for, and it seems as though they've simplified navigation in a very positive way. Hats off to Invision. Maybe they'll coerce IB to get vBulletin back on top.
Im still on IE6 (by choice). Windows update does not force anyone onto IE7 - it will offer to update you to IE7, but you simply untick it, and then tell it not to display that update again. Many (many) corporate pcs are still on windows 2000 and IE6, or Windows XP and IE6 - they dont want to upgrade.
I find it odd that they do not want to upgrade from IE 6. From my experience (reading about it on forums and such), it's by far the worst browser. And it messes up a lot of websites.
I actually don't mind the new IP website. In a direct comparison to vB's, I'd have to say IP's website looks more professional and "cleaner" in a sense. The new software doesn't look bad as well. I'm a vB owner all the way, but this update looks very very good for IPB.
My site has only 7% visitors on IE6. However, as a web designer when someone is paying good money for a site, I don't expect to tell them "Well... users stuck at work on IE6 won't be allowed on your site, so deal with it". Every % of traffic helps, so I'll give IE6 users the ability to view my sites. I don't think IE6 users need to see all the cool stuff, and I'm one for "graceful degradation". Meaning IE6 might not be as pretty with transparent .pngs and crazy floats, but it is still getting the sites design and point across to users who are stuck on those machines.
=\ I laughed at the " We're community experts" part. I don't like it... doesn't really LOOK like a forum... more like a social network script...
The two go hand in hand nowadays. I find it weird that you're complaining about more features that you can readily disable.^_^
