vBmagazine Questions

[Kaelon]

Hi there,


I am considering purchasing vBmagazine, but I wanted so more information about how it works. I run a large-scale (1.3 million posts, 30,000 users, 500 concurrent connections on normal peak times) vBulletin role playing community, and I am currently using a single forum for my "news" (which is populated on the front page of my site via vBadvanced). I'm interesting in vBmagazines for its "issues" functionality.
How does vBmagazines "create" issues?
Can previously created issues be modified?
Are there any demos to production installations of vBmagazine, rather than the test demo here?
What sort of additional load is placed on servers for this add-on?
Can I use the same forum for a magazine and my vBadvanced news forum?
Is vBmagazine fully compatible with vBSEO?
Is vBmagazine fully phrased? (E.g., can I change "magazine" to "periodical"?)
Thank you for your help!

[vBcover]

Hello, thank you for your inquiry.

vBmagazine transforms preset forum(s) into magazines(s). One forum =one magazine.

1- Any new thread (article) created in a magazine/forum is automatically placed into moderation. When you admin the magazine, all those moderated articles are automatically available for that issue. Issue is created in 3 steps.

A- You select the magazine
B-You select the period
C-The issue description
D-The issue Layout (12 different layouts are available)

In step 2 you set some options such as amount of columns, the size of your images, the amount of characters and you drag and drop, upload main image, available articles into desired zone to display (there are 2 zones, horizontal and vertical) etc .. etc ...

All options are issue specific.

in step 3 you decide of the style, you have the option to replace some pictures, to add some title, when to publish or to have it auto publish ... meaning that you can create dozens (or hundreds) of issues and have them published automatically at the date you preset.

2- Every issue is editable in every aspect

3-Most of the customers have opted for brand free, so I use this example (http://www.unairdetheatre.com/forum/magazine.php?magazineid=61&issueid=18) under permission

4- Each zone adds one additional query in main magazine page (two zones = two queries). No additional queries are added in showthread or forumdisplay

5- You use any forumid you want. Just remember that all articles created in a magazine forum will not be viewable to public, until publication, at which time they automatically become viewable

6- You really use showthread.php and forumdisplay.php, so as long as those are compatible with vbseo, then they will remain as such

7- It is fully phrased

[Kaelon]

Thank you so much for the swift responses. A few follow-up queries:

1. What is a 'zone' that you mention?
2. Can I create/customize layouts?
3. If I wanted to create issues out of a current, active real-time forum, can I copy threads over into the "magazine" forum when I am ready to make issues?

[vBcover]

Here are the 12 layouts with the 2 zones in each one. You can use or not use a zone. In each zone you set how many columns, how many articles

http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp1.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp2.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp3.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp4.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp5.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp6.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp7.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp8.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp9.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp10.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp11.jpg
http://www.vbcover.com/demosforum/vbcover/vbmagazine/layouts/main/temp12.jpg


You could customize layouts if you know html ... but every possible arrangement is already covered .;)

If you want to use existing threads, you would have to put them in moderation first. Only moderated (unpublished) articles are available for articles creations. If not, then imagine you would have thousands of threads available :D

[Kaelon]

Thanks, Lionel. That really helps.

I've noticed that your scripts use ionCube. Aside from the encryption, is there any communication that is done between our servers and your servers? If so, how often is that communication done?

[vBcover]

No communication at all. Not even once :-)

[Kaelon]

Great. :) Just a couple more:

1. Re: vBmagazine, my site has a fluid-width layout. Is there any problem with this? I'm not a fan of fixed-width layouts, and would be interested in using your product to make sure it goes well with my site's layout.

2. Re: vBattach, does this play well with the built-in vBulletin {attach} bbcode? Additionally, can I customize how the inline attachments are displayed at the HTML level? (For example, I like there to be some good spacing between my in-article photos and the text that wraps around them.)

3. Do you offer a bundle that includes the vBmagazine bundle and vBslideshow as well? If not, would you consider possibly adding something like that in the future?

4. You mention that vBattach does not add any queries. Do either vBmultipages or vBcaption add queries/load?

5. Purchases come with one year access to downloads; how much does it cost to renew download access, per product?

[vBcover]

Hi again...

1- Fluid or fixed is fine. The only reason that I recommend fixed (fixed could be 990px) is simple. When you use a graphic intensive page, by using a fixed layout you control the fact that everyone sees the same thing. Otherwise since images do not change size, someone with a different resolution than what you used when creating a magazine will see those images with spaces around them. But this is a matter of choice. If that does not bother you and you don't care about homogeneity, then use what you want. But all web designers will tell you that you have greater control over a fixed layout. Again fixed is determined by pixels and fluid by percent.

2-With vbattach you do not need the bbcode. vBattach works with uploaded attachments and images are placed anywhere you want, even in secondary pages if you use it with multipages. vBattach automatically adds spacing (right or left) between image and text

3-Sorry, vBslideshow is totally independent and there are no such bundle. Sure we could consider that. But not now.

4-vBattach, vBmultipages and vBcaption they all use existing vBulletin queries and do not add any of their own.

[Kaelon]

Thanks.

For vBattach, is how attachments are displayed controlled by templates? If I wanted to display attachments in a framed box, for example, could I do that?

And, I just added a question while you were answering my last set:

5. Purchases come with one year access to downloads; how much does it cost to renew download access, per product?

[vBcover]

No you can't change it into a framed box. But you could alter the postbit_attachmentthumbnail to your liking
20% of product cost

[Kaelon]

Thank you so very much for your prompt, polite, and kind answers. :) You have earned yourself a new customer! I look forward to using your products.

[vBcover]

Thank you for your support. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions. Your satisfaction is important to me.

P.S. If you were trying to look at the slideshow demo today, please try again. I was updating it and you might have seen an error.

[Kaelon]

Thank you for your support. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions. Your satisfaction is important to me.

P.S. If you were trying to look at the slideshow demo today, please try again. I was updating it and you might have seen an error.
Thank you! And yes, I saw that progressive JPEGs were not rendering properly.

Re: vBmagazine, are the file edits to inlinemod.php and postings.php really necessary? Is there any way that these can be converted into hooks in the future?

Thank you!

[vBcover]

The files edit serve one important purpose: They will prevent you from accidentally deleting a thread that is part of an issue. They will prompt you to first remove it from issue.

Unfortunately there are no hooks available for those 2 small edits.

[Kaelon]

The files edit serve one important purpose: They will prevent you from accidentally deleting a thread that is part of an issue. They will prompt you to first remove it from issue.

Unfortunately there are no hooks available for those 2 small edits.
Thanks. So, if I'm the only one using the magazine system (administering it), I don't really need to perform these edits as long as I remember not to delete a thread that is part of an issue?

[vBcover]

Correct. Because if you forget and delete a thread while it is part of an issue, tht will mess up the issue.

[vBcover]

P.S. let's continue in the customer forum if you have more questions

[Kaelon]

P.S. let's continue in the customer forum if you have more questions
Great, thanks, and will do.