Update: 8/28 Converting from phpBB to vB!
 

update
I have been fairly busy lately with the new job. Today was the day I planned to switch us to vB but im having issues with my internet. Hopefully it will be up soon, if not I may result to other ways of doing it. I do apologize and hope to get everything done today.
/update



Just wanted to say thanks to all that donated. We will be converting to vbulletin real soon. I may need some help from u vB gurus tho. ;)
Thanks again,
Mike and The PPCGeeks Team

So what does everyone think of this theme here......

http://forumthemes.com/forums/?styleid=17

cool man. i know you where talking about this a while ago glad to see it finally happening.

Glad to hear about the upgrade. As for the theme you linked to, it hurts my eyes because its so bright.

This one is closer to your current color scheme

http://www.forum-lance.com/index.php?styleid=17
http://www.vbulletin-faq.com/forum/showthread.php?t=726

This is great news. I can't wait to see the out come. 8)

If I can help
 

While by no means a guru, I do run a small vb based board and have done a fair amount of mods to it. I'd be happy to help if I can.

In terms of themes, I really like the colors you have here. Make reading and navigation very easy on the eyes. Some of the themes that are out there seem to try to make up visually for a lack of content on the board. I think there is more than enough content here!

If you haven't already (but I'm sure you have) check out vbadvanced.com's CMPS. It's free and can be used to make up for some places that stock VB boards lack.

Good luck with the change over and please let me know how I can help.

wow
 

I just wanted to put my thanks and congrats in too. I think its so neat how all of you are such great people, friends and mods (helpers), all of u. Its so amazing to know these kinds of people are helping wide out and each other this much. Great friendships here! Thanks to all of u and congrats on the new VB, when it arrives!

Thanks Mike,

I think this change will benefit all of us in the long run. I agree that a clean, simple, easily-readable theme is best.

Can't wait!

That sounds great!


+1 on the proposed theme being to bright. I generally prefer darker themes, perhaps have a bright and dark option?

:cheers: WAP Version :?: [-o<

wow, some of the racism on this board is unbelievable, ya know, we prefer to be called dagos!! LOL :lol:

Anyway... Congrats on the upcoming upgrade!

I agree with this one:

Colors similar to the good ol' familiar PPCgeeks! Never done a vB board, but I learn fast, so any way I can help I'll be glad to do so. Tomorrow's payday so expect a donation then.

i love the theme at
http://www.forum-lance.com/index.php?styleid=17

and an imode version would be better than a wap version ;)

Now that's sharp!

if possible, I'd like a darker theme... at least make it an option in the profile... bright forums are hard to look at and I sometimes have to force the browser to invert the image if it's too extreme...

I volunteer my vBulletin experience if needed. I administer 3 medium sized boards, as well as my own. I'll be able to help with mysql related issues as well as almost anything php related.
And while I don't create themes, I can install them and customize them if needed. vBulletin plugins are one of my strong points, and I have created several.
I've never done a php-bb to vBulletin conversion before, but I'm sure I'll be able to help out with it.

Let me know if I can be of any help ;)

i personally like this forums layout and style
http://www.tweak3d.net/forums/

Didn't even know we had a donation drive or anything!? Now I feel guilty...

Though I think maybe we should hold a poll, I think the styles suggested by both Stroths and Torx are very nice and elegant. :thumbleft:

Like the stroths one (as posted below) and found this one...I think it's a custom one (found it here) I think and might cost more cash...not too sure on these things...maybe the color scheme could be used?

http://www.deadliestforums.com/forum/index.php

PS...I'm not plugging the show (I actually don't even watch it) but the color scheme is really nice and easy on the eyes.

I vote for pink :D

Nice work Mike

Cool...I like stroth's suggested template. I think that a logo should be made for this new forum. Something like a cross of Revenge of the Nerds and a PPC :lol:

so we are gonna have to do alot of link clean up. you all do understand this right? :D seo isnt the same....im sure someone could make it but i dunno anyone that savvy. :) Im also thinking of hiring someone to do a template and logo, theres lots of websties out there that cater to this. But need a free one for the time being.
~mike

You are not the only one. :shock:

I like the style of Mike's, but the color of stroths's. So a blend of the two would be cool. :)

i like stroths first pick

http://www.forum-lance.com/index.php?styleid=17

as for a logo, we should ask omegax to design a couple.......he's created nice splash screens that everyone loved

Re: wow
 

I just wanna say - I fully agree! :P

I see you more as a Lavender or Canary Yellow person... :D

Hey...I think this upgrade should be tested first. Let's set this up on my server and test it out. How's that sound? If it goes smoothly then the upgrade can be done quicker ;-)

David,
Is this your personal server or a hosted site? I ask because I'm using dreamhost just like Mike and would be willing to test the upgrade on my hosting account if necessary. Just so we'd have real performance indications using the same host. Whatever you guys want.

tested it out and trying to work a few kinks. ;)
edit: check ur pms :thumbleft:
~mike

It would have been my own personal server...but it looks like Mike's got it under control. :)

Woot! This is great news! I have helped admin a vB board before, so I can offer some help there... now as far as setting it up, I have no idea :oops:

I should be able to convert SEO to output links in the same manner, I guess it all really depends on how the import data looks.

well that would be greatly appreciated if you could tpmwr. what do u mean by a what the imported data looks like?
~mike

Do you admins know which SEO hack you are going to use with vB? It might be possible to create a regex expression in the .htaccess that determines if the url is using the new SEO format or the old, and then redirect the url to the correct php file accordingly.

For example, the url to this page on this thread is
"ppcgeeks.com/converting-from-phpbb-to-vb-t8070,start,30.html"

While if you use vBSEO hack on vB, it might look like
"ppcgeeks.com/f16/converting-from-phpbb-to-vb-8070/index2.html"

So while difficult, it will be possible to create rules that determine if the url uses the old SEO or the new SEO format.

In this particular case, since the vBSEO hack doesn't use commas (AFAIK), we can check whether the url contains comma's and if so, redirect the request to a php file that does the necessary conversions to send the user the page he requested.

Sounds great, can't wait to make the switch over!

if you need help Im pretty good with vb as well I have VB running on 2 other sites as well.

Another vote for stroths first pick IMHO looks easy on the eyes and similar to what we have been using but so much sharper. Gotta love the hilights and gloss.

yep
 

It is very much sharper, a lot more features and great new looks!! I can't wait myself to see the new PPCGeeks.com!!! That's going to be a great celebration!! :D

Great addition to ppcgeeks. And honestly, you can have the ability to install 20 different themes and let each user pick thier own!

well, i am pretty decent at MySQL stuff, and have both run vB and phpBB.

I can try to offer some assistance in the endeavour. It shouldn't be that hard, as long as the table names match up on the MySQL backend.

-Chris

I'm glad that you're dumping phpBB... its horrible programming and it puts a LOT of unneeded stress on the server.

That said, I just hope I can get used to vB. I absolutely HATE vB with everything in my being and I'm a diehard SMF fan and use SMF on my own board.

Either way, I'm going to stick around. I'll probably just be annoyed with the forum for a month or so :P

Hey Mike,

Sorry about the slow responce! WHat I ment was if vB keeps the same thread / post numbers I should be able to look into how phpBB parses URLs and make SEO parse them the same way.