ipb

Invision power board, also know as IPB is starting to become more and more popular everyday.  Regarded as the next vBulletin you can purchase your own IPB licence for $149.99 or have it hosted on their hosting package for $10/month.

Installation Score: N/A

For installation I am going to put N/A since you can buy hosting with IPB installed for only $10 a month. The process looks very easy and you can have your new forum created in no time. I personally have never made manual installation of IPB so unfortunately I can not give my view on that.

User Friendliness Score: 8/10

I was really impressed with IPB when I first opened it. Everything was layed out nicely and gave to me a nice 4.0 vBulletin look. The log-in, help and admin panel links were all easily visible, there was no scrolling down the page also I liked the statistics that IPB provided at the bottom of the screen. Great user CP, nice AJAX menu controls giving it a real modern feel aswell.  Also, very easy to insert signatures and avatars, they are auto sized, something I really like on forums.

How Intimidating is the Admin Panel Score: 7/10

The admin panel looks very bland, just like the SMF admin panel.  Everything is organised in the side menu.  Some admin’s may prefer this but I don’t.  Saying that there is a lot of juice and settings to play with so it is very customizable.  I think new forum administrators could handle it.

How Efficient is Moderation Score: 10/10

The moderation system in IPB blew me a way.  It’s without a doubt, the best moderation system I have experienced in any forum software.  This system allows you to update admins and other moderators on each reported post status and it has its own unique equivalent system to the vBulletin infraction/warn system.  This allows for an automatic ban after a few bad posts by a member.  Full marks definitely.

Layout Score: 9/10

IPB comes with a very nice layout, like I said earlier gives off a vBulletin look.  Very nice menu’s which make it easier for navigating.  Apart from that it’s just your plain default theme, I would not deduct marks for that though.

Customer Support Score: 7/10

Customer support seems very good with IPB.  Like PHPBB3, there is a very active support forum where you can get help on modification and styles.   There is also a nice in-built help in the admin panel which makes a nice touch.

Overall Overall Score: 7/10

IPB is a great piece of software and something I may invest my money in on the future.  From that great moderation system to the nice modern layout we can see why the IPB team want money for their product, money well spent if you ask me.

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