Oooh! vB3 was released today! Must resist temptaion and wait for others to try it out first!
Please note that not all of the options below will be used here - things like user rankings and so forth will be kept switched off.
<B>General</B>
<UL>
<LI>User rating - Karma
<LI>User ranking
<LI>Removal of redirects
<LI>Back to Top link at bottom of page
<LI>Prefix table names
<LI>Visible "announcement" on forum pages when forum is "off" to remind admin</LI></UL><B>Forum Index</B>
<UL>
<LI>Show the title of the last posted to thread for each forum on index.php
<LI>Todays birthdays to not always refresh the cached template when someone submits a profile.
<LI>Option to remove "moderator" column via on/off in Admin CP</LI></UL><B>Forums/Categories</B>
<UL>
<LI>Password protected forums
<LI>Meta tags -- forum descriptions (and keywords?) are added to the Meta tags for each forum page
<LI>Thread preview on mouse-over (optional, via Admin CP)
<LI><FONT color=fuchsia>**NEW**: </FONT>Subscribed threads are indicated with an icon on thread / forumdisplay listings</LI></UL><B>Threads/Posts</B>
<UL>
<LI>Hit counter on announcements
<LI>Threaded and hybrid views (optional, via Admin CP and/or User CP)
<LI>Similar threads display (optional, via Admin CP)
<LI>All user info cells are combined into one template
<LI>Quick reply box (with optional "forced" click on post to quote)</LI></UL><B>Posting/Editing</B>
<UL>
<LI>WYSIWYG Editor for major text input fields (IE 5.5+Only)
<LI>Minimum number of characters in post
<LI>Insert smilie/vB code where cursor is (IE 5+ Only)
<LI>Preview on edit
<LI>Ability to add attachment when editing a post instead of just when creating
<LI>Reason for editing
<LI>Reason for deleting
<LI>Hitting the back button no longer necessary when you have too many images
<LI>Ability to manage thread (for mods and admins) while posting (i.e. - lock, stick, etc.)
<LI><FONT color=fuchsia>**RECENT**: </FONT>Quotes are not included in min char count to keep members from posting long quotes with no content of their own (optional, via Admin CP)
<LI><FONT color=fuchsia>**NEW**: </FONT>Attempting to post a duplicate thread now results in an error message, and the user being sent back to the forumdisplay listing</LI></UL><B>Attachments</B>
<UL>
<LI>Multiple attachments
<LI>Preview safe attachments
<LI>Attachment images (.gif,.jpg,,etc) are no longer in the database (optional, via Admin CP)
<LI>Attachment thumbnails (requires PHP to have GD enabled)</LI></UL><B>Calendar</B>
<UL>
<LI>Much improved calander system (too many changes to mention)
<LI>Multiple calendars
<LI>Calendar moderators
<LI>Private event reminder
<LI>Multiple days events (spanning multiple days)
<LI>Reoccuring events (monthly, weekly, annually, etc.)
<LI>Specify holidays
<LI>Events visible to specific user groups
<LI>Ability to add custom fields to calendar
<LI>Calendar events on forum index (optional, via Admin CP)</LI></UL><B>Email</B>
<UL>
<LI>Digests: new posts/threads in selected forums daily/weekly/monthly
<LI>"excerpt of message:" are now in the new reply email notifications
<LI>'report post to mod' sends anonymous copy to the original poster of the message
<LI>Happy b'day emails
<LI>Newsletter / mailling integration
<LI>Opt-out list for e-mail options </LI></UL><B>Login</B>
<UL>
<LI>No more "nosessionhash" setting.
<LI>No more use cookies setting
<LI>MD5 password by javascript before it is sent to the server
<LI>Option to save cookie *on this computer* when logging in
<LI>Login/logout ability in all pages, with user/pass form -- single login system
<LI>"Want to register?" and "Forgotten your password?" before user/pass form fields, for using tab
<LI>Password break-in watches -- too many failed attempts warning with a preset wait after too many failures.</LI></UL><B>PMs</B>
<UL>
<LI>Completely revamped PM system
<LI>Integrating Tracking with the Regular Folders
<LI>Mass download of PMs in CSV, TXT, or XML format
<LI>Preview PM before sending
<LI>Ability to send PM to multiple receipents
<LI>Mark PM(s) as read/unread</LI></UL><B>Polls</B>
<UL>
<LI>Option for users to see who voted for which option (public vote)
<LI>When you vote your name is highlighted when viewing results
<LI>Poll results ordered by most to less voted
<LI>Ability to post a poll AFTER a thread had started
<LI><FONT color=fuchsia>**NEW**: </FONT>Threads that do not already have polls now include a link at the bottom of the posts lists that allows users (with permissions to create polls) to add a poll to that thread</LI></UL><B>Registration/New Users</B>
<UL>
<LI>Quick registration system...username, password, email and any required custom fields and timezone
<LI>Send an email "thanks for registering and welcome to .." on user registration (welcome email)
<LI>Image / word verification for registration (requires PHP to have GD enabled)</LI></UL><B>Search</B>
<UL>
<LI>Get daily for just one category
<LI>Search only in subscribed forums
<LI>A list of ignored words or words used in a search are added to the results page
<LI>Option to find only started by 'username'
<LI>Display matching forums in results
<LI>Support for searching custom profile fields
<LI>Search for exact username (e.g. turn off wildcards)
<LI>Search flood check
<LI>Autoselect forumid for search when clicking search button on toplinks from the forum.
<LI>Quoted text excluded from search
<LI>Associate searchid with userid so people can't insert searchid's and get results they're not supposed to see
<LI>Search system is improved with regards to speed. Even faster now!
<LI>Select multiple forums to search
<LI>Search flood check does not apply to admins and mods</LI></UL><B>User Options/User CP</B>
<UL>
<LI>User Pictures - user can upload a personal picture. This picture is shown in the profile of the user.
<LI>Longer signature field with optional limit
<LI>Admins are exempt from the custom avatar post limit
<LI>Pop-up auto-refreshing buddylist with ICQ-style alerts when new buddies come online.
<LI>Subscription to Threads/Forum without receiving e-mails
<LI>Validity check for homepages
<LI>Option to enable / disable daylight savings time</LI></UL><B>Moderator Options/Permissions</B>
<UL>
<LI><B>Permissions:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Admin can designate moderators who can themselves set forum passwords.
<LI>New permission - caneditpoll (separate from caneditposts)</LI></UL>
<LI><B>Tools:</B>
<UL>
<LI>New merge/split/delete posts system
<LI>Remove check for attachments from mass-prune
<LI>Ability to delete all threads in a forum with less than x amount of replies.
<LI>Ability to delete all threads with a 0 rating.
<LI>Ability to prune by categories (not just forums)
<LI>Ability to prune all closed threads in a forum.
<LI>Ability to remove thread redirects
<LI>Mass-moving of threads</LI></UL>
<LI>Extended Moderator Activity Logging</LI></UL><B>Admin Options</B>
<UL>
<LI><B>Attachments:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Allow users to specify max size of attachments to be viewed. If image is larger than user's specified size, it would be resized to the max image size and able to be clicked on to open the attachment full size in a new window (requires PHP to have GD enabled)
<LI>Can specify the size of attachments per type
<LI>Improved attachment system. Statistics, Attachment types editing.
<LI>Ability to delete old attachments. Ability to limit users to X number of bytes in total attachments. Option to "expire" attachments in CP.
<LI>Ability to store attachmentsin sub directories based on the userid of the poster</LI></UL>
<LI><B>Email:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Email members based on custom profile field
<LI>Resend for registration confirmation emails</LI></UL>
<LI><B>Extended Stats:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Most Active Forum - New posts / new threads per forum per hour
<LI>Most Popular Forum - Views per forum per hour
<LI>Peak Online Time - Active users per hour
<LI>Most Popular Registering Period - New users per hour</LI></UL>
<LI><B>Forums:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Ability to restrict "view new" to certain forums and groups of forums.
<LI>A "forum" can be just a link to something or somewhere else
<LI>Option to show forum lock icons
<LI>Choose forums in forum jump</LI></UL>
<LI><B>Language Packs:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Ability to specify language as "left-to-right" or "right-to-left"
<LI>Ability to have image folder overridden to specified folder
<LI>Ability to specify encoding
<LI>Ability to override date and time formats
<LI>Ability to specify thousands and decimal separator</LI></UL>
<LI><B>Options/Settings:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Ability to specify "powers" given to Mods
<LI>Signature length control
<LI>Improved email address ban
<LI>A more complete set of subscription options for daily/weekly/on new posts updates, for forum, thread and board.
<LI>An option to have thread views updated hourly rather than immediately
<LI>Option to set max avatar height and width seperately (i.e. : width=75, height=100)
<LI>Option to have passwords expire after __ days
<LI>Option to specify userid's of admins that are not allowed to be editted (by other admin or mods, set via config.php)</LI></UL>
<LI><B>Other:</B>
<UL>
<LI>New admin cp front end
<LI>Categories for Avatars and Smilies
<LI>Context sensitive help
<LI>Help topics manager for the context sensitive help
<LI>Admin can run REPAIR and OPTIMIZE on tables as a group or singularly (using mysql 3.23+)
<LI>An SQL box in the admin section for executing general queries
<LI>vBcron system
<LI>Diagnostic tests for testing system compatibility and settings
<LI>User ranking and karma admin
<LI>New settings manager
<LI><FONT color=fuchsia>**NEW**: </FONT>Ability to set display / parse order of smilies</LI></UL>
<LI><B>User Groups:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Add options to pick which groups appear on the memberlist, birthdays, etc
<LI>Allow users to change usergroups automatically based on postcount, reg. date, or reputation
<LI>Place user under moderation (via usergroup)
<LI>Add usergroup with permissions initially set as set for another group
<LI>Public User Groups (PUGs) that members can "join" via User CP
<LI>Ability to setup moderators for PUGs
<LI>Ability to set display options for usernames for user groups
<LI>Ability to allow/disallow avatars, sigs, and titles per user group
<LI>Users can be members of multiple usergroups with their permissions "combined"
<LI>Usergroup determines avatar size
<LI>New permission - "Can use invisible mode"
<LI><FONT color=fuchsia>**RECENT**: </FONT>New permission - "Can see invisible users"</LI></UL>
<LI><B>Users:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Admin editing of User's Avatar is more user friendly.
<LI>Additional user profile fields - you can now add profile fields which can have either a single line text box, multi line text box, single selection radio buttons, single selection menu, multiple selection menu, or multiple selection checkboxs.
<LI>An option for allowing a regex option to be specified for a custom profile field
<LI>Add user option in the admin CP to change the user's referrer
<LI>Option to merge user accounts
<LI>Search members based on custom profile field
<LI>User notes -- A field for the admin to keep notes on the user
<LI>Search for exact username (e.g. turn off wildcards)
<LI>Ultimate Ignore (a.k.a - Tachy Goes to Coventry): Admin can specify userid's to that is automatically added to all users ignore lists (although the user him/herself will be able to see their own posts)</LI></UL></LI></UL><B>BB Code</B>
<UL>
<LI>[ thread ] and [ post ] BB Codes added to link directly to threads / posts
<LI>All bbcode/smilies are stripped from posts BEFORE indexpost()
<LI>Improved bbcode parser
<LI>vBCode descriptions in the "What are vBCodes" link are now the actual descriptions in the database. No more editing the template.</LI></UL><B>Styles/Templates</B>
<UL>
<LI>Completely revamped Style system
<LI>You can place $post[postcount] in your postbit template to see each posts position in the thread
<LI>Conditionals in templates. Also called vB Conditionals, these are "if" "then" "else" statements built directly into the templates. This gives the admin/designer improved flexibility in creating dynamic design
<LI>Infinite parenting system for templates/replacements</LI></UL><B>Major Additions</B>
<UL>
<LI>Language Manager and vB Language packs
<LI>Search engine friendly archive of open forums (requires Apache)
<LI>Restyled FAQ section now looks similar to a forum
<LI>Paid subscriptions
<LI>Multiple payment processors (Paypal, Clickbank and Authorize.net)
<LI><B>Warning / Banning / Violation system:</B>
<UL>
<LI>Timed bans
<LI>Separate section for banned users
<LI>Logs on who banned who and when the ban was implemented (not retroactive)
<LI>Users can be moved to other groups (i.e. - not the Registered group) and still be banned</LI></UL></LI></UL><B>Code Changes/Improvements</B>
<UL>
<LI>Improved post storage to reduce resource usage when showing threads.
<LI>Use gmdate() and NOT date()
<LI>A second phpinclude template to be executed at the same time as dooutput() - to allow manipulation of elements already generated by the page
<LI>An API for posting functions (newreply, newthread, newpoll, editpost)
<LI>Who's Online code is moved to a function so that it can be used to figure out a single user's location, to be used in the user's profile and other places if need be
<LI>Have install routine check for ALTER permissions and let user know ahead of time of status (vbtest.php)
<LI>Admin and mod directories are no longer hard coded to <A href="http://www.forum-url.com/admin/" target=_blank>
http://www.forum-url.com/admin/</A> (i.e. - you can specify the directory name for the admin and mod CP)</LI></UL>
