Question about Dynamics

[Tedology]

Hi Brian (and others),

I read the sticky about the difference between the CMPS and Dynamics and it pretty much seemed like Greek to me (I'm a real rookie!) :)

I'm just wondering if there is a reason why somebody would choose the CMPS OVER Dynamics?

I also read that a person can have BOTH the CMPS and Dynamics, but how would that look/work?

I'm thinking I need a portal/homepage for my new site... but I also like the ability to have tutorials and articles and such.

I've checked a few samples and those members who have real, active sites with both the CMPS and Dynamics...but I can't seem to see the differences. :)

What differences am I looking for?

Can somebody help a COMPLETE rookie?! :)

Thanks so much!

[Brian]

Really the two products are completely different, other than the fact that both have a very similar module system (modules = the "blocks" you see on our homepage and the ones you see in the vBa Dynamics demo).
The CMPS is a portal which is most often used as a sites homepage. It also has options to allow you to add other types of pages using BB code, vBulletin templates, or custom .php/.html files on your server. So it's mostly intended as a homepage/portal, only pulls info from your vB forums, and has some CMS features to help you manage content and additional custom pages on your web site.
vBa Dynamics is a much bigger project. It gives you a completely separate section of your site for members to post articles, tutorials, blogs, or just about anything similar. It also includes features for attachments, ratings, and everything else you see on the product info page, so it can also be used for things like file sharing. It has the same module system as the CMPS to make it easy to customize the layout, so I'm guessing that's why it may not be that obvious what product is doing what on some of the example sites.
Here's one good example running both for you though...
http://www.coolscifi.com/
There's the CMPS on their homepage. Click on the 'Blogs' link on the left side and that will take you to vBa Dynamics.
http://www.coolscifi.com/blogs/
You can see the similar look of the module system on the left side, but that page is only powered by vBa Dynamics.

Hopefully that helps to clear things up a little, but if there's anything else you're not sure of please let us know.

[Our Sponsors]

[Tedology]

Thanks, Brian! :)

Yes, I think I understand. So, in essence, a person could have a CMPS as their homepage AND the dynamics as an additional page? One isn't exclusive of the other (as is shown in coolscifi.com)

Is there any reason a person couldn't (or wouldn't) use dynamics as a homepage?

[Brian]

I would call vBa Dynamics more of an "additional section" than "additional page" since it's quite a bit more than just a new page. Otherwise sounds like you've got it. :)
As for using vBa Dynamics as a homepage, the only time that is really an issue is if you have vBulletin installed in your root directory instead of a separate folder. Both products have conflicting filenames, so you wouldn't be able to upload vBa Dynamics to your root directory as well. As long as your forums are in their own folder though you can just upload the folders/files in the 'dynamics' folder of the download package to your root directory instead of a separate folder. As long as that's not a problem and vBa Dynamics includes everything you would like on your homepage, then there's no reason it couldn't be used.

[Our Sponsors]

[Tedology]

Brian, thanks so much!

Hmm... I believe that the forums will be in their own folder, but perhaps not. I'll have to look into that.

I think I understand what you're saying about having CMPS as the homepage vs. dynamics. I'm just wondering what I would call the dynamics "section". ;) In it, I'd like to have:

tutorials
articles (almost like a knowledge base)
links to other useful sites

Pretty much like a "resource" page. I reckon I could call it "resources".

I see coolscifi.com has it as "blogs". Can there be more than one dynamics section per site? (ie. I can have a "Tutorials" dynamics, "Knowledge Base" dynamics, etc.)

Or am I still just locked up on the "page" vs. "section" theory? :)

I apologize for these questions... I'm sure they must sound pretty basic! :)

[Brian]

You can run multiple instances of vBa Dynamics if you purchase a Multiple Instance license (+$24.99). From the ordering page...
Multiple Instance License
A normal license allows you to install a single instance of the Software on your server. With a Multiple Instance License, you may install an unlimited number of "secondary" copies of the software on the same web site. Each instance will be completely independent from any others and will function just as if it was a completely different program. Multiple Instance Licenses do NOT allow you to install or use the software on multiple web sites. A separate license is required for each web site you wish to run the software on.

The multi-instance license is optional and can be purchased at any time, so you can always get the "regular" license to begin with and upgrade at any time if you'd like to test some things first.

vBa Dynamics also could be used as a simple links directory by using it's custom fields and such. If you're looking for a better solution to manage links though, be sure to have a look at vBa Links Directory too.
http://www.vbadvanced.com/products.php?do=productinfo&productid=2
It has a lot of the same options as vBa Dynamics, but is really geared towards hosting links and includes features like reciprocal link checking, status reports to help you find broken/problematic links, and a few other nice features like that which vBa Dyanmics does not include.