Just Implemented Stand Alone Vanilla Forum

ronmerk

Hi Everyone:

Just wanted to introduce myself and give feedback re Vanilla.

I've been running forums for years. SMF and then through Wordpress with SimplePress. As many might know, SimplePress changed to "pay" plug-in with version 5 for all the additional features, so started my search for a new forum. I'd come across Vanilla before, but this time took the opportunity to really look at what it offers. It certainly fills the new holes in SimplePress.

Last night I downloaded Vanilla, installed it on my server, exported my data from SimplePress with the Vanilla Exporter and then imported to my new vanilla installation. Finally I integrated (EMBEDDED) Vanilla into my WordPress site. There were a few bumps along the way, mostly syntax interruptions with server requirement etc. Overall, Vanilla is AWESOME! It installed and configured just the way the documentation said (good job on the docs, by the way!)

I like Vanilla because:

1. It's clean and simple for users.
2. Importing worked flawlessly.
3. It seems faster
4. The editor and posts display right in my browser

Thks guys! It's awesome. I hope to run Vanilla for a long time.

Feedback for others:

Transferring from an existing Wordpress forum to Vanilla requires in my estimation - a medium level of understanding of Databases, SQL and web CMS systems.

Yet to Solve

I have 2 small little problems yest to resolve that I'm working on

1. Can't get the Facebook, Twitter and Google APi's to work for log in (Open source works fine - yes I have all the API's and secrets
2. The forum stretches out behind my right column when view with my IPAD (Sahara problem). I'm using the Responsive theme in Wordpress and Embed-Friendlyversion 1.0 theme in Vanilla. I'll post these as questions if I can't solve them today.

Again, Thks to all the Vanilla team for an awesome product!

Ron

peregrine

I'm not on the vanilla team but your comment is still "A breath of fresh air!"