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1. TEXT BASED CONFERENCING FEATURES VS FUNCTIONALITY 21 Text based Conferencing e e Features vs Functionality Lynn Anderson Kathy McCarthy ABSTRACT This report examines three text based conferencing products WowBB Invision Power Board and vBulletin Their selection was prompted by a feature by feature comparison of the same products on the WowBB website The comparison chart painted a misleading impression of WowBB s features in relation to the other two products so the evaluation team undertook a more comprehensive and impartial comparison using the categories and criteria for online software evaluation developed by the American Society for Training and Development ASTD The findings are summarised in terms of the softwares pricing common features or functions and differentiating features KEYWORDS Text based conferencing comparative evaluation software pricing Introduction Asynchronous text based conferencing also known as bulletin boards provides a flexible medium for online discussion and collaboration It is also relatively inexpensive as it does not require a high bandwidth or extra hardware The licensing costs of individual products vary substantially however Text based conferencing software can be attained as standalone products or as a component of a larger software application such as a learning management system Earlier reports in this series have argued in favour of the flexibil2. the program A message tracker allows tracking of any personal message sent on the board This feature gives users the chance to delete any sent messages that have not yet been read by their intended recipient s Users may deny other members the ability to send them messages by entering their name in the block list on the personal message control panel Clarity The layout of the home board is appealing and the use of colour line and space very professional in appearance The discussion boards however contain much white space and require extensive scrolling Common Technical Framework Invision Power Board requires PHP 4 3 and either MySQL 3 23 or higher 4 0 recommended MSSQL or Oracle 9i for database storage The product is scalable and offers a wide range of applications and site integration IPS offers a variety of software components for addition to the product These include Invision Gallery Invision Blogs and Invision Chat 24 FORMAMENTE Anno I n 0 2006 NOTABLE FEATURES Independent forum skins Detailed admin and moderator logs Detailed registration topic post and PM statistics Integrated language editor Integrated skin editor and CSS editor Allows for the formation of a portal Board traffic statistics Note the WowBB comparison chart incorrectly states Invision Power Board does not contain this feature Overall Comments Invision Power Board is marketed as an effortles
3. Free for year only I mo 60 6 mos money 180 12 mo 300 Other back guarantee Free installation by technicians Tool free in US only Moderate discounts for bulk purchase Installation 135 license Brand free option 120 license Numero 0 2006 Anderson McCarthy TEXT BASED CONFERENCING FEATURES VS FUNCTIONALITY 27 COMMON KEY FEATURES FUNCTIONALITY LIST Polls Attachments Avatars Private Messaging Event Calendar Paid Subscriptions Customisable templates IP amp email banning Bad word filter Emoticons Smilies Multiple languages Search capability Differentiaded User Groups Multiple Moderators Board Traffic Statics E mail notification Full text searching featured listed on websites vary from 40 to 100 separate items not always reflecting separate and distinguishing functionalities Auto install and Yes No No upgrade WSIWYG editor Yes shows as you type No Yes Integrated spell Yes No No checker Avatars Read forums via mail Time zone amp Auto detection daylight saving setting Read forums via mail No No Users selectable Yes US only No No by location Custom user profile Coming soon Yes Yes fields User reputation Yes complex calculation No Yes 15 level rating rating termed mana User manual Online 24 99 user manual Online very large Support Private support forums Support forums amp e mail 535 pages amp email Support forums amp e mail Telephone Queries Ye
4. bulletin board and the website is in clear simple English The layout of both is eye catching though somewhat unprofessional in appearance Screen clutter is reduced by locating buttons and icons in pop up menus Common Technical Framework WowBB requires PHP 4 0 5 or higher and MySQL 3 23 or higher An Apache webserver any version is recommended but any other webserver supporting PHP should work as efficiently The product s WYSIWYG editor requires Internet Explorer 5 5 or higher or Mozilla FireFox Users with other browsers see a standard text editor WowBB can be integrated with a third party chat room called SigmaChat NOTABLE FEATURES The integrated spell checker highlights misspelled words and offers suggestions Employs a smart caching algorithm that speeds up response times by storing popular pages in a fast cache WowBB automatically detects the correct time zone setting for the user Can transform many forum URLs to a format that even the most selective search engine will not decline Requires an Apache webserver and an Apache module called mod_rewrite Allows users to read new postings via email Overall Comments WowBB lives up to its promise as a user friendly and fully customisable forum software In spite of all the features it offers its best feature is its simplicity This is evident in the website forums where topics started by customers looking for assistance over the last three and Numero 0
5. 2006 TEXT BASED CONFERENCING FEATURES VS FUNCTIONALITY 23 a half years is low compared to the other two bulletin boards evaluated in this report WowBB s second advantage is that it is substantially less expensive than the other two products However the price information given on the product website is vague in relation to the likely price of future major upgrades to the software 2 Invision Power Board Invision Power Board is a product of Invision Power Services IPS a site and community building services provider based in Virginia USA The evaluation is based on experiences with the trial software v 2 0 information on the product website and information from a sales representative contacted by phone Cost see comparison table see Appendix Complexity The Invision Board is cluttered with too many options available at a time It is not intuitive and at times navigation is difficult A user manual is available though at an additional cost The company website offers a client forum where users can get help from other users This forum contains a large number of topics 7 905 as of October 2005 started by customers since September 2004 Control All passwords are encrypted when the user registers and individual forums can be password protected Moderators can delete or redirect forums and edit and delete topics while on the board A personal control panel allows users a wide range of options for using
6. eadings totals 100 The following are the features worth noting Printer friendly versions on threads Multiple public and private calendars Import facility imports posts and members from other bulletin board systems Editable FAQ for boards Overall Comment vBulletin 3 5 is a feature packed text conferencing bulletin board comparable in price to Invision Power Board 2 0 The extensive list of features does not translate into expanded functionality however In fact the size limit of 19 5 kb for attachments and a 15 choice user reputation ranking system are distracting It would appear that the market to which vBulletin appeals is that of the technically expert and feature needy customer Conclusions Beginning as a simple comparison this review became a full scale evaluation of three conferencing systems At one point in the review the analysis became a contest between features versus functionality In its eagerness to prove that they had more features than the competitors the WowBB vendor presented a biased and inaccurate comparison table 26 FORMAMENTE Anno I n 0 2006 which made an unfair comparison with an outdated version of vBulletin board and incorrectly stated that board traffic statistics were unavailable on the Invision Power Board In conclusion the reviewers offer the following commentary on the basic differences between the programs The majority of features are com
7. etin 3 5 was evaluated based on a review of information provided on the product website and online manual the installation of the administrator s demonstration software and a guest login on a website that uses vBulletin as its communication platform www sportbikers net Cost see comparison table see Appendix Complexity The online user manual is extensive 26 sections and six appendices with a total of 535 pages entries Maneuvering the board is Numero 0 2006 TEXT BASED CONFERENCING FEATURES VS FUNCTIONALITY 25 complex and definitely cannot be described as intuitive For example the admin demo requires two sets of username passwords for access and was available to the evaluation team for only 24 hours at which point a new one had to be established or a request for an extension made Control Controls are available at administrator moderator and user levels Clarity vBulletin uses a minimum of colour and other design features and the presentation is linear Common Technical Framework As with the other two programs tested vBulletin can be run on any machine that supports PHP and MySQL It is scalable and its database server and webserver can reside on separate machines Compatible operating systems include Solaris Linux BSD Windows and Mac The product supports BB Code and HTML in posts NotTABLE FEATURES Features offered are extensive and the number of features noted under 21 h
8. ity provided by standalone components Unnecessarily complex integrated software packages are described by online students as bloatware providing more features than are actually needed Product Trials The following evaluations use the ASTD software assessment criteria WowBB This product markets itself as user friendly and fully customisable forum software It is privately owned and operated by Aycan Gulez who is credited on the website for the design and programming The evaluation is based on experiences with the trial software and information on the product website Cost see comparison table see Appendix 22 FORMAMENTE Anno I n 0 2006 Complexity WowBB is a very user friendly software intuitive and easy to navigate At the time of the evaluation the product had two sub forums for customer support and product trouble shooting The two forums were started in May of 2003 and by October 2005 the total of new topics started in them by customers was 1 838 This number is substantially smaller than on the help forums of the other two product websites Control The board administrator has a wide range of controls including the ability to filter unwanted words and to ban users by IP or email address The style editor allows changes to the appearance of the board via familiar controls such as sliders and checkboxes The changes are previewed in real time Clarity The language used in both the
9. mon to all three systems with varying degrees of control automation and customisation being the key differentiators Since each offers an extensive list of must have features a potential buyer needs to conduct a time consuming review of each product in order to make an informed selection Unless specific features are critical the look and feel of the program price and ease with which answers to key questions can be found will likely be determining factors in a decision to purchase N B Owing to the speed with which Web addresses become outdated online references are not cited in this report They are available together with updates to the current report at the Athabasca University software evaluation site http cde athabascau ca softeval Italicized product names in this report can be assumed to be registered industrial or trademarks JPB Series Editor Technical Reports APPENDIX COMPARISON OF THE THREE PRODUCTS Criteria WowBB 1 65 Invision Powerboard 2 0 vBullettin 3 5 PRICING in USD 49 year 69 95 year 85 year Buy Upgrades 89 185 160 free for year only Included included with major upgrades lase price discunted after year Free for year with purchase then 30 year Web hosting Starting at 7 95 with Available from 10 mo Not offered purchase to 75 mo depending or 10 95 mo on the package with one year lease purchased Support online Included included included Support telephone 90 day
10. s intuitive and scalable bulletin board system The product website states that it allows its clients to effortlessly build manage and promote an online community Advanced yet intuitive features like multi moderation allow you to focus on developing your community rather than wrestling with complex settings Immediately under this sales pitch the site contains a link to the Invision Power Board User s Guide available for purchase at 24 99 US Ironically this begs the question Why is a user guide necessary for an effortless and intuitive bulletin board system and should the client have to pay extra for a guide that makes a purchased product functional Once the trial version of the software was downloaded it quickly became evident why a client might feel motivated to pay more for the User s Guide for the product is saturated with features and options and the administrator s control panel is worse still While some users may appreciate the flexibility offered by these multiple features and options previous reports in this series have demonstrated that the majority does not 3 vBulletin vBulletin is described on the product website as a forums package and a community solution for medium to large websites It is a product of Jelsoft Enterprises based in the UK It should be noted that the WowBB comparison table that initiated this review referred to the features of vBulletin v 3 0 The recent release of vBull
11. s sales amp technical Sales queries only Tratto da International Review on Research in Open and Distance Learning IRRODL Vol 6 n 3 Copyright c 2005 http www irrodl org content v6 3 technote5 html Athabasca University www athabascau ca Riprodotto con il permesso della Athabasca University Canada s Open University 28 FORMAMENTE Anno I n 0 2006 Sintesi STRUMENTI PER IL TEXT BASED CONFERENCING CARATTERISTICHE E FUNZIONALIT WowBB Invision Power Board e vBulletin tre software per il web conferencing vengono messi a confronto per effettuare una valutazione comparativa delle loro caratteristiche e funzionalit Si tratta di software del tipo bulletin board strumenti di comunicazione asincrona attraverso internet che forniscono un mezzo flessibile per la comunicazione e la cooperazione online e che allo stesso tempo risultano relativamente economici essi infatti non richiedono una connessione a banda larga o accessori hardware Questi strumenti possono essere acquistati singolarmente o come parti di applicazioni pi complesse quali ad esempio i Learning Management System A partire da uno schema comparativo dei tre prodotti presentato nel sito di WowBB il gruppo di lavoro IRRODL ha rilevato che tale schema ne forniva una immagine fuorviante e parziale Scopo del gruppo di lavoro stato quindi quello di offrire una valutazione imparziale ed esaustiva dei tre tool per il text ba
12. sed conferencing realizzata applicando gli standard elaborati dall American Society for Training and Development ASTD per la valutazione dei software online Gli elementi considerati per la valutazione dei tre prodotti sono il prezzo le funzioni e caratteristiche comuni e quelle distintive di ciascun programma Dalla valutazione emerso che i tre prodotti offrono caratteristiche e funzionalit abbastanza simili e una buona possibilit di aggiungere elementi e strumenti per personalizzare il prodotto Il che significa che un potenziale utente e acquirente dovrebbe impegnarsi in un analisi minuziosa degli elementi e delle funzioni dei programmi prima di essere in grado di scegliere quello pi adeguato alle sue esigenze specifiche In questo senso i criteri individuati per la definizione delle caratteristiche dei tre tool forniscono elementi di valutazione utilizzabili per una scelta mirata del prodotto Numero 0 2006
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