 |
This article or section needs to be updated. Parts of this article or section are no longer up to date. Please update the article to reflect recent events, and remove this template when finished. |
 |
| ZetaBoards | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 The ZetaBoards documentation page |
|
| URL | www.zetaboards.com |
| Commercial? | No |
| Type of site | Remotely hosted internet forum |
| Registration | Required for creating forums; Admin optional on individual forums. |
| Owner | Zathyus Networks, Inc. |
| Created by | Brandon Kopetzky |
| Current status | Public |
ZetaBoards (formerly known as InvisionFree) is an forum software and website created by Zathyus Networks that offers the hosting of Invision Power Board version 1.3. It was founded in September, 2002[1], and uses a customly made forum software, but also a modified version of the Invision Power Board (IPB) 1.3[2] forum software. When registering, users may choose whether to have a ZetaBoard or an IPB board. It was founded and is led by Brandon Kopetzky who lives in Bowie, Maryland[3]. According to its terms of service, ZetaBoards does not restrict forums on the basis of post, topic, or member number, nor bandwidth, nor are forums deleted for inactivity[4]. Google AdSense is the site's main source of revenue, however users may purchase ad removal[5], as well as increased file space for uploads[6]. In an official announcement which has since been lost in a data crash, Brandon Kopetzky, owner of InvisionFree, announced that a new name would be given to the software - ZetaBoards. ZetaBoards was designed from scratch, without any ties to Invision Power Board - the software that InvisionFree was based on. ZetaBoards, like InvisionFree, is remotely hosted[7] as opposed to being downloaded like other forum software such as the aforementioned IPB and vBulletin. The software has been described by Brandon as this:
"ZetaBoards is an all-encompassing upgrade that will take the place of InvisionFree's service. ZetaBoards features enhanced moderation, automatic protections against spam bots, a post search, a new PM system, and an enhanced skinning system, as well as many more new features and enhancements."
Limitations of ZetaBoards include the lack of FTP access, editing restrictions and inability to access the MySQL database directly, as the software is remotely hosted.
Contents |
Beta
ZetaBoards underwent a closed beta test in October 2006, using selected members and staff from the InvisionFree Support Forums. Then on January 21 2007, a test board for ZetaBoards was opened to the public for testing. Approximately two months after on March 3 2007, the members were able to register their own test boards.[8]. On November 27 2007 ZetaBoards completed its Beta phase, thus opening its doors to all users. Some upgrades have yet to come, but the official version is - at least - available. Users can register their boards at the registration page.
Features
The board has new features that are not included in their modified version of Invision Power Board 1.3. [9] The documentation has a page that list's the more common features which are listed below:
General Usage
- Board Clock
- Theme Selector
- Collapsible Forums and Statistics
User Controls
- Automatic Member Legend
- Language Selector
- Request Name Change
Moderation
- Automatic Moderation Tools
- Inline Topic Moderation
- Inline Moderation Queue
- Report CP
Administration
ZetaBoards' Admin Control Panel has some features which it claims are not found in any other forum system's control panel.
- Custom Avatar Galleries
- Custom Email Messages
- Custom Pages
- Joinable Groups
Documentation
ZetaBoards will have documentation that provides information on how to use ZetaBoards and different ways of customising it. The information is stored in the wiki software, DokuWiki.
Themes
The forum has one skins by default which is the Default Theme listed below, But more can be added by using the Theme Manager page. They can be modified, deleted and up to 32 new ones can be added. The Mono & Classic themes are said to be available at a later date by many of the staff.
Gallery
 The Default Theme for ZetaBoards. |
 The dark Mono theme for ZetaBoards. |
 The Classic IPB 1.3-like theme for ZetaBoards. |
Criticism
Browser Compatibility
- Many people have complained about the compatibility issues with different browsers and their rendering of the board. Seth Kinast, one of the website's former administrators who recently retired, has created a table showing browser's advantages and disadvantages. Internet Explorer 6, for example, has problems viewing the board correctly because of Cascading Style Sheets issues. Most of these bugs have been sorted out and the ones remaining are impossible to fix. Communities look towards the release of the latest version of the browser, Internet Explorer 8, for fixing it.
Comparing to Other Softwares
- Small numbers of people have moved away from ZetaBoards and InvisionFree purely because ZetaBoards was not what they wanted it to be. They wanted an InvisionFree 2 that would still be based On IPB 1.3. Others felt that Zetaboards had taken too long to complete and lacked new features offered by other forum hosts.
InvisionFree
InvisionFree was the original name of the website when it was founded, before being renamed in March 2007.
InvisionFree had based its design on skinning, using only CSS and Javascript to design the board. While many would consider this a very limited form of design, thousands of skins have been created just for this software. The design of ZetaBoards is similar, however it has unique classes and a completely different coding system.
References
- ^ Invisionfree About page.
- ^ Stated in footer of any InvisionFree forum, "Powered by Invision Power Board v1.3 Final © 2003 IPS, Inc."
- ^ Brandon's InvisionFree profile shows he is the first member, ie. creator of the site, and born in Maryland.
- ^ ZetaBoard's Terms of Service.
- ^ Optional Ad Removal Purchase.
- ^ Optional additional file space purchase.
- ^ The ZetaBoards upgrade FAQ.
- ^ Announcement by Brandon
- ^ ZetaBoards Documentation
