XenForo 2.1 and beyond

[we_are_borg]

Every time a QA team says "well, I'm reasonably certain we've put ourselves in the shoes of every idiot out there, no-one could break this now" the universe goes "challenge accepted" and invents a better idiot

Well if you ask the universe provides its that easy.

 

[TigrisOculus]

The problem with implementing "what the users want" is that it inevitably leads to cloning what other places already have.

The other problem is that it will inevitably lead to making the software less suitable for some of the established users. Imagine all the permissions were simplified, it would improve the situation for some and make the software totally unsuitable for others.

The same applies to other things: make it easier to post etc. but inevitably that kills the categorisation and structure that are the major thing forums have that social media doesn't.

I'm all for innovation and new features, but when I hear people clamoring like this for forum platforms to become "something more" I can't help but wonder if the software would still be a forum platform if everyone got everything they wished for. In other words, at what point does it stop being a forum software and more a social media platform/website builder allowing people to build anything and everything they can think of, all in one package? If it allows you to do all that, is it really just a "forum platform" any more? Are we really asking XF and others to develop and sell something other than what they went into business for, what they actually advertise and sell? You know, kind of like if you bought a car and then went back to the manufacturer and demanded they make changes to allow you to convert it into a boat and a plane and fire rockets?

I am only beginning to look at Xenforo. I read this thread wondering what the design direction might be.

I see a lot of concern in this topic about competing with Facebook and social media in general. Following Pete and sanction9's thinking above, I'd like to point out that, for the most part, social media permits short-term, short-form interactions with little expectation of retrieval. The content is not intended to have a long life-span. Content retrieval tools are poor to non-existant.

Forums are a different medium altogether. This conversation, for example, has been going on since October. You can navigate within it and, if necessary, find specific posts or threads through search. I'm researching Xenforo now, so I looked at quite a few old threads. Content preservation and retrieval are valuable functions that social media does not fulfill.

Longevity, navigabiity, and readability of content in a two-dimensional display require certain enduring design characteristics. This is the design archetype of an online forum and why most forum software has very typical features in common. There are only so many ways to thread a conversation, for example.

Forums may have passed their heyday. Usenet was once the only game in town, too. You can still do quite a bit with a forum, you can even make a business of it, but you have to be smart about it. But if you want to compete directly with social media, you're in the wrong game. Social media offers immediate-gratification fast food drive-throughs while forums are the town square, with long-term relationships, social norms, and stability of landmarks.

Right now, Facebook has to deal with the fact that for some, immediate-gratification interaction interwoven with commercial messages might consist of harassment, trolling, incitement, and even the deliberate distribution of propaganda. In a very short time, Facebook is not going to be what it used to be, either.

 

[droidman]

Any news about 2.1? I've seen some hints that might mean push notification support, which would be amazing.

 

[Checkmate]

Push notifications on Android and iPhone through an app might be the feature that saves forums. I truly hope that's what's coming in 2.1. It's hard to compete with Facebook when they are able to send push notifications to members phones.

 

[IanC]

Push notifications would be a nice feature to see. I'm still hoping for improved content discovery (similar thread/resources listings), as it's really lacking in that area.

Sadly, I think we've still got quite a wait for XF 2.1 .

 

[Checkmate]

It would appear push notifications will be part of XF 2.1!

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/push-notifications.154592/

This will certainly help forums especially on the mobile side of things, by helping to level out the playing field versus native phone apps like Facebook.

 

[Joeychgo]

This will certainly help forums especially on the mobile side of things, by helping to level out the playing field versus native phone apps like Facebook.

agreed

 

[CarlosX360]

It would appear push notifications will be part of XF 2.1!

https://xenforo.com/community/threads/push-notifications.154592/

This will certainly help forums especially on the mobile side of things, by helping to level out the playing field versus native phone apps like Facebook.

That will help immensely. It will help push more participation, more return users, etc. I can't wait for the release of this update!

I already see traffic increases by upgrading to 2.0, but this will just push it to another level.

This also would eliminate that reason people go for Tapatalk. I'll keep Tapatalk on even after this upgrade, but this definitely eliminates one key part of Tapatalk "interesting" to older Tapatalk users.

 

[Alpha1]

Its a really nice feature and a promising start of the 2.1 HYS.

PUSH notifications for guests are not yet implemented. Vote here:
https://xenforo.com/community/threads/push-notifications-for-guests-watch-subscribe.154610/

 

[sbjsbj]

I would say so far XF is 2/2.
Both HYS are fullfilling expactions.

My only concern and complaint will be after all of this is, that we probably will not have seen enough improvements.
I mean the progression in the last 4 years is so slow, that 5-6 HYS won't be enough.

But it is still early to tell, who knows, maybe they can blow our minds. I am happy so far.

 

[Karll]

2.1 at least makes it worthwhile to consider upgrading since it has new features. (I'm still on 1.5.)

I'm not holding my breath that there will be any truly innovative features that can make XF "disrupt" the forum software space, though.

But maybe something along those lines can come from add-on developers.

 

[Panupat]

I want to resub my Xenforo just so I can get my forum to have responsive layout. Even if barely anyone visits it anymore.

 

[sanction9]

To be honest, I'm not as excited about the push notifications as some people here, especially considering they won't work on Apple devices, which is almost half the global market, so.... And maybe it's my own short sightedness, but I don't personally use push notices so I just can't get too excited about them. Then there's the editor stuff... okay, I welcome some of those additions, but I already get most of what I personally need using Lukas W's excellent addon. Always better to have at least some of those features in the core, of course, but still not something I'm truly excited about. I'm hoping that next week we'll some things that will be of more interest to average forum users, that makes it more fun to actually participate on the forums, maybe something similar to IPB's Clubs.

 

[Alpha1]

After PUSH, now tables. its a very good start IMO. Yes, clubs would be a big one.
I have no valid XF2 upgrade path due to clubs. Unless XF or a new developer releases clubs, XF2 upgrade is not going to happen.

 

[R0binHood]

After PUSH, now tables. its a very good start IMO. Yes, clubs would be a big one.
I have no valid XF2 upgrade path due to clubs. Unless XF or a new developer releases clubs, XF2 upgrade is not going to happen.

Agree, could really do with a high quality clubs competitor. I’m not holding my breath for anything big like that as a core product though.

 

[sanction9]

Agree, could really do with a high quality clubs competitor. I’m not holding my breath for anything big like that as a core product though.

I'm not really expecting it, to be perfectly honest, but it would be a nice surprise. And I don't see why it couldn't be core. It's core in IPB, isn't it? Hell, I'd be happy to see even just some improvements with the search, but that will probably never happen because of their addon. But I'll hope for something. Maybe it won't be anything as big as Clubs, but I'm hoping for something with a little "wow" factor, that rises above useful but mostly utilitarian functionality.

 

[Alpha1]

Agree, could really do with a high quality clubs competitor. I’m not holding my breath for anything big like that as a core product though.

It is not very likely to be in XF2.1 but one can hope for simple groups. Once the core has the basics then addon developers can enhance it.
After 4 years of 107 social group releases many of which broke the site and introduce dozens of problematic bugs, I am now running somewhat usable but buggy groups. It will take another 4 years and another 100 releases for a XF2 version to get to the same state. I'm not signing up for another round of that nightmare. And I am not deleting hundreds of groups either.

What IPS has done in this regard is very smart: they found a pain point of XenForo admins and released a beautiful solution.

 

[R0binHood]

It's core in IPB, isn't it?

Yes, but they’re a much larger company. XF is still only 3 devs.

I guess we’ll have to wait until after all the have you seens have been announced to see what progress has been like since 2.0 to see if they’ll go a bit bigger with any more 1st party add ons.

 

[R0binHood]

It is not very likely to be in XF2.1 but one can hope for simple groups.

I don’t know if ‘simple groups’ would be enough. I don’t want a half baked attempt at it. There’s been features in the past which I feel aren’t quite what they could be, which is a shame.

The global post new thread feature for instance, introduced in 2.0. It’s a great idea, but needs improvement because as it stands if you’re in a forum with loads of subforums a you just get a massive list to scroll through without any way to type and refine the list to find the forum you want to select. It’s feels like a pretty basic implementation that could easily be refined and improved to make it more more user friendly.

Anyway, I’ll try to refrain from complaining any more. Will have to see what else they’ve stored up for 2.1. I’m sure there will be plenty of other juicy improvements to come. It’s a good start.

 

[sanction9]

I don’t know if ‘simple groups’ would be enough. I don’t want a half baked attempt at it. There’s been features in the past which I feel aren’t quite what they could be, which is a shame.

The global post new thread feature for instance, introduced in 2.0. It’s a great idea, but needs improvement because as it stands if you’re in a forum with loads of subforums a you just get a massive list to scroll through without any way to type and refine the list to find the forum you want to select. It’s feels like a pretty basic implementation that could easily be refined and improved to make it more more user friendly.

Anyway, I’ll try to refrain from complaining any more. Will have to see what else they’ve stored up for 2.1. I’m sure there will be plenty of other juicy improvements to come. It’s a good start.

Heh, even just something like the ability for users to do forum wide prefix searches and sorting would be a really cool addition - something that would get a lot of use by my own users. But that's yet another thing you have to currently pay to get with an addon. (Not that I begrudge addon developers needing to make money, but $30+ dollars for this and $30+ dollars for that - and add on a dozen more $30+ addons and styles, most requiring a yearly renewal - and it starts to really add up.)

But anyway, like you, I'm gonna stop my bitching now. No sense in assuming the worst. The changes announced so far are good ones, and I'll just hope for some more, and even better ones, next week.