Unmaintained [8WR] XenPorta (Portal) PRO 1.2.2b

this is very user-friendly, thanks! Def worth the money. It is a lot more advanced than the free unmaintained one. Thanks for the release, i recommend this addon.

Works very well! Jaxel's add-ons are continuously getting better! I highly recommend this add-on for anyone looking for a "front page" that delivers everything when there's news!

The flexibility of the new XenPorta2 version is significantly greater than the original (which was also excellent). Yeah, the wait was longer than anticipated, but I never fretted, knowing the product would be worth the wait! Top quality stuff here!

Jaxel fixes bugs fast, and it's much better than xenporta 1, but at the same time keeps all the good functionality. This might make me consider removing bd's widget framewwork and xentag because this addon replaces those, even though they are great addons also

As soon as this came out, I was extremely excited. As a long time XP user, I was definitely not disappointed with the additions that Jaxel made. Everything is improved and it's well worth the money.

Also, a really nice FAQ.

I've been dying to have XenPorta on XF 1.3++ Then it happen. This is really worth every cent You plan to spent on XF plugin. Work like a charm. Does what it supposed to do.

XenPorta 2 PRO is anticipated update for that ever popular XenForo portal addon. Jaxel is performing marvelous job in responding to the needs of licensed users. Updates are distributed routinely. You need this addon! Thank you Jaxel

Superb addon. Suits my needs perfectly, Jaxel's support is second to none. Can't recommend it highly enough. been waiting for what felt like a lifetime for it to be released, and it was definitely worth the wait. worth every penny.

Xenporta2 is an addon that I needed for my forum to really give that last edge of professionalism. 1 word for the addon "EPIC".
I had questions regarding the addon as well, but jaxel is giving me awesome support and he's fast as well.

The so long waited XenPorta 2.0 is there with tons of new things, tons of possibilities and on top of that, easier than ever. A must have for those who wants a portal (or multiples ones !) on their board !

Disclaimer: As rude as it sounds, I don't care about the personal live of the developer and personal choices he has made in the past. This review is intended for the software XenPorta 2 and level of support it received up to version 1.0.5a only.

First I want to talk about XenPorta 1. XenPorta 1 was a decent add-on, but it had a few issues which prevented me from using it. Mostly those issues are not issues per se, but missing features. I have suggested features and some were added, some not. Sometimes I felt ignored and would wipe XenPorta 1 completly from my installation out of frustration (multiple times). From my experience, support for XenPorta 1 has been disastrous (for some, perhaps the biggest issue with XenPorta 1).

Fast forward comes the announcement of XenPorta 2, which promised to be more feature rich and supported add-on, because it was a paid add-on. The development took nearly a year, so when it was released I was eager to check it out. The price of $40 seems very reasonable to me. I was relieved that my missing suggestions had been implemented (including a much needed tags feature, which can greatly enhance your site if used correctly). Other features and improvements are a dedicated authors page and authors block, better performance, support for three different types of comments (local, disqus and facebook), a category filtering option etc.

With XenPorta 1 you couldn't quite mimic a WordPress based news/magazine site due to missing features, but with XenPorta 2 this is possible now. As far as I know, XenPorta 2 is the only add-on for XenForo that can do this. There are other solutions but they don't have the feature set to compete with WordPress.

Features are good and all, but they are only good as long as the product is supported, because what use has a software if you are stuck trying to solve an issue? I have been monitoring the XenPorta 2 thread closely and fortunately the support has been great. Unlike with XenPorta 1 in the past, the developer answers questions, solves issues and even implements features users request very quickly. It even exists a FAQ. It's obvious that the developer puts effort into supporting his add-on. I hope the level of support will continue and am looking forward to the future of this add-on.

XenPorta2 is a huge upgrade from the hugely popular XenPorta addon. The amount of feedbacks that has taken into consideration by the author is amazing. The system is very user friendly with the new widget framework; which comes with a tons of pre-made widgets. I am sure the author will keep extending the list of widgets too as he deems fit.

Jaxel's support in XP2 is awesome and can now be said he is one of the most approachable developer in XF community. Anyone looking for a portal solution should consider this addon.

I have been looking for something for the front end of my website to show left and right side panels as well as a slider for showing news and events!

XenPorta 2 is nothing short of amazing and makes for a great addition to your xenForo Forums!

The support from the Developer of XenPorta 2 is nothing short of awesome always seems eager to help out.
One of the biggest things to me is how Developers of other Add-ons are eager to make custom Add-on Widgets work with XenPorta 2. Style creators are also just as willing to help make their custom styles work well with XenPorta 2 as well.

So you cannot go wrong with using this for your forums if it’s something you are looking for since the support is community wide throughout xenForo you cannot go wrong!

Just to be honest and playing it safe all the Developers and community members on the xenForo community forums seem eager to help out with just about anything… ;)

Really, really happy with new XenPorta. Easy to promote content to the front page, looks great, and much easier to modify than Xenporta 1. Thanks for your hard work.

I chose this add-on because I really liked the look of it. There was a bit of a learning curve as a new guy to all this stuff, but Jaxel has put up videos that will lead you through the process and the FAQ will answer most commonly asked questions (my questions). :)

I do not utilize this add-on for it's widgets so I can't comment on that, but more for the promoted articles, and featuring threads. In that regard it has worked great for me!

Currently, I have no issues, and Jaxel has given great support.

Really like this addons. I used XP1, and I decided to upgrade to XP2 for my site. I think there are many change in the near future.

Thanks so much Jaxel!

Great addon. XP2 is way better and faster than XP1.6. This is worth the $40 you will have to pay.
Must have add-on to XenForo if you ask me.
Thank you Jaxel for your hard work.

A powerful product that has a steep learning curve, but a lot of depth. Definitely worth the $40. Allows you to quickly create content management pages (including a nice portal) as well as extend content frameworks into the core of the xenForo forums (if you desire). A decent amount of drag and drop widgit support, with new widgits likely on the way. Highly recommend!

Had all but given up on this arriving, but it was worth the wait. I did have a few troubles getting it set-up but I encourage everyone to watch jaxels's you tube vids, they explain everything in great detail.

I took my time to review this addon to test it well. I was curious to see how the promotion of articles could be done in the second version. The idea of splitting promotion in two is clever: the featured promotions makes content goes into the slider, the normal promotions make content goes into the main items list.

Moreover the promotion date and image management is really easy to use, which is a great asset for redactors. The custom article layout is convenient as well and can be setup in a few clicks.

So the UI for this addon is really good. The experience coming from the many years of development of the first version is clearly visible.

But the biggest surprise of this addon is coming from the widgets module. It works well and since the development interface reuses a part of the XenForo options interface, it's really cool and easy to play with. I can't say about performance but in terms of coding, that's the easiest I've used (I've of course used the one from xFrocks but also the one from Guiltar that stayed at an alpha version). And the idea of a "options set" section makes things easy for admins to customize the layouts of their website pages.

To start with this addon, you need to watch the videos, at least the first one. It will be easier after to set options. The Faq is also useful. For foreigners like me, don't fear the first the second of the videos. Jaxel accent made me reminded when I was in Ireland and didn't understand a word (Cork accent or even Dublin ones can be really tricky). But after he sneezed, everything was easier to understand ^^

Here's for the good part. For the bad one, it's a personal point of view but I think 50 dollars for the license removal is expensive. And the solution to only "hide" the license (in the readme file) letting a trackback didn't seem fair. Of course there's also the intense debate about Jaxel past behavior. People don't change, they just put more make-up. But Jaxel is currently trying to make amends and he communicates more ; which has to be put to his credit.

So thanks for this addon, it's a good one.