How does XenForo handle plugins & skins

I think that it should be a combination of sorts for plugin between the vbulletin way and the wordpress way. One click installation from the admin cp with the browsing advantage of vbulletin.org.

What is skinning going to be like? Is it going to be a nightmare like vbulletin 4.0's skinning system? Or will there be a wysiwyg like skinning system?

What about security? Will it be more secure than IPB, vbulletin, mybb, phpbb etc?
 
I think that it should be a combination of sorts for plugin between the vbulletin way and the wordpress way. One click installation from the admin cp with the browsing advantage of vbulletin.org.
Not sure. But I think we can beat vB.org.

What is skinning going to be like? Is it going to be a nightmare like vbulletin 4.0's skinning system?
No. StyleVars is not true CSS/HTML. Both novice and experienced forum owners and style designers were locked into a very strict, immutable style. It was a design straightjacket.
Or will there be a wysiwyg like skinning system?
No. A WYSIWYG editor would mean that the style is largely set in stone, and only minor changes can be made to details like colors and borders.

The XenForo style is true, proper CSS/HTML. If you already know CSS/HTML, then you're good to go. If not, then rely on the hundreds of style developers who will enter the market. You mentioned Wordpress, so I'll point out that Wordpress uses pure CSS/HTML for their styles and over 10,000 styles have been produced for it so far.

What about security? Will it be more secure than IPB, vbulletin, mybb, phpbb etc?
Windows Me is more secure than phpBB.

Seriously every forum software sets out to be completely secure. However with the framework of XenForo, sanitizing input and output is not just a good design practice, it's built into everything that XenForo does.

I'd suggest a search. There has been a lot of hints and info about how plugins will work, how all of their inputs are sanitized, how the style will feel, specifically Style Properties. Read that thread and if you really grasp what it is allowing you to do, you'll realize it leapfrogs every other forum solution out there. If I want to add a new feature to a style or to a plugin, my first step won't be to rip my hair out with the thought that forum admins will have to modify 3-4 templates to get that feature.
 
I'm sure that you know that you can double click in a thread area while in forum display to edit the title of it yes? I was thinking of an "editor mode" that had these double clickable areas all over the place and when you click on it one section you get a color drop down box like the ones found in editors. Now thats not all that happens on double click in "editor mode". There's other fill in the box options for stuff such as:


"text color" (user defined or selected from drop down box)

"gradient for this area" (user may select a gradient)

"bold, italic & underline" (tickboxes for each that can be applied to the double clicked area)

"background color" (user defined or selected from drop down box)

pretty much any area that can be targeted with css should be able to also be targetted with double clicking while in editor mode.
 
An "editor mode" as you describe would, again, lock site owners into a specific forum style and layout.

What if I want to completely rearrange the forum content? Then any kind of "editor" would no longer work because nothing is where the "editor" is expecting it to be.

If you already know HTML/CSS, you'll have no problem with XenForo customization. If not, I suggest hitting the books. ;)
 
Well, some of that is CSS, but most of it is pure HTML, some of it depreciated.

It's just a matter of learning the CSS equivalents or improvements.

Instead of:
<body bgcolor="#000000">​
try:
<body style="background-color: black;">​

Instead of:
<div><font size="4"><strong>Crystals</strong></font></div>​
try:
<div style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Crystals</strong></div>​

Instead of:
<div>&nbsp;</div>​
<div>&nbsp;</div>​
<div>&nbsp;</div>​
<div>&nbsp;</div>​
<div>&nbsp;</div>​
try:
<div style="margin-bottom: 100px;">​
or:
<div style="line-height:100px;">​

Realize also that this is including all the CSS within the HTML. The real benefit of CSS comes from defining styles like:
<div class="heading">This is a heading</div>​
 
I know plenty about html, it's the css that I'm not all to familiar with.

And FWIW there are plenty of sites devoted to specific help with CSS - I know because I have to use them regularly. So that if you need (say) the CSS for "bold" you can search for "CSS for bold" and usually get something helpful. Like, here's what came up in that exact search just now. (Hmmm, I didn't know that about "em.")
 
Would be great if it could be like the app store where you log into your admincp, you go to the xenstore, click the apps you want to install for free or purchase and then they automatically download and install on your site.

We can dream ;)
 
I know plenty about html, it's the css that I'm not all to familiar with. As a matter of fact, this is a site that I made in pure html with only the help of editplus (not a WYSIWYG editor :p)

http://nintendo2.t35.com/

I am sorry to say but your page is full of validation errors. Plus some other errors that shouldn''t have been there if you were familiar with Html as you claim, such as defining first the <title></title> and the style tags before the header. They should be defined inside the <head></head> tags.

If I were you, I would set up the css in an apart file and link to it in the header with the link tag. I think it is easier that way.
 
Um I find CSS a nightmare.
I spend HOURS trying to find which group governs what in the frontend display.
Change something on a guess - no impact on the bit i want to change ... ov er and over.
I have one trick of changing a code to hotpink - since I n ever use it otherwise. Sometimes that shows me what that group does.

But generally it's a massive massive waste of my time and NO FUN.

So I hope there will be a key to the CSS groups.
Like small fragment screenshots would be nice to show what a group controls.
 
Um I find CSS a nightmare.
I spend HOURS trying to find which group governs what in the frontend display.
Change something on a guess - no impact on the bit i want to change ... ov er and over.
I have one trick of changing a code to hotpink - since I n ever use it otherwise. Sometimes that shows me what that group does.

But generally it's a massive massive waste of my time and NO FUN.

So I hope there will be a key to the CSS groups.
Like small fragment screenshots would be nice to show what a group controls.

Have you tried using the Firebug the Firefox extension? Bring the page up with Firebug enabled, click the element inspector (in the top left corner of the FB pane, right next to the firebug... err... bug :) ) which looks like a blue rectangle with a blue arrow on it. Then hover over different parts of a page and it'll show you that element in the code. You can also use it to try out css etc changes without having to actually change the html/css files themselves ;).
 
Have you tried using the Firebug the Firefox extension? Bring the page up with Firebug enabled, click the element inspector (in the top left corner of the FB pane, right next to the firebug... err... bug :) ) which looks like a blue rectangle with a blue arrow on it. Then hover over different parts of a page and it'll show you that element in the code. You can also use it to try out css etc changes without having to actually change the html/css files themselves ;).
Even easier, right click the element you want to change and click "Inspect Element." :)
 
Um I find CSS a nightmare.
I spend HOURS trying to find which group governs what in the frontend display.
Was this in vBulletin 4? Because that is a horrible use of CSS.

So I hope there will be a key to the CSS groups.
Like small fragment screenshots would be nice to show what a group controls.
I think some forum admins will find an illustrated chart that highlights the important CSS classes to be very useful. Maybe in the documentation?
 
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