Add-on Simple Portal

[Dan]

We are currently working on a system based largely on the discussion from the CMF thread ( http://xenforo.com/community/threads/content-management-framework.45066/ )
CMF doesn't have the scope to be a portal/landing page, so this addon had to be born!

It's a very basic, easy to use Portal, which will work hand in hand with CMF, but CMF won't be required.

Short description: You'll be able to promote threads to the Frontpage (e.g. to show the announcements, news, newest shop items,.. on your forum landing page)

There will also be a category feature, which will allow you to define categories and associate the threads while promoting to a category.


Attached are some frontend screenshots so you can see some examples.

Suggestions? Comments?

 

[Digital Doctor]

Looking great !!

Simple and effective.

One small thing ...



Why did you choose to put the categories on the left ?
Reminds me of this - http://xenforo.com/community/help/
How about on the right as an option ? (or on the top in a tag layout).
I want people to read the article titles first .... and then think about categories later. Return visitors will want to read the newest articles (as they will already know the categories) .. so putting the categories (usually a small number) in it's own column taking up the most valuable screen real estate (the left side) seems obtrusive.

It might be just me who dislikes the categories on the left. It is a small point anyway. Anyone else dislike categories on the left ? I find it extra "obtrusive" on a home page type thing. Please don't get me wrong ... I love the categories

Q; is there some sort of native Xenforo support for your category structure (it looks the same as help) ?

Q: Would it be hard to support widget framework ? Alot of people already have it installed. People think it's efficient and well coded.

I'm sure people will want to add widgets.

Hey wasn't I the person who told you to get something simple out first !
hehe.

 

[Morgain]

DigDoc I get your point about valuable real estate ... but it's a prob for me with a busy sidebar already.

A horiz menu bar would be nice below the News title but we already have the breadcrumbs and two navig bars. Sigh.

ah how about next to the title? and suppress breadcrumbs on this template as it's not doing anything?

 

[Digital Doctor]

I think Simple Portal might be best to leverage Widget Framework ... have categories as a widget and let people put it where they want ! Not to mention they would be able to put their own widgets underneath simple portal categories ... and they could put ads too, etc. (Some might not display categories until they have enough. ?)

I think people already have Widgets and that would make it easy for people to switch to widgets.

Not to mention ... it offloads "Feature requests" to widgets ... hey you want a list of most recent posts on your simple portal then make your own widget !

 

[Morgain]

Yes Doc think you're right.

 

[Mouth]

It would be terrific to have auto-promotion also ... for example, thread can be manually promoted or any thread in xx forum is also automatically promoted.
I'm thinking an RSS feeder node whose content is automatically promoted.
I still think that falls within the bounds of a simple portal?

 

[shawn]

Please and thank you.

I've already posted the things I'd like to see in your CMF/CMS thread, so I won't repeat them here. I think the critical thing is really getting the tools out where people can interact with them, and then go from there. For example, I don't really mind the sidebar... I wouldn't put it where the example shows, but I figure this could be easily fixed in the template.

 

[IcEWoLF]

A jQuery powered side bar would be neat(something like I use on my site)


Now here are my suggestions, make a module system like vBadvanced, where you can simple add standard HTML to create things instead of having to upload XML files to create them.

Have a basic package that comes with your portal such as Latest News/Users online block/ Register block with this: http://xenforo.com/community/resour...oogle-and-steam-in-sidebar-visitor-panel.651/
Also latest threads would be a nice addition too.

I know this is not a full blown CMS product, but I think it would be a good start.

Also on news I would like to see the reply/see comments option and number of replies made on the specific thread.

 

[Dan]

Also on news I would like to see the reply/see comments option and number of replies made on the specific thread.

It is included (have you seen the second screenshot in the 1. post?)
All the elements will be optional and can be disabled in the style properties, to allow you to also create simple news pages

 

[IcEWoLF]

It is included (have you seen the second screenshot in the 1. post?)
All the elements will be optional and can be disabled in the style properties, to allow you to also create simple news pages
View attachment 41325

Ah missed it! Thanks!
So I believe it should be simple to add addons that work on your forums to the portal page such as slider/donation module/and shoutbox?

 

[Mouth]

It is included (have you seen the second screenshot in the 1. post?)
All the elements will be optional and can be disabled in the style properties, to allow you to also create simple news pages
View attachment 41325

I've always really liked the top/recent 1 or 2 article(s) being wide, across two columns, so that they stand out, and then the articles underneath being in 2 columns. Will this be supported?

 

[Dan]

Not sure if it will be included in the core, but it will be very easy with some custom css in your extra.css

 

[Dan]

You could even set for the index page 2 columns (where all articles are shown) and the category specific pages could have only 1 column

 

[Dan]

It would be terrific to have auto-promotion also ... for example, thread can be manually promoted or any thread in xx forum is also automatically promoted.
I'm thinking an RSS feeder node whose content is automatically promoted.
I still think that falls within the bounds of a simple portal?

Nice idea.

We have a feature freeze for 1.0.0 but it will be considered for the next version

 

[Dan]

Last feature hint:
There's a option to include the first inline attachment in the portal post.

 

[Morgain]

Extra I have a set of Categories with several forums each.
Would it be possible to set a box to draw from each Category not just one of its forums?

[EDIT] Or better, take the first post of a new thread, or an updated thread?
I'm thinking that 'fluff' pots when users say nothing much except 'I agree' or 'wow' won't show well. But the first post usually has substance.

So in a Category selected to display on the Portal, whichever is the thread in there which has a new post on it displays its first post.

 

[Deepmartini]

I like this. Looks promising and very useful!

 

[Dan]

Demo available at http://demo.extralicense.com/

 

[Biker]

OMG! YES YES YES YES YES!!!!! This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for! Will it support pagination?

 

[Ernest L. Defoe]

Looking good. Would be using this instead of xenPorta if I hadn't just spent most of the day yesterday setting things up the way I wanted it and my theme maker making it really match the rest of the site.