[Suggestion] Blocks system / sidebar widgets

Isn't this the same suggestion as on this thread: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/suggestion-blocks-system.2654/

If the OP agrees I can merge them.

Yep, it's a duplicate, please merge (and please build)!

Thanks Moses, I've merged and updated the title so it's easier to find when searching.

I think a good start would be an html block - though WYSWYG is also a good next step.
Wordpress has a Text widget that adds anything you like which is very useful.

Then our magical coders could add blocks with php calls to the forums like latest posts /
later still user can select which forums to see latest posts displayed from.

But just having a block ready to one click insert with text, a pic would b e an excellent start. To be duplicated and the order set higher lower blocks.

very good idea. thumbs up

I agree, this is right now the feature I need/would want the most in xenForo.

I've never quite understood why XenForo (and vBulletin) have a sidebar on forum home only. Sidebars, blocks, widgets ... no matter how you call them, they're an important part of community-internal cross-promotion of content etc.

If I had to decide, I would even go one step further and not only implement vertical sidebar(s), but also horizontal widget areas above header, below header and above/below the footer.

Cheers,
Martin

id even be happy if it were merely easier to reconstruct the existing blocks. id love to load up 'newest members' in the default sidebar for example, but its problematic and causes php errors.

Yes, again, a duh moment. Still for some reason I'm liking this thread.

any progrtess on this subject?

Any news if this is one of the parts which will be changed in 1.2? ( http://xenforo.com/community/threads/development-update.25726/#post-311302 )

It's not a pain for 3rd party devs to create sidebar blocks/widgets but it's a pain for the end user to use them.

1. there are several different "frameworks/addons" by 3rd party devs for this.
Most of them aren't compatible to each other, so the user have to choose one and then he complains that block/widget xyz isn't available for this framework........

2. it's really not user-friendly to manage the available blocks and avarage joe still doesn't understand, why he can't just copy the code from template xyz into his template to have the sidebar with the board statistics available on a custom page or an other template......


Would be nice if you check the ipb blog to get some ideas
one of the IMO best features there is http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-5434-ipcontent-21-dev-update-external-widgets/