PWA Improvements
Hot on the heels of the improvements announced earlier this week, we have another set of improvements to show you today, again, courtesy of @digitalpoint! This time we'll be focusing on some improvements to Progressive Web Apps which some of you will be familiar with if you're already using the [DigitalPoint] PWA add-on.
Web app manifest editing
We've been rocking a web app manifest for a while now but starting with XenForo 2.4 you will be able to modify the web app...
Featured content
Flash Message Improvements
In the coming weeks, we will be showcasing a few improvements very kindly donated to us by XenForo development G.O.A.T, @digitalpoint!
When digitalpoint heard that the primary aim for XenForo 2.4 was to implement some tangible quality of life improvements, he was very quick to offer up some code he has written over the years - some released, some not - which he wrote for his own sites. Is there a somewhat ulterior motive to this code philanthropy aside from our...
Since announcing Featured Content for XenForo 2.3 we have been closely monitoring feedback through various channels and our own overall vision for the feature and, as such, in today's Have you seen...? for XenForo 2.4 we are highlighting some of the recent changes we have made.
Automatic feature expiry
When curating content, sometimes it can take time to manage the list of featured content effectively to ensure it stays fresh for your visitors, and part of that is the inevitable time where...
Welcome back to our Have you seen...? series for XenForo 2.4! The code reviews are coming in thick and fast as we complete our planned features so there should be plenty to show you over the coming weeks.
Part of our process for this and previous releases has involved looking at the amazing pool of developer talent that we have in this community and considering how we can work with those developers to bring those features to the core.
And that's the focus of this time where we'll be taking...
Rich text editors are hard. When you drill down into how they actually work, it's a wonder why there are so many of them, and why developers would willingly spend a significant part of their life working on one. At XenForo we have been through ... counts on fingers ... three different rich text editors in our history, so if we're being generous we can at least attest to what a feat of engineering they are and how difficult they can be to get right -- and all we have to do is implement them...
Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on our first Have you seen...? thread about the upcoming Add-on update notifications for XF 2.4. It's exciting for us to start this process so soon after the release of XenForo 2.3! And while we are not sticking to a specific schedule for this series of HYS threads, our next one is already here!
This time around we are adding Direct message labels as a way for people to be able to add a little more organisation to their inboxes. This is a long...
Welcome to the first "Have you seen...?" post for XenForo 2.4! As we discussed a couple of months ago, XenForo 2.4 will focus mainly on quality-of-life improvements for admins, moderators and users, and today's first look at our next version absolutely ticks that box.
Occasionally the inspiration for new features doesn't solely come from the suggestions forum and at times we sit up and take notice of what is popular in the Resource Manager. In this particular case, the Add-on update...
Today is the day we sadly have to report that this is the final 'Have you seen...?' thread for XenForo 2.3. While there are still changes planned, these will almost exclusively be changes to existing features, bug fixes and miscellaneous improvements that aren't significant enough for their own thread. But this only brings with it the implication of very good news to come as we start wrapping up the beta process for XenForo 2.3 and rocket towards a stable release as soon as possible...
Since the initial release of XenForo 2.3, there has been a new system working away behind the scenes. One that some developers might have spotted but one that we hadn't actually talked about yet, because it wasn't relevant. Until now!
Let's talk about this somewhat underlying system first.
Content activity log
This is a generic system, based on content types, which we strongly recommend you consider using for your own add-ons. Essentially what this does is keep a log of content and tracks...
First thing's first, don't panic, don't rush to your customer area, there is no Beta 3 release today! We are likely to be moving the remaining HYS posts to Thursday/Friday, coinciding with those features rolling out to this very forum so we get some extended testing and feedback before they appear in a subsequent Beta.
Next order of business, before we get into what's coming in Beta 3, is a big thank you to Shawn, AKA @digitalpoint. We're big fans of Shawn's work and he's genuinely a stand...
Brand new in XenForo 2.3.0 Beta 2 is support for a few long overdue enhancements related to our payment and purchasable system. Let's look at each of these below!
Stripe Checkout
Stripe Checkout is Stripe's native and hosted checkout page which not only brings with it some powerful customisability, it also makes accepting new payment methods completely trivial and available in an instant. Allow user upgrades and other purchasables to be purchased with options for "Buy Now Pay Later" (e.g...
It's finally here! Today we are pleased to mark the next major milestone towards a stable release of XenForo 2.3 and this time we need your help!
As per the announcement XenForo 2.3 Beta 1 is now available to all licensed self-hosted customers. We'd very much appreciate your thoughts, your feedback, and your uncanny ability to break things in ways we can't even imagine. But, as ever, please do not even contemplate installing it on your live forum at this point. There will be bugs; some of...
If you are using a computer or mobile device using dark mode, and you have been living under a rock for the past several weeks, you might be rather surprised at the appearance of the XenForo Community Forums at this point.
On the other hand, if you have been paying attention, you'll understand that we have now upgraded our own forums to XenForo 2.3, which means we are getting ever closer to a public release, while showing our usual confidence in the stability of our products by 'eating our...
This is a simple guide explaining how custom user fields can be used to customise the layout and allow members to have some form of control over the content, depending on the options you provide.
For the purposes of this guide, we will be creating a checkbox for members to opt out of seeing the forum statistics in the sidebar.
Create the custom user field
The first step is to create the custom user field, like so:
A new option will then be present on the account preferences page...
Randomising content can be used in various ways, the most common of which is for header images and logos, or advertising banners.
This guide will explain how it can be done simply with one line of code (which ironically has taken a hundred lines of explanatory text).
For the purposes of this guide, we'll be adding an image in the Container header advertising position, which will randomly change between 5 different images.
Prepare the images
The first step is to prepare your images.
I...
What are variables?
In simple terms, variables are names which hold values.
These values are stored in the database and are used in templates to evaluate and present the content and data.
Using variables in templates opens up a lot of possibilities for customising and modifying the look and behaviour of an XF installation.
Most of you are probably already aware of using variables in some way or another, via conditional statements for example - <xf:if is="$xf.visitor.user_id">, or widget...
🎶 Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna,
I wanna really, really, really wanna localhost installation which works over https, has push notifications, supports PWA, and optionally has Elasticsearch capability 🎶
Spicy!
Huh?!
This guide will explain in detail how to get a localhost installation working using XAMPP, served over https, so all XF features and functionality are available...
By default, XF comes with the following user banner styles:
Creating custom styling using the Other, using custom CSS class name option is fairly straightforward.
This guide will explain how to.
The easiest way by far to add new prefix styling and to ensure it inherits all of the core styling is to edit the app_user_banners.less template.
Look for the section in the template highlighted in the screenshot below:
Then just add your custom entries after the orange entry and before the...
By default, XF comes with the following prefix styles:
Creating custom styling using the Other, using custom CSS class name option is fairly straightforward.
This guide will explain how to.
The easiest way by far to add new prefix styling and to ensure it inherits all of the core styling is to edit the core_labels.less template.
Look for the section in the template highlighted in the screenshot below:
Then just add your custom entries after the error entry and before the closing }...
By default, XF ships with a Reactions sprite sheet with 7 emojis: https://xenforo.com/community/styles/default/xenforo/reactions/emojione/sprite_sheet_emojione.png
Adding new Reactions is fairly straightforward, either as individual images, or by using a secondary custom sprite sheet, but why not combine them all into a single sprite sheet?
Doing so has several benefits; the browser only has to download one file and if XF ever changes the sprite sheet in the future, your Reactions won't...
