- Compatible XF 2.x versions
- 2.3
- Additional requirements
- XenForo 2.3.0 or later / PHP 8.0 or later
- License
- Free. Redistribution is not permitted.
- Updates duration
- Free updates, nothing to renew.
- Visible branding
- No
Free. Crown a member every week from a live race the whole forum follows, with congratulations and a hall of fame.
The members who answer questions, welcome newcomers and keep threads alive rarely get thanked in public. XenSpotlight does it for you: every day, week or month it crowns the member who helped most, from their posts, the reactions they received and their accepted solutions, and the whole forum gets to see it.
A race the whole forum follows. A podium and a top ten, live all week, with posts, reactions and solutions, and your own rank in the sidebar.
The forum says well done. Members congratulate the winner with native reactions, the winner gets an alert, and every alert can be switched off.
Upgrading from 1.0.x: install the archive over your current version from the Admin CP, after a backup. Your spotlights, options and permissions are kept, typed exclusions are converted to lists, and nothing is paid twice. If the upgrade stops with an "invalid callback" error, your data is safe: wait two minutes and click Upgrade again.
The members who answer questions, welcome newcomers and keep threads alive rarely get thanked in public. XenSpotlight does it for you: every day, week or month it crowns the member who helped most, from their posts, the reactions they received and their accepted solutions, and the whole forum gets to see it.
A week in the spotlight
Try it the quickest way
The tour
One member, center stage. Every week the forum crowns the member who helped most, with their stats, their own message in their color and congratulations from everyone.A race the whole forum follows. A podium and a top ten, live all week, with posts, reactions and solutions, and your own rank in the sidebar.
The forum says well done. Members congratulate the winner with native reactions, the winner gets an alert, and every alert can be switched off.
Their words, their color. The featured member leaves a short message and picks an accent color right from the spotlight page.
A badge where people read. An In the spotlight banner in every post and in the member tooltip while the week lasts, at no query cost.
A place on their profile. The banner during the week and a Spotlights count that opens the member's own hall of fame.
Every week, remembered. A hall of fame with every past spotlight, paged and filterable by member, with the most featured members alongside.
Right on your forum home. A Featured member widget for any position, with the top three of the race if you want them.
Light or dark, desktop or phone. Native XenForo components that follow your style, its dark variation and every screen size.
See why someone wins. Admin CP overview with the current spotlight and a live ranking that gives the exact reason any member cannot be featured.
Every week, under your control. Edit, recalculate or delete any spotlight, feature a member by hand, and set period, points, minimums and exclusions.
A badge where people read. An In the spotlight banner in every post and in the member tooltip while the week lasts, at no query cost.
A place on their profile. The banner during the week and a Spotlights count that opens the member's own hall of fame.
Every week, remembered. A hall of fame with every past spotlight, paged and filterable by member, with the most featured members alongside.
Right on your forum home. A Featured member widget for any position, with the top three of the race if you want them.
Light or dark, desktop or phone. Native XenForo components that follow your style, its dark variation and every screen size.
See why someone wins. Admin CP overview with the current spotlight and a live ranking that gives the exact reason any member cannot be featured.
Every week, under your control. Edit, recalculate or delete any spotlight, feature a member by hand, and set period, points, minimums and exclusions.
What it does
- One member, center stage. A spotlight page with the member's avatar, banners, period and stats, their own message in their own accent color, and buttons to view their profile, send them a message or see the race.
- A race the forum can follow. A podium and a top ten with posts, reactions and solutions, refreshed through the period. Logged-in members see their own score, their rank, how far they are from the top ten, or the reason they cannot be featured yet.
- Two ways to pick. Lock the winner from the previous period's activity, or run a live race and crown the leader when the period ends. Either way the alert, the optional broadcast and the XenLevel XP are given once. You can also feature a member by hand.
- Fair rules you set. Points per post, per reaction and per solution, a minimum number of messages and account age, excluded groups, forums and members, and never the same member twice in a row.
- Congratulations. Members react to the spotlight with XenForo's reactions, and the winner gets an alert. Every spotlight alert can be switched off by the member.
- Seen across the forum. An In the spotlight banner in posts, in the member tooltip and on the profile while the period lasts, a Spotlights count on profiles, Most featured in Notable members, and a Featured member widget with the top three if you want them.
- A hall of fame. Every past spotlight on one page, with pages, a filter by member and the most featured members.
- For admins. An overview with a live ranking that shows who is eligible and why, a list of every spotlight to edit, recalculate or delete, a user criterion for trophies and promotions, an admin permission, a rebuild tool, style properties and a read-only REST API.
New in 2.0.0
XenSpotlight 2.0 is rebuilt on XenForo's own components and follows your style in light and dark; the stylesheet went from 22 KB to 5 KB. Periods now follow your forum's time zone, the selection runs every hour, rewards are paid once instead of on every change of leader, solutions count for everyone, and the broadcast respects alert preferences. New: congratulations, your standing in the race, the spotlight badge, a paged hall of fame, and an Admin CP that explains every pick. Every 1.0 feature is still there.Good to know
Requires XenForo 2.3 and PHP 8.0 or later. Free. Colors come from your style, and the badge in posts costs no extra query.Upgrading from 1.0.x: install the archive over your current version from the Admin CP, after a backup. Your spotlights, options and permissions are kept, typed exclusions are converted to lists, and nothing is paid twice. If the upgrade stops with an "invalid callback" error, your data is safe: wait two minutes and click Upgrade again.
What you get
- Free. No license key, no account to create, no catch.
- Built and supported by the developer. Questions get an answer from the person who wrote the code.
- Theme-safe. Built from XenForo's own building blocks, so it follows your style, light and dark.
From the same workshop
- XenStaff: Free. A team page of flip cards members come back to, and a private staff inbox your team answers in one click.
- XenPing: Say hello in one tap: a wave, a toast, a coffee, a high five or a thank you. Members wave back, and the quiet ones come back.
- Level: Give your members something that adds up: XP, ranks, achievements and quests, built on native XenForo.
Thank you so much for this wonderful review, it really means a lot!
I'm thrilled to hear the Spotlight feature has been well received on your forum and that it's helping highlight your active contributors. That kind of recognition was exactly the goal when designing it, so reading that it's working in practice is the best feedback I could get.
Thanks also for being such a great person to work with on the bug reports. Clear and detailed feedback like yours makes fixing things much faster, so the credit goes both ways.
More enhancements are already in the works, stay tuned. And feel free to share any other ideas you have along the way, they're always welcome. :)
Best regards