Any news about Xenforo 3.0, can we expect modern forum?

qnkov

qnkov

New member
Hello. For half a year, I have been looking for a modern forum system to start an anime/manga site with various features. For example, a video system for watching movies/episodes, a way to add manga/anime as pages with information about them, topics with posters, etc. I saw that all of this is possible with Invision Community.

I waited to see version 5, but it turned out that the self-hosted platform is extremely expensive and has functionality limits. They also changed the way we acquire add-ons, significantly restricting options, and almost no themes exist for their latest version.

On the other hand, XenForo seems like a better alternative in terms of user base and price, but the forum and themes, in general, look like they’re from the early 2000s. I understand that some may find this nostalgic, but it looks incredibly outdated and is not visually appealing.

That’s why I’m wondering what exactly to expect with version 3.0. Can we anticipate a modern interface similar to Invision Community? I really don't want to go to invision as they may drop self-hosted in next version, as they aim for big comapanies, not common users now.
 
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Does this user outline what people wants as a "more modern forum" ?
D

XF 2 Thread 'Custom Plugin Request for XenForo: X (Twitter)-Style Social Wall'

I'm looking for a developer who can build a custom plugin for XenForo that adds a social media-style wall (like X/Twitter). The goal is to create a modern, interactive social feed directly within the XenForo ecosystem.


Key Requirements:​


  1. Social Wall Interface (Main Feed)
    • The wall should mimic X/Twitter: each post displayed like a social media update (text, images, video, with like/comment/share buttons).
    • Users must be able to post directly from the wall, as if posting to a timeline.
    • Interactions should be visible: like counters, replies...
  • Like
 
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That would be an instant "I'm moving on" if I encountered that type of trainwreck on any forum. I would be ashamed if mine ever looked as chaotic as that full description reads! Our forum members want to participate in threads. Not wade through a sea of bull💩.

I think the only ones complaining about "onoz, forum not modern!" are the admins who like to play with things. The rest of us just quietly run the same forums we have for 20+ years without dumbing down to the mentality of typical social media users.

YMMV.
 
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Wildcat Media said:
Not wade through a sea of bull💩.
Click to expand...

It would be your own forum's content, and obviously you could restrict the feed to the type of content you want.

The main issue with these social media feeds is they will never have the best part about a social media feed: they give you what you want to see, without searching for it.

Xenforo does NOT target it's available information to the users that would want it because it doesn't track that type of information.

Social media makes content that you want to see easy to find. Xenforo, even when I take the time to search for information I know is on Xenforo.com ... it is hard to actually get to that information.

Demo: click on Resources, click search, type Xenporta.

1756493352391.webp

The first hit is a turkish translation.
ouch.
 
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Mr Lucky said:
Well, the thread is about being more modern though.
Click to expand...

Lee said:
Being better engaged is making steps to be more modern though...?
Click to expand...

It’s clear that XenForo’s design can be updated to something more “modern”—no one really doubts that. But I think what people are actually asking for when they say “modern” is better interaction and easier access to forum content from a single place.

Personally, I don’t call that “modern”; I call it accessible. That’s why I’ve spent a lot of time improving this aspect on my own forum. So why is there such a strong push for a social media-style wall? I believe it’s because most people are now familiar with how social media works, and those walls genuinely make content easier to access and engage with.
 
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Another issue is that most theme developers don’t go too deep into redesigning XenForo’s default layout. They usually focus on the homepage, navigation menu, and sidebar—but beyond that, many sections are left untouched. In my opinion, this is because redesigning those deeper areas requires a lot more effort and can easily be affected by third-party add-ons, making it a risky and time-consuming task.

Take the “What’s New” page, for example. It’s just a basic list of recent content. Couldn’t the XenForo developers have designed something more engaging or visually appealing here? It feels like a missed opportunity to improve user experience.

1756498020372.webp
 
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alfaNova said:
But I think what people are actually asking for when they say “modern” is better interaction
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I took the OP to mean manga and anime.

From the first post:

qnkov said:
For example, a video system for watching movies/episodes, a way to add manga/anime as pages with information about them, topics with posters, etc. I saw that all of this is possible with Invision Community.
Click to expand...

Nothing about interaction.
 
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