Articles with xenForo?

[gimpo]

Hallo,
I'm playing with the forum demo, and I'm quite intrigued.

Here my question: I would like to publish some articles (i.e. tutorials) containing photos and text with a decent layout, it is possible with xenForo?

As I can see, the only place where I can post something like that is under the Resources menu, unfortunately the text editor seems quite poor for that purposes. For example, no horizontal ruler is available, also is not possible to divide the article in "pages".
Is available some more advanced text editor? Maybe an add-on? Or there is some work-around?

Thanks for the answer.

 

[tajhay]

Xenaddons.com

@Bob is the author of Article Management System and Showcase add-ons. Seems like both should be suitable for what you need to do. Contact him for more info.

 

[dethfire]

Or use wordpress and the xpress addon

 

[Miacommunity]

Honestly, I don't suggest Bob's add-ons.
They do not have all the functionality of the case, the version for Xenforo 2.x has lost many features compared to the version for 1.x and he is generally very rude to anyone who asks for assistance and news about the release of new versions.
I'm making a new version of article management system.

 

[dethfire]

One reason I suggest wordpress, is that the platform isn't going anywhere. If you start writing hundreds of articles and in a few years an XF addon becomes unsupported or completed broken, what happens to the articles? wordpress will always be around.

 

[gimpo]

Mia, keep us informed about that.

I'm quite skeptic about wordpress... you can write excellent articles for sure, but I don't think the forum add-ons are robust like xenForo.
To be clear, my main target is to create a forum-based community, articles are just something to add more value (I think I will write five or six articles per year).
Alternatively, I could provide downloadable PDFs, but you loose the convenience of using a lot of images in your article (you cannot have an image gallery on a PDF)

 

[leebo]

Using XPress from ThemeHouse you’re able to use Xenforo for your forum and Wordpress for your articles. XPress is a bridge between the two that allows you to reuse your theme and login details between the two platforms. It works very well so far for us.

 

[Mr Lucky]

One reason I suggest wordpress, is that the platform isn't going anywhere.

Huh, it just went somewhere with version 5. To a place many people hate, called Gutenberg.

I am in the process of switching my sites from Wordpress to ClassicPress

Or there is some work-around?

The workaround without an add-on is to use resources, and create some custom bbcodes to enhance the the text editor with what you want for a better layout.

 

[gimpo]

I'm going to visit the Themehouse website to check this possibility.
Honestly, I would prefer to have all in one product to avoid problems with the support service in case of problems. You know how this things works...

 

[gimpo]

The workaround without an add-on is to use resources, and create some custom bbcodes to enhance the the text editor with what you want for a better layout.

Uh! I was worry to get an answer like that.

I'm still short of time, and I don't want to spend my (little) free time again in front of the PC making software working (this is the story of my life).
For this reason I'm looking to commercial software. I have no extra-time in my wallet....

 

[Mr Lucky]

I'm still short of time, and I don't want to spend my (little) free time again in front of the PC making software working (this is the story of my life).

Well it doesn't take long at all to convert basic stuff like an hr or image floats to bbcode. Not sure what you mean by divide the article.

 

[dethfire]

Huh, it just went somewhere with version 5. To a place many people hate, called Gutenberg.

You can still use the classic editor or any of the premium drag and drop editors so I don't know why Gutenberg is an issue.

 

[Russ]

Bob's the man! I've been working on a side project just for fun, used AMS to achieve this. Anytime I get stuck on something Bob's always there to help

 

[JamesBrown]

They do not have all the functionality of the case, the version for Xenforo 2.x has lost many features compared to the version for 1.x and he is generally very rude to anyone who asks for assistance and news about the release of new versions.

Generally very rude you say! On the contrary, in my dealings with Bob I've found him nothing but polite, professional and very helpful. I agree he doesn't suffer fools gladly, could that be the problem?

 

[Mr Lucky]

You can still use the classic editor or any of the premium drag and drop editors so I don't know why Gutenberg is an issue.

For now yes, but they are working towards Gutenberg blocks concept to take over totally. Classic editor only has a life of a couple of years then they will drop it. I was replying to the idea that Wordpress is not going anywhere, well it is - there is a huge backlash against it, just look at the feedback they are getting.

Anyway, this is getting off topic, there is another thread about Gutenberg somewhere.

 

[Dadparvar]

he is generally very rude to anyone who asks for assistance and news about the release of new versions.

I'm not Bob's defender. But let me share a few points here:

• Bob is not God, but he is 1 of the top devepoers in this community (and we only have just a few real high quality delevopers like him or xon. Coders or addon builders shouldn't be considered as devepoers necessarily). It's not nice to harshly talk about pioneers in the community and call them rude.
• If you plan to make a new article manager system, its nice. Best wishes for you. But don't attack competitors. Just compete (and if you want to compete Bob's article manager, GOOD LUCK!)
• Bob's addons are the most stable addons for XF. And he is very fast on fixing reported bugs, suggested features and requested changes and he release update regularly too (his business model is not to release updates each quarter hoping that a lot of customers' licenses will expire and will be forced to renew. He also doesn't have copyright on footer and doesn't have hidden fees)
• Bob is not rude. He has his own personality (just like how we have). He may sometimes reply in a special way (like you may feel he is angry or whatever) but he is not insulting. Its just the way he sometimes is. Which is normal. Are you alway relax and calm? It never happened to you to be tired? Or while developing something and working on other stuff and in the same time having sickness, then you receive some stupid questions? Will you reply like "dear customer, i love you... this is my answer. Sincerely your, ..."?! (Even when his words are sometimes strong, his replies are a full article that not only fix the issue, but also teaches you something. (Even I sometimes felt he was abgry replying me. But we should understand 2 things: 1. He has his own life and lots of hardships. 2. This is WE that are his client. Not him being OUR client. No matter if I have a law firm or whatever. I'm not his attorney to expect him full of respect and best words in any situation. I'm his client and I have to understand him) and, a clear thing: we don't pay Bob to change his personality to the way we like. We pay him to have permission to use his addons.
• You said he is unwilling to resolve issues, and he is unreliable and also his addons' xf2 version lack a lot features. (2 points here: 1. making xf2 version of xf1 addon that took years to be devepoed, is not a work of 1 night. It takes tome. Even with lack of some feature, show me an article manager for xf2, which is, not better than bob's addon, just be half of bob's addon! 2. Show me 1 reported real issue or bug that bob is unwilling to fix it and I'll remove all his addons from my websites and I won't recommend him to anyone anytime forever. Just 1 single critical issue that should be fixed and he is unwilling to fix and that it shows he is unreliable. (But if you don't show it, IT SAYS A LOT ABOUT YOU)
• Being his customer for more than 2 years, never waited more than a few hours to get replies to either my reports, or even pms. (And I can't remember an issue not being resolved. His speed of fixing bugs, is faster than most of other addon owners' speed of initial reply to the message)

Again, best of luck with your plans, and best wishes for you in your path. We hope to see more and more professional developers in this community.

#beRudeButBeBob

 

[TPerry]

I do not give importance only to the technical side of a programmer but also to the human side.

I've always been of the thought I prefer someone who codes well but is a prick compared to the alternative of a prick who can't code.

I have never had an issue with Bob, and I've asked some dumb questions of him when I first started using ShowCase and AMS that he happily answered.

 

[gouwepeer.nl]

The options:

• XenPorta 2 by @Jaxel
• Article Management System by @Bob
• XPress by @ThemeHouse
• XenForo Resource Manager and modify it by yourself

 

[Paul B]

I think we can put a stop to this discussion here - everyone has had their say and the posts are not at all constructive with regards to which add-on would suffice for article management.

 

[gimpo]

Well it doesn't take long at all to convert basic stuff like an hr or image floats to bbcode. Not sure what you mean by divide the article.

I mean that a long article (like unmounting the front forks of a motorcycle) can be very long. So it would be nice to divide it in several "chapters", and have a summary index to jump quickly from a chapter to another. This would help greatly the reader to not get lost on a long text.
I didn't find anything feature like that in the Xpress add-on offered by themehouse.com.