Before I buy - questions

[Ellie]

Hi,

We are moving from VB and it's a toss up between here and IPB, my preference so far is Xenforo.

But I haves some questions

1. SEO - I don't really want to mess around with add-ons and from what I have read Xenforo has good SEO built in out of the box. Is that the case?

2. If an image is added as an attachment can it be displayed in a post in full instead of a thumbnail?

3. Design - Are there any good examples of how creative you can be with the design? I understand that this is quite minimalistic (no buttons etc) but for my community I need really strong and clear CTA's for replies and new posts etc. Also in the list of posts on the forum page is it possible to have the more conventional layout of the persons avatar to show on the right instead of on the left next to the topic name?

4. My users love Groans and Thanks. Is that add on available here or something similar?

Thanks

 

[Paul B]

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. Check the RM - there are lots of styles available: http://xenforo.com/community/resources/categories/styles.29/

4. Yes - there is an add-on available: http://xenforo.com/community/resources/post-ratings-taking-likes-to-the-next-level.410/

 

[0ptima]

Hi,

We are moving from VB and it's a toss up between here and IPB, my preference so far is Xenforo.

I have licenses for all three and transitioning from VB will be a lot easier to Xenforo than IPB.

 

[Ellie]

I have licenses for all three and transitioning from VB will be a lot easier to Xenforo than IPB.

I'm pretty certain Xenforo will be what we go with, I really like the thinking behind it.

I guess if I'm being completely honest, we have a busy community but I'm overly technical or a designer and it feels like it's lacking a few features, features that I'm sure have been requested and will be available in a future release. I don't want the users to feel they have lost functionality. I feel the backend is an enhancement but frontend it could appear to be a downgrade (I know it's not).

 

[Ellie]

I have another question.

With polls is there anyway to auto add a 'poll' prefix if a poll is posted? I know it could be considered just a post with a poll and treated as such but personally I feel it manages user expectation. I don't really want users messing around with prefixes, there is such a high margin for confusion or not to bother.

 

[Paul B]

That's not an option currently, a suggestion has been made to automatically identify threads with polls.

 

[Ellie]

That's not an option currently, a suggestion has been made to automatically identify threads with polls.

Thanks. I guess it's not a biggie but would be nice at some point.

Anyway I have convinced my 'boss' to purchase Xenforo and I'm very excited and a little scared after using VB for over a decade. But it's time for a change.