Comparing the Forum Home Listings of phpBB3, SMF, Xenforo, vBulletin and IPB

[Drake M]

I personally do not judge on the default looks but the ability of the software to customize it the way we want.

 

[Alpha1]

One thing I really miss in XenForo is a forum home and subforum display manager, so that we can customize it to our needs.
With the stock XF functionality most subforums are simply hidden. Thats not good.
I have 400+ forums on my vbulletin site. Migrating to XF should not mean that 350+ subforums go missing.

 

[Digital Doctor]

With the stock XF functionality most subforums are simply hidden. Thats not good.

The stock XF dropdown for subforums doesn't work in many / most situations.
I think the whole idea of a subforum dropdown is weird. I get that it is to avoid clutter ... but too much is sacrificed to gain a wee less clutter.
IMO.

 

[Drake M]

One thing I really miss in XenForo is a forum home and subforum display manager, so that we can customize it to our needs.
With the stock XF functionality most subforums are simply hidden. Thats not good.
I have 400+ forums on my vbulletin site. Migrating to XF should not mean that 350+ subforums go missing.

The stock XF dropdown for subforums doesn't work in many / most situations.
I think the whole idea of a subforum dropdown is weird. I get that it is to avoid clutter ... but too much is sacrificed to gain a wee less clutter.
IMO.

That's why I said, you can never make something that make EVERYONE happy. So give them OPTIONS.

We will consider making a mod like sub forum manager if the next Xenforo 1.2 won't include as a option to turn on/off the dropdown sub-box list.

 

[Grover]

People here make good points: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/suggestion-sub-forums-placement.1007/page-2#post-108552, whereas Dean also has an equal valid point:

I can easily see how the drop down could be incredibly helpful. For instance a regional discussion, or even a classifieds forum with (for example) 50 states listed. Or especially nested subforum (maybe?) where people can select 'for sale', 'wanting to buy', 'wanting to trade' and then select 5 regional areas. I could also envision much greater uses

Whereas if there were a few subforums that people need to navigate quickly & often it would be better to have them show up on the main page. I also hope theses things can be adjusted in a template.

I very much like how aesthetically pleasing the default XF dropdown solution is. The question is: is it always so practically pleasing as well? Obviously, it also differs from forum to forum, so Vincent's M point to give us an option for this will solve it indeed.

 

[Robert F Schmitz]

For folks used to xenforo forums, the drop down should be second nature but when you are trying to get folks to begin using forums who are used to Facebook and such, it seems to be too hidden and now you are in a position to hopefully educate them on finding the information. Option to use or not is the best bet.

 

[Digital Doctor]

dropdowns are very mobile unfriendly.

 

[Digital Jedi]

To my point of view, this is really going to depend on the final theme chosen by the administrator. Which means that some of the elements could be enhanced or stripped out, depending on the admins skill and design sense. But from a strictly default point of view, I like everything about XF forum home except the hidden forum description. Then again, their have been instances where I did want to hide the descriptions, depending on the style I was developing.

phpBB isn't much different from vB3, though.

 

[Slavik]

Must add new vBulletin.

Maybe add some others, wbb, vanilla, that new one by stack overflow...

 

[EliasAlucard]

To be honest though, I prefer the way vBulletin has the currently online users at the bottom, don't see why it should be on the left in the middle, like XenForo.

 

[Grover]

To be honest though, I prefer the way vBulletin has the currently online users at the bottom, don't see why it should be on the left in the middle, like XenForo.

You mean on the right in the middle. The reason why (my assumption/point of view) Xenforo puts them there, is because that way as a visitor on a Xenforo based platform you can see immediately who is online. You don't have to scroll all the way down (the bigger the forum, the more you would have to scroll as well), no -regardless of the amount of forums- the overview is always present in the same position where it can't be missed, since it's always visible.

There's a reason why it's described as: 'Intuitive. Social. Engaging. Fast. XenForo brings a fresh outlook to forum software.' Putting the list of online members there, together with the people you follow makes total sense. It stimulates the social and engaging aspect of this platform.

 

[Shelley]

You mean on the right in the middle. The reason why (my assumption/point of view) Xenforo puts them there, is because that way as a visitor on a Xenforo based platform you can see immediately who is online. You don't have to scroll all the way down (the bigger the forum, the more you would have to scroll as well), no -regardless of the amount of forums- the overview is always present in the same position where it can't be missed, since it's always visible.

There's a reason why it's described as: 'Intuitive. Social. Engaging. Fast. XenForo brings a fresh outlook to forum software.' Putting the list of online members there, together with the people you follow makes total sense. It stimulates the social and engaging aspect of this platform.

Agreed.

To look who's online you have to constantly scroll down to the footer with the vb setup. I thought i preferred the vb way but i didn't after i tested it on a framework. In the sidebar it's a quick glance job done and tbh it just feels better.

 

[EliasAlucard]

You mean on the right in the middle. The reason why (my assumption/point of view) Xenforo puts them there, is because that way as a visitor on a Xenforo based platform you can see immediately who is online. You don't have to scroll all the way down (the bigger the forum, the more you would have to scroll as well), no -regardless of the amount of forums- the overview is always present in the same position where it can't be missed, since it's always visible.

There's a reason why it's described as: 'Intuitive. Social. Engaging. Fast. XenForo brings a fresh outlook to forum software.' Putting the list of online members there, together with the people you follow makes total sense. It stimulates the social and engaging aspect of this platform.

Yeah, I meant on the right, in the middle, lol. No idea what I was thinking when I mixed up right and left, but I'm tired today.

Anyway, I still like the vBulletin way better. Maybe it's just me and I'm vBulletin damaged, but I don't want it too social either. Is it possible to put it at the bottom?