Considering Moving 1M+ Board to XF

[NURV]

We're running vB for over 10 years now and are currently running 3.8. We've been considering a vB4 upgrade for some time now. The license has already been purchased but unfortunately we have several custom modifications that need to be coded as part of that upgrade. We've also been hesitant due to the mixed feedback vB4 has received. This got me thinking, if we're essentially starting from scratch with a vB4 upgrade, we might as well consider all of our options. From what I've seen of xF so far, I'm impressed. I have a few questions:

1. What is the current stage of development? Is xF considered stable for large active communities by now? How often are updates being rolled out?

2. How soon until Blog functionality will be added? If a vB were to switch to xF, is it a fair assumption to assume that when blogs are added to xF, an importer could be used to import old blogs from the old vB database at a later date?

3. Where can we find a list of "hacks" created to date, sorted by popularity? (Perhaps some of the common ones from vB that we use have already been created)

4. Where can I find websites and/or contact info and portfolios for some of the top xF skin designers? We have several PSD's for our new design that we'd want created as a skin.

5. Same as Question #4, but in regards to custom modders, programmers, or companies who work with xF from a development perspective. We'd be much more prone to switch to xF if we can hire somebody for custom development of any "must have" features we require.

6. How does the build in SEO compare to the popular vBSEO addon for vB?

7. Does xF support paid subscriptions for custom membership levels and usergroup permissions?

Thanks!

 

[Forsaken]

We're running vB for over 10 years now and are currently running 3.8. We've been considering a vB4 upgrade for some time now. The license has already been purchased but unfortunately we have several custom modifications that need to be coded as part of that upgrade. We've also been hesitant due to the mixed feedback vB4 has received. This got me thinking, if we're essentially starting from scratch with a vB4 upgrade, we might as well consider all of our options. From what I've seen of xF so far, I'm impressed. I have a few questions:

1. What is the current stage of development? Is xF considered stable for large active communities by now? How often are updates being rolled out?

2. How soon until Blog functionality will be added? If a vB were to switch to xF, is it a fair assumption to assume that when blogs are added to xF, an importer could be used to import old blogs from the old vB database at a later date?

3. Where can we find a list of "hacks" created to date, sorted by popularity? (Perhaps some of the common ones from vB that we use have already been created)

4. Where can I find websites and/or contact info and portfolios for some of the top xF skin designers? We have several PSD's for our new design that we'd want created as a skin.

5. Same as Question #4, but in regards to custom modders, programmers, or companies who work with xF from a development perspective. We'd be much more prone to switch to xF if we can hire somebody for custom development of any "must have" features we require.

6. How does the build in SEO compare to the popular vBSEO addon for vB?

7. Does xF support paid subscriptions for custom membership levels and usergroup permissions?

Thanks!

1. 1.1 should make XF much more stable for big boards (They're rolling out a custom search implementation for big boards). Updates come about once a month, though there is no set schedule from whats been announced.

2. There is already a blog add-on (LN Blog: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/ln-blog.12701/) that has more capabilities (And is still being developed) than most blog add-ons I've seen for other platforms. It is also scheduled for a big boost in capabilities with B4 which is being developed currently.

3. You can use the headings in the add-on release forum to sort by posts (Don't remember how to do it by likes).

4. Here are a few designer (or group of designers) who do good work:

http://audentio.com/
http://themesinc.com/
http://xenique.com/ (Kim does the custom work generally).

5. I'd recommend Onimua, though I think he has a tight schedule currently. There are a few programmers here who do custom work, but not sure of their schedules.

6. XF is comparable to vBSEO, and lacks a lot of the bloat that did little for SEO. One thing that XF lacks is custom URL structure, but that has little impact with the redirection scripts that are available.

7. As far as I know they do, but there is no importer though Mike has stated he's working on including it into the importer.

 

[Russ]

1. What is the current stage of development? Is xF considered stable for large active communities by now? How often are updates being rolled out? - I would check out http://xenforo.com/community/forums/announcements/
to see the release dates, developement I feel with a 2 man team actually coding is rather quick. Their first major release 1.1 is due by the end of summer which will bring some awesome features from what's been stated.

2. How soon until Blog functionality will be added? If a vB were to switch to xF, is it a fair assumption to assume that when blogs are added to xF, an importer could be used to import old blogs from the old vB database at a later date? I don't think there's an official word as to when a blog would be released from xenforo however there is one in progress here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/ln-blog.12701/ I believe he plans to add an import feature if it doesn't already exist(browse that thread)

3. Where can we find a list of "hacks" created to date, sorted by popularity? (Perhaps some of the common ones from vB that we use have already been created)
Surprisingly I'm referencing Digital Doctor's thread http://xenforo.com/community/threads/addons-with-the-most-activity-july-2011.17807/
4. Where can I find websites and/or contact info and portfolios for some of the top xF skin designers? We have several PSD's for our new design that we'd want created as a skin.
You could browse http://xenforo.com/community/forums/styles/ to view other style developers or also http://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-services.42/

5. Same as Question #4, but in regards to custom modders, programmers, or companies who work with xF from a development perspective. We'd be much more prone to switch to xF if we can hire somebody for custom development of any "must have" features we require. Check out http://xenforo.com/community/forums/third-party-services.42/ for custom services.

6. How does the build in SEO compare to the popular vBSEO addon for vB?
Not an SEO expert but from others talk it comes stock extremely well thought out and built in.

7. Does xF support paid subscriptions for custom membership levels and usergroup permissions?
XenForo does support paid subscriptions along with usergroup permissions and as mentioned before the 1.1 update coming before the end of summer* it'll have automatic promotion for groups I believe as well

Hope that helped some.

Thanks!

Ninja'd

 

[Walter]

In essence: come over. You won't regret it.

 

[NURV]

Thanks for the replies. Here are a few more questions I thought of after browsing the demo:

8. Can font family, face, and color options be removed for some or all usergroups? (When posting). I prefer a more uniform professional look. (Or even better, is there a way to leave those options on, but let individual users opt to see the forums with a uniform font look if they want?)

9. How exactly do addons work? It doesn't appear to be possible to create them from within the Admin panel (i.e. the plugin system in vB). Is something like that possible, or do they all have to be created outside of xF and then imported via the uploader?

10. It appears like custom trophies are limited to predetermined variables. Is it possible to create custom trophies that utilize a custom field in the user table in the database, perhaps something created via an addon? (For example, if an arcade existed for this software, somebody could create a custom trophy for arcade high scores, or whatnot)

11. I've read through some threads here in regards to v3Arcade being ported. This appears to be dead in the water however. Does anybody know what the status is on this? Personally I have a feeling a lot of admins are waiting for this before making the switch members who are used to having an arcade would most likely riot if they lost it.

12. Is it possible to disable things such as the members list and linked pages from that dropdown menu for certain usergroups? I have found that new members will sometimes use such pages to attempt to harvest members away.

13. When using this forum (xenforo.com), everything is usually smooth and fast, but in the demo admin panel I've noticed that pages sometimes time out or take exceptionally long to load. Is this typical or is it due to demo restraints? I've also noticed these forums are also slow at times. One page load will be instant while the next is

14. Can custom icons be assigned to individual forums on the main forum listing page?

15. Can the helper text popovers be disabled in certain areas, but not all? I find them to somewhat distracting when I accidentally activate them.

Thanks again!

 

[Forsaken]

Thanks for the replies. Here are a few more questions I thought of after browsing the demo:

8. Can font family, face, and color options be removed for some or all usergroups? (When posting). I prefer a more uniform professional look. (Or even better, is there a way to leave those options on, but let individual users opt to see the forums with a uniform font look if they want?)

9. How exactly do addons work? It doesn't appear to be possible to create them from within the Admin panel (i.e. the plugin system in vB). Is something like that possible, or do they all have to be created outside of xF and then imported via the uploader?

10. It appears like custom trophies are limited to predetermined variables. Is it possible to create custom trophies that utilize a custom field in the user table in the database, perhaps something created via an addon? (For example, if an arcade existed for this software, somebody could create a custom trophy for arcade high scores, or whatnot)

11. I've read through some threads here in regards to v3Arcade being ported. This appears to be dead in the water however. Does anybody know what the status is on this? Personally I have a feeling a lot of admins are waiting for this before making the switch members who are used to having an arcade would most likely riot if they lost it.

12. Is it possible to disable things such as the members list and linked pages from that dropdown menu for certain usergroups? I have found that new members will sometimes use such pages to attempt to harvest members away.

13. When using this forum (xenforo.com), everything is usually smooth and fast, but in the demo admin panel I've noticed that pages sometimes time out or take exceptionally long to load. Is this typical or is it due to demo restraints? I've also noticed these forums are also slow at times. One page load will be instant while the next is

14. Can custom icons be assigned to individual forums on the main forum listing page?

15. Can the helper text popovers be disabled in certain areas, but not all? I find them to somewhat distracting when I accidentally activate them.

Thanks again!

8. Currently it isn't a feature, nor is there a modification, though if you request it I'm sure one of the programmers here will pick it up as there has been some interest by other members int he past.

11. Not sure what is happening with v3Arcade; there have been programmers that have shown interest, but nothing has gone anywhere.

13. Theres another site on the server that sometimes makes it act slow. I have no issues on my site whatsoever, and I know other large forums that have no issues as well.

14. Miko did a tutorial to do this: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/rc-1-custom-node-status-icons-read-unread.10886/

 

[Dean]

12. Regular members have a nofollow attribute when they post external links, whereas moderators (and admins) do not have the nofollow attribute when they post external links. For example someone posted this link above, you could right click/view source then search for the link in the source to see the difference:
http://xenique.com/

It's not exactly what you are asking for, but it helps.

 

[NURV]

That wasn't quite what I meant Dean. Mostly I'm just wondering if access to the members page can be turned off for some members. In vB there was an option under usergroups called "Can view memberslist". Same with "Can view who's online", etc.

I've been reading around on these forums and it appears that there is currently no way to import subscriptions. Technically I could go through them all manually and insert them but it would take quite a while. Is there any word on when a vB subscription porter will be made available, or if at all?

 

[Dean]

I mis-understood what you were asking.

The user list shows up for everyone unless you do a template edit. The user profiles themselves do have a permission setting i.e. the admin could restrict the viewing of this page: http://xenforo.com/community/members/nurv.9453/
I believe the same would apply to view member list.

Regarding importing subscriptions, I would wait and see what shows up in v1.1, I've no inside information. For the record, manually doing those types of things is actually reasonably fast. Personally I would have no problems with doing 500 - 1ooo.. just a bit tedious, more than a thousand and it could take a while.

Presumably you have signed up for the demo.. Open up the admincp in the demo, then add 10 random user names, then start manually upgrading those accounts to see how bad you think it is, picking random end dates.

 

[Floris]

NURV !!!!

=D Nice to see you, I am looking forward seeing you having moved to XenForo
Keep us posted.

 

[NURV]

Regarding importing subscriptions, I would wait and see what shows up in v1.1, I've no inside information. For the record, manually doing those types of things is actually reasonably fast. Personally I would have no problems with doing 500 - 1ooo.. just a bit tedious, more than a thousand and it could take a while.

That's true that it's not an absolute must have. I agree.

One thing I'll most likely wait for however is the ability to create custom URL schemes for SEO. Can any mods or developers comment on if or when any such functionality would be made available?

 

[NURV]

Also, is there a referrals system with xF?

 

[Russ]

Also, is there a referrals system with xF?

Stock no, however I think the closest thing you might get would be:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/paid-add-on-ragtek-invite-system.10342/

As of now*

 

[Dean]

One thing I'll most likely wait for however is the ability to create custom URL schemes for SEO. Can any mods or developers comment on if or when any such functionality would be made available?

As I recall there were several discussions about that last year, you may want to use google to search for things like "custom url seo" (the minimum search length is 4 characters for the xf search).

Also, is there a referrals system with xF?

Not that I am aware. I've no idea what may add-ons there may be for that though.

 

[Steve10]

Ragtek has one upcoming soon for the referals system. It's on the very last Release Candidate and I think the Gold Version is expected next week.

http://www.ragtek.org/xenforo/threads/ragtek-invite-add-on-2-0.67/

 

[NURV]

I was browsing through these forums just now and read that there is no infraction system. Is this true? If so I would suggest getting this coded quickly, as a lot of bigger board admins such as myself rely on such a system almost hourly.

Also, is there a list somewhere that shows what features are planned or being considered for future updates?

 

[iTuN3r]

I was browsing through these forums just now and read that there is no infraction system. Is this true? If so I would suggest getting this coded quickly, as a lot of bigger board admins such as myself rely on such a system almost hourly.

Also, is there a list somewhere that shows what features are planned or being considered for future updates?

XenForo 1.1

This will be the first release of major new features since XenForo 1.0. There are lots of things going in, some of which we have hinted at in posts around the forum. There are also a few things that we had originally slated for 1.1 that will now be pushed back to a later release in favour of getting 1.1 out sooner with an array of completed features.

Here are a few features that will be in XenForo 1.1:

• Right-to-left layout mode for Arabic (etc.) language support
• Thread prefixes, definable at a per-forum and a per-user group basis
• Warnings for trouble-making users
• Ability for members to ignore other members
• Custom user profile fields
• Daily statistics
• Admin CP search
• Improved admin and moderator logging
• Additional thread viewing permissions
• Criteria-based user group promotions
• A notice system to display messages to your users in certain circumstances

This is not an exhaustive list. We will expand the feature list over time, but some improvements may be a surprise with the release itself.

We will be detailing many of the features of XenForo 1.1 over time via the Have You Seen...? forum.

XenForo 1.1 will be released this Summer.​

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/development-update-may-2011.16084/

 

[Steve10]

Yeah a lot of key stuff is scheduled for Version 1.1 which looks a lot more friendly for bigger boards since Big Board Search as far as I recall will hopefully be out at around the same time.

 

[SchmitzIT]

9. How exactly do addons work? It doesn't appear to be possible to create them from within the Admin panel (i.e. the plugin system in vB). Is something like that possible, or do they all have to be created outside of xF and then imported via the uploader?

You can add the debug option in your config file. That will expose a new development tab in the admincp, giving you the ability to start tweaking existing add-ons, or create your own. I would recommend to using an additional check to limit the setting for your own IP only, or only adding it on a dev-forum.

You actually do create them within xF. You basically will start by creating an add-on with a name and description and then adding things like admin-templates, public templates, code-events (prolly the closest to plugins), and custom code, which can be created in any IDE you wish.

 

[Xarcell]

Just to point out something I saw, I seen a new xF board with 40K+ posts and 8k+ online that ran faster than my SMF board with 200 posts and 10 members online. Obviously that person most likely isn't on a shared host like me, but 8K online with no slow down? Geez...

Not to mention I believe Kier said he found ways to make xF even faster since then(something about textareas?)

40K+ posts and 8k+ members online with no slow down, everything instantaneous. Let that marinate for a minute....