Considering XenForo, Have Questions

[Kenneth Holland]

I have a Wordpress Blog that is doing quite well and now I am going to add
either a message forum and or a 'social network'. I used to be a vbulletin
customer several years ago and went back to post what I'm posting below.

Shocked to find no one from VB will even answer my pre-sales questions.

Guess things have changed there.

I hope you guys and gals out there in this community (and WITH THE COMPANY) can help me out.


Here is a rough outline of what I want to do...can XenForo (either through the core or developers) accomplish
the following or be extended to:


1. Are there any social network plugins/mods (also see #4 below)? I know this is a bit vague but something
that can expand the core XF beyond what is is now? Maybe it's just a more elaborate groups feature?


2. Photos: Photos and videos will play a BIG part in my forum/sn. A place where members can create a
gallery and upolad photos/videos (as well as hi-res ones) plus watermarking and copywriting (like Flickr).
Also, does a mod exist for users to sell images?


3. Photos: Voting and sharing on images?


4. Can individual posts in threads by shared to Facebook and Twitter? I'm surprised no one is doing this!


5. Does XF have a built in cache or is there a mod for this?


6. Awards and/or gameification: Are there any mods in this area?


7. Is Facebook and Twitter login available? Mod??


8. XF integration with Wordpress: Is there any level of integration by chance with WP or an add-on/mod?

9. I've heard that XF does not have a mobile application yet. Anyone know when that will be out OR
is there a developer that can build one for me?

10. Can XF be configured to work with a CDN network? I currently use MaxCDN for my blog.

11. Are there third party themes available?


That's basically it for now...and I thank all of you for taking the time to read this and to the ones who
respond...it's much appreciated.


Ken

 

[M@rc]

1. Are there any social network plugins/mods (also see #4 below)? I know this is a bit vague but something
that can expand the core XF beyond what is is now? Maybe it's just a more elaborate groups feature?

There are third-party addons which you can purchase such as CometChat, ArrowChat, etc. Those are live chatting addons, btw. (that's all that I can think of atm)

2. Photos: Photos and videos will play a BIG part in my forum/sn. A place where members can create a
gallery and upolad photos/videos (as well as hi-res ones) plus watermarking and copywriting (like Flickr).
Also, does a mod exist for users to sell images?

I've seen a gallery add-on (not sure if it still works so you have to do a search) and I've heard one is being developed by a third-party developer (King K or something is the username).

Search :

1. http://xenforo.com/community/resources/
2. http://xenforo.com/community/forums/add-on-releases.72/

Keyword "gallery" search Via Resource Manager (should find some results) : http://xenforo.com/community/search/2027177/?q=gallery&t=resource_update&o=date

Also, for videos you can use this addon: http://xenforo.com/community/resources/8wayrun-com-xenmedio-media.97/
Although I've only used it to grab YouTube videos but I'm not sure if you can do more with it,

3. Photos: Voting and sharing on images?

...?
For a gallery add-on or something?

4. Can individual posts in threads by shared to Facebook and Twitter? I'm surprised no one is doing this!

Yes!
Thought you meant threads alone.. Nope (from the core features), I don't think you can (if you want one post from a thread to be on a separate page to be shared Via Twitter/FB).

5. Does XF have a built in cache or is there a mod for this?

http://xenforo.com/help/cache/

6. Awards and/or gameification: Are there any mods in this area?

There is the build-in xenForo Trophies but I'm not sure if that's what you want.

7. Is Facebook and Twitter login available? Mod??

FaceBook - built in core.
Twitter - I've seen an add-on and several forums using it.

8. XF integration with Wordpress: Is there any level of integration by chance with WP or an add-on/mod?

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/wordpress-3-bridge.5398/
I have not tested to see if it works but the developer is active,

9. I've heard that XF does not have a mobile application yet. Anyone know when that will be out OR
is there a developer that can build one for me?

I've read that a mobile theme is planned for the future. You can install TapaTalk and ForumRunner as well,

TapaTalk - http://xenforo.com/community/resour...enforo-ios-android-blackberry-mobile-app.263/
ForumRunner - http://xenforo.com/community/threads/announcing-forum-runner-xenforo-iphone-ipad-android-app.12070/

11. Are there third party themes available?

Yes. Have a look in the Resource Manager : http://xenforo.com/community/resources/categories/styles.29/
You can always search Google for "xenforo themes", "xenforo skins", etc. (just make sure that you don't run into a warez website)

 

[Jake Bunce]

1) XF already has several social features, like the "follow" system and the profile post system. Here is an addon for social groups:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/social-groups-for-xenforo.267/

2) Here is a video gallery:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/8wayrun-com-xenmedio-media.97/

Image gallery:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/simple-gallery.414/

User albums:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/xfr-user-albums.54/

I don't think any of these allow users to sell images.

3) Probably the user album addon (linked above).

4) Threads can be shared. I am not aware of any "post sharing" feature.

5) There is built-in support for caches which can be installed on your server:

http://xenforo.com/help/cache/

6) Here is an arcade:

http://xfarcade.com/

But I think it's still in testing.

7) Facebook login is built-in. There is no Twitter auth.

8) Here is an addon:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/xenscripts-wordpress-to-xenforo-bridge.604/

9) A mobile style is being developed for XF 1.2 which is due out in Q2 2012. Of course a mobile style is different than a mobile app. Many people use this third party mobile app which supports XF:

http://tapatalk.com/

10) Yes you can use a CDN for certain content. For example, here is a setting from the Admin CP:



And this post explains how to use MaxCDN:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/anyone-use-maxcdn.19155/#post-275709

11) Styles here:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/categories/styles.29/

 

[Sadik B]

There is no Twitter auth.

There is an Addon for Twitter Auth.

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/twitter-authentication.247/

 

[DRE]

Almost everything on vBulletin is better except for the software, speed, SEO, customer support and ease of use. I think I pretty much narrowed it down for ya.

 

[ManagerJosh]

If you look at the bottom of this thread, you will see a "Share This Page" function that links to Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook.

 

[Paul B]

Clicking the # number on each post will bring up an overlay and allow the individual post to be shared on various social networks.

 

[Kenneth Holland]

Hey Everyone,

Wow, thanks. People on here actually responded to help! Now THAT'S refreshing!

I'm going to look through all the answers today and post a follow-up to what I find.

My sincere thanks.

Ken

 

[DRE]

My site was a Wordpress main site with vbulletin 4 forum integrated then I switched over to Xenforo, you can read more about it here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/the8thlegion-com.22290/

 

[Kenneth Holland]

My site was a Wordpress main site with vbulletin 4 forum integrated then I switched over to Xenforo, you can read more about it here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/the8thlegion-com.22290/

Thanks Legion,

I'll take a look at it.

Ken

 

[Kenneth Holland]

Hello Helpful Xenforo Peeps,

First follow-up question on my quest for message board nirvana (you like that??):

Installation/SEO/Database question:

My forum will be installed in either a subdomain or a subdirectory (Wordpress Blog is in the root).

So which one would be better? Subdirectory or Subdomain?

Is there an SEO benefit/disadvantage with either one?

Anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks!

Ken

 

[mrGTB]

Be aware that XenForo uses "forums" in SEO URL, so don't name your forum folder (forums).

Example:

http://xenforo.com/community/forums/have-you-seen/

Otherwise you'll end up with this:

http://xenforo.com/forums/forums/have-you-seen/

Do what they've done here and call the folder "community", as "community/forums" makes sense reading and SEO wise.

 

[DRE]

Yeah it would be a better idea to name your forum directory 'boards' like ign does.

 

[mrGTB]

Hmm. "boards/forums" doesn't make sense to me. I find "community/forums" much better. But each to their own.

Even this is good "discussion/forums"

 

[DRE]

Hmm. "boards/forums" doesn't make sense to me. I find "community/forums" much better. But each to their own.

how about board/forums

 

[mrGTB]

Yeah, that's fine. Just the S before was the thing for me

 

[Kenneth Holland]

Ok I'm confused.

I'm actually not going to call it any of those. Does XF attach a name to it automatically?

Because I definitely don't want that.

It's either going to be 'hangar.airnation.net or airnation.net/hangar

Ken

 

[DRE]

no. it asks u to create a folder called community. instead of creating community, create hangar

 

[mrGTB]

So what's wrong with "airnation.net/hangar/forums" and "airnation.net/hangar/threads"?

Sounds OK to me. Pretty neat in fact, and more in keeping with site topic SEO wise

 

[Kenneth Holland]

So I take it that subdirectory is my only choice?