CTA Featured Threads & Portal [Paid] 2.17.0

[Andy.N]

@Brogan
Any chance you would develop a Featured Threads widget to work with @xfrocks Widget Framework so that people having both your addon and his would be able to pull news/featured threads on the Widget Page.
That would provide a lot of flexibility for a portal/home layout and can replace Xenporta completely.

Thanks

 

[Paul B]

@Andy.N How would it work exactly?
Would it be from all forums, a specific forum, random, latest first, a single thread, multiple?

 

[tajhay]

can.not.wait.for.1.4!

 

[Sheldon]

Looks like it works in WF to me.... Top one is standard, bottom one is from Widget Framework. Not sure why you wouldn't at least attempt to do it before requesting.





And if it works there, I am certain you can move it to the sidebar, remove some things, edit the CSS etc... and have another block or whatever.

 

[Andy.N]

Looks like it works in WF to me.... Top one is standard, bottom one is from Widget Framework. Not sure why you wouldn't at least attempt to do it before requesting.

View attachment 64284

View attachment 64283

And if it works there, I am certain you can move it to the sidebar, remove some things, edit the CSS etc... and have another block or whatever.

Simply because I don't have Brogan's addon to attempt it?
Could you please try this for me?
Create a Widget Page from Nodes Application.
Set it as index so it will replace your homepage.
Try to show all the featured threads vertically, with the usual sidebar widgets.

Here is how I have it currently using Xenporta (www.quantnet.com)

Thanks

 

[Andy.N]

@Andy.N How would it work exactly?
Would it be from all forums, a specific forum, random, latest first, a single thread, multiple?

Paul,
Xenporta has an option to Promote any thread to the homepage and set a date of promotion so you can arrange which article will appear on top on the home page.

With your addon, I can Feature a thread and set it to appear on the homepage. So the widget would pull ALL featured threads from all forum, a specific forum (it's an option), etc arranged by the timestamp that they were featured.
If I want to bump a specific (already featured) thread to the top of the homepage, I can just un-featured it and re-feature and it will be on top.

Here is an example of a widget edit page which I think can be similar to what can be achieved with this.

 

[Paul B]

Where would the widget display exactly?

I don't really understand the concept as the forum list and forum view already have a featured thread at the top of the page.
The new dedicated page will show all featured threads.

So what is the point of the widget as it will just be duplicating the content already being displayed.

Unless I have misunderstood?

 

[Andy.N]

Where would the widget display exactly?

I don't really understand the concept as the forum list and forum view already have a featured thread at the top of the page.
The new dedicated page will show all featured threads.

So what is the point of the widget as it will just be duplicating the content already being displayed.

Unless I have misunderstood?

I probably go about replicating the existing homepage the round-about way.
I just look at the feature list for the 1.4 version and see that it has most stuff that I need to replace Xenporta

1) I see that you can enable a sidebar. How I would add a WF widget to this sidebar? What position?
2) How do I bump a featured thread to the top of this dedicated thread page?
3) Can I manually determine how much text each thread is shown? In Xenporta, I can use [prbreak][/prbreak] code to display all the text before this.

Much thanks

 

[Paul B]

1) There is a custom template which is displayed between the visitor panel and online users blocks

2) The dedicated page lists them in featured date order; you would need to unfeature and feature again.

3) Everything can be manipulated using the options and style properties, including the number of characters and the overall size of the blocks. Custom BB Code isn't required in the post body to set the break point.

However, looking at your page, this add-on isn't going to provide the same functionality as all of the blocks are the same size and images are not displayed.
I haven't yet decided whether to go down the route of allowing images, attachments, and parsing of all BB Code.

 

[Andy.N]

However, looking at your page, this add-on isn't going to provide the same functionality as all of the blocks are the same size and images are not displayed.
I haven't yet decided whether to go down the route of allowing images, attachments, and parsing of all BB Code.

Yes, I see.
I was looking at your addon as a way to promote articles to the homepage and it seems to be more actively supported and developed than the Xenporta.
Hopefully, the ability to display image, video, bbcode is supported as it brings the visual elements to the homepage which is important to some.
Then, you won't have to worry about each block has the same size as images will change it.
Thanks again.

 

[Paul B]

Introducing the ability to display attachments, embedded images and video and BB Code requires some fundamental changes to the code and templates so it's not something which would happen overnight.

The original aim of the add-on was just to display simple text snippets from interesting threads on the forum list but it has obviously taken a new direction since then.

I'm not quite sure who's driving at the moment so have no idea where we're going to end up

 

[Martok]

@Brogan, as an ex-XenPorta user, I am more than happy with the current developments of Featured Threads.

I recently dropped using XenPorta in favour of your add-on as basically none of my members visited the front page, so it was only useful to visitors. Your add-on as it currently stands allows me to highlight threads to both visitors and my members and everyone sees these. Your next stage of a Featured Threads page will give me a home page again which will be useful to visitors and any members who want to see all featured threads, but any who don't will still see these on a one-at-a-time basis within the forums. I'd have to say that's pretty much perfect for me.

I know that folk are starting to suggest that you change your add-on to include lots of extra things and make it head more towards a portal. There are already two products available that do that - XenPorta (which may well get a re-write going by recent discussions) and Extra Portal (which is actively being developed). Does Featured Threads really need to become a third portal add-on? Of course only you can decide on where you want to take it, but I'd say that you have a pretty unique and very good add-on and maybe keeping its uniqueness and focus might be the best bet.

Just my two penneth.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

 

[Paul B]

I think that's more or less where I am too @Martok

There is a large list of items which have been suggested and will be considered but I don't want to fundamentally change the nature of the add-on and the ability to feature threads on the forum list and view will always be a key component.

I too found that the home page on my site, when I had it, was very rarely visited.
Even when it was set as the landing page, most members had the forum index or new/recent posts bookmarked.

The pseudo-portal functionality is just going to naturally come about as a result of having a page listing all of the featured threads.
Making it totally flexible in terms of what can be displayed on that page just made sense to me and is in line with the flexibility which currently exists in the present functionality.

 

[oman]

I'll most likely use the add on for a front page as well, hopefully able to get rid of XenPorta, as this add on is supported and updated well.

I'll probably buy a second license as well.

Keep up the good work Brogan. Can't wait for 1.4!

 

[Martok]

I think that's more or less where I am too @Martok

There is a large list of items which have been suggested and will be considered but I don't want to fundamentally change the nature of the add-on and the ability to feature threads on the forum list and view will always be a key component.

That's great to hear.

I too found that the home page on my site, when I had it, was very rarely visited.
Even when it was set as the landing page, most members had the forum index or new/recent posts bookmarked.

Now there's an idea... I hadn't considered folk who bookmarked new/recent posts as their 'landing page'. Is there any possibility of Featured Threads appearing on these pages?

The pseudo-portal functionality is just going to naturally come about as a result of having a page listing all of the featured threads.
Making it totally flexible in terms of what can be displayed on that page just made sense to me and is in line with the flexibility which currently exists in the present functionality.

I totally agree with this development and I shall be using it as a home page as well as a way to see all of the Featured Threads on one page. I was just saying that going much further than this and turning it into a full portal may not be the best approach, though of course that's only my opinion.

 

[Paul B]

Now there's an idea... I hadn't considered folk who bookmarked new/recent posts as their 'landing page'. Is there any possibility of Featured Threads appearing on these pages?

Already on the "To Do" list

 

[Andy.N]

Brogan
Is there any setting for caching time so that using on homepage won't affect site performance? So if we select 24 hours, the dedicated featured page will only update every 24 hours.

 

[Paul B]

No, there is no caching such as that implemented.
I personally wouldn't see the point of doing that - I would want newly featured threads to appear immediately, just as new threads or posts do currently.

Currently there are three additional queries but I plan to look into that for 1.4 to see if I can reduce or improve it.

 

[Jeremy]

No, there is no caching such as that implemented.
I personally wouldn't see the point of doing that - I would want newly featured threads to appear immediately, just as new threads or posts do currently.

Currently there are three additional queries but I plan to look into that for 1.4 to see if I can reduce or improve it.

You can clear a cache and update it immediately upon featuring a thread. Or, realistically, you should be able to. I'll dig up some code tonight if you remind me.

I have the UI.X Beta installed, and it seems to be working fine for me...

View attachment 64194

This is actually really good looking. Quite impressive to see you go from simpler tweaks to full blown masterpieces fairly quickly.

 

[Paul B]

Thanks @Jeremy, a dynamic cache of that nature, also taking into account permission changes, etc. has been planned from the beginning (when I get around to it), just not a static/fixed cache as was suggested.