Customizable User Profiles

[Grover]

Well, well... 'coincidentally' (yes, it's speculation from my part), Internet Brands announced today (right after xenForo presented itself to the world) that Customizable User Profiles have returned to vBulletin. Yes... returned, because Internet Brands decided to completely delete this function from their first alpha release, which they appalingly labbeled 'Gold' at the end of 2009 and let customers pay a premium price for. Making vBulletin unusable for 8 months for people who were actively providing/using Customized Profiles on their vB platforms.

I was wondering: will xenForo provide something like this? I know from experience with the largest Dutch social network (Ning a-like) that a function like that will certainly attract visitors (mostly the younger ones). Personalization is in my view a high priority for any social platform out there.

See also additional notes here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/suggestion-customizable-user-profiles.306/page-4#post-488173

Please do [like] this first posting if you think it is a good feature suggestion for XenForo

 

[Grover]

(Apologies for my trashing of vBulletin (4.0) in many postings: I suspect my anger will get less overtime... especially hanging around here more and more).

However, I wonder if more people find that xenForo should offer Customizable User Profiles? Since xenForo is already focused really good on the social aspect of it's user experience, I hope to see this in. Preferable with some default skins user can choose from. Like what vBulletin offers now (I can be positive ): http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/entr...izable-user-profiles

 

[ankurs]

vb custom profile looks good, but not a necessary feature as such ; this should be looked into once XF reaches maturity

 

[Jonathan]

I always thought that profile customization was messy and ugly, I suppose though it would upset some members if you had made your site with it enabled. So yeah, an optional thing.

I personally would disable it, no use in ruining the beautiful xen skin!

 

[Ahmed]

I'd like to have profile customization, it's really nice, and wither it's messy or ugly, users love it.
+1 for this suggestion.

 

[Andy Huang]

I've been thinking about it after seeing the dev installation's special header actually. Much like Google's personalized start page, it might be interesting to allow designers to make certain area(s) personalize-able (if that's even a word), where the end-user can choose whatever they want to put there for their own viewing pleasure. It might be something more welcoming than google's implementation on the home page, and be more like gmail's personalized background thing, as people tend to spend more time on forums they like and will see the image they select more often.

Just a thought

 

[Onimua]

It would be a neat mod, but I don't think it's something that should be included by default. Otherwise, the admin would just define a number of styles to choose from and the user would just pick one of those.

 

[Andy Huang]

It would be a neat mod, but I don't think it's something that should be included by default. Otherwise, the admin would just define a number of styles to choose from and the user would just pick one of those.

Admin defining is still admin defined, that's not personalization. It should be something where user can select from a library -- this could be admin defined -- AND, more importantly, upload their own image or point to a remote URL (that hopefully they have rights to use image from).

I suppose a mod is possible option, but it will probably get more attention if it is built in officially.

 

[Forsaken]

Admin defining is still admin defined, that's not personalization. It should be something where user can select from a library -- this could be admin defined -- AND, more importantly, upload their own image or point to a remote URL (that hopefully they have rights to use image from).

I suppose a mod is possible option, but it will probably get more attention if it is built in officially.

I'd actually like both options; one for admin defined, and one where they could customize it themselves.

I can see users using this much more then profile customization (Unless its possible to completely customize the profile on this site if this feature was added).

 

[CallieJo]

Personalization is in my view a high priority for any social platform out there.

I totally agree...The end users' experience is of utmost importance. Letting them sort of feel like they own a piece of the community by having their own customizable profile page to showcase is a huge step in that direction. Helps spread the word, too. People like to show off their creations...even if they look like an ugly Myspace profile...it's their's and they are proud to show it off...which is free advertisement for the community.

I support the idea of custom profiles and expressed my opinion more here: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/user-profiles.91/#post-35371

and wither it's messy or ugly, users love it.

Exactly

 

[Caliburn]

Every time people talk about profile customizations, I recall the day I stumbled upon a 'Hello Kitty/Barbie/Boy Toy' profile on a forum. Not only did that scar me for life, but it also turned me against profile customization. This is a bloat feature and is not required. So I can't support this.

 

[Forsaken]

Every time people talk about profile customizations, I recall the day I stumbled upon a 'Hello Kitty/Barbie/Boy Toy' profile on a forum. Not only did that scar me for life, but it also turned me against profile customization. This is a bloat feature and is not required. So I can't support this.

I disabled customization on my forum because a lot of the girls start creating Yaoi (Boylove) profiles, and not all of it was appropriate.

As long as it can be turned off in case of abuse, I'll be fine with it. 

 

[Peggy]

However, I wonder if more people find that xenForo should offer Customizable User Profiles?

IF I'm not mistaken, they are considering this for a future version.

 

[dieketzer]

its important to me that i have an option to enable profile styling.
what i dont need is for the feature to be nixed because of others' fear of what my users may do on my own board. i dont need a co admin or a babysitter, i need software with useful out-of-the-box features.

 

[Peggy]

I doubt that Kier and mike will nix a feature due to fear alone. If it is a viable, useful feature, then I'm very sure it will garner their full consideration.

 

[dieketzer]

im not as confident.
'dislike' buttons have been struck down for fear they may tip the scales of somebody elses vision of 'community harmony', so its not such a stretch that profile styling could fall due to somebody other than me worrying about their impact on my communitys 'aesthetic appeal'.
i guess the root of my annoyance is down to the fact that i feel like people are taking their role in the dynamics of my communities as granted, when its actually pretty unwelcome. i wish people, both k&m and the users here, would not use things like 'it may hurt feelings' or the like when discussing features. ive been doing this a long time, i am capable of admining my own users. i am here shopping for software, not advisement on how my communities should behave.
the lack of profile styling in vb4 actually saved me much grief, as its non-inclusion in vb4 kept me from downgrading from 3.8. it is a core feature in my view, and i cannot imagine dropping 3.8 for another product that doesnt ship with this much loved feature. sexy ajax and whatnot wouldnt make that an easy sell to my members, i assure you.

I doubt that Kier and mike will nix a feature due to fear alone. If it is a viable, useful feature, then I'm very sure it will garner their full consideration.

 

[Peggy]

As I said, if kier and mike feel that this is a viable and useful feature, I am quite positive that it will be given full considerAtion. However I wouldn't imagine that it will be in the first release.

 

[Grover]

I always thought that profile customization was messy and ugly, I suppose though it would upset some members if you had made your site with it enabled. So yeah, an optional thing. I personally would disable it, no use in ruining the beautiful xen skin!

Yes, I completely get your point. There has to be a good balance really, because I also wouldn't want to ruin the great XenForo look&feel, but at the same time I would like to give my members some options to personalize their profile. Since pictures say more then... allow me to quote myself, because this is really a great example of what I mean and would like to see:

I love this

I never looked seriously at Invision, but I sure very much do like this:

(To XenMods: This posting is not meant to promote Invision. I post this screenshot to share what I like in general (and it happens to be in Invision) and hope to see in XenForo. If this is not okay, please let me know and I will edit the posting)

I think the above example just look beautiful. Not only that, but they've found the perfect balance in my opinion between letting the user giving a personal touch to their profile and at the same time remain the usability of the profile. You see, all the input fields and other sections on the rest of the user profile UI are untouched, making the interface itself recognizable/looking and working the same on every single user profile. They allow what Facebook doesn't allow: a custom background (with a really nice transparent bar at the top apparently) and they disallow what makes sites such as Myspace horrendous to watch and use. Simply, a perfect balance that works really well. I hope XenForo can give us this.

 

[DSF]

... However I wouldn't imagine that it will be in the first release.

Ok, then in the second ... today it's a must

 

[Forsaken]

Yes, I completely get your point. There has to be a good balance really, because I also wouldn't want to ruin the great XenForo look&feel, but at the same time I would like to give my members some options to personalize their profile. Since pictures say more then... allow me to quote myself, because this is really a great example of what I mean and would like to see:

I prefer IPB's customization as well.

Also, I wasn't saying not to add it, just to have a kill switch for the feature.