DRE
Well-known member
ModificationsWhat are the pro's and cons that you guys have encountered in changing over?
CON: Coming from vBulletin 4 myself, almost every modification I have missed is now on Xenforo with the exception of a good Shop addon and Casino. The version of Live Topics on here leaves much to be desired IMO as well. If you switch over, you will be making a sacrifice if you can't find equivalents to your old modifications. How important are your modifications to your community? A couple members stopped posting when I switched over to Xenforo. I think a lot are real disappointed about losing their vBookie Money, Casino and Arcade. I was able to get Sportsbook and XFArcade but the missing Casino and Shop really hurt the site because it was how we mostly spent our credits.
Mobile Options
CON: There is no mobile app for xenforo. You can use a third party app like Tapatalk and Forumrunner though. You can try some Responsive themes by Arty and find xFStop from Russ if you dig hard enough.
No official CMS, Blogging or Album add-ons.
PRO: Xenporta combined with BD Widget is awesome. I like both xenporta and BD widget way more than vBCMS and Wordpress/Forum integration. Not so much because of the layout options etc but due to the thoroughness of integration between almost every modification you install on your xenforo site.
CON: As far as blogs go, vBulletin has Xenforo beat in the blogs area due to the amount of features it has. For extra features, you would probably have to integrate your site with Wordpress if you want the most blogging options. I use Better Blogs because it gives my members vanity urls. That's something vBulletin Blogs or XI Blogs do not have. Main reason I say Blogs is a con is because coming from vBulletin Blogs, I miss trackbacks, pingbacks, the ability to click on a thread post and turn it into a blog post with one click and who visited your blog.
PRO: XFR User Albums + XFR User Albums More. It's easier and more intuitive than vBAlbums or even something sophisticated like Photopost. You can comment and 'Like' albums and photos. There are Public, Private, Members Only, People You Follow Only, Selected Members and Global Member Albums. You can display random or latest photos in the forum home, sidebar and there's even a xenporta block available for it as well.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
PRO: You don't need any snake oil forum modifications like vbSEO to increase your rank. Xenforo SEO is right out the box. It's amazing. Use modifications like 8thos Google Authorship, AzuCloud, My Feedburner Guide and interestingly enough Showcase to increase your site's SEO.
Speed and Intuitiveness
PRO: A good amount of my forum members have never joined a forum before. Explaining vBulletin to them was a pain. With Xenforo, I don't have to do much but slightly guide them in the right direction because Xenforo is intuitive out the box with a short learning curve. The alerts system and member account menus are very easy to get around to. It's like the best features from vBulletin and Facbook were brought here and married together in perfect harmony. My forum is super fast now. The only thing missing was a bachelor party.
Styling
PRO: I love it. It's awesome. All of the forum themes on my forum use the default forum template with slight adjustments in color/wallpaper etc. This way whenever I upgrade the site there will be less template edits I need to do. Because default xenforo looks so great, that's an added plus which is why I don't have to change it much.