Does anyone feel like this is the next-gen of forums?

Uni said:
Need of the moment is "made for mobile, compatible with desktop"
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Yep. Just wish it was taken more serious. We aren't in a desktop world anymore... mobiles are the majority. Made for mobile, have extra stuff with desktop. Mobile needs the least stuff possible downloaded to it, so every page is just super fast, all the noise is hidden, and post after post reads like Safari Reader or such views allow. The big players work on this principle, and they're big for this reason. Mobile simplicity is the norm now... you appease desktop users as the minority.
 
Anthony Parsons said:
Made for mobile, have extra stuff with desktop. Mobile needs the least stuff possible downloaded to it, so every page is just super fast, all the noise is hidden, and post after post reads like Safari Reader or such views allow.
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I've tried using this XF2.0 site on my mobile last week. The experience was terrible, and very much constraining my usage and engagement. Haven't gone back since. I really hope the issue is just poor presentation and design, and it won't stop other style developers creating a realistic and useful mobile experience with XF2
 
I use XF 2.0 on my mobile all the time. It's a great experience and superior to XF 1.x in almost every way.

Feel free to make some constructive suggestions once you're able. You've been using the XF2 demo for quite some time so that feedback would have been useful earlier, but we'll take it on board and see what we can do if there happens to be any actionable feedback.
 
I agree @Chris D that the mobile version is superior to XF1.x. But that said it is still lacking a lot of what's needed for a forum to compete with the big boys like FB. For years making image sharing more robust, easier account creation, better social media interaction and more robust live interaction in threads have all been suggested many times. I had really hoped to had seen in 2.0 being able to start a discussion by sharing an image. FB, Instagram etc you just click an image and *bam* posted and ready for discussion via comments. No need to click create a topic first, make a title, add some text, find and upload the image, convert it from thumbnail to full size and all that jazz. We need that same sort of thing. Also, the online world has outgrown just "liking" a post or photo. I know several 3rd parties are planning an add-on, but I hoped to had seen more than just "like" in 2.x. This shouldn't have to be something we have to pay someone to add. It should have been core imo.
 
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I don't see much that I would categorize as "next gen." I see an updated interface for a desktop-style forum. I see an editor that needs a lot of improvement. I see steps backward in usability (why do I now have to click on the Alerts button to see the alerts when previously I could just hover the mouse cursor?).

I agree that desktop-style forums like this are simply too confusing for many people--plus they don't make it easy enough to do things like upload photos into a post.

I don't know. I've been around this stuff since the beginning, and I'm probably jaded. I believe that most of us would be far better off as people if we got our asses away from computers altogether, blinked a few times, and walked out into the world again.
 
I use my mobile almost exclusively for Web browsing, these days my pc gets used for gaming and little else. Xf2 is by far the smoothest experience I've encountered.
 
I would like to see the WYSIWYG editor have some love, especially for mobile. Most of my users only use regular text and smilies. I'd like to see all of the other stuff removed, and a simpler way to add smilies - they are currently lost in amongst all of the other little used buttons. Like strike through, underline etc. Smilies are too hidden by default. I'd like to see only smilies and photo upload on the editor, with an advanced button to bring up the other options.
 
Mouth said:
There's an abundance of mobile suggestions and feedback on both XF2Demo and here, what value does adding "me too" make?.
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You seem fairly emphatic that the experience is terrible. I’m mostly trying to get you to be constructive about that because what you posted is far from constructive nor clear about the specifics of the issues nor inline with most of the feedback we’ve received which has been mostly positive.

Indeed “me too” adds little value but it’s better than nothing and outlines the feedback we need to be concentrating on. As I’m sure you know, the demo forum isn’t going to be around forever and we won’t necessarily implement all of the feedback there so if there is any specific points you feel need improving they will either be worth reiterating here or posting as Suggestions.
 
I totally agree that more needs to be done for mobile. From sign up, right through to posting a your first thread. Current mindset is app based experiences offer the simplest possible signup process, then make it so easy to make your first post/advert/comment as everything is designed with this in mind.

The forum experience on the other hand is not the same. It requires far more thought from the user. Many of my users PM me by mistake instead of posting a new thread as they cant work out how to do it (even through I automatically PM them with instructions!).

I'd like to see a bit more convergence of App based UI with traditional breadth a Forum experience offers.
 
Don't want to say too much, but I agree with the points raised about mobile users. Also it has been extensively discussed for some time now too as @Mouth rightly pointed out.
Just think that mobile users need to be focused on as primary with desktop then secondary - as @Uni said - Need of the moment is "made for mobile, compatible with desktop"
We're in an age where mobile use is much higher than ever. Millennial's are taking over the tech world. It's those we need to serve and cater to as well as us older ones.
Seriously - if a platform doesn't fully cater for today's mobile users, then longevity will be questioned..
 
The mobile version of XF should probably just mimic that of Facebook, Twitter, etc. And I know a lot of people are going to hate on that. When you open up XF on a mobile device, the first thing seen should be a posting box that looks like the facebook app (no wysiwyg). Inside the box, it will allow you to just post text, post a photo(s), or photo(s) with text. When choosing photos the user could be prompted to choose whether it's a new thread or should go to the media gallery, or *gasp*, their own profile. For new threads, they would be prompted for a title and forum to post in.

Below the posting box should be the feed, configurable by the user, to either display all new posts for the day, posts by people they follow, posts in forums they watch, threads they watch, or any combination with preference on what they see first being allowed. With that, the OP and avatar/username should be displayed with some of the latest posts shown underneath and allows for displaying more posts asynchronously if the users chooses to.

In many cases, less is more...specifically on a mobile device. We really need to simplify the user experience there.
 
Chris D said:
what you posted is far from constructive nor clear about the specifics of the issues
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I wasn't trying to be specific, this is not the suggestion forum. The topic is of XF2 being next-gen, and I was giving my feeling of my experience of mobile XF2 as it relates to next-gen. My experience was that it's terrible, the workflows and 'busyness' unfriendly and confusing. I even demoed to a 'joe-normal' user and asked their opinion, gettign teh same response. As I said, I'm not inclined to start yet another "me too" mobile suggestion thread, it's been discussed and suggested with abundance. My determination is that XF does not see mobile as a primary or priority use case scenario, and thus why there is the abundance of mobile suggestion topics too.
 
I’m trying to understand the “terrible” part though I can imagine some things being different to some than I as I’m using a larger mobile device. What exactly is terrible?
 
Mouth said:
I wasn't trying to be specific, this is not the suggestion forum. The topic is of XF2 being next-gen, and I was giving my feeling of my experience of mobile XF2 as it relates to next-gen. My experience was that it's terrible, the workflows and 'busyness' unfriendly and confusing. I even demoed to a 'joe-normal' user and asked their opinion, gettign teh same response. As I said, I'm not inclined to start yet another "me too" mobile suggestion thread, it's been discussed and suggested with abundance. My determination is that XF does not see mobile as a primary or priority use case scenario, and thus why there is the abundance of mobile suggestion topics too.
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It's a very big issue and sadly, seriously reluctantly, may push us to another platform. But seems the powers that be at XF aren't listening. :confused:
 
We’ve been listening for months and making changes to go with it.

Unfortunately people are intent on giving us vague feedback like “it’s terrible” which just isn’t actionable rather than doing the sensible thing of feeding back to us in the appropriate and constructive manner and in the designated places.

If we’re not listening it’s because there’s nothing (actionable) to hear.

This isn’t the right place for this discussion though (if you want to affect change). That should be done in the Suggestions forum.
 
Chris D said:
We’ve been listening for months and making changes to go with it.

Unfortunately people are intent on giving us vague feedback like “it’s terrible” which just isn’t actionable rather than doing the sensible thing of feeding back to us in the appropriate and constructive manner and in the designated places.

If we’re not listening it’s because there’s nothing (actionable) to hear.

This isn’t the right place for this discussion though (if you want to affect change). That should be done in the Suggestions forum.
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Quite agreed... (y)
 
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