Featured Threads

[Paul B]

I have posted about this elsewhere but I figured it was time for its own thread.

I am currently developing this, with a lot of help from @Chris Deeming, who has to be commended as I know absolutely nothing about php so it's like explaining rocket science to an illiterate farmer, sorry Chris

Essentially it will allow anyone with the relevant permission to feature/edit/unfeature any thread, which will be shown on the forum index.
A maximum number of threads can be configured and each page load will randomly select one of those threads.
When a new thread is featured, the oldest thread will be dropped.

When a thread is being featured (or edited), the title and content can be edited, to allow for some editorial control.

Only those with the permission to view threads which have been featured will see them (global and per-node).
So if threads from a private forum are featured, only members with access to that forum will see them.

If threads are deleted or moderated, they will be removed from the featured thread list.

I plan to strip out bbcode, attachments and smilies and just have plain text as I think that works best for what is a fairly small snippet of a thread.
Although URLs will be preserved.

So far I have done the permissions, style properties and options.







The permissions also cater for individual nodes.



The templates and styling are done:



This is how it looks with all the Style Property options unchecked:


Or with just the avatar and "Read More..." link


It's fully responsive - the avatar disappears in the narrow view for example.


And for those of you who like to get your money's worth out of your widescreen monitors, it also works there too:


It's still early days and there is a lot to do but I have made a start.

The php is very basic at the moment and it will be slow going due to a) me not having a clue and b) only having around an hour or so each day due to real life commitments.

Hopefully it will eventually see the light of day.

Edit: I should add that this is all part of my idea to have a combined portal and forum page - I'm not entirely sure how that's going to look but in my experience people don't use portal pages, they usually skip them and go straight to the forum, so this is some way of trying to address that.

 

[Russ]

Looking good @Brogan, this will be very useful

 

[Shelley]

I have posted about this elsewhere but I figured it was time for its own thread.

I am currently developing this, with a lot of help from @Chris Deeming, who has to be commended as I know absolutely nothing about php so it's like explaining rocket science to an illiterate farmer

Essentially it will allow anyone with the relevant permission to feature/edit/unfeature any thread, which will be shown on the forum index.
A maximum number of threads can be configured and each page load will randomly select one of those threads.
When a new thread is featured, the oldest thread will be dropped.

When a thread is being featured (or edited), the title and content can be edited, to allow for some editorial control.

Only those with the permission to view threads which have been featured will see them (global and per-node).
So if threads from a private forum are featured, only members with access to that forum will see them.

If threads are deleted or moderated, they will be removed from the featured thread list.

I plan to strip out bbcode, attachments and smilies and just have plain text as I think that works best for what is a fairly small snippet of a thread.
Although URLs will be preserved.

So far I have done the permissions, style properties and options.

View attachment 60821

View attachment 60823

View attachment 60824

The permissions also cater for individual nodes.

View attachment 60822

The templates and styling are done:
View attachment 60825


This is how it looks with all the Style Property options unchecked:
View attachment 60826

Or with just the avatar and "Read More..." link
View attachment 60828

It's fully responsive - the avatar disappears in the narrow view for example.
View attachment 60827

It's still early days and there is a lot to do but I have made a start.

The php is very basic at the moment and it will be slow going due to a) me not having a clue and b) only having around an hour or so each day due to real life commitments.

Hopefully it will eventually see the light of day.

Amazing work and I have to say I have been waiting for this since you first talked about it. Hopefully you'll cross any hurdles you encounter with ease (with chris helping i'm sure you will). Not much to say other than fantastic work @Brogan

 

[Paul B]

Thanks @Russ and @Shelley.

Although this came about because I want it for my own site (and am currently using a manual version of it http://cliptheapex.com/), I am open to suggestions.

The styling I am still not totally happy with - especially the placement of the "Featured Thread" text, below the avatar.
I know you would prefer it at the end of the title @Shelley, but that has issues with fixed width sites, of which mine is one.

Anyway, feel free to suggest/critique.

I will use/ignore as I see fit

 

[Shelley]

Thanks @Russ and @Shelley.

Although this came about because I want it for my own site (and am currently using a manual version of it http://cliptheapex.com/), I am open to suggestions.

The styling I am still not totally happy with - especially the placement of the "Featured Thread" text, below the avatar.
I know you would prefer it at the end of the title @Shelley, but that has issues with fixed width sites, of which mine is one.

Anyway, feel free to suggest/critique.

I will use/ignore as I see fit

Couldn't you have "Featured" hanging off the right hand side of the container if your not entirely happy with it under avatars the same as new indicators in messages? Then you could also toy with just removing it? And making the "Featured thread" above the container into a kind of tab attached to the container. I will admit though, "featured thread" under the avatar is the only thing I don't like or rather the placement of it.

Just a couple of suggestions off the top of my head and probably ones you've thought of yourself but thought I'd mention them.

Not sure how ribbons would be for you? (not sure about them myself)

 

[Paul B]

Woohoo!



It may seem strange that I am pleased because an error has been thrown, but this is for a thread I didn't start which means the code is working

 

[Paul B]

Thanks to a lot of help from @Chris Deeming, I have finally got the links showing in the Thread Tools dropdown.



Obviously they won't all show at the same time (The Feature Thread link won't show for threads which are already featured, for example), I have just removed the checks while I am developing and testing.

Clicking each link will produce an overlay from which the content can be edited, or the thread unfeatured.

All of the permissions work after fixing some incorrect code, which means the permissions work globally and per node. Anyone without the permission for that node won't see the link and if they navigate directly to the page, they will see the standard "no permission" error as shown in the previous post.

Having spent the last few days on it, all I can say is, why the hell would anyone want to develop through choice

 

[Shelley]

@Brogan - giving this more thought. Honestly, When avatar << Edit: Old draft i never submitted earlier made it in this post.

Thanks to a lot of help from @Chris Deeming, I have finally got the links showing in the Thread Tools dropdown.

View attachment 60879

Obviously they won't all show at the same time (The Feature Thread link won't show for threads which are already featured, for example), I have just removed the checks while I am developing and testing.

Clicking each link will produce an overlay from which the content can be edited, or the thread unfeatured.

All of the permissions work after fixing some incorrect code, which means the permissions work globally and per node. Anyone without the permission for that node won't see the link and if they navigate directly to the page, they will see the standard "no permission" error as shown in the previous post.

Having spent the last few days on it, all I can say is, why the hell would anyone want to develop through choice

Any kind of progress is good progress and you seem to making that.

I think now that you have an appetite for developing in a few months you'll re-visit back and do what you did that took you a couple of days and do the same thing in hours, with ease. Coming along very nicely, can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[DRE]

Can you select an attachment from the first post of that thread to be the thumbnail shown in Featured Threads?

 

[Paul B]

Can you select an attachment from the first post of that thread to be the thumbnail shown in Featured Threads?

No, it's just the avatar, there is no option to use an attachment.
I personally don't have a use for that but if/when I get this finished based on the current feature set, I will look at adding more options/features.

 

[Shelley]

You probably won't go for this @Brogan but i'm going to mention it. Perhaps a potential update? Suggestion is the ability to feature poll(s). This (and i'll say this for a fact) would boost poll activity where you can vote from forumhome.

Not sure whether this is the direction you would want to go but this would be the icing on the cake (or cherry) but thought I'd suggest it as it keeps popping into my head to suggest it and hear what you think about something like that.

 

[Paul B]

Hmm, I like that idea...

I'll add it to the to do list for later, along with DRE's thumbnail suggestion.

 

[Russ]

You probably won't go for this @Brogan but i'm going to mention it. Perhaps a potential update? Suggestion is the ability to feature poll(s). This (and i'll say this for a fact) would boost poll activity where you can vote from forumhome.

Not sure whether this is the direction you would want to go but this would be the icing on the cake (or cherry) but thought I'd suggest it as it keeps popping into my head to suggest it and hear what you think about something like that.

Polls are highly underrated in XenForo by default that's for sure.

@Brogan not sure if you gotten to this part yet but do you plan on charging for this add-on or keeping it free? Looking great man.

 

[Paul B]

I hadn't really though about that, probably free I guess.

 

[Lisa]

Looking fab (you know how much I want to get my grubby mitts on this @Brogan ) think the suggestions you've had so far are pretty damn good too

 

[Shelley]

I hadn't really though about that, probably free I guess.

If it's free I'll still donate since i feel this is a premium product.

If this does get posted as being free. I suggest you add a donation link to the resource (imo this will be a premium product) if it's paid, then that is great also because it deserves to be a paid product that I would personally purchase.

Not expecting this suggestion to make it but I'll throw suggestions at you left right and center since you might be able to see something in it and put your own touch to it. So far you have featured on forum index. How about an option to select it to be displayed in the sidebar, as a sideblock. Again, unsure this is the kind of direction you want to take or whether that deviates from your original plan.

 

[Allan Hsu]

Would be good if this becomes a core feature of Xenforo instead of as an add on

 

[Shelley]

Would be good if this becomes a core feature of Xenforo instead of as an add on

Yeah, it's been suggested and might be a good idea to like the suggestion. In the meantime, an add-on is always welcomed to fill the gap as there's never any guarantee it'll make it to the core.

 

[masterchief]

I hadn't really though about that, probably free I guess.

excellent concept, much need asset for XenForo.. I would support this addon gladly. good work Brogan!

 

[Jeremy]

You probably won't go for this @Brogan but i'm going to mention it. Perhaps a potential update? Suggestion is the ability to feature poll(s). This (and i'll say this for a fact) would boost poll activity where you can vote from forumhome.

Not sure whether this is the direction you would want to go but this would be the icing on the cake (or cherry) but thought I'd suggest it as it keeps popping into my head to suggest it and hear what you think about something like that.

Related concept, but to me is entirely different (unless the poll is included with the featured thread somehow). Not that I'd stop Paul from adding it. lol

But its been enjoyable seeing Paul ask questions and work through all his road blocks. Its an eye opening experience at how easy it is to develop for XenForo given the right attention span and dedication to learn. Plus, this feature looks amazing and will be perfect for a site I know of.