XF 2.4 Flash Message Improvements and Development Update

Flash Message Improvements​

In the coming weeks, we will be showcasing a few improvements very kindly donated to us by XenForo development G.O.A.T, @digitalpoint!

When digitalpoint heard that the primary aim for XenForo 2.4 was to implement some tangible quality of life improvements, he was very quick to offer up some code he has written over the years - some released, some not - which he wrote for his own sites. Is there a somewhat ulterior motive to this code philanthropy aside from our eternal gratitude and ongoing respect? Yes. Now he no longer has to maintain any of this code himself! No better motive required, in our opinion, and of course it still comes with our eternal gratitude and respect.

It's 2025 so I hate the term "flash message" with a burning passion because it reminds me of the unpleasant days of having to manage third party browser extensions just to make sites a little bit "flashier" (lol does anyone remember Microsoft Silverlight?) but in this context, just to ensure we're on the same page, flash messages are the slide down messages that appear within XenForo at times to confirm successful completion of an action without reloading the page.

They work fine, but they can be a little cumbersome, covering too much of the screen, they don't stack and that three second timeout before it disappears somehow feels like minutes especially when it's covering something you want to interact with next.

So meet the next iteration of flash messages:

On wider displays, messages now adjust their width to avoid spanning the entire window. If several messages appear simultaneously, they now stack vertically rather than covering each other. There's also a subtle visual cue indicating when a message is about to disappear. Plus, if a message is obstructing your view, you can quickly dismiss it by clicking the close icon.

On narrower displays the messages will fill the display accordingly, just as now, but with all of the new goodies:

Finally, if you don't like the position of the flash messages, you can adjust that under Options > User alerts and notifications:

 

[James]

Just add @digitalpoint on the payroll and let him become a Dev.

Then he'd have more code to maintain! And Shawn doesn't code for money - he has plenty. Have you seen some of his posts of his rigs and server farms???

 

[Taylor J]

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[Alpha1]

Some stuff makes sense, some stuff doesn’t. But there is more coming.

Awesome! Thanks again.

 

[FTL]

@Chris D that's a nice improvement, look forward to it. I agree that 3 seconds is a bit long, so I suggest making it user configerable in user preferences.

I think 1 or 2 seconds instead of 3 as the default is fine. Perhaps even allowing granularity to half seconds would be a good idea. Yes, you can feel the difference between 1.5 and 2 seconds as 1.5 is 75% of 2 and between 1 and 2 is 50%, so even greater.

 

[FTL]

@digitalpoint thanks for donating your code. Respect.

 

[RobinHood]

Toasts remind me of the old growl/gritter notifications from XF1.

I always liked that system. Nice to see the ajax update notification getting a more modern toast feel though

 

[James]

I feel like we should just do away with the toasts altogether and just have a gif of either.. :

Success:

Fail:

 

[Bionic Rooster]

 

[duderuud]

Just add @digitalpoint on the payroll and let him become a Dev.

I don't think he wants that, to my knowledge he has more than enough money and it seems he does this just for fun.

 

[digitalpoint]

I don't think he wants that, to my knowledge he has more than enough money and it seems he does this just for fun.

How does everyone know how much money I have (or don't have)?

 

[Alpha1]

lol. Post the picture of your castle again.

 

[digitalpoint]

lol. Post the picture of your castle again.

I sold that janky place and moved to a different state.

 

[javakhir]

really to say, I like it right now as it is in 2.3.6
if possible make it optional, please. I have it in telegram desktop notification disabled & have the same on my other web, it's annoying,
pops up on the wrong area. using forum your mouse is mostly on the middle or bottom right, would be nice to add centered position,
not to look up every time,
from other hand, why do you need the close button when notification disappears in seconds anyway?
to finish me off, you have put my favorite XenForo loading icon behind it.

 

[RobinHood]

I agree centred positions would be nice, and potentially a more ideal default.

For those of us with large monitors, small alerts in the corners of the screens are easily missed /firstworldproblems

 

[digitalpoint]

I agree centred positions would be nice, and potentially a more ideal default.

For those of us with large monitors, small alerts in the corners of the screens are easily missed /firstworldproblems

FWIW - after using it for years (since XenForo 2.0), it ended up being in the bottom left on my sites because when you are moving fast and doing things (for example moderators), we found it super annoying to be anywhere on the top because it (and the default XF flashMessage function) would block the ability to click on things in the admin/moderator bar. Honestly the messages that you receive from it are usually not really things you need to even read. At least that was my real-world experience after a few years...

 

[RobinHood]

Yeah, that's a good point, I was thinking about that after I typed it.

On the one hand it makes sense to have it on the side and fill up the dead space so as not to block anything important.

While I do think that in general toasts should be in the center for web apps. Maybe you're right, for a platform such as XF, it could get annoying for power users and so the default should be left or right aligned to the bottom of the screen.

 

[Gemma]

Finally, if you don't like the position of the flash messages, you can adjust that under Options > User alerts and notifications:

Nice to see HYS updates again. I've no need for this one so will there be an option to disable completely within the message position options or usergroup permissions?

 

[Chris D]

It replaces the existing slide down message system. So no it can’t be disabled. They’ll always be there.

If for some reason there was a compelling reason to, the majority of the new appearance can be modified with CSS.

You could also disable them completely with CSS if you wanted to, even the existing ones, but then users would be left without potential feedback after actions are performed.

 

[Gemma]

It replaces the existing slide down message system. So no it can’t be disabled. They’ll always be there.

If for some reason there was a compelling reason to, the majority of the new appearance can be modified with CSS.

You could also disable them completely with CSS if you wanted to, even the existing ones, but then users would be left without potential feedback after actions are performed.

Ignore me, I don't think I read it properly or understood.

I get it now

It has been a looong week

 

[Chris D]

Tell me about it!