XF 2.4 Flash Message Improvements and Development Update

Flash Message Improvements​


XenForo Community PSD Edit.webp
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.

1743530558102.webp


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:

1743581245101.webp


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

1743581370468.webp
 
Click to expand...
RobinHood said:
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
Click to expand...

One solution I've done for things like floating actions and whatnot on other sites is wrapping the items in a container that I can then utilize an absolute-max max-width on; So, if my max width for the core layout is something like 1600px, I can use an absolute max width of 1920px so the things like toasts will still come up outside the content area, but also not be so far out of the viewing area for ultra-wide monitors that they get missed.
 
Chris D said:

Development Update​


Back in September, we mentioned that we were targeting a release of XenForo 2.4 for between Q4 2024 and Q1 2025. We have made some really solid progress since then, but we've also run into typical development hurdles that require a bit more time to resolve properly. As ever our commitment is to get this right, not rush something out of the door quickly.

We know that waiting longer isn't ideal, and we genuinely appreciate everyone's patience. But, significantly, while the original date we were aiming for has passed, the release is absolutely still happening and will at least achieve our goal of more frequent releases than we've been used to in the last few years. We're using the extra time to add more polish, implement final touches, and ensure it lives up to the quality standard that you have come to expect from a XenForo release.

Stay tuned for another Have you seen...? thread later this week but in the meantime, thanks again for your patience and support. We're getting very close!
Click to expand...
Would it not be prudent to recouple 2.4 with 3.0, the intended way, now that 2.4 has been delayed, and one reason for decoupling was expediency? It's been stated 3.0 is pretty much ready and 2.4 is the holdup. I'd think merging them back into one release would be an efficient solve and would put you ahead of the game.
 
beerForo said:
Would it not be prudent to recouple 2.4 with 3.0, the intended way, now that 2.4 has been delayed, and one reason for decoupling was expediency? It's been stated 3.0 is pretty much ready and 2.4 is the holdup. I'd think merging them back into one release would be an efficient solve and would put you ahead of the game.
Click to expand...
While I have no actual idea insider knowledge, I can guarantee that 3.0 isn’t just sitting around ready to be released waiting for 2.4 to be released first.
 
They wanted to give us the feature set before the breaking changes of the style of 3.0 instead of waiting for it all in one shot. That was before delays. I'd say merge them and go back to the original plan now that we are here.
 
Last edited:
3.0 isn’t ready. It’s just that simple. But rather than sitting on our hands until it is, we’ll continue 2.x releases. We can work on multiple things at once. Between us we’ve been working on some bits that probably won’t be in 2.4 but probably will be before 3.0. Without giving too much away, make of that what you will.

But heck development isn’t linear. I was earnestly talking about 4.0 the other day.
 
Back
Top Bottom