XF 2.1 Has anyone made Xenforo look like a social site yet?

drastic

Well-known member
I'd like to have a setup that mimics the look/feel of Twitter/Facebook, so newcomers are familiar with the site and can figure it out.

I think it's possible if you skin/style the threads and give it a general timeline/newsfeed homepage, rather than a listing of forums/threads.

We already have the ability to do a quick post and tons of features for posting - it's just that the forum "look" is so outdated, that so many of the newer users are not figuring it out, or don't have the attention span to do so.

Xenforo software in general is just so damn good that I don't want to try any of the actual social scripts that already exist, and those I did try, like PhpFox, are just absolutely worthless.

It's a big task, but if anyone wants to chat about doing a custom style like this, I'd be listening for sure!
 
Here is more evidence that forums are dying


Even TAZ is getting less busy every day

So somethings needs to be tried.

.
 
You posted in the wrong thread
 
You posted in the wrong thread
What is the correct forum for that?

I merely posted it in this topic to show the need for someting to be tried to make forums more relavent.
 
basing how popular forums are on a forum administration site is not the best choice of a data point.
Yes but it used to be much busier when I first joined it 3 years ago

What is a good data point?

How popular are forums? (especailly stand alone ones ie not part of some major companies support)
 
You're probably looking for this thread
 
You're probably looking for this thread
Thanks, I was not looking for it, but is well worth a read.
 
@DigNap15 we're all hoping 2.3 has some better social discovery tools.
Yes it will be interesting what new fetaures they have planned for 2.3.
We are relying on the genius of two or three developers.
I am sure they could implement technically anything if they wanted to.
Its a question of knowing what is needed by forums to stay relavant or provide a better user experience
That will require the wisdom of Solomon and the genius of Elon Musk
 
Yes I am also trying to get away from the old fashioned terms Threads and Posts.
Changing the term posts is not so relevant in this topic, as social sites use the term anyway. FB uses post. Twitter doesn't but why should it when it made its very own version "tweet" So posts is actually still relevant, nobody says, "I'm leaving Facebook because they use the old fashioned term posts".
 
Changing the term posts is not so relevant in this topic, as social sites use the term anyway.
Except, as I pointed out in a post above, they may use them in a different way. As I commented there, the fan site I am on uses "post" for the OP, "comment" for everything under it (the platform is Circle). Which caused some confusion for this old school forum jock at first.
 
Ah oK didn’t see that.

Seems a bit odd though, as not all replies are comments, some may be answers (to a question) so to me the word reply is better as it covers everything.
Yeah, I stay because it's a nice crowd, I love the singer that it's about (she actually owns it), and they have an absolute ban on politics which I really need sometimes these days. The software I am kind of meh on, but really that's true for almost all forum/social software that isn't Xenforo right now. I'm just too damned used to XF, I guess. ;)
 
What is a good data point?
Data points are important if trying to relay realistic results. TAZ has a VERY limited target audience... There's rarely been much "important" data over there, more chit-chat amongst admins. So the "bang for the buck" isn't there for many new admins. I know I'd much rather spend 2-3 hours outside with the scope than 3-4 hours over there reading "What are you watching", or a discussion on who does the laundry.
In the 9 years I've been there I've seen the traffic ebb & flow.
Forums themselves are not as popular... but that's not so much to do with the interface of it.. it has more to do that the public has been trained to only do "short" posts thanks to Twitter and FB. And for many things, you can't get your point across in 144, 288 or even 500 characters. Hell, many of my responses to folks over on FB consist of several hundred characters... and I get ribbed because I "write a novel". But to relay the important stuff, it takes "writing a novel" as you can miss important points in your urge to just dash off a "quick reply".
There are WAY to many people that simply don't want to have to sit down, compose a cognizant, succint reply where they simply can do an off-the-cuff response. That has nothing to do with "a forum", but more in the laziness of the end user.
What would help WAY more than "being like social media" would be an actual app that could be installed on cell phones and tablets that would streamline the data entry process, but still enabling the features of the site (including major 3rd party add-ons like ShowCase, AMS, Classifieds and such)... and no, the current process is not the solution I am referring to.. in fact, much of it is not cross-platform capable when dealing with cell phone/tablet operating systems. The problem with apps is monetizing them is a little more difficult without being offensive to the user.

As for the awkward way you have implemented your solution... mayhap you should check out this thread.
 
Last edited:
I don't see anything wrong with offering/having options. Why not have an option for different types of layouts? Facebook style. Twitter style. This way people more comfortable with those layouts are more likely to participate.
 
I don't see anything wrong with offering/having options. Why not have an option for different types of layouts? Facebook style. Twitter style. This way people more comfortable with those layouts are more likely to participate.
You you have that ability pretty much already...it's called a custom style.
Much of what is being requested can be done by bespoke templates in a style.. the data is there, templating system is there.
I'd REALLY hate to be a style maker that had to take into consideration 3-8 different layouts that my design had to process and make look good and then have to integrate the add-ons into... not to mention the add-on authors themselves having to make major design decisions based upon which "social look of the minute" the admin wanted.
 
Top Bottom