How are potential customers supposed to view styles?

Qwest

Member
Since the styles showcase is in a customers area, how are people that may be interested in xenforo supposed to determine if there are decent pre-made themes out there before purchase?
 
I've seen those thanks. Most of the ones I'd like to look at don't seem to have an offsite demo.

The permission set up just seems counterproductive to sales IMO. I can perhaps understand the not allowing non licensed members to be able to download valuable attachments in the support area. But can someone explain why the third party styles section is in the licensed members area?

How is being able to view third party style image attachments something only licensed members should be able to see? If I'm looking to see if xenforo has styles I might be interested in, wouldn't you want to be showing off the wide array of styles available for the platform?

I guess I'm just not understanding.
 
I've seen those thanks. Most of the ones I'd like to look at don't seem to have an offsite demo.

The permission set up just seems counterproductive to sales IMO. I can perhaps understand the not allowing non licensed members to be able to download valuable attachments in the support area. But can someone explain why the third party styles section is in the licensed members area?

How is being able to view third party style image attachments something only licensed members should be able to see? If I'm looking to see if xenforo has styles I might be interested in, wouldn't you want to be showing off the wide array of styles available for the platform?

I guess I'm just not understanding.
The attachment system doesn't differentiate attachment types, making it impossible to allow images, but denying archives currently.
 
I totally agree with Qwest. When I was a non-customer I found the setup was counterproductive because unless the theme/add-on author linked to a demo, you could not view the screen shots etc.
 
One of the best things about XenForo Forums is the customer involvement. How about a sticky thread in this forum which has a link to Demo's of the most popular skins.

In order to avoid any accusation of favouritism you could select skins based on the number of likes plus ongoing support.

Before I bought my XF license my biggest concern was that I didnt like the default XF skin (it's a great skin but it didnt suit my website) and I dont know how to create my own. Something like that would have helped me too.
 
This is pretty much exactly why I haven't purchased a Xenforo license yet. I've been trying to figure out the capabilities of some of the add-ons, but since I can't even view the screenshots I can't tell if they are going to meet my needs or not.
 
This is pretty much exactly why I haven't purchased a Xenforo license yet. I've been trying to figure out the capabilities of some of the add-ons, but since I can't even view the screenshots I can't tell if they are going to meet my needs or not.

If there's one you'd like to see, ask one of the licensed members or developers to send you screenshots. I'm sure we wouldn't mind helping you out a little bit to see.
 
I totally agree with Qwest. When I was a non-customer I found the setup was counterproductive because unless the theme/add-on author linked to a demo, you could not view the screen shots etc.

I have to agree also, I was pretty dismayed at how some forums are set-up here for guest viewing before I purchased a license. I wasn't interested in the mods or skins either, I still use neither and run a stock board. So it had nothing to do with that in my view about it all. I just thought it seemed a little daft really and very counter productive. But as mentioned above, there is no permissions based on Zip, Images e.t.c. So it's view all or none.
 
What's wrong with allowing anyone to download and view the free addons/mods? Do the addons contain code that is part of XenForo?

The way I see it (from my limited perspective) it would be better to allow anyone and everyone access to the mods AND screenshots (atleast while the system is limited) vs frustrate new customers like myself who want more detail about the addons before purchase.

I guess I'm wondering what kind of problems come from allowing anyone to access all the addons and how those problems balance against lost sales. Just my two cents, not trying to step on any feet here.
 
What's wrong with allowing anyone to download and view the free addons/mods? Do the addons contain code that is part of XenForo?

The way I see it (from my limited perspective) it would be better to allow anyone and everyone access to the mods AND screenshots (atleast while the system is limited) vs frustrate new customers like myself who want more detail about the addons before purchase.

I guess I'm wondering what kind of problems come from allowing anyone to access all the addons and how those problems balance against lost sales. Just my two cents, not trying to step on any feet here.
I believe part if it is that there are free add-ons, but they're meant to be free to XenForo customers, not everyone. In this case "everyone" is a XenForo customer or not–so they are able to download it or not.

The Resource Manager will deal with this when it comes out, just some patience is required. :)
 
Someone is f* ridiculous thinking that because something's free to one situation it has 0% value and therefor pirates can publish it on their site, or others can get it despite not having a license, or distribute it on web sites without author permission.

A usage license is granted to those with a valid XenForo license, and distribution is prohibited ::: Unless specifically noted otherwise.

If people can't understand the basics of that they should not be an admin on any community, let alone be on the Internet.

</offtopic and separate from the 'can i preview a thumbnail picture as a guest' kinda discussion>
 
Does it really matter either way now? I mean, search Google and you'll find tons of sites out there sharing XenForo add-ons already that some customers here "and yes it has to be customers based on forum permissions". Have downloaded the mods, skins and shared them already on other pirated XenForo sites long ago. So it's all rather pointless and self defeating more for XenForo than anything else. But I don't mean they should allow anyone to download things from here, just to make that clear!

I know half the problem is that permissions don't work based on (attachment type). If they did it would make things very different allowing them to let guests view images, but not download zip/rar files e.t.c. It's all or nothing, so they have no option but to do what they do for guests. But before I purchased a license I was trying to browse some forums here also, wanting to view previews of things and found it was like the forum had been "pad-locked" for customers only. That did give me the impression XenForo was going a little over the top with it all, trying to force people into purchasing a license best they could. At the time I wasn't aware about the attachment permission thing, otherwise I would have understood better why things was that way.

But the bottom line is, from a guest visitor point of view things do seem a little extreme when browsing the forum and wanting to view certain things you'd expect you can (but find you can't). I suspect further down the line permissions on attachments will be expanded upon allowing Kier or Mike to change things differently here for guests.

I agree they can't do that now because it would allow them to download anything and everything. But don't underestimate the negative impact it can give guests coming, then leaving 10 minutes later feeling like they've just visited Alcatraz with a ball a chain strapped on their leg refusing to purchase XenForo as a result. Granted, I'm looking at this more from an XenForo business point of view. Rather than you as a lone mod releaser.

What ticks me of a little is that XenForo allow people here like you to advertise paid mods, remember that because they don't have to allow it and are doing people like you a favour doing so. They could quite easy say "No Paid mods allowed", go take it all on your own sites and open things up for guests.
 
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