Im looking to switch from vBulletin but I have a few questions

Lone Wolf

Lone Wolf

Well-known member
Hi.

First of all, let me say that I've only been playing about with the XenForo demo for an hour or so but I'm already very impressed. I have a few questions to ask to see if it's worth my while switching over from vbulletin whom I've been with for over half a decade.

1) How easy is it to port over threads and users from a vBulletin forum to XF?

2) There appears to be a lot of control over users, usergroups and their permissions. One thing I'd like to be able to do is to give different user groups different coloured backgrounds. For example on XF the user info area background is two shades of blue. Is it possible to give staff usergroups, member usergroups and VIP usergroups different colours for their user info areas?

If it isn't possible, how hard would it be to make a mod/hack that does this?

3) We currently have a forum where users can only see and reply to their OWN threads. This is used as a staff helpdesk area where staff can help and respond to individual users without others being able to read the threads. On VB this was achieved by setting the 'can see others threads' permission to 'no' but I dont see a similar option on XF. Have I missed it or is it coming?

4) VB has been around for a long time and has lots of bridges with Joomla/Wordpress. Does anything similar exist for XF yet and if it does. Is there a bridge that would allow me to use the XF login details across both my webpages and the forums. I would like to make certain webpages only available based on usergroup permissions.

5) Would I need a hack to seperate sticky threads or is there a built-in option that allows me to do it?

I'd normally use Google to find the answers myself but with XF being so fresh there's not a lot out there yet.

Thanks in advance for your help and I hope this software goes from strength to strength.
 
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Hey LoneWolf,

A bit outlandish but do you play any online games as your name seems really familiar to me?

1. The built in importer is really good, it should bring through all your posts and threads without a problem.

2. I don't think there's a default setting for that but I wouldn't think it would be very hard with a hack or mod.

3. Not sure, I wouldn't use this feature so I can't comment.

4. There are currently a lot of mods available for stuff like that and much more which can be found here if you are missing any you need then request it as someone might be willing to take it on without charge if it is easy enough or interests them. If not you can try and hire a coder to make a specific add on for you.

5. Sticky threads immediately go to the top of the forum, do you mean you want to do more than that?
 
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2) That is possible with some template and CSS code. Similar to this:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/user-ranks-in-css-no-images-required.7731/

3) That feature is not in XenForo. It has been requested. You might see it in a future version.

5) That can be done with a template edit. Actually the ad_thread_list_below_stickies template would work well for this. Just add an appropriate div to create the gap (instead of ad code):

Code: 
<div style="height: 10px; background: #555555;">
</div>

Result:

Screen shot 2011-04-16 at 1.38.05 AM.webp
 
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As to #4, XF has a bridge for WordPress, there is one for Joomla1.5 and with some help, 1.6, I think a Drupal bridge was mentioned in one thread but can't remember if it was a request or add-on. That should be enough to start.

Liz
 
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Thanks for the Welcome Rob and Steve it's just a handle I've been using for years. Thanks to everyone for your help so far. The speed and quality of responses have been great. I'm a little disappointed that option 3 isn't possible, I thought I was making a mistake but hopefully it's in the next version. I might hold off because it could be a deal breaker for me.

I had another question. Is it possible to link likes to promotions so that X amount of likes = someone getting a new user title, etc.
 
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Thanks Brogan. Is it possible to limit how many times User X can like posts from User Y in order to avoid 'liking cliques' forming in the same way 'thanking cliques' have formed on other similar systems.

I've been looking around and I cant find a way to 'like' threads other than to post them to facebook or twitter.

Along the top (in the submenu) there are some great ideas, such as the 'watched threads' link but is it possible to add an option there for 'Most Liked Posts' and 'most liked threads'

I think options like that would allow our users to quickly get a feel of the sort of discussion and what is regarded as quality on the forum.
 
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There is currently no way to limit likes given.

You can't like a thread, only posts and profile posts. The Facebook Recommend button is separate to the XenForo likes system.

You would need an add-on for most liked posts. I think there might already be one available in the add-ons forum.

You can however sort threads in each forum by certain criteria, first post likes being one.
 
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Lone Wolf said:
4) VB has been around for a long time and has lots of bridges with Joomla/Wordpress. Does anything similar exist for XF yet and if it does. Is there a bridge that would allow me to use the XF login details across both my webpages and the forums. I would like to make certain webpages only available based on usergroup permissions.
Click to expand...
both vB and xF have wordpress bridges.
Joomla+vB3 via jfusion is problematic, but functional
Joomla+vB4 via jfusion doesnt work because vB4 is horrid.
Joomla+xF is a released addon here.
 
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I'm getting to the stage where visiting my own VB forum feels quite restrictive after taking part in the XenForo experience. XenForo really does change the way you view an accepted way of doing things. I have a few more questions.

1) How do I go about looking for someone who can make a hack for question 3 from my opening post and/or other hacks. I dont like add-ons or mods but will use them if necessary. I prefer someone who can hack the CSS or template to make the needed changes.

2) Will any XF specific features like alerts and social media integration make it into the tapatalk app? Also are XF looking to create their own app?

3) Is it possible to add prefixes to threads? EG; Breaking News: or Sticky: or Exclusive: etc

4) Can we change the background colours of specific threads on the thread list. EG when you view the thread list, specific threads would have their own background colour to highlight and distinguish them. This could be linked to the prefixes above.

Once again thanks for all your help!
 
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Once you have a license you will have access to the customer forums where you can post a request for a developer to take on the work. It won't be simple CSS changes where permissions are concerned though, it will require an add-on.

You need to ask in the Tapatalk thread for any features related to the app. An official mobile style is something that Kier and Mike have said they would like to do, but not an app.

Prefixes are planned for a later release (1.1).

There is no way to change the colour of specific threads currently (except for sticky threads), you would need an add-on for that.
 
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Lone Wolf said:
I'm getting to the stage where visiting my own VB forum feels quite restrictive after taking part in the XenForo experience. XenForo really does change the way you view an accepted way of doing things. I have a few more questions.

1) How do I go about looking for someone who can make a hack for question 3 from my opening post and/or other hacks. I dont like add-ons or mods but will use them if necessary. I prefer someone who can hack the CSS or template to make the needed changes.

2) Will any XF specific features like alerts and social media integration make it into the tapatalk app? Also are XF looking to create their own app?

3) Is it possible to add prefixes to threads? EG; Breaking News: or Sticky: or Exclusive: etc

4) Can we change the background colours of specific threads on the thread list. EG when you view the thread list, specific threads would have their own background colour to highlight and distinguish them. This could be linked to the prefixes above.

Once again thanks for all your help!
Click to expand...

Alerts and other social integration in Tapatalk is already released, or in development, depends on exactly which feature you are referring to!
 
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tapatalk said:
If you have an iPhone, you can login to one of the xenForo powered forums, e.g. "EverythingAndroid" forum. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks that forum seems to work fine. Maybe I'm reading too much into your post but why did you specify iPhone? Dont XenForo forums work with tapatalk on other platforms? Or was it a using iPhone to read Android forums joke?

Quite a lot of our users already use tapatalk to access our vbulletin forums. If we switch over to XenForo then will they have to 'find' our website again or will the old links still work?
 
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Does the points system take into account threads created? As I think I'd award more points for threads created than for posts made. Also if a thread is created and the opening post gets 10+ likes then that would award bonus points to the user.

Is this possible in XF because I think if you tinker it just right then you will promote quality users more quickly than the default system would.

PS - Im aware this may encourage certain users to create lots of threads but Im very strict about merging similar threads so I dont see this being too much of an issue.
 
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