Integrated Blogs

[Grover]

The latest version (3.8) Kier & Mike produced for Jelsoft has it... Invision Powerboard has it. So it seems logical/natural that xenForo needs to provide integrated Blogs aswell. Otherwise a large part of customers will be unable/unwilling to transfer their vB boards to xenForo, because we really need our integrated Blogs aswell.

Please do [like] this first posting if you think it is a good feature suggestion for XenForo

 

[The Geek]

Offer a blog, but not like the vB one

 

[Paul B]

Merged with the original thread.

 

[Tanax]

I'd rather see some sort of Content Builder like IP.Content(which is much more than just a CMS) that'd allow me to build a website with the forum in the core before blogs.

 

[alfan]

Offer a blog, but not like the vB one

I actually like vB's blog layout i vb4 (or most of it), but the big problem is that it is still not really intergrated. If xenforo integrated blogs so that users still could use the like feature (also missing in vb) and the follow feature (also missing in vb) it would be just perfect and I would switch all my sites the second it was ready.

Yes a CMS would also be nice, but for me blogs are much more important

 

[TimeWizardCosmo]

I would rather have the ability to create custom nodes and node fields like I described here:
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/suggestion-custom-node-fields.6206/

Building a blog, video archive, WoW guild roster or anything else would be trivial at best.

 

[zOrg]

You have to start somewhere .. it's forum software. Let's start with just 1 thing: The forum software.

+1
(focusing...)

 

[FredC]

I personally could do without my blog software.. vB just bolted it on the forum package anyways.. Clunky at best, and extremely boring.. But now that i have it and a few of my members utilize it. I cant and wont take it away from them.. i have pushed it pretty heavy in my largest community. So the members that have went ahead and created blogs would be pretty disappointed at best if it were to just vanish.. I need to migrate to a different forum package simply because my vB4 forum is broke beyond repair.. I think in the case of that particular site i will eventually have to move to IPB.. (vB will never see another nickle from me) But my other forums are ready and waiting to switch to xF. After the fiasco with the new license structure. i decided that my best options for a cms and blog were Joomla..

Persoanlly id prefer see xF focus on a great and modern forum package moving forward with future trends.. My wish list would simply include support for Joomla integration.. (a mod perhaps) My plan is to use the Joomla Wrapper for a future xF install and just cut the header out of the template..

 

[Shelby]

Whats the difference between the first post in a thread and a blog entry?

Nothing. Just format the template so that the first post looks like a blog entry, format the replies to look like comments. Set permissions so only the author can post in that forum and then make a page to pull those entries. All without a blog addon.

 

[Xarcell]

I'd prefer a blog system that is very integrated with the user profiles, so that every user has his own blog site right there.

I think the user profiles need to turn into a 'my space' and almost be a separate site for that member. The blog integrated, along with video's, photo's etc.

These enhanced profiles then could be promoted on a general 'community page' (like suggested by Princeton).

I agree, there should be a blog that is intergraded into each user's profile.

TABS: Profile Posts > Recent Activity > Postings > Blog > Information.

 

[Digital Doctor]

If someone wanted to create a good Blog, they should make it look and feel like Wordpress.
Categories, Tags, Pages, Comments.

 

[Rocket]

If someone wanted to create a good Blog, they should make it look and feel like Wordpress.
Categories, Tags, Pages, Comments.

In other words they should just let WordPress do that work and build a solid bridge, haha.

 

[Shelby]

In other words they should just let WordPress do that work and build a solid bridge, haha.

Why in the world would you want to develop a bridge that constantly requires updates and breaks? Surely there is a better way. Just change the style template so that the first post looks like a blog entry, format the replies to look like comments. Thread prefixes as categories. Set permissions so only the author can post in that forum and then make a page to pull those entries. All without a blog addon. No bridge rquired. Just solid templating and theme.

 

[Urfe]

In one of my communities the blogs get heavy use. I got a copy of XenForo to play with and start theming but can't switch over my most active site until I have some way to replace this functionality. Really hope we eventually get this as an add-on again.

 

[Rocket]

Why in the world would you want to develop a bridge that constantly requires updates and breaks? Surely there is a better way. Just change the style template so that the first post looks like a blog entry, format the replies to look like comments. Thread prefixes as categories. Set permissions so only the author can post in that forum and then make a page to pull those entries. All without a blog addon. No bridge rquired. Just solid templating and theme.

Why in the world do you think WordPress is so sucessful. It's because they've had lots of time, and effort to build an amazing platform to build blogs and websites on. Xenforo is a piece of forum software (even says so on the homepage). I like what xenforo has done for forums, but attempting to build anything realistically usable as a blog/website outside of a portal is too much work and I think would stray quite far from what is currently being developed. I say they should continue working with the forum, and let people leverage the dozens of open source or paid alternatives for a CMS/Blog.

How's vB's Blog/CMS areas going? Not too well, because when you build something as a add-on, and not a integral part of the software it is inherently second-fiddle. It is all the little things that WordPress, Drupal, etc... have done that makes them great options for people. The same reason that there are leaders in the forum software market too. I have yet to see one that makes both, and both are tops in their category.

 

[Josh111]

I have a new blog entry by one of my users on average about once a day. They love it.

 

[Josh111]

A blog is simple a forum post with replies shown as smaller comments, so the focus stays on the blog author's entry. A two-column front page should be used to display the most recent blogs, each with a truncated version of the blog entry content.

RSS imports and exports are a nice feature. I have seen RSS imports have small problems on many occasions, so I won't be heartbroken if this feature is skipped. Blog favorites, ratings, searches, etc. are not needed, at least in the initial release.

That's really all there is. It's just a forum displayed with a different template. A simple implementation with minimal features would be immensely valuable.

 

[Jaxel]

If someone wanted to create a good Blog, they should make it look and feel like Wordpress.

I agree, there should be a blog that is intergraded into each user's profile.

I have a new blog entry by one of my users on average about once a day. They love it.

I'll start working on a blog addon... for $1000.

 

[Josh111]

That's reasonable. I need to keep researching to make sure XF will work for me, though.

Also, if Wordpress can do what I need, it would make more sense to put you to work on something else.

Does Wordpress integrate with forum accounts and allow your users to create blogs? If they have to create a separate WP account, that's no good. They might as well use blogspot or something.

 

[alfan]

True

I love xenForo but my community ises both forum and blogs equally, so sadly I can not switch to xenForo et. But I am hoping and wishing for a simple blog integration every day.

 

[hescominsoon]

I have blogs and an XF. I use the feed importer to import the blog posts into forums dedicated to the users. forums users can then comment. I have blog comments off now. Go to godsfrozenchosen.com/forums to take a gander.