Invision community Vs Xenforo
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AjayJunkies
Well-known member
This is going on a tangent, but what are you thoughts on:
-Standalone section for articles (XF Forums + Bob's AMS)
-Integrated articles into forum (article layout in forums)
Arantor
Well-known member
I think both are viable solutions for certain types of communities; I think it mostly depends on what else the community is bringing to the table.
If you have a site offering some resources plus the community, the article layout is perfectly adequate for a lot of things (e.g. how this site uses them; the principle draw isn't the articles in Have You Seen but the content in XFRM, plus of course XF itself, which the community then talks about)
If you have a site where you don't have that wealth of alongside-resources, I don't think the article board is necessarily enough unless you're putting a lot into it, but at that point, AMS gives you better options. The only thing I don't like about AMS is that it feels ever so slightly non-native. It's that uncanny valley feel it produces, same as with XenPorta, you get a look that out of the box feels almost but not quite in line with other things. And sure you can fix that, but it's one of the reasons why you might not go for XF - so you don't have to when everything is cohesive out of the box.
IPS, for its (many, perceived or otherwise) faults gets this more right, but you pay a higher price up front as a result. I'm not sure, though, that if you take total cost of ownership into the equation whether you really end up worse off. You end up differently off: XF gives you more choices on how you slot parts together and for plenty of admins that's more valuable than an all-in-one ready to go solution. But for plenty of admins, the all-in-one is more valuable because it's time they can spend on community content instead.
If you have a site offering some resources plus the community, the article layout is perfectly adequate for a lot of things (e.g. how this site uses them; the principle draw isn't the articles in Have You Seen but the content in XFRM, plus of course XF itself, which the community then talks about)
If you have a site where you don't have that wealth of alongside-resources, I don't think the article board is necessarily enough unless you're putting a lot into it, but at that point, AMS gives you better options. The only thing I don't like about AMS is that it feels ever so slightly non-native. It's that uncanny valley feel it produces, same as with XenPorta, you get a look that out of the box feels almost but not quite in line with other things. And sure you can fix that, but it's one of the reasons why you might not go for XF - so you don't have to when everything is cohesive out of the box.
IPS, for its (many, perceived or otherwise) faults gets this more right, but you pay a higher price up front as a result. I'm not sure, though, that if you take total cost of ownership into the equation whether you really end up worse off. You end up differently off: XF gives you more choices on how you slot parts together and for plenty of admins that's more valuable than an all-in-one ready to go solution. But for plenty of admins, the all-in-one is more valuable because it's time they can spend on community content instead.
Arantor
Well-known member
The company is still called IPS though.
MySiteGuy
Well-known member
True, but when discussing Excel, Word, Windows, Azure, etc. I also call these by the product name.
I wouldn't say "paste '=SUM((A1..A10)/2)' into the cell of Microsoft."
Suzanne O
Well-known member
Maybe they can't change their name.
80sDude
Well-known member
Thats the same reason why I switched from IPB to Xenforo.
Arantor
Well-known member
I tend to think of it much more about 'the team of IPS have gotten xyz right' especially as functionally, it's their only product. But I also know full well that despite the rebrand, people here generally haven't moved on from calling the platform IPS (or indeed, IPB).True, but when discussing Excel, Word, Windows, Azure, etc. I also call these by the product name.
I wouldn't say "paste '=SUM((A1..A10)/2)' into the cell of Microsoft."
goyo
Active member
Every taste is different and subjective.
My users don't like Invision Communities not only because most of them are older and they are accustomed to the good ol' vBulletin days navigation - IPB's navigation was also pretty similar back then - and thankfully, XF hasn't changed in this regard a whole lot yet.
But because at Invision Community nowadays, upon almost every single click, everything jumps around to a specific ID/class, making things more time-consuming and difficult to follow - worse than Discord - both could benefit from a better UX designer for laptop/desktop browser-based navigation.
Also, Invision Community uses quite different visuals in many places, so your Xenporta example seems quite the contrary to me.
For non-techie users with non-self-hosted new communities, the entry-level barrier is similar price-wise, so the decision for buyers who did their homework between the two comes down to little things, no matter what fancy words Invision throws at them.
Small things, such as being able to extend XY features, are essential. For example, I looked for a Support Ticket system, and although I'm quite familiar with Invision-made scripts and their management, I had only one option now: XF.
Invision by shutting down their 3rd party marketplace and somehow, transforming them into "providers
was one of their many bad decisions (and the quantity of income does not always justify the quality of decisions).I'm running bigger communities; their few hundred $ of price differences are not an issue for me - their page rendering speeds, the above quirks, and their attitude are.
Arantor
Well-known member
Ain't that the truth. I've seen communities that swear by IC and communities that swear by XF, and I've had conversations that amount to 'are we even looking at the same site'.
I can only relate my opinion; it's cool that your experience differs to mine. As such it's cool that we both have options that work for us in different contexts.
AjayJunkies
Well-known member
We are assuming that admins would have a one to one trade-off between: spending time on community design and functionality versus spending time on community content.
What I've seen from legacy forum admins is that they enjoy tinkering with theme designs, add ons, and functionality. They wouldn't necessarily spend the time on community content and strategy.
It's taken me many years to come to the realization that it's okay if the technical functionality is "good enough" if your content is amazing. But it doesn't work the other way: for example, you can have the most advanced article system with all of the bells and whistles and permission systems, but if your articles or content are junk, then you still won't be popular.
MySiteGuy
Well-known member
You don't have to use all the settings/options in Xenforo --- but at least you can.
D
Deleted member 184953
Guest
You don't need to touch any buttons or screens to take off but it remains complicated to navigate.
I say that because sometimes the simplest things in XF are difficult to implement, lost in the many options and features available...
I say that because sometimes the simplest things in XF are difficult to implement, lost in the many options and features available...
Arantor
Well-known member
The apparent lack of permissions doesn't appear to be hurting IC significantly. If it were truly that problematic, one assumes something would have been done by now (perhaps it is because other methodologies exist that aren't permissions driven to achieve goals?)
I spent many years with SMF, its permission roster is not too wildly different from XF and for both of them I don't recall ever touching most of them, leading to questions of 'in what situation would I actually need this?' and never getting an answer.
Suzanne O
Well-known member
yeah but it's a little too restrictive.
They're actually too strict for everyone and too expensive for everyone as well.
$100 for a 6 month license. No thanks.
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