Is there a CMS planned?

[MilesDB]

If you just want something like that why not just use a Portal? If you want a CMS, it should have plenty of things to integrate with in the forums don't you think?

Problem solved. Read above. See what happens when devs are in touch with their userbase and think proactive! Go XenForo Go!!

 

[Eric J.]

Well, not really problem solved, but a midpoint was reached I guess, and it seems to have made everyone happy so no arguments from me.

 

[Shamil]

Problem solved. Read above. See what happens when devs are in touch with their userbase and think proactive! Go XenForo Go!!

A product is always optimised when it listens to its users, naturally.

 

[Mike]

Yeah, hardly solved. As I said, it's very simple. If you want to equate it to something from vB, it's probably similar to WebTemplates. It is not a CMS, it is not a portal.

As you were...

 

[MilesDB]

Yeah, hardly solved. As I said, it's very simple. If you want to equate it to something from vB, it's probably similar to WebTemplates. It is not a CMS, it is not a portal.

I hope you will improve on it in the coming months. I think what most people neeed is article and review cms.

 

[Mike]

It's really not fit for a large amount of content, as it incurs a lot of overhead by virtue of fitting in the node tree, and how we approach that. It's primarily targeted at extra pages of static content, to fit it into the design/structure, provide basic permissions, and some interaction with the current user's state.

 

[Jafo]

Why would it hinder it? Because there are packages out there that DO provide CMS solutions. Why should I, as a prospective customer, look at this software if it doesn't provide what other packages do?

Again, I strongly feel that failing to provide some type of rudimentary CMS ability on release would be fatal to the success of this software.

You shouldn't, but why should I as someone who could care less about a CMS care about what you want?

 

[MilesDB]

It's really not fit for a large amount of content, as it incurs a lot of overhead by virtue of fitting in the node tree, and how we approach that. It's primarily targeted at extra pages of static content, to fit it into the design/structure, provide basic permissions, and some interaction with the current user's state.

I won't be converting anytime soon then. I need a tool to display articles. Maybe Brian will do xFadvanced CMPS with a news module to pull forum threads to home page.

 

[Grover]

Nice surprise. You are amazing, guys!

Nice it is indeed!

 

[Mr_Bob]

Everything here thus far looks absolutely amazing, IMO. I really hope a CMS is planned, but for the time being I could definitely go with a Wordpress Bridge. I think IPB actually provides a component that allows you to let other programs use it for authentication (like Wordpress, etc). That would be something neat to put into the core product, and it will negate having to work on a XF CMS for some time, while at the same time immediately opening up XF to be really easily integrated with literally millions of products.

Aside from that, I would much rather see a quality forum product developed before a CMS. By the looks of it, that's already happening. This alpha honestly feels 100x more stable than VB 4.0.5 (and 6 for that matter).

 

[Photomedium]

It's really not fit for a large amount of content, as it incurs a lot of overhead by virtue of fitting in the node tree, and how we approach that. It's primarily targeted at extra pages of static content, to fit it into the design/structure, provide basic permissions, and some interaction with the current user's state.

That would already be fantastic
Thank you!

 

[AlexandrosD]

Why not just bridge xenforo with Joomla or Wordpress and leave the core forum as is? I am positive with the idea of an official CMS or Blogging System packages to be installed by customer's will (maybe for a small amount of additional $$$), but I advise you not to include/install them by default!

 

[Hemanth]

It's really not fit for a large amount of content, as it incurs a lot of overhead by virtue of fitting in the node tree, and how we approach that. It's primarily targeted at extra pages of static content, to fit it into the design/structure, provide basic permissions, and some interaction with the current user's state.

Thanks Mike. It's a good start. All I'm (& a lot of other forum owners) looking for is something as simple as the Neowin CMS. Just look at that:

http://www.neowin.net/

Simple, clean article script with categories/tags, article thumbnail images, a few sidebar widgets and IPB integrated comments. That's it. No bells 'n' Whistles. Most of us don't need something as complex (and slow) as Joomla.

And again, I tried a Wordpress bridge for quite a long time. But managing two scripts (updates, styles, mods) is not worth it. Also despite of my best efforts my users were not interested in writing articles in it; they preferred GARS. Even my editors and myself slowly abandoned it and finally I pulled the plug of the bridge.

 

[MilesDB]

.Simple, clean article script with categories/tags, article thumbnail images, a few sidebar widgets ...... That's it. No bells 'n' Whistles. Most of us don't need something as complex (and slow) as Joomla.

Exactly what I need in xenCMS.

 

[joc]

Yeah xenforo should focus on forums first and maybe close integration with drupal and wordpress next after than for cms end. It would allow you to open up xenforo to the drupal and wordpress markets to expand rapidly and get a foot hold in market share

...The need for a CMS solution (whether it be your own, or a bridge that allows admins to tie their site to another solution such as WordPress or Joomla) is extremely important to many, and could be the very thing that makes or breaks your business plan.

... Internet Brands' attempt at a CMS was decent, but it does fall short in many areas. IPB's attempt at a CMS was... Well... Let's just say while the option is there, it's not one I looked at as a feasible option to install. What's needed is a bridge that allows Admins to tie existing packages into their sites. I would kill for a good, tight WordPress bridge. Want to make this software the greatest thing since sliced bread? Build it with the ability to bridge WordPress, Joomla, etc., and people will be beating down the doors to purchase the software.

Actually, I should note that we do have a very simple "pages" system the builds into our node tree (basically, the tree where forums, etc go). It's by no means a "CMS", but it does allow you to add some extra content. We'll have to add a demo of that shortly...

It would already be a good starting point.

... with bridging there is twice of work and something is always not working right.

A bridge would need two styles. However, as it was mentioned before, if this bridge could rewrite, in some manner, their templates, permissions, etc., into the xenForum...

 

[MilesDB]

if this bridge could rewrite, in some manner, their templates, permissions, etc., into the xenForum...

You know I was thinking about it and no matter how good is the bridge, the two won't have the same feeling on the site. It will be a letdown for XenForo. It's like assembling Lexus with Dodge parts.

 

[DarkGizmo]

This should be pretty good. To seen an eventual XenCMS and XenBlog system would put Xen on the map!

 

[MilesDB]

It's really not fit for a large amount of content, as it incurs a lot of overhead by virtue of fitting in the node tree, and how we approach that. It's primarily targeted at extra pages of static content, to fit it into the design/structure, provide basic permissions, and some interaction with the current user's state.

Mike, considering that many of vB customers have bought vB4 Suite and using vBCMS, don't you think converting XenForo will be a downgrade for them in terms of features? If you could come up with a very minimal article/review system, it'd suffice for many of us for now. Nothing fancy, nothing advanced, just bare minimum with a potential to grow.

 

[Erik]

Mike, considering that many of vB customers have bought vB4 Suite and using vBCMS, don't you think converting XenForo will be a downgrade for them in terms of features? If you could come up with a very minimal article/review system, it'd suffice for many of us for now. Nothing fancy, nothing advanced, just bare minimum with a potential to grow.

They already said that they will develop a CMS at some point in the future, but for now their focus is strictly on the forums, which I agree with. Of course it could be a 'downgrade' for some: it's brand new software! I really don't think there's much to discuss here.

 

[Mike]

Mike, considering that many of vB customers have bought vB4 Suite and using vBCMS, don't you think converting XenForo will be a downgrade for them in terms of features?

In the short term at least, we are not able to compete on quantity and breadth of features with systems that have several years' head start on XenForo. There's a school of thought that says that you shouldn't attempt to do that either - take 37signals as a prime example. I'm not saying I totally agree with that, but there are certainly elements that make a lot of sense.

We don't expect everyone to be able to convert to XenForo on the first day of its release.

Let's be honest here - even if we had a CMS and a blog, they would almost certainly represent a downgrade in features from what some people are using.

If you are not interested in a CMS, and are just looking for great forum software, you would be frustrated if we delayed the release of the forum in order to pursue a CMS. What we have here is a great software platform for future development, and what we think is a very good forum system built on top of it. We want to get the product into customers' and third-party developers' hands as soon as we can, so that we can start to build the ecosystem of add-ons, and get valuable feedback from people actually running the software for themselves.

As end users of the forum, there's a lot of stuff you can't see, and screenshots only tell part of the story. There's a lot of things you won't realise that you like (or don't like) until you can actually use it in your own situation.

There's an argument for ensuring that you make a stellar first impression. We intend to do that, with the features that we have. We just don't see delaying the release for everyone being a good thing for us, or for those people who don't have such extensive requirements.