New Company contemplating Xenforo...

[Jay182uk]

Hi guys,

I work for a video game design company that is launching a brand new social game (mobile/tablet and browser versions) within the next couple of months. The game has large financial and celebrity backing, and we're expecting it to form a very large online community based around it. We obviously want to create a forum that allows for players of the game to communicate and build relationships with eachother.

In looking for forum software I have considered vBulletin and VanillaForums.com, I'm currently leaning towards Xenforo after hearing good things. vBulletins latest version has got a lot of criticism surrounding it, and VanillaForums is extremely pricey, as well as looking less like a tradition forum (in my opinion) and more like a collection of comments?

I have main requirements for the forums however, and I need to know whether Xenforo can provide these for me...

1) The Forums need to be as heavily involved in other social media platforms as possible - is it possible to Login to Xenforo forums using an individuals Twitter or Facebook accounts? if not, can I at least put Twitter RSS feeds on the main forum page?

2) How customisable is the layout/design of the forums? I want ours to look as professional and customised as this: aeroforcegaming.com/forums
the actual design for the forum will be made by our in house team - how difficult, editing wise, would it be to upload designs to Xenforo to create a similar look to the link above?

3) I want us to be able to post videos on the main page of the forum, and I want users to have the ability to post videos into their posts - is this standard on Xenforo?

4) Will we have the option of customising the advertisements on Xenforo? its important for us to be able to put adverts from the sponsors of our games, on the forums.

5) We need private messaging, mass e-mail mailing from admins, private forums for selected members and usergroups/ranks - I'm guessing these are standard on Xenforo?

6) I noticed an option on the Xenforo payment page, $50 (or pounds, I dont remember) for someone at Xenforo to upload the software onto our servers for us? this would be ideal. Will that person ensure that the forum is basically up and running on our server? so that we know its working. Obviously, I know that we will then be expected to customise and edit the forum from then on out, I just wouldn't mind knowing a tiny bit more about this option.

7) It is integral that our forums be mobile friendly. Are Xenforo forums mobile friendly, or is there a mobile suite package (as there is with vBulletin) that I can opt to purchase?

I think that's it. I must say that if I can be assured of all of the above, then there's a strong chance we'll go with Xenforo.

Any help or advise would be great!

Thanks

Jay

 

[Paul B]

1. Login with Facebook, Twitter and Google is posible.

2. As customisable as you want - it all depends on your skill level and how much work you want to do. You have linked to a XenForo forum so obviously that's possible.

3. Yes, video embedding is standard.

4. Yes, ad templates are built in.

5. Yes, conversations and ACP emails are standard, as are private forums.

6. The installation service covers basic installation only. Not server configuration nor forum set up.

7. XenForo is responsive out of the box - resize your browser to see it in action.

 

[RobParker]

1-7: Yep ;-)

Seriously though, I think your requirements are pretty much covered.

3) "I want us to be able to post videos on the main page of the forum" - what do you mean by "main page"?
5) Mass emailing is normally handled by 3rd party software.

 

[Jay182uk]

3) "I want us to be able to post videos on the main page of the forum" - what do you mean by "main page"?

I just mean the forums index page
so perhaps, beside the list of forums, above or underneath, we could post an embedded video for our users to see.

 

[Jay182uk]

1. Login with Facebook, Twitter and Google is posible.

2. As customisable as you want - it all depends on your skill level and how much work you want to do. You have linked to a XenForo forum so obviously that's possible.

3. Yes, video embedding is standard.

4. Yes, ad templates are built in.

5. Yes, conversations and ACP emails are standard, as are private forums.

6. The installation service covers basic installation only. Not server configuration nor forum set up.

7. XenForo is responsive out of the box - resize your browser to see it in action.

Thanks for your reply, I'm very happy to hear this!

 

[RobParker]

I just mean the forums index page
so perhaps, beside the list of forums, above or underneath, we could post an embedded video for our users to see.

There's various way to do that, such as the notice system.

 

[Jay182uk]

6. The installation service covers basic installation only. Not server configuration nor forum set up.

7. XenForo is responsive out of the box - resize your browser to see it in action.

6- But the Xenforo team member will upload the forum software to our server for us, is that correct?
7 - 'responsive out of the box' - sorry, I'm not familiar with this term! but does this mean it would adapt to whatever form it was viewed in, and hence would look just as good on mobile/tablet versions? this is a priority for us.

thanks

 

[Paul B]

Yes, we would install the XenForo software on your server for you.

Resize your browser window or use different sized devices to see how responsive design works automatically.

 

[Jay182uk]

Yes, we would install the XenForo software on your server for you.

Resize your browser window or use different sized devices to see how responsive design works automatically.

Just one more question how much bandwith do you think would be sufficient to run the forums on a server?
we are expecting the forums to initially 20,000 members before december, growing to 50,000+ by this time next year.

would 500 gb of bandwith enough be sufficient enough for this?

I'm a bit of a noob in terms of all this so a basic explanation or info on this matter would be so much appreciated!

thanks Brogan!

-Jay

 

[Paul B]

It's impossible to give a figure.
It depends entirely on traffic/activity.

 

[RandallC]

Ill just say this, if you go with Xenforo, you won't look back.

 

[ScottLott]

Just one more question how much bandwith do you think would be sufficient to run the forums on a server?
we are expecting the forums to initially 20,000 members before december, growing to 50,000+ by this time next year.

would 500 gb of bandwith enough be sufficient enough for this?

I'm a bit of a noob in terms of all this so a basic explanation or info on this matter would be so much appreciated!

thanks Brogan!

-Jay

Looking out our server logs and active users, a single active user burns through an average of 40MB/month on my XenForo site (www.RCPowers.com). We've got tons of hi res pictures that folks upload and view, that likely contributes pretty heavily to that figure.

Keep in mind that things like YouTube videos or embedded pictures from other sites like Photobucket don't really take any bandwidth, it's only media hosted on your server.

So if you're concerned about staying in a tight bandwidth budget preventing attachments is a good idea.

I'd also like to point out a very dramatic difference between the number of people signed up to your site and the number of people using it. Even if you have 50k members signed up you might only have 10k active users (80/20 rule), and it's the active users who eat bandwidth. XenForo does keep track of how many active users you have, so it's an easy figure to keep your eye on.

 

[Mike Edge]

Just one more question how much bandwith do you think would be sufficient to run the forums on a server?
we are expecting the forums to initially 20,000 members before december, growing to 50,000+ by this time next year.

would 500 gb of bandwith enough be sufficient enough for this?


-Jay

Should be fine. I have hosting clients barely using 500gb transfer a month with 1k plus users online and their boards each have several million posts

 

[Moshe1010]

Keep in mind that things like YouTube videos or embedded pictures from other sites like Photobucket don't really take any bandwidth, it's only media hosted on your server.

That's pretty much changed in the latest version if the proxy function is enabled. The pictures can be cached on the server level based on the number of chosen days (can also be unlimited).