Prioritize more user facing features

[Lee]

I think this is part of it. We see the same issue in navigation. Most major addons will add to the navigation drop down:

• 3+ links for new content (Items, Comments, Reviews)
• 3+ links for your content (Items, Comments, Reviews)
• 3+ links for watched content (Categories, Items, Authors, etc)
• Search
• Mark read

So if you have 10 major addons, then you will not only have 14 tabs in an almost endless horizontal scroll, but also 14 massive drop downs with many links under each. Its too much and users simply get lost. The navigation manager in XF2 is not a major improvement as it does not resolve this.

IMHO Instead there should be:

• One What's new page with filters for content type and unread. Allowing users to post any content type from the page.
• One Your content page with filters per content type.
• One Watched content page with filters per content type.
• A mega menu that allows for easy navigation.

I would go further than this, I would just have one content discovery page which shows ALL content, completely filterable. Make the filters saveable in preferences and make content creation available at this point too. Similar threads widgets would become similar content, featured content would be more utilised, latest posts would become latest content, etc.

I would probably make the media gallery and resource manager a node / thread type.

Pages needs a major overhaul. If we could create custom databases and build custom navigations, the possibilities are endless. Page comments would be a big bonus too.

 

[woei]

I like the technical view and solutions with Xenforo, that helps me as admin. But my users have a different view when they visit the site.

For my users, the "why" is more important. Why would they engage? Is the UX suited to current day and age of internet users?
Like do I need to download a file, or can I view the PDF directly in a thread? Or if i ask a question, how do I know if there is maybe a solution? And if I want to share my project or passion, is it appealing for others to read and share?

 

[FTL]

@Chris D recently made a comment where he said that quality of life features are coming soon, so let's see what comes of it.

Chris, if you'd like to elaborate here, we'd all appreciate it.

 

[Alpha1]

The problem that I see is that we cannot really file a useful suggestion for this for it to be voted on. Because we need to make one suggestion thread per feature. It would just get binned. Creating separate suggestions would lack the importance, urgency or context and few people would actually vote on it. Or they would be too technical to attract votes. This is not meant as criticism. Maybe @Chris D could comment on this. I feel that IMHO critical suggestions stay under the radar when it's so wide in scope and details are technical or seem trivial on their own.

To me, if there is one suggestion that would change everything for users and webmasters then it's this.

To elaborate, in my experience its not allowed to post a general suggestion for better content discovery like I posted in this thread. Its only allowed to post one new feature per suggestion thread. This then becomes too detailed and technical for people to post on. For example, some important parts of this suggestion are posted here:

Thread 'Give all comments full posting functions via threads'

Dec 23, 2014

The current discussion system does not allow addons to use forum posts for comments.
For example if we want to have a page, blog, resource, with comments below it then we need to build a commenting system instead because its not possible to make use of the discussion function.
This leads to duplication of functionality and also gives addon developers the dilemma whether or not to add a 'new comments' tab to /find-new/ on top of their normal implementation of find-new.

It's just not handy the way it is and it would be useful to implement an improvement.

Having a more flexible...

• Alpha1
• addons comments content discovery content types new posts
• Replies: 6
• Forum: XenForo suggestions

• 

Thread 'Similar Content Widgets (for any content type)'

Jun 7, 2018

Content Discovery is a major issue with XenForo when you have addons. When a user is browsing a forum or thread about a specific content, then the user is most likely interested in the very same topic in other content types. But this related content is often hidden in a category of an addon. Accessible only through many clicks or searches for users that consider to look for it and know where to look for it.

What is much needed IMHO is widgets that display related/similar content from a specific content type.

For example a related resources widget.
A related resources widget would display...

• Alpha1
• Replies: 11
• Forum: XenForo suggestions

• 

While I'm pretty sure that a suggestion for better content discovery with the details I posted in this thread would quickly rise to the top voted suggestions, in contrast: suggestions for each detail without the wider context are too specific and technical for it to gain significant votes.
I could create a suggestion for one Watched Content page with filters, but I would be amazed if it received any votes. While if it was part of a wider approach, to remove clutter from navigation and better content discovery, then it would be much wanted.

 

[Suzanne O]

I agree with the pages. They need some features added to it the are similar to ezblocks.
Things like shoutboxes and comments on every thread.

 

[tajhay]

Seems as if everyone forgot about this thread after the blockbuster announcement yesterday

XF 2.4 Thread 'Featured content improvements'

Feb 24, 2025

Since announcing Featured Content for XenForo 2.3 we have been closely monitoring feedback through various channels and our own overall vision for the feature and, as such, in today's Have you seen...? for XenForo 2.4 we are highlighting some of the recent changes we have made.

Automatic feature expiry​

When curating content, sometimes it can take time to manage the list of featured content effectively to ensure it stays fresh for your visitors, and part of that is the inevitable time where perhaps content is no longer noteworthy and needs to be "unfeatured". You...

• Chris D
• Replies: 38
• Forum: Have you seen...?

• 
• 
• 

Or just given up.

 

[Renegade]

Seems as if everyone forgot about this thread after the blockbuster announcement yesterday Or just given up.

What you said in the end

 

[CedricV]

What you said in the end

At one point or another, most will.

 

[Ludachris]

When a user visits for the first time, have an option for them to browse via two mode choices:

• Classic forum style
• New age social media style

We all already know classic forum style.

New age social media style means:

• All topics can be scrolled through on a single page.
• All topics can be interacted with (replied to, reacted to, etcetera) on a single page.
• A new topic can be created on that same page.

Don't have a heart attack. It's an option. Most people who find your forum for the first time will like it better than classic forum style.

And what does that mean? They will scroll through, they will react, they will post responses, and/or they will post a topic.

The only difference in posting a topic would be a drop-down to select the forum the topic best fits...

Done. Busy community.

A heavily configurable and expandable New Feed or Latest Activity page would be a great starting point for the New Age Social Media style main page. Some people like the ancient forum index page layout and the traditional table-style New Posts page that shows thread titles with thread stats to browse forum content. The masses like (and are drawn to platforms that display) all content on one endless scrolling page, with expandable replies/comments, so they can easily consume and interact with content on their phones. Reading through a thread on a phone is fine, but trying to digest the contents of a forum outside of a thread is still clunky for modern internet users.

As @Sal Collaziano pointed out, there NEEDS to be a "social media style" option to browse and engage with content in our communities (we need to treat them as communities, not just forums) to adapt to modern user expectations, so that more forums can survive and thrive.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

A heavily configurable and expandable New Feed or Latest Activity page would be a great starting point for the New Age Social Media style main page. Some people like the ancient forum index page layout and the traditional table-style New Posts page that shows thread titles with thread stats to browse forum content. The masses like (and are drawn to platforms that display) all content on one endless scrolling page, with expandable replies/comments, so they can easily consume and interact with content on their phones. Reading through a thread on a phone is fine, but trying to digest the contents of a forum outside of a thread is still clunky for modern internet users.

As @Sal Collaziano pointed out, there NEEDS to be a "social media style" option to browse and engage with content in our communities (we need to treat them as communities, not just forums) to adapt to modern user expectations, so that more forums can survive and thrive.

We are talking about doing something like this as an add-on. It's really just making the "What's new" a nested feed where the user can reply directly in the feed.

 

[Ludachris]

We are talking about doing something like this as an add-on. It's really just making the "What's new" a nested feed where the user can reply directly in the feed.

So long as the user can view the full content of the first post of the thread in that feed (maybe with a click to view replies), and engage with that post (reply/react/report/follow user), I think it would attract a lot of users who have become accustomed to the way social media platforms work. I'd say that it should also include content types from popular add-ons (like Bob's Showcase, for example) in that same feed. The current horizontal tabs for separated content is useless. It all needs to be in the same feed.

If you could make that a reality, I'd gladly pay you for that add-on.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

So long as the user can view the full content of the first post of the thread in that feed (maybe with a click to view replies), and engage with that post (reply/react/report/follow user), I think it would attract a lot of users who have become accustomed to the way social media platforms work. I'd say that it should also include content types from popular add-ons (like Bob's Showcase, for example) in that same feed. The current horizontal tabs for separated content is useless. It all needs to be in the same feed.

If you could make that a reality, I'd gladly pay you for that add-on.

We seem to have similar idea's. Why don't you DM me and maybe we could collaborate.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

So long as the user can view the full content of the first post of the thread in that feed (maybe with a click to view replies), and engage with that post (reply/react/report/follow user), I think it would attract a lot of users who have become accustomed to the way social media platforms work. I'd say that it should also include content types from popular add-ons (like Bob's Showcase, for example) in that same feed. The current horizontal tabs for separated content is useless. It all needs to be in the same feed.

If you could make that a reality, I'd gladly pay you for that add-on.

Something you may be interested in is our user sortable forum index. This feature in not fully implemented yet but a early sample can be "guest" tested here. If you click the Up/down arrows you'll see that you can drag forums into the "My feeds" and "Hidden" categories. This lets users clean the forum index to personalize.

 

[Ludachris]

Something you may be interested in is our user sortable forum index. This feature in not fully implemented yet but a early sample can be "guest" tested here. If you click the Up/down arrows you'll see that you can drag forums into the "My feeds" and "Hidden" categories. This lets users clean the forum index to personalize.

View attachment 321856

This might get some use by a small contingent of members, but I've found that most members go straight to the New Posts or Latest Activity to browse threads in most forums, not the forum index - basically the same way everyone uses FB and other social apps, they browse a "feed" with all the categorization stripped away. The algorithm mixes it all in for them. Our lack of tools and features to build out an effective News Feed/Latest Activity page that isn't broken out by tabs, and doesn't just feature a list of thread titles, with no ability to engage directly with the content on that page via replies and reactions, is something that puts as at a severe disadvantage in today's world of scrolling user standards.

Question on your infinite scroll add-on - can it be enabled/disabled for certain usergroups? For example, let's say I only wanted to allow the functionality for logged-in users, not guests.

 

[Seeker-Smith]

This might get some use by a small contingent of members, but I've found that most members go straight to the New Posts or Latest Activity to browse threads in most forums, not the forum index - basically the same way everyone uses FB and other social apps, they browse a "feed" with all the categorization stripped away. The algorithm mixes it all in for them. Our lack of tools and features to build out an effective News Feed/Latest Activity page that isn't broken out by tabs, and doesn't just feature a list of thread titles, with no ability to engage directly with the content on that page via replies and reactions, is something that puts as at a severe disadvantage in today's world of scrolling user standards.

Question on your infinite scroll add-on - can it be enabled/disabled for certain usergroups? For example, let's say I only wanted to allow the functionality for logged-in users, not guests.

Agreed. This little mod is another step for us working toward a more unified "What's new" where forums, and threads will all be nested with the feed.