Add-on Promoted Threads

[Daniel Hood]

I'm working on an add on that adds a new "Thread Tool" called "Promote". Promoted Threads will have the first post of the thread displayed in one of three (or all three) places, the forum index, the thread list of a forum, or the thread list of only it's forum. Multiple promoted threads will result in a slideshow ordered by the most recently promoted. As you can see on http://phphelpcenter.com/ I have the timer configured all the way down to 5 seconds so you don't have to wait forever to have it switch. You will be able to adjust this on your install. You can see the thread starter's avatar, a link to the thread, the number of replies and views (likes will be added), and the message from the first post.

This isn't really even close to completion yet, it will most likely be released next week (probably as a $5-10 paid addon). I'm just looking for suggestions and feedback.

 

[Daniel Hood]

Update, the scope of this project changed a little bit and it's nearly done.

http://phphelpcenter.com

Basically I offer two widgets (within bd Widget Framework), one is a slideshow and one is a post. The post just shows the promoted content like it will appear in the thread view. Most bbdcode renders just not quotes and attachments (I believe). You can promote threads with a new "thread tool" when viewing a thread.

The slideshow, is powered by bxSlider. If you use the slider widget then it will only look for your promoted content that has attachments. It'll use the biggest image attachment as the image for the slideshow and the first {x} characters of the post as the caption. This length is decided in your options. You can also configure a few of the things of the slider like whether it auto plays, if the controls for going forward and back are shown, and if the pagination icons are visible.

I designed it to be modular so I can plug other content types in later and everything will just hook right in.

I'm going to release each extension separate from the main promoted content addon. I think it's going to be $10 for the promoted content basic package and each extension will be $5 (this does not mean updates, updates will be free and the main add on will be updated). The next update to the core promoted add on is going to be the ability to promote full nodes (for example an announcements node, you won't have to promote each thread individually).

The core add on is going to include the xF default content types (like threads, nodes, posts), the extensions will be 3rd party add ons like blog software, galleries, etc.. in fact, I already have xi blog's extension done.

 

[DRE]

Really excited about testing this out

 

[DRE]

Got both blogs and threads running on my site on the slider thanks!!!

 

[RobParker]

Is it possible to add a [prebreak][/prebreak] tag like Jaxel does so that only the post content above the tag is displayed and then there's a read more link?

If that were possible then we'd definitely purchase

Edit: The demo seems to do some Ajax-ey stuff but we'd only need this to display one post. I assume in that instance the Ajax scrolling/refresh stuff isn't used?

Also can the post be displayed on more than the forum index? We'd want it above our xenporta homepage content as well for example.

 

[Daniel Hood]

It works with bd widget framework so you can put it anywhere. that timer is set really low so the refreshing stuff kind of looks ridiculous. if you only have one post it won't do it at all.

I'll look into doing the prebreak tag.

 

[RobParker]

Ah I didn't realise it required the widget framework. It can't be run as a standalone thing at all?

 

[Daniel Hood]

It could be, but then people would be stuck using whatever default positions I picked. This way they can pick any?

 

[RobParker]

Yeah I understand. Just a bit reluctant to install another widget framework when we have xenporta already.

Once it's realeased maybe we can see about paying a bit extra for a hard-coded version or something?

 

[Daniel Hood]

I just released it. I might go ahead and make some xenporta blocks also soon. Most people have either xenporta or widget framework installed. I just think having a hard coded version is a little ehhh, but I would do that for a small fee (since it's really not much more work). Just so you know: the additional extensions will require xF 1.2 since it relies on template mods since add on developers don't tend to add template hooks. The core add on -shouldn't- require 1.2 though.

 

[RobParker]

That sounds good. Either a xenporta block or a custom edit would work for us and happy to pay for it.

We're still waiting for a few things until we go live with XF 1.2 so happy to wait a month or so.

 

[Daniel Hood]

Alright, everyone else interested: here's a link to the resource: http://xenforo.com/community/resources/promoted-content.2183/