Some feature questions

[xIsabel38]

As some of you know, I'm new to this community and only just purchased xenForo last Friday, so I've had a whole whooping 3 days to play with it. Even though this isn't "pre-sale" I think it still fits because some potential customers may want to know about some of these things as well.

So here we go, the following is a list of features or capabilities that I could not find. I did search and results were either irrelevant or the purposed add-on was not what I was seeking. Or I could have completely overlooked it.

-I used SMF prior so I will link to SMF Mods similar to the ones I am seeking for your reference.

First, I do have a basic questions.

How do you create a Reply Only forum so that the administrator can post new topics, but all other users can only post replies. Am I supposed to literally go through every member group and set their permission for that board to Never, for posting New Topics? In SMF it was as simple as creating or editing the board and choosing the "Reply Only" permission profile. They also had a "Read Only" profile where admins could post, but no one else could. Is this also not possible here?

I can't seem to figure out how to create more posting groups. I find User groups but.. I don't know this is confusing. You can't set it to be like, 0 post = Lurker, 5 posts = New Member, 10 posts = blah blah blah... so on and so fourth. So how do I set these post groups?

And adding to that, where the heck are the user rank images like staradmin.gif or what not?
Just about every forum allows you to set the rank images for user groups like stars, boxes, etc... Does xenForo seriously not allow this? I got 75 new fresh and amazing quality ranks that I had custom designed and PAID for and now you're telling me xenForo doesn't allow this?
This is like one of the most basic of basic forum features. I can't possibly believe xenForo wouldn't include this. I just can't.
I searched and searched and found a mod for User Rank Ribbons and User Rank Images but these are too limited and not what I need.
-This makes me angry to be honest. How such a beautifully designed forum could honestly lack such basic content forum goers have come to love over the years is beyond belief.

*Deep Breath* Alright, moving on, does xenForo have (as an add-on or feature) or support:

A Topic Rating bar where you can rate a topic from 1-5 stars.
The Like system is nice, but you can only actually just Like a post and not rate an entire thread.
-SMF Equivalent

Spiders and Spider Tracking?
Again, many forums support the ability to track, log, and even see Spiders online while they crawl your forum. Does xenForo not allow this either? I searched but found something from december of last year. Of course a "More Spiders" style list would be nice too.
-SMF Equivalent

User names colors and glow effects?
Is it possible to change the name color of a single user without the use of a UserGroup. Is it possible to add a Glow style effect to a user as well?
-SMF Equivalent

User Account Security Lock with IP
This makes it so even if a user's account was hacked for the password, if the IP address doesn't match, the account is still inaccessible. Also e-mail alerts users on failed login attempts with the IP address of where the fail attempt came from.
-SMF Equivalent

A board specific block, box, pop-up, etc...
Some of my boards may require special instructions and it would be nice to give those instructions with a small notification rather than some "Read Me" post.
-SMF Equivalent

Member Awards
I know XenForo has the "Medal" add-on. But are there any others?
-SMF Equivalent

A Shop and Points System
I need a points type system like MyPoints where you get points for registering, posting, etc... then I need a Shop users can use to spend those points such as getting a user name color or something silly like that. There's MyShop, and MyPoints. MyPoints is exactly what I need. MyShop however is a lot of money for a mod that appears to be no longer supported and full of undelivered promises.
-SMF Equivalent

Board Color
The ability to change the name of a board into a different color without having to change them all. For example making a restricted or limited access board name red.
-SMF Equivalent

Articles
Like an actual Articles layout and display mod with comments and ratings. I do know of Library, it's forum based and not what I'm really seeking here.
-SMF Equivalent

Well, those are really the main ones I'm looking for. If I missed something or some mod already covers these then that's great.

 

[borbole]

Hi and welcome to xenforo.

About the reply only forum, you can set that up through the permission system. At the forum/s that you want to enforce that, choose the permissions and for the group that you want to limit revoke the Post new thread: option.

Whereas for your other request to set up groups based on likes, post count etc, you can do that with the built in promotion system.

Regarding the rest of the mods, have a look at the Resource Manager. If they are not there you can request them at the request forum and hopefully someone will code them for you.

 

[Jake Bunce]

> A Topic Rating bar where you can rate a topic from 1-5 stars.

Nothing built-in. These might interest you:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/star-rating-custom-field-by-waindigo.893/
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/number-of-first-post-likes-on-thread-list.21964/#post-276666

> Spiders and Spider Tracking?

No such option, but support is there in the code. I checked this for another person once:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/bots-online-now.23754/#post-292917

> User names colors and glow effects?

Username markup is only by usergroup. You can do neat stuff with it. Example:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/username-images.32081/#post-366601

It would be possible to implement markup by user_id by editing this function:

XenForo_Template_Helper_Core::helperRichUserName

> User Account Security Lock with IP

No such feature in XenForo. It's possible with an addon though.

> A board specific block, box, pop-up, etc...

XenForo has a notice feature that does that:

http://xenforo.com/help/notices/

> Member Awards

There are addons available:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/user-ranks-in-css.430/
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/rt-user-rank-ribbons.832/

Or just edit the templates:

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/user-ranks.34922/#post-396807

> A Shop and Points System

Yeah I was gonna say, the My* addons have seen some complaints about undelivered promises by the author as well as poor support. But I am not aware of any other good addons for that.

> Board Color

Use custom CSS for that:

http://xenforo.com/community/thread...-to-emphasize-single-forums.7829/#post-278740

> Articles

Do you want something like this?

http://virtuafighter.com/threads/ego-the-player’s-most-difficult-opponent.16710/

This is an article layout of a thread. This layout is a feature of XenPorta:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/8wayrun-com-xenporta-portal.90/

 

[MagnusB]

How do you create a Reply Only forum so that the administrator can post new topics, but all other users can only post replies. Am I supposed to literally go through every member group and set their permission for that board to Never, for posting New Topics? In SMF it was as simple as creating or editing the board and choosing the "Reply Only" permission profile. They also had a "Read Only" profile where admins could post, but no one else could. Is this also not possible here?

You set new topic for registered to not set, then use allow for admin. Don't use never, it will override any other permission no matter what. Generally you should use your registered users as a primary group, then set the basic permissions for that, everything else as not set. For "higher" tier groups, you only set the additional permissions you want that group to have, and the rest to not set. Read more: http://xenforo.com/help/permissions/

As for points, check out:
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/bd-banking.536/
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/ice-shop.904/

 

[xIsabel38]

Wow guys thanks a ton for this. I'm going to have to look into many of these.

> User names colors and glow effects?
Username markup is only by usergroup. You can do neat stuff with it. Example:
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/username-images.32081/#post-366601
It would be possible to implement markup by user_id by editing this function:
XenForo_Template_Helper_Core::helperRichUserName

I love the little folder. Actually, since you are able to add any image, this could be a direct replacement to the user rank images as well.
What would I have to add to make that little folder of yours perform a line break? I imagine <br /> won't work here.

 

[Jake Bunce]

What would I have to add to make that little folder of yours perform a line break? I imagine <br /> won't work here.

You mean have the image show on the line after the username?

Example (changed the background-position and padding):

background-image: url('path/to/image.gif');
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: left bottom;
padding-bottom: 20px;

But then we run into positioning problems, so other adjustments to the style will be required to make this work.



It's all doable though with some CSS and extra effort.

 

[xIsabel38]

You mean have the image show on the line after the username?

Example (changed the background-position and padding):

background-image: url('path/to/image.gif');
background-repeat: no-repeat;
background-position: left bottom;
padding-bottom: 20px;

But then we run into positioning problems, so other adjustments to the style will be required to make this work.

View attachment 33743

It's all doable though with some CSS and extra effort.

Oh man, see the thing is I know nothing of CSS. With the exception of color:#FF0000;
I know that one so I guess I'm on my way to becoming a CSS expert eh?

Alright well, I'll look into and and if worse comes to worse, my programmer can do it. Thanks bunches for the help.

Whereas for your other request to set up groups based on likes, post count etc, you can do that with the built in promotion system.

I don't understand this. Let me say again that I have no experience with CSS or coding or anything like that. Following what you say above here, I went to admin panel and under User Groups is the User Group Promotions, I tried to create one but then it wants to know which User Group to assign people to.

I'm just totally confused here. All I want to do is create post based user groups.

I see the Trophy User Titles and that looks like what I need. So I search for that here and find out that this does seem to be what I need. But then again, because of the term used, I don't know if it's what I'm supposed to use or what other trophy related effects it has.

[ !Warning! Another xenForo rant is incoming. Read at your own risk. ]​

I love the ability and capability of xenForo. The posting is amazing, the style, design, coding, display, and pretty much everything. This forum software is AMAZING.

But it also seems to steer clear of the people that are new, inexperienced, or amateur. Using terms that other forums don't such as "Node" instead of "Forum/Board" just adds to the delay.

I've been playing with this forum now for 4 days and I barely feel like I understand anything about it. This is delaying my website production, my other staff members, and my designer who was supposed to be doing the layout and design as of Monday.

Don't get me wrong, the xenForo experience is great. I love to post on this forum just to watch it pop up out of no where! But why the design was geared away from user friendliness is beyond me.

It kind of makes me feel like the effort was placed into making the back end harder things like coding and CSS easier, while neglecting the basic things everyone on the front end comes to know over years of using various forums such as, again, the total lack of customizing user rank images without using an add-on or adding custom code.

I know adding in a few lines of CSS is easy stuff for most of you here, but for me, it's not. And the more I have to touch that stuff is the more I want to scream and throw dishes. Not to mention that it is adding in a few lines of CSS, so why wasn't it just standard feature? Blah anyway, back to W3 Schools for me.

[ The rant is over! You've made it! ]​

​

When I create a new Trophy User Title, I can use this as my post based usergroups right?​

 

[Jake Bunce]

When I create a new Trophy User Title, I can use this as my post based usergroups right?​

Trophy titles apply to posts, yes. They show up in place of the user's normal group title.