Some general questions

[Big_Dog]

I want to start a website, the heart of which will be a forum. This is the first time I’ve done anything like this. I have no programming skills, and don’t intend to learn any. I’ve been told that the best way to do this is to start with a good forum platform. I have some questions about your software.

1) How is your security? How often do you get hacked?

2) Will posts that are typed in other languages (Chinese, Russian, etc) be displayed properly? Is it possible to add a google translate dropdown to translate the website into any language?

3) Can the blog link to videos, be shown as the “front page” of the site, and can I sell products from it?

4) Is text/voice chat available? Specifically, users should be able to go to a list of members who are online, sort the list by sex, age, etc, select a member, and send him a chat request. When the member accepts the request, a text chat window will pop up, and audio will start.

5) Can thumbs up/thumbs down votes be given to individual posts, and cumulative total votes be displayed under member’s avatars?

6) Is it possible to display information about each member under the avatar?

7) Is it possible to make polls with up to 20 options?

8) Is it possible for members to send each other PMs, and for the admin to see these PMs if necessary?

Thank you

 

[oman]

1. Top notch.
2. Google Chrome has something that detects language, and allows you to translate them into different ones if not your default. Not sure about other browsers.
3. Not in the core of the software. Would require custom add ons.
4. There are text chat add ons available. You will have to look into them to see if they have those features you want.
5. You can do so with the Post Ratings add on available in the Resource manager.
6. Yes, you can determine what is shown under the avatar within style properties if you are referencing to the one shown next to the post.
7. Yes.
8. Yes, they can send PMs. Admins by default cannot see them. You would need an add on to access them.

 

[Divvens]

I want to start a website, the heart of which will be a forum. This is the first time I’ve done anything like this. I have no programming skills, and don’t intend to learn any. I’ve been told that the best way to do this is to start with a good forum platform. I have some questions about your software.

Hey there @wulfgar1! To run xenForo you don't need any programming skills, out of the box xenForo is very user friendly, front end and back end. For whatever extra needs you may have, there are plenty of add-ons and stlyes that cover almost all requirements one may have. If you find that no add-on does what you want, you can also request custom development.

1) How is your security? How often do you get hacked?

xenForo as a product is very secure, the only known security issue xenForo faced was SWFUUpload library which was fixed quickly by the developers and there have been no security flaws in the core product until now.

2) Will posts that are typed in other languages (Chinese, Russian, etc) be displayed properly? Is it possible to add a google translate dropdown to translate the website into any language?

You can install translations of various and provide users with different language options, but posts that are typed in other languages will need to be translated by users themselves, browsers such as Google Chrome also detect other languages and provide translation options.

3) Can the blog link to videos, be shown as the “front page” of the site, and can I sell products from it?

There is currently no "official" blog product released by xenForo, but there are multiple blog add-ons that cover all your needs. You can set any page of your forum to be your "front page" or "index" using the xenForo Route Filter which is a feature introduced in xenForo 1.2

4) Is text/voice chat available? Specifically, users should be able to go to a list of members who are online, sort the list by sex, age, etc, select a member, and send him a chat request. When the member accepts the request, a text chat window will pop up, and audio will start.

You will require an add-on for this, if there isn't one you would have to get it developed, this isn't a core feature.

5) Can thumbs up/thumbs down votes be given to individual posts, and cumulative total votes be displayed under member’s avatars?

This can be done via Post Ratings Add-on, it isn't a core feature.

6) Is it possible to display information about each member under the avatar?

Yes, any information you wish to show can be shown including custom user fields, post count, like count etc. You can see an example by switching your style on xenForo to "Kitchen Sink" (to change the style, scroll down to the footer and on the left hand side you'll find "Default Style" written, click it!)

7) Is it possible to make polls with up to 20 options?

As @oman answered above, yes, this is possible! Even more than 20 options is possible

8) Is it possible for members to send each other PMs, and for the admin to see these PMs if necessary?

Yes, members can send personal conversation to other members, members can also control who can start a conversation with them via privacy settings. Administrators cannot see Personal Conversations in the core software, though if you have a technical admin it is possible to view Personal Conversations via the database, to do it via the front-end you would need an add-on.

xenForo offers you the chance to experience a demo of the software for a limited amount of time, why not try it? It'll give you a first hand experience on the product as well as a feel of how it works. The community here at xenForo is quite friendly and has many knowledgeable members that will help you get through any problems you have, there are many people who also provide services such as installation and such. Have a feel of how xenForo is, look at some huge communities running xenForo as well as general customer opinions.

 

[Big_Dog]

Wow, what great responses. Thank you very much - I'm going to take some time to dig into this now!

 

[oman]

Wow, what great responses. Thank you very much - I'm going to take some time to dig into this now!

No problems. @Divvens did a nice detailed response, whereas I just did a simple one.

 

[Big_Dog]

Ok, I just read something that might be a deal killer for me. Is it true that there is no mobile platform? Please explain.

 

[Paul B]

Responsive design is built in.
Resize your browser to see.

 

[Big_Dog]

Responsive design is built in.
Resize your browser to see.

Thanks for the quick response. I'll be honest and say I don't have a mobile device (that will change shortly), and don't understand the problem.

Here is the thread that got me worried. It's old - are you essentially saying this has been fixed?
http://xenforo.com/community/threads/is-xenforo-mobile-friendly.34146/

 

[Paul B]

You don't need a mobile device, just resize your browser window on your desktop and watch the magic happen.

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/responsive-design.50888/

 

[Big_Dog]

Excellent. Thanks! Super impressed with xenForo now. I'm having a friend help me, and he has asked me to get the major components selected so that we can choose hosting, etc. So here are a few more questions about add ons:

1) Blog
I want a single blog written by myself, providing my members with information, linking to videos, etc. Members will be able to comment on it. On the other hand, I want a place where members can log and talk about their own progress regarding the skills they will be developing in this forum. In the forum that I'm using as a reference, this has been done in a thread for each member in a "members' logs" sub-forum. So is the best solution a) let members use forum blogs b) let members use threads? We will start out small of course, but eventually I'm planning for the forum to have in the neighborhood of 10k members. Which blog add-on do you recommend?

2) Chat Page
I know I didn't explain the chatroom thing very well. I want members to be able to go to a chat page. In many chat rooms that I've seen, there is a list of members in one column, and a big chat window in the middle. (FYI - I don't really care about the chat window itself, in fact I'd like to turn it off completely if possible. If not, that's ok.) The list of members is crucial. You can pm those members. When you pm them, a separate little chat window pops up. I'd be surprised if there wasn't an add-on that does what I've described so far. In addition, I'd like to be able to a) sort the list of users b) use audio. Is there an ad-on that will do all of this? If not, how can I get it developed?

 

[Jeremy]

You will need an add-on for both, and several exist for both in the resource manager.

 

[oman]

@wulfgar1

Here are the blog add ons available within the resource manager:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/better-blogs-free.2370/
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/better-blogs.1055/
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/xi-blog.713/

I'll let you judge the level of support of the add ons to let you decide which ones you want to use.

With the chat box you want, there is one that I would reccommend. Taiga Chat Pro - http://xenforo.com/community/resources/taigachat-pro-realtime-chat-shoutbox.1224/

Although it doesn't have all of the features you need, the support is excellent from Luke, and I think some of those features you noted like private messaging have been suggested and may be implemented in the future.

 

[Big_Dog]

@wulfgar1

Here are the blog add ons available within the resource manager:

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/better-blogs-free.2370/
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/better-blogs.1055/
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/xi-blog.713/

Unfortunately, it looks like both the developers have jumped ship ("xi" a long time a go and "better" since october). So what would you suggest? Is it possible to buy one of these, then have someone else tweak/maintain it? Does it make more sense to go with a non-add on like Squarespace?

Thanks for the link to the chat add-on. I'll check into it.

 

[oman]

Unfortunately, it looks like both the developers have jumped ship ("xi" a long time a go and "better" since october). So what would you suggest? Is it possible to buy one of these, then have someone else tweak/maintain it? Does it make more sense to go with a non-add on like Squarespace?

Thanks for the link to the chat add-on. I'll check into it.

With the blog add ons, yeah the XI one is in a bad situation. With the better blogs I think the developer has gone away on holiday. I don't use a blogs add on on my site, so I can't personally recommend any one of them.
Haven't heard of Squarespace, and you might need a developer to integrate it with an add on.