The evolution of CTA Featured Threads & Portal. What's next?

[Martok]

Looking good!

When this is implemented, will the archived threads include all of those previously featured prior to this version?

 

[Paul B]

All those threads which have been featured since version 1.5.3, as that is when the schema change was made to store the data.

 

[DaveM]

Something I would really like to be see with this add on is the following. I would like to be able to have my premium members able to feature X post per X days. So for example each premium members could feature 1 of their post every 10 days or so. The premium members are promoted to their own usergroup so it would be a permission created on said usergroup.

 

[Paul B]

One other thing...deleted threads are visible to those with the relevant permission.

They are indicated as such though.

 

[Paul B]

This probably wasn't clear but the new features are being added to the current branch so will be available for XenForo 1.x.

 

[Paul B]

Next!

 

[Russ]

Next!

View attachment 91120

Ah nice Brogan buying a new cat?

 

[Paul B]

Already bought it.

And drowned it.*






* Only joking, before anyone takes it seriously and starts posting about it on other sites, etc.

 

[FredC]

Already bought it.

And drowned it.*






* Only joking, before anyone takes it seriously and starts posting about it on other sites, etc.

Imagine the irony of it becoming a featured thread.

 

[Paul B]

Just the template HTML/CSS to do

Note the URL in the second screenshot - the page can be linked to directly.

 

[Alpha1]

before anyone takes it seriously and starts posting about it on other sites, etc.

ok. done!

 

[Paul B]

All done

 

[Moshe1010]

I have read comments in various places about how it doesn't quite cut it as a portal; so what does it currently lack?
What aspects of the featured threads functionality could be changed, enhanced, or improved?
What limitations are there which make it unsuitable for you to use as a home page? Or even the original intended use?

One of them would be to create a block on the home page of an article (for example) without actually creating a forum thread. Not sure if it's possible, but that is the main issue (IMO) that distinguishes it from a portal to whatever it is right now.

In addition, editor manipulations would be a nice add-on as well. For example, being able to have picture on the right/left side of the text via custom bb-code, already included in this current add-on.

 

[Paul B]

One of them would be to create a block on the home page of an article

What article?

It is already possible to add any custom content you like to a blank template.

 

[Moshe1010]

What article?

It is already possible to add any custom content you like to a blank template.

I meant creating a thread like interface (WYSIWYG editor) and post blocks with information to the main page without actually creating a thread in any forum. Basically like the RM is working, just associate or don't associate an article/block with at thread.
Templates aren't a convenient way to write/format long articles (for example).

 

[Paul B]

So you want to be able to create a completely custom content type and optionally display it on the home page?

That's really outside the scope of a portal, it would be a separate add-on.

 

[Paul B]

Version 2.13 Alpha is now running on my sites:

http://cliptheapex.com/threads/featured-archive
http://support.cliptheapex.com/threads/featured-archive
http://support.cliptheapex.com/members/brogan.1/
http://support.cliptheapex.com/members/brogan.1/featured-threads

You can see how the author tab and page mimics the postings tab, recent content or resources pages:

https://xenforo.com/community/members/brogan.521/
https://xenforo.com/community/members/brogan.521/recent-content
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/authors/brogan.521/

 

[Martok]

I'm just wondering how the text displayed in the archive blocks is attained. Is it just the first X characters from the post, or is it from the edited text when featuring a thread?

The reason I ask is that I will often edit the text when featuring, particularly when there is a video at the beginning to prevent the partially cut off version showing in the FT block.

If it's the 'live' text and not the edited FT text that is used, is it possible to have the bbcode stripped to prevent the top part of a video from displaying in the archive block?

 

[Paul B]

It's the text from the thread.
Don't forget that when a thread is unfeatured it is deleted from the table so only the original thread content remains.

I can add an option to strip all BB Code if you would prefer?
That would also strip the content of the BB Code.
Or alternatively, I can use the same helper function as is used for the profile page, which strips the bb code but leaves things like [attach] in place.

The latter can be done in the template very easily using: {xen:helper snippet, $archivedFeaturedThread.message, 1000}, where 1000 is the number of characters.

 

[Martok]

Don't forget that when a thread is unfeatured it is deleted from the table so only the original thread content remains.

I knew that would be the case for previous threads, just checking you hadn't changed anything for threads from this version onwards.

I can add an option to strip all BB Code if you would prefer?
That would also strip the content of the BB Code.
Or alternatively, I can use the same helper function as is used for the profile page, which strips the bb code but leaves things like [attach] in place.

It might be an idea. Not sure which would be the best option.

Basically I'd prefer not to see half cut off images and videos in the archive blocks. As I also use larger smilies than the default, I'd like to remove these too (which I do in the FT blocks) as otherwise I end up with partially cut off lines of text due to the fixed block height.