Think of XenForo as a site, not (necessarily) a forum

[digitalpoint]

There are a lot of default phrases that seem to have been written with the general mindset that the XenForo software is strictly for forums. For me personally, I tend to use XenForo as a framework for a site and sometimes (but not always) use the forum function as a support venue for customers/users. It would be nice if XenForo itself didn't think of itself strictly as forum software. Phrases that tend to include things like, "this forum" when referring to parts that aren't the explicit forum functionality tend to sound silly when you aren't using the forum function. I've has users contact me asking where the "forum" is (when there is no such functionality used) because a random default message referred to the forum.

XenForo software is software for a site, not necessarily software for a forum (although it certainly can and often times can do that too). I've turned people on to XenForo purely as an application framework (and they use it as such, because it's fantastic at is), not because they are wanting to have a forum/community.

It's been an ongoing thing where I need to override the default phrases, and just ran into another one, (the description where users pick a username)... this_is_name_that_will_be_shown_with_your_messages (This is the name that will be shown with your messages. You may use any name you wish.). Except no... this site has no forum, no threads, no posts, no conversations (it has no messages). How about this "is your public username"? Be it a message, your profile, etc.

 

[mjda]

I'm in the process of building a site using XF's framework, too. I actually purchased a license a few days ago just for that. So, any suggestion that falls in line with that, I'll probably vote for. That said, and I don't intend to hijack this thread, so feel free not to answer or to answer via PM, but I'm curious as to how you completely disable forums, conversations, etc.

 

[Mouth]

I'm curious as to how you completely disable forums, conversations, etc.

Close and remove/hide (the latter via permissions) all forum nodes. Remove all conversation permissions.
Use admin.php?navigation/ to turn off any navigation to Forums and Conversations

 

[Excell]

Great point, Shawn. I'm using XF to build a business portal. I wish XF could have both the power of a community software and the capability of the wordpress CMS.

I must say the XF team has been doing a great job in developing a community software. However, I think they are neglecting the basic part of a CMS. The script lacks the ability to create semantically meaningful content.

Use semantic paragraph <p> tags in post content instead of line breaks <br> (Accessibility, Semantics, Bug Fixing, Styling, SEO?)

I've commented about this before but have been recommended to start a suggestions thread! Currently, the Froala editor uses paragraph tags for a hard return and line breaks for soft return if you inspect the HTML while editing. This is how things should work and do in almost all WYSIWYG...

xenforo.com

Using semantic HTML coding is not only critical to browser rendering, but also necessary for machine learning systems such as the Google crawler to better understand the content.

I think the XF team is reluctant to make a change based on their attitudes toward this issue. But this is a fundamental need to make this change in a world where machine learning is becoming increasingly more significant part of knowledge acquisition.

 

[fionix]

Let's hope they read all what is suggested. When reading much of it, then it let Xenforo looks like a Dinosaur that never died but also never developed as the world change.

That said, Xenforo is awesome, have been using the software for over 10 years by now!

 

[Old Nick]

Let's hope they read all what is suggested. When reading much of it, then it let Xenforo looks like a Dinosaur that never died but also never developed as the world change.

It's a point of view, but why do you want to make XF more than a forum?
It's as if you went to a car manufacturer and told him: your cars are great, but why don't they make a caravan too? Well the manufacturer will tell you because we make cars, it's our job, but on the other hand our cars can be equipped with a towing ball if you want a caravan...

XF it's the same, they make forums (cars) but you can attach a WP site (caravan) if you want, there are addons (towing ball) for that.

 

[Mr Lucky]

There are a lot of default phrases that seem to have been written with the general mindset that the XenForo software is strictly for forums. For me personally, I tend to use XenForo as a framework for a site and sometimes (but not always) use the forum function as a support venue for customers/users. It would be nice if XenForo itself didn't think of itself strictly as forum software.

But it's not a forum - it's a board

Seriously the suggestion is good, but I think before worry about phrases, there is a lot could be done about the actual core. I set up one of my sites originally using xenforo for forum and site pages, but in the end I gave up and did a xf/wp combo.

For a start we would really need a WYSIWYG page editor, not have to rely on html. I can do it, but I'd prefer not to.

 

[RobinHood]

It's been an ongoing thing where I need to override the default phrases

I had the same problem with a site I put together for someone.

Don't ask me why, but for some reason they hate the word forum, so I had to go through and edit a load of phrases, but a few missed ones kept coming up. The forum itself is just an aside to whole membership and content management aspect of the site.

 

[digitalpoint]

But it's not a forum - it's a board

Oh ya, I forgot how many phrases refer to the site as a board (not even a forum). Is this a throwback to BBS days? Even down to the options.... boardTitle and everything else that really (in my mind) is site-specific.



Let's pretend I didn't grow up in the 80s and happen to know what a "bulletin board" is.

Seems to be everywhere that the word "board" is used, it would be better suited to be "site". Could live with it in the admin area, but where it starts to cause problems is when users are presented with messages about "this board" or "this forum". "This site" makes more sense and covers all the things.

Either way, XenForo referring to itself as a board or a forum boxes itself into something that not everyone uses it for and simply causes user confusion when it's not used in that way.

 

[beerForo]

It's a "board" with "messages" (not posts), i.e. message board, yup.

 

[digitalpoint]

It's a "board" with "messages" (not posts), i.e. message board, yup.

Ya, sometimes (usually) it is. It's always a site though.

Example... I have a site, https://outgress.com/... Exactly zero users (out of ~20,000) have ever signed up to post a message/thread or because they found a thread in a search engine. I know, it's still on XF1 (hasn't been a priority to recode it again for XF2... hopefully someday).

 

[Wildcat Media]

Oh ya, I forgot how many phrases refer to the site as a board (not even a forum).

Thinking about this in a broader sense, the "board" is the entire XenForo site. "Forums" (what we call "nodes") are all the various discussion areas on the board. This reminds me of the early text-based days of the Internet, yet I can't remember what we called the different areas of a CompuServe forum. (I was a sysop in one of them.)

To top this all off, "forums" isn't even correct grammar. The plural is "fora" but then, nobody would know what we are talking about.

 

[Mr Lucky]

To top this all off, "forums" isn't even correct grammar. The plural is "fora" but then, nobody would know what we are talking about.

I think as forum is now an English word, forums is fine as a plural.

But if you want Latin grammar, don’t forget to say fori when used as a genitive

 

[FTL]

A forum, any forum of any brand, is a site, or website. It's not forum or website. A forum is just a specialised website, that's all.

 

[Mr Lucky]

A forum is just a specialised website, that's all.

Or a part of a website. Or a part of a forum.

So for example

xenforo.com is a website.
xenforo.com/community/ is a forum.
xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-suggestions.18/ is a forum within that forum (I'd always prefer to call it a Subforum)

 

[FTL]

Or a part of a website. Or a part of a forum.

So for example

xenforo.com is a website.
xenforo.com/community/ is a forum.
xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-suggestions.18/ is a forum within that forum (I'd always prefer to call it a Subforum)

It can be part of a larger website, sure, but a forum is still a website. It can't be anything else.

 

[Mr Lucky]

It can be part of a larger website, sure, but a forum is still a website. It can't be anything else.

I agree. A forum is a website, but a website is not (necessarily) a forum.

A forum is a forum and a website.

In this context. In other contexts of course a forum could be people getting together to discuss something (in real life) or it could be one of these:

 

[FTL]

I agree. A forum is a website, but a website is not (necessarily) a forum.

A forum is a forum and a website.

In this context. In other contexts of course a forum could be people getting together to discuss something (in real life) or it could be one of these:

View attachment 266347

Yes, that's about right.

 

[Mendalla]

To top this all off, "forums" isn't even correct grammar. The plural is "fora" but then, nobody would know what we are talking about.

Honestly? I have a degree in Classics with a dozen or more Latin courses under my belt and I use "forums" when I speak English. "Fora" is for the rare times I actually use my bachelor's (working in IT doesn't call for knowledge of Latin or Roman and Greek culture much).

My problem here is that while Xenforo can certainly be used to create a non-forum site, it is not what it was originally built for and I suspect a majority of Xenforo users are still using it to run forum sites. So even changing some of the internal language is not going to change the fact that for most of us, Xenforo is "forum software", not a general purpose CMS, and Xenforo would likely still be marketing it as such given their target market and user base. In fact, had it been marketed as a general purpose CMS, my group likely would not have looked at it when searching for software for our forum site. We wanted good forum software that we could quickly and easily configure out of box. The old forum that we replaced was built in a generic CMS (Drupal) and it was terrible forum software compared to Xenforo or IPS.

So, by all means, change some of the language for those who want Xenforo to be their CMS but let's not lose sight of Xenforo's niche and strength in forums.

 

[briansol]

This debate is ridiculous. lol

I am building some custom code to make a 'site' around my forum, so in that sense, yes, i would like more site things with a forum module.

But what i don't want to see is a broad disconnect that the engine should be forum-focused and can serve other things as well.