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.

 

[cdub]

Without that, I'm not going to buy yet another disappointing addon, only to not use it. I'm sure it's good for some use cases, but I have to be sure it fits the way we do things before we purchase it.

CAS is pretty killer. Contact @Bob for a demo. Bob's addons are amazing and robust and could practically be 1st party.

 

[digitalpoint]

Along the same lines as this suggestion, if XenForo was fundamentally a framework and first-party addons were "applications" that can be installed on that framework (let's called it XenWork... just because). A first-party application/addon that was a blog/CMS would be incredibly easy to do. You now have a commercial WordPress replacement (which people are literally begging for these days with all the crazy that's been going on with WordPress lately... seen thread after thread of people trying to get off WordPress, but no viable alternatives [paid or otherwise]).

BTW... the xen.work domain is available.

 

[James]

@digitalpoint you put the work in now and offload it to XF in a couple years

 

[cdub]

A first-party application/addon that was a blog/CMS would be incredibly easy to do. You now have a commercial WordPress replacement (which people are literally begging for these days with all the crazy that's been going on with WordPress lately... seen thread after thread of people trying to get off WordPress, but no viable alternatives [paid or otherwise]).

@Bob 's AMS (article management system) and UBS (user blog system) are practically as robust and rock solid as any 1st party addon.

 

[Alpha1]

The thing is that any major addon is hampered by the forum-first approach. Any addon is bolted on and content discovery sucks for non-forum content types. Why cant we post a blog from the forum index, while we can post threads? Why don't unread article comments or unread reviews come up in unread posts? Why can't similar threads widget display similar media? Why cant we put Showcase entries in a forum tree node? Those are just a few examples. While everything @Bob makes is golden, its the forum-first approach that prevents addons from full integration. Imagine how these amazing addons would work if they could be fully integrated.

 

[digitalpoint]

The thing is that any addon is hampered by the forum-first approach. Any addon is bolted on and content discovery sucks for non-forum content types. Why cant we post a blog from the forum index, while we can post threads? Why don't unread article comments or unread reviews come up in unread posts? Why can't similar threads widget display similar media? Why cant we put Showcase entries in a forum tree node? Those are just a few examples. While everything @Bob makes is golden, its the forum-first approach that prevents addons from full integration. Imagine how these amazing addons would work if they could be fully integrated.

They can be integrated with the node system, just most choose not to. See:

Post in thread 'Think of XenForo as a site, not (necessarily) a forum'

Mar 27, 2025

I wish there were a way to easily extend XF so that we could add a new thread type, like a marketplace/classified ads thread type. We have the stock four thread types (discussion, article, question, poll...although arguably, poll shouldn't be a thread type, but a thread option as many articles we write need polls), but there's no interface that I can find where we could add a new thread type without needing to do a lot of development work (which at this age, is way over my head now). We could also use a "review" thread type rather than trying to deal with all the layout issues...

• digitalpoint

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[robdog]

The thing is that any major addon is hampered by the forum-first approach. Any addon is bolted on and content discovery sucks for non-forum content types. Why cant we post a blog from the forum index, while we can post threads? Why don't unread article comments or unread reviews come up in unread posts? Why can't similar threads widget display similar media? Why cant we put Showcase entries in a forum tree node? Those are just a few examples. While everything @Bob makes is golden, its the forum-first approach that prevents addons from full integration. Imagine how these amazing addons would work if they could be fully integrated.

I can tell you that I have had no problem extended the system. The biggest hurdle was disabling most of the forum views and routes to redirect to the main index page. (and I am sure I still missed a few routes, lol) But the structure is there to build literally anything you want if you have the PHP expertise. I just wish they would go @digitalpoint's route and make the forum functionality an addon that we could disable.

 

[GrnEyedDvl]

This debate is ridiculous. lol

I happen to agree with this. If you do not plan on using the forums, then install Wordpress and a plugin for Resources and Galleries.

I would much rather have the devs spend their time on improving things for the intended use of the platform rather than worrying about phrases and what a site identifies as. I personally do not like the term Administrative and Moderating vs Administrator and Moderator. Big deal. Go change it.