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

• 

 

[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.

 

[tenants]

I personally love developing on top of XF
I have no need for the forum its self

The way they structure the user permissions is great
I like their "MVC" style
I like having use of a payment method that is set up for us
I like having the user reg and notification sorted for us
I like the low query base usage
I like the ajax approach and the way they integrate it into classes
I like the community available to help / discuss

-- why not use WP: because I prefer XF for all of the above (WP and their plugins have always seemed very bloated to me)

But I have no use for the forum at all it's definitely a framework for me

-- added to that, is the UKs Government hassles applied to forums,
so turning off the forum but continuing to develop things is ideal, I would rather call it "fundamentally a framework" as DP.
And not just in name, but the forum should be added as an option/plugin

 

[Suzanne O]

Think you're onto something here Shaun. @digitalpoint
More than just a forum. Maybe a website with more pages and the like. Now that would be cool but a lot of hard work.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Ya, it would be great if Forums was just a 1st-party addon.

would be amazing.

I agree it would only apply to nodes. The way XF does it now, though, is that a node can be assigned to only one thread type.

Is that hard to overcome ?

 

[Digital Doctor]

Ya, it would be great if Forums was just a 1st-party addon.

would be amazing.

I'm in the process of building a site using XF's framework, too

still using XF as a framework ?

I'm using XF to build a business portal.

How'd it go ?

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.

not sure what that is !

Not sure that’s entirely true (that you will end up with a mess). XenForo is a fantastic framework that has a forum built on top of it by default.

Some things I've built (and work flawlessly) that have nothing to do with a forum:

Secret society platform that manages membership (invite only), voting, events, ticketing, staff, guest check-in, bar service (and shopping list automatically generated based on ticketed guests), automatic gender balancing of events (the system only allows a member to purchase a ticket if it wouldn't cause the gender balance of an event to be skewed), analytics for events, etc...

View attachment 266831View attachment 266832


Inmate tracking system... hey, did you know that the Unibomber recently got moved to a medical facility? Or that the guy that did the Fyre Festival is now in a halfway house?

View attachment 266834

Outgress system that is for a mobile game and has had more than 142 MILLION emails forwarded from users to be processed: https://outgress.com/

Complete advertising system (replacement for AdSense/AdWords): https://advertising.digitalpoint.com/

Keyword tracker tool (over 100,000 users tracking over 3,000,000 keyword movements): https://tools.digitalpoint.com/tracker

Search engine spider that spiders the web 24/7: https://tools.digitalpoint.com/cookie-search

The point is that you don't need to do anything weird or kludgey to utilize XenForo's fantastic framework for applications.

amazing !!

Working on another new project that uses XenForo as the framework

I have a big project I'm putting the finishing touches on too.

URL ?

 

[Wildcat Media]

As to site vs. forum, I just renewed an ancient unused XF license to try to repurpose it as a blog. So I may do a separate thread based on how that goes. The problem is that I actually need another license to do this for a second site/blog but buying a new one isn't in the budget.

My only problem at the moment is how to replace the WordPress "pages." The Resources addon won't easily do what I need, and I'm not about to clutter things up with dozens upon dozens of page nodes. Stay tuned.

 

[Mendalla]

As to site vs. forum, I just renewed an ancient unused XF license to try to repurpose it as a blog. So I may do a separate thread based on how that goes

Please do let us know how that goes. If my site ever tanks, one of my ideas for the license is to run my own site for my writing. Which is basically a blog by another name, just publishing fiction instead of essays or commentary. Right now I post on established story sites but they have their limitations. And it could even be my online store and marketing site if I start self-publishing.

 

[Digital Doctor]

a node can be assigned to only one thread type

Can anyone comment how hard this would be to overcome ?



the Test forum here allows all 3 of these thread types ?

or are discussion, article, question, poll all the same thread type ?

 

[Wildcat Media]

Please do let us know how that goes.

Will do. If not publicly, I'll shoot you a DM here. I actually have two blogs I want to do this with, and I think I can get another XF license simply by paying the renewal (a former client had XF on their site for a couple of years before one of the group's members decided Wix was better
for hosting their site...after 20+ years ).

My only hangup now is that for one of the blogs, I need a way to replicate WordPress Pages. The clumsy way is to create a thread for each event. Or a new thread for each page of the event, and use a new sub-forum for each event (clumsier). Using page nodes is even more clumsy than both of those options. I'm not going to use a third-party add-on for this. Although if I could find a way to reuse the Resource Manager for those pages (it would require a lot of re-styling), that might work.

Part of it is just laziness. I should keep on using WordPress, much as I dislike it, as it's already set up and working. Yet composing posts has become cumbersome (especially dragging/dropping/formatting images), and the backend still does weird things that are so much easier to accomplish here in XF.

 

[Bob]

the Test forum here allows all 3 of these thread types ?

There are four (not three), Thread Types in your screenshot... discussion, article, question and poll.

or are discussion, article, question, poll all the same thread type ?

They are all the same Content Type thread, however, they are each their own Thread Type.

 

[Digital Doctor]

own Thread Type.

is it possible to add a custom thread type, has anyone done it ?

 

[beerForo]

has anyone done it ?

I thought you were the dude that was good at searching

V

[XenCustomize] Book Threads: Forum & Thread Types

Jun 5, 2025

Adds book thread & forum types with book-specific data, bookshelves, ratings, covers, unique display

• Veer
• book book forum type book thread type books bookshelves custom thread type forum types xencustomize
• Add-ons [2.x]