Using XenForo as a portfolio and client portal (video example inside)

[alternadiv]

A family member is considering going freelance with their photography and graphic design work.

I will likely need to help them with software that they can use to manage their small business. There are obviously many ways to achieve the same thing but I love working with XF more than anything else and I think it could work for this too.

The homepage and portfolio parts will be easy. But I would ideally like to strip nearly every feature from the forum and then use it as a private customer portal and ticket system. I can already see how achievable and easy to manage this could be.

So, I’m just curious. Does anyone know of any examples that use XF like this? The closest thing I can think of is the Pixel Exit website by @Russ.


EDIT:
I spent an hour or so stripping XF of most of the social and forum features to create a bare-bones infrastructure for this. I am really liking the simplicity of it while still having the full XF control panel available for the backend stuff. It is quickly growing on me and I could even see myself releasing it as my first add-on/theme eventually.

(Sorry about the iMessage noise in the video.)

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Thoughts?

 

[Faust]

I'm a freelance photographer. And for that I'm using WordPress. In other hand for my personal portfolio I'm using Koken (no longer alive CMS).

I would say to check WordPress for portfolio, there are plenty of premium paid styles which can help to achieve what you want.

 

[alternadiv]

I'm a freelance photographer. And for that I'm using WordPress. In other hand for my personal portfolio I'm using Koken (no longer alive CMS).

I would say to check WordPress for portfolio, there are plenty of premium paid styles which can help to achieve what you want.

Not denying WordPress being the go-to for this type of thing. I'm just bored of it, lol. And I don't love seeing two seperate interfaces for CMS and a client portal or an online shop or whatever it might be. For example, a lot of forums I use will sell goodies but it takes you to a Shopify store. Never looks or feels right.

Using XF might not be the most efficient but it is refreshing and enjoyable.

 

[Faust]

Not denying WordPress being the go-to for this type of thing. I'm just bored of it, lol. And I don't love seeing two seperate interfaces for CMS and a client portal or an online shop or whatever it might be. For example, a lot of forums I use will sell goodies but it takes you to a Shopify store. Never looks or feels right.

Using XF might not be the most efficient but it is refreshing and enjoyable.

There is eCommerce which I'm using it and it's free. Also, don't forget tons of free plugins available on WordPress which might not be available within XenForo resources page.

 

[alternadiv]

There is eCommerce which I'm using it and it's free. Also, don't forget tons of free plugins available on WordPress which might not be available within XenForo resources page.

Good point about the plugins.

 

[Faust]

Good point about the plugins.

Also don't forget that most of them are free of charge. And the chance that plugins will be supported are more highly than in XenForo, in worst scenario, you will have hundreds of similar plugins in case of developer fails to support plugins.

I have around 100 plugins on my WordPress and happy with updates and all things.

 

[alternadiv]

Also don't forget that most of them are free of charge. And the chance that plugins will be supported are more highly than in XenForo, in worst scenario, you will have hundreds of similar plugins in case of developer fails to support plugins.

I have around 100 plugins on my WordPress and happy with updates and all things.

Would you be willing to PM me your site?

 

[TPerry]

I'd lean towards WordPress over trying to shoehorn XF into working.

 

[alternadiv]

I spent an hour or so stripping XF of most of the social and forum features to create a bare-bones infrastructure for this. I am really liking the simplicity of it while still having the full XF control panel available for the backend stuff. It is quickly growing on me and I could even see myself releasing it as my first add-on/theme eventually.

(Sorry about the iMessage noise in the video.)

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

Thoughts?

 

[Lee]

Looks awesome. Good job!

 

[alternadiv]

Looks awesome. Good job!

Thank you!

 

[Russ]

I posted some info on how we approach certain things at Pixel Exit in terms of client communications.

Using forums for client communications

Today I've started the process of transitioning client communications from sporadic email chains to private sections on my forums. It dawned on me as I was cleaning out my inbox that I tend to miss messages and fall out of email chains more often than I should, yet I never miss anything posted...

xenforo.com

 

[Lee]

I posted some info on how we approach certain things at Pixel Exit in terms of client communications.

Using forums for client communications

Today I've started the process of transitioning client communications from sporadic email chains to private sections on my forums. It dawned on me as I was cleaning out my inbox that I tend to miss messages and fall out of email chains more often than I should, yet I never miss anything posted...

xenforo.com

Very useful post, thanks for sharing with the community, Russ!