Some of you may know that my "forum" background originates from working at a site called ValveTime.net.
Originally launched in 2003 under the name of HalfLife2.net and vBulletin 2.x, we eventually rebranded in 2012 to ValveTime.net and simultaneously ditched vBulletin 4.x for XenForo.
And thus began my journey with XenForo.
Two years later, we were still running XenForo 1.1.5 and stuck on an aging style that would have been too much effort to maintain and make fully responsive for XF 1.2.
TODAY we upgrade to XenForo 1.3.3 and with it we introduce a brand new custom style created by @Audentio and based on UI.X and Quark.
After installing (or in some cases before installing, thank you 1.2 and 1.3 Upgrade Guide! @Brogan) we were able to remove a total of 18 add-ons which pretty much had direct replacements of core features in XenForo 1.2 and 1.3.
I still have a lot to do, but it was breaking my heart seeing the site on 1.1.x and so today is just the beginning, hopefully.
Today also marks the day that we finally shut the door and never look back on XenPorta. I won't lie, we used to think it was pretty good. Then we needed support once.
And with the opportunity to practically start again, and seeing the appalling behaviour of a certain person recently, there was no doubt in my mind that XenPorta had to go.
Thankfully, there are now other solutions today. And by far the best, in my opinion, is Featured Threads by @Brogan. He has done a wonderful job, and practically took zero effort to make it look good on our new custom style.
So, here we are, finally in the year 2014 and although I don't anticipate it will make a massive difference to our dwindling community, I certainly feel happier that the visitors that we do still get are now seeing the best possible style, on the best possible platform, with the best possible portal as a front end.
So thanks to everyone who has made that possible!
http://www.valvetime.net
Originally launched in 2003 under the name of HalfLife2.net and vBulletin 2.x, we eventually rebranded in 2012 to ValveTime.net and simultaneously ditched vBulletin 4.x for XenForo.
And thus began my journey with XenForo.
Two years later, we were still running XenForo 1.1.5 and stuck on an aging style that would have been too much effort to maintain and make fully responsive for XF 1.2.
TODAY we upgrade to XenForo 1.3.3 and with it we introduce a brand new custom style created by @Audentio and based on UI.X and Quark.
After installing (or in some cases before installing, thank you 1.2 and 1.3 Upgrade Guide! @Brogan) we were able to remove a total of 18 add-ons which pretty much had direct replacements of core features in XenForo 1.2 and 1.3.
I still have a lot to do, but it was breaking my heart seeing the site on 1.1.x and so today is just the beginning, hopefully.
Today also marks the day that we finally shut the door and never look back on XenPorta. I won't lie, we used to think it was pretty good. Then we needed support once.
And with the opportunity to practically start again, and seeing the appalling behaviour of a certain person recently, there was no doubt in my mind that XenPorta had to go.Thankfully, there are now other solutions today. And by far the best, in my opinion, is Featured Threads by @Brogan. He has done a wonderful job, and practically took zero effort to make it look good on our new custom style.
So, here we are, finally in the year 2014 and although I don't anticipate it will make a massive difference to our dwindling community, I certainly feel happier that the visitors that we do still get are now seeing the best possible style, on the best possible platform, with the best possible portal as a front end.
So thanks to everyone who has made that possible!
http://www.valvetime.net
