Implemented vB-alike Notices System for xenForo

[Grover]

I would dearly miss the great Notices system that vB3.8 comes with. If you guys can implement something like that (and improve it, like we have requested here for so long ), it would be truly awesom.

A sophisticated Notices System in xenForo can be used for example to show new members how certain functionality works in xenForo. You know, if it would be possible to check for example on certain conditions like 'has the user uploaded his/her own avatar?' or 'Did the user ever used the private conversations feature?' ... then the software could display a help text (with guiding images) to explain to the user how to do it! We have suggested this many many times overthere at vBulletin, but it was never picked up.

Nevertheless, just a basic vB3.8 alike Notices System would make me very happy! Who's in?

Edit 16/02/2011: It is also important to me and my staff that Notices can be constructed using the wysiwyg-editor. It is a complete pain to construct Notices in for example vBulletin if you want to use some markup: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...quot-system.?p=1730503&viewfull=1#post1730503. For admins/mods who don't understand or don't want to use HTML, the great wysiwyg is/would be a life and time saver for constructing Notices!

Reminder: If you think this should be default functionality in XenForo, the please [like] this first posting! Thank you.

 

[---MAD---]

The alerts system can be used to implement this rather nicely without getting in the way of users.

 

[Forsaken]

The alerts system can be used to implement this rather nicely without getting in the way of users.

Getting a bunch of admin-issued alerts would be more annoying then a small area with notices, that are built to work nicely into the forum.

The main reason for Notices is to also display to unregistered users, or to many different types of users depending on variables; I believe adding that to alerts would be unnecessary bloat, as most admins are never going to take the time to do custom alerts with all the different variables.

As proven with vBulletins Welcome Header/Notice modification, that added extensibility to the notice system on vBulletin, a much improved notice system is required by communities, as it provides administrators with a way of displaying information in a simple, manageable way without annoying the users overly much. 

 

[Grover]

Getting a bunch of admin-issued alerts would be more annoying then a small area with notices, that are built to work nicely into the forum.

The main reason for Notices is to also display to unregistered users, or to many different types of users depending on variables; I believe adding that to alerts would be unnecessary bloat, as most admins are never going to take the time to do custom alerts with all the different variables.

As proven with vBulletins Welcome Header/Notice modification, that added extensibility to the notice system on vBulletin, a much improved notice system is required by communities, as it provides administrators with a way of displaying information in a simple, manageable way without annoying the users overly much.

Amen.

 

[Forsaken]

I already have an idea for a notice design for my forum, having the icon/sprite illustrated now~

 

[Pyro]

In the spirit of vBulletin 3.x, I think one of the coool things to have would be some sort of notification system - basically the banner with a small icon that sits at the top of the page and is displayed based on certain conditionals (ie. user has less than x posts, user is a member of x group etc.).

To go along with xenForo simplicity, this could even be up to a user to define what the notification could look like or allow for custom PHP/conditionals/HTML etc. For example, for unregistered users, you could display the perks of registration. During a contest, if the user hasn't submitted anything, it could show something about that. You could also maybe set it to display a random post, or highlight a certain thread...the possibilities are endless.

Along these lines I think it would also be cool to be able to push a certain alert to a user - for example, about site news or something along those lines.

 

[Mikey]

like notices?

 

[Floris]

Hey Chris,

It's great to finally see you here. You've been quite IPB this summer, but after a indepth walkthrough of the site here I heard on Skype you got hooked on XenForo, I am very happy to see another friend ready to acquire a license

I support the idea of a notification system, and if it doesn't make it in as a default feature at some point I am certain via simple modification this will be possible.

F.

 

[Paul B]

I'm fairly sure that this will be one of the first add-ons coded for XF

 

[Pyro]

like notices?

How is it Mikey that you find all of the already posted threads I miss?

 

[Paul B]

Threads merged

 

[Chromaniac]

holy cow. i have never used the notices system and i have been on vB for a long time now!

 

[Chimpie]

I use them when I see a lot of people using the forum and I need to take it offline. I usually give them about a 15 minute notice.

 

[Mikey]

How is it Mikey that you find all of the already posted threads I miss?

Been here since day 0

 

[Carlos]

The thing I don't like about the notices system is that sometimes it is overcrowded when there are multiple notices. And the other thing I didn't like about it, is the "category" definition for it, like, in VB3 - I didn't like that you couldn't edit "Notice" box ...well, I liked the box it was preloaded as, but you couldn't say for example like: "A notice from the administrator" or "A notice from our sponsors." Or the ability to let us define a plain notice with just a box, and nothing else other than a nice looking welcome image. Would have been nice for a welcome box.

 

[feldon30]

I would dearly miss the great Notices system that vB3.8 comes with. If you guys can implement something like that (and improve it, like we have requested here for so long ), it would be truly awesom.

I also use the Notices system extensively on my forum. I use it to replace the Welcome hack ("This is your first visit...", "You haven't registered...", "It's been a while since you posted..."), to announce the forum rules updates, new software updates, etc. I think a Notices feature in XenForo could be even better.

Notices feature in vB3.8:

• Consistent location and presentation (but cannot easily specify your own CSS class or suppress the Notice box).
• A variety of useful triggers/conditionals (but cannot add your own triggers).
• Cannot use your own variables.
• Cannot add a new SQL query or extend an existing SQL query to pull other information to trigger from.

I think the Notices was a great idea, but it will benefit greatly from a MVC approach. Notices in vB3.8 weren't really designed for Plugins. I think Plugins ended up using their own systems to communicate with the user. I looked into converting a plugin that displays a message to mods/admins when a post, thread, user, or attachment was in the moderation queue. It would have required modifying the Notices admincp template to add the necessary options to expose to the administrator, and like 3 separate plugins just to make that plugin output its results in a Notice.

I commented on this feature a while back.

With the MVC system, Plugin authors will be able to do something like Notices, but I am certainly not against a unified Notices system, if we can extend it and hook into it fully such as either our own SQL queries and our own variables, any variable from XF, etc. and really make it a Messaging architecture that Plugin authors want to use.

 

[Paul B]

I'm probably in a minority but I absolutely hate those notices on vB sites.

If I wanted to register on the site I would have already, stop nagging me about it!

 

[Forsaken]

I'm probably in a minority but I absolutely hate those notices on vB sites.

If I wanted to register on the site I would have already, stop nagging me about it!

I usually find those annoying as well (Though I do use them like that sometimes ).

There are many uses a robust notification/notice system could bring about for administrators however.

 

[feldon30]

It depends on the knowledge level of your typical user.

Also, some sites want people to register at any cost, to inflate their member counts, while others provide the most important content (forums, subforums) to all, and membership is only required if you want to partake in the community (off-topic/coffee house type forums, or ones specific to development of the product/club/group). I'm in the latter group.

So I put that notice there not just to say "You should register for our site, or the dog gets it!" but "If you want to become an active part of our community, register, but everything you need to know on the topic our site covers is is available for free without any need for registration. The choice is up to you." Come to think of it, I just wrote that better than how it's written on my site. I should update my notice.

 

[Dean]

I'm probably in a minority but I absolutely hate those notices on vB sites.

If I wanted to register on the site I would have already, stop nagging me about it!

I will have a countdown timer set up for maintenance (down in xx:xx) to avoid all the time zone issues. In fact we will use that so the users can test our xf install for an hour.

• count down to zero in a notice
• when counter is down to zero, take live site offline, then put up a link to the test site, and another countdown timer set to count down in an hour.
• when that goes to zero, the live site gets brought back, and probably the test site will then be password protected so no one gets distracted by having 2 sites live they can access.
• the people that have no interest in testing the new software can come back in an hour.

 

[wii]

Oh yes, notices are very important in my forum too, it's a must have