XF 1.4 Welcome to XenForo 1.4 / More Assorted Improvements

Welcome to XenForo 1.4. As we are nearing a beta release, it's now time to upgrade XenForo.com and put the new code through its paces. Once we're happy with the state of it, an unsupported beta version will be made available to all customers with active licenses.

However, there are still some other improvements to discuss in 1.4. Over time, you may see tweaks that haven't been explicitly called out or adjustments to features that have been shown in previous Have You Seen's.

Forum option: moderate new threads and replies separately
Previously, forums could only be set to moderate all posts or none. This option has now been split to give you the option to control moderation of new threads and new replies separately:

ss-2014-07-30_11-10-03.webp


As before, users that can approve posts will bypass these moderation limits.

Require location on registration/profile edit
The location field can now be set as required in the options. If enabled, the location field will be displayed/required at registration and the user will not be able to edit their profile unless they enter a valid location. The location field will be required for registrations from social networks as well.

Custom BB codes: Allow empty
Up until now, if you created a custom BB code that contained no content, it will be ignored and not be rendered. You can now disable this behavior.

The common example is creating a BB code that represents a horizontal rule with this code: [hr][/hr] This example will now work as expected if this option is enabled:

ss-2014-07-30_11-10-42.webp


Thread list date limit for performance
Particularly busy or particularly large forums can now set a limit to only display threads that have been updated recently:

ss-2014-07-30_11-11-26.webp


This is primarily an option to aid performance. If you have a forum with a large number of threads in it, the standard listing queries will need to look at many of the records to determine if they should be counted. By restricting this to displaying only recent threads by default, fewer records need to be considered.

This option only applies when sorting by the default (last message date). If the sort direction is changed, the limitation will be removed. Further, when a visitor reaches the last page, they will be given the option to display older threads should it be required:

ss-2014-07-30_11-12-05.webp


Bulk watch thread management (end user and admin)
End users can now quickly disable all email notifications or stop watching all threads from the watched threads list:

ss-2014-07-30_11-12-30.webp


Similarly, admins can now disable watched thread email notifications or remove all thread watch records for a user via the control panel:

ss-2014-07-30_11-13-14.webp


More detailed user activity display option
The user visibility option has now been split into two parts:

ss-2014-07-30_11-13-42.webp


In versions before 1.4, if you had the online status option enabled, it was equivalent to enabling both options. Now, you can set it such that users can see if you're online (such as via the active user lists or the online status indicator) but prevent users from seeing the specific page you are viewing at any given time.

This can help deal with situations where people feel like they're being stalked around the forum. Personally, I've seen more than a few messages saying "OMG, Mike is viewing the Announcements forum! Half-Life 3 confirmed!" when I just went to check something. That said, I don't generally mind if people know when I'm around.

Users with the ability to bypass privacy settings will be able to see the exact page a user is viewing regardless of this setting.




So, aside from adjustments to come based on feedback, that wraps up what's coming in 1.4. Once we're happy with how it's running here on XenForo.com, the beta testing phase will begin.

That takes us to... What's next for XenForo? XenForo 2.0. Please see the linked thread for more information and discussion.

Just a reminder: This is still a Have You Seen thread. Please do not post general 1.4 or 2.0 discussion here. Please do not post suggestions in this thread (even if you feel they are related). Use the dedicated suggestion forum so they can be tracked.
 
what is a valid location / when is a location valid ?

- is this cross-referenced with a list of ZIP-codes or with a list of country/cities/towns ?
- or it is valid, once a user enters "something" into that field ?

How does this work ?


:)
A valid location is a value. The comment there is that they can't update that part of the profile unless they enter something (making the field valid). An add-on could of course change this to be more specific.
 
A valid location is a value. The comment there is that they can't update that part of the profile unless they enter something (making the field valid). An add-on could of course change this to be more specific.

thanks!

just wondering: is this "location field" search-able from the frontend ?
 
No.

You realize this location field is the same one that has existed since 1.0, right? The only change is that you can now require a value for it.
 
Welcome to XenForo 1.4. As we are nearing a beta release, it's now time to upgrade XenForo.com and put the new code through its paces. Once we're happy with the state of it, an unsupported beta version will be made available to all customers with active licenses.

However, there are still some other improvements to discuss in 1.4. Over time, you may see tweaks that haven't been explicitly called out or adjustments to features that have been shown in previous Have You Seen's.

Forum option: moderate new threads and replies separately
Previously, forums could only be set to moderate all posts or none. This option has now been split to give you the option to control moderation of new threads and new replies separately:

View attachment 79108

As before, users that can approve posts will bypass these moderation limits.

Require location on registration/profile edit
The location field can now be set as required in the options. If enabled, the location field will be displayed/required at registration and the user will not be able to edit their profile unless they enter a valid location. The location field will be required for registrations from social networks as well.

Custom BB codes: Allow empty
Up until now, if you created a custom BB code that contained no content, it will be ignored and not be rendered. You can now disable this behavior.

The common example is creating a BB code that represents a horizontal rule with this code: [hr][/hr] This example will now work as expected if this option is enabled:

View attachment 79109

Thread list date limit for performance
Particularly busy or particularly large forums can now set a limit to only display threads that have been updated recently:

View attachment 79110

This is primarily an option to aid performance. If you have a forum with a large number of threads in it, the standard listing queries will need to look at many of the records to determine if they should be counted. By restricting this to displaying only recent threads by default, fewer records need to be considered.

This option only applies when sorting by the default (last message date). If the sort direction is changed, the limitation will be removed. Further, when a visitor reaches the last page, they will be given the option to display older threads should it be required:

View attachment 79111

Bulk watch thread management (end user and admin)
End users can now quickly disable all email notifications or stop watching all threads from the watched threads list:

View attachment 79112

Similarly, admins can now disable watched thread email notifications or remove all thread watch records for a user via the control panel:

View attachment 79113

More detailed user activity display option
The user visibility option has now been split into two parts:

View attachment 79115

In versions before 1.4, if you had the online status option enabled, it was equivalent to enabling both options. Now, you can set it such that users can see if you're online (such as via the active user lists or the online status indicator) but prevent users from seeing the specific page you are viewing at any given time.

This can help deal with situations where people feel like they're being stalked around the forum. Personally, I've seen more than a few messages saying "OMG, Mike is viewing the Announcements forum! Half-Life 3 confirmed!" when I just went to check something. That said, I don't generally mind if people know when I'm around.

Users with the ability to bypass privacy settings will be able to see the exact page a user is viewing regardless of this setting.




So, aside from adjustments to come based on feedback, that wraps up what's coming in 1.4. Once we're happy with how it's running here on XenForo.com, the beta testing phase will begin.

That takes us to... What's next for XenForo? XenForo 2.0. Please see the linked thread for more information and discussion.

Just a reminder: This is still a Have You Seen thread. Please do not post general 1.4 or 2.0 discussion here. Please do not post suggestions in this thread (even if you feel they are related). Use the dedicated suggestion forum so they can be tracked.
Awesome improvements to round out the 1.4 hys announcements.


In case no one else caught it, there were six improvements Mike announced in this thread, and this is the second misc/assorted improvements thread for 1.4.

6 / 2 = 3

HL3 Confirmed
 
I cannot wait for this. I was looking at the videos of some upcoming features and they're going to be extremely useful for many!

xenForo > vBulletin any day.
 
Ability to delete multiple watched threads at once!? Hell yes!

In regards to the activity status change, I can see two things, both of which are really minor:
  • When you log out, your exact location disappears and you just see something like "1 minute ago." If you disable "Show your current activity," you'll also just see "1 minute ago" as if you had logged out, so I can see the two getting confused.
  • Regarding the example Mike provided ("OMG, Mike is viewing the Announcements forum!"), that can happen from just being online, too, even if users can't see the page the user is on (OMG Amaury's online) and the user can be bugged just the same. While people can still message the user, being completely invisible is really the only best defense I can see. (Of course I can understand that users also want people to know they're around.)

Those are just my opinions, though. I personally don't care if people know that I'm online or what page I'm viewing, and many others feel the same, but at the same time, I also know many people want their privacy for whatever reason (busy in real life, shy, going through emotional stress because a relative passed away, etc.) and would rather not be bothered or just want people to know they're not very available and to expect slow replies to threads in general, profile posts, or conversations.
 
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