XenForo 2.0 Discussion

[Teapot]

I heard some some of the folks on the Admin Zone that XF2 was going to make more use it HTML 5 to reduce the use of AJAX and JQuery.

These two things aren't really relatable, unfortunately. What I believe they're referring to is replacing the Flash file uploader with an HTML5 version. Everywhere else in XenForo uses AJAX/JavaScript and will continue to do so, as they're important parts of most modern web applications.

 

[KC Riley]

These two things aren't really relatable, unfortunately. What I believe they're referring to is replacing the Flash file uploader with an HTML5 version. Everywhere else in XenForo uses AJAX/JavaScript and will continue to do so, as they're important parts of most modern web applications.

At some point won't there be a need to find an alternative to JavaScript? Excessive JavaScript commands can greatly impact pageload times for a sites. Ergo it impact the number of add-on's you can install.

 

[Arty]

At some point won't there be a need to find an alternative to JavaScript? Excessive JavaScript commands can greatly impact pageload times for a sites. Ergo it impact the number of add-on's you can install.

Actually its the opposite. HTML5 introduced some new semantic elements, next step is ability to add custom elements (see this page). It is done entirely in JavaScript. Browser interfaces are built in JavaScript as well.

ES6 has some nice optimizations (see this page), such as dropping stack on last return statement, arrow functions and other stuff. ES6 introduces templates, so it is possible that in future it will be more common to render DOM in browser using templates instead of using server-side code.

 

[Teapot]

At some point won't there be a need to find an alternative to JavaScript? Excessive JavaScript commands can greatly impact pageload times for a sites. Ergo it impact the number of add-on's you can install.

Well, it is possible to use too much JavaScript and tank a browser, but it's pretty hard these days unless you're really trying. The solution to that isn't to invent a new technology either way – it would be to code better! If you found an alternative, the problem wouldn't go away - you still have to work with the bandwidth and processing power you have, regardless of the technology.

Maybe one day browsers will adopt a new scripting language, but given the usage of JS is exploding both in the browser and in other applications, auxh as server programming, it isn't going anywhere!

For what it's worth, XF has absolutely nothing to worry about in that regard - while all code can be optimised, XF's is reasonably efficient, all things considered.

 

[ibrian]

So I thought - for the development of XF 2.0, why not experiment with a new layout that puts the user at the centre of everything, with all their information at hand around the left and right hand of the posting area of whatever part of the forums they're on?

Just returning to this - I hadn't realised just how easy the xf templates are to work with. For example, for a more Facebook-like appearance, two minor template modifications do much of the trick:
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/moving-xenforo-sidebar-from-right-to-left.338/
https://xenforo.com/community/threads/how-to-add-a-sidebar-to-any-forum-page.7860/

 

[sbj]

I was going through old posts and some dealt with profile posts. Suddenly I realized something, that ~ a year ago XF had on the sidebar the profile posts widget. I remember it was being heavily used for some weeks, but because people abused it by placing ads, XF forbid that action and now it seems it died after that period.
In the present I see no sidebar widget for it anymore and I visited some profiles to check the activity and it seems it is not used much. (I always thought the profile posts feature is useless and a bloat, but it is another story).

What I wanted to ask, is, if profile posts are dead or if they will be brought over to XF 2.0?

I know, giving an answer to that reveals something about XF2, which you may not want probably, but I just wanted to know if XF will keep the profile posts system. As for now it looks like you don't showcase this feature anymore on 1.5, compared to other features.

I know you always said with 2.0 you are looking for feature parity with 1.x, but does this mean you will keep all the features of 1.x or will you remove some of it? Maybe you could answer that question, if the one above is too revealing.

 

[Jake B.]

What I wanted to ask, is, if profile posts are dead or if they will be brought to XF 2.0?

The fact that it's disabled and not used here doesn't really mean that the feature is 'dead'

As for now it looks like you don't showcase this feature anymore on 1.5, compared to other features.

It's not showcased here, I assume, because it turned into a giant advertisement block of the same person saying the same thing 20 times

Just guessing, but I don't think it'd be removed from 2.0 just because it isn't used here

 

[Mike]

They aren't being removed in 2.0. Our usage of a feature on this forum is not really indicative of whether a feature would or wouldn't be maintained in the future.

Here, they're still pretty easily visible via the new profile posts page. However, you may find that they just get entirely disabled in the future...

 

[sbj]

Thanks. Obiously you guys (XF and ThemeHouse) run a business and know it better of course. But in my book when a business doesn't showcase some of its produtcs (or features), I feel there must be a good reason not to do it, specially when it is hardcoded. So I thought it could be indicative for the 2.0 as you also said multiple times that you developed 1.5 with 2.0 in your minds. And now with 1.5 not showcasing profile posts lead me to that outcome. So I asked about that, that's all.
Thank again.

 

[Chris D]

It's not hard coded, as such. It's enabled by default, but it can be switched off. Every forum has different needs, including this one, therefore there are some features which are enabled by default which may be switched off here.

The "proper" showcase for XF is of course the Admin Demo. We do understand expectations may be that this forum be effectively "default" but that's not always practical.

 

[Mr Lucky]

It's not hard coded, as such. It's enabled by default, but it can be switched off.

I'm glad you said that, I was under the impression that this forum showcased the default features and settings, and have been wondering why I keep seeing profile posts on my default style. I'll stop tearing my hair out now.

 

[Senpai]

anything new about when xenforo 2.0 will be out

 

[Chris D]

Nothing to report yet.

 

[Alpha1]

Indeed. Phrases already mostly support HTML but there are cases where HTML won't render in phrases due to us having to escape the output where the phrase is used. This is usually related to security, however, and therefore unlikely to change.

Will XF2 introduce an rethought or improved language system compared to the current phrasing system? I feel the phrases system with language packs is in a way a legacy from vb2 while there are much easier & modern approaches nowadays. There are so many pain points to resolve for addon developers, translators, webmasters and multilingual end users.

I think the current language system is one of XF greatest limitations.

 

[M@rc]

I've seen some people asking questions so I'll ask one as well. Are permissions for each new custom user field being considered for xF 2.0?

 

[Chris D]

Will XF2 introduce an rethought or improved language system compared to the current phrasing system? I feel the phrases system with language packs is in a way a legacy from vb2 while there are much easier & modern approaches nowadays. There are so many pain points to resolve for addon developers, translators, webmasters and multilingual end users.

I think the current language system is one of XF greatest limitations.

At the moment it is mostly unchanged.

If you can summarise which suggestions pertain to your comments then we might be able to be more specific.

I've seen some people asking questions so I'll ask one as well. Are permissions for each new custom user field being considered for xF 2.0?

What kind of permissions?

 

[M@rc]

What kind of permissions?

Usergroup based. For example, I create a new custom user field and only want it to be edited by a certain usergroup.

 

[Luis]

Will XF2 introduce an rethought or improved language system compared to the current phrasing system? I feel the phrases system with language packs is in a way a legacy from vb2 while there are much easier & modern approaches nowadays. There are so many pain points to resolve for addon developers, translators, webmasters and multilingual end users.

I think the current language system is one of XF greatest limitations.

Totally agree. Personally it is the worst features it has XenForo.

 

[Alpha1]

At the moment it is mostly unchanged.

If you can summarise which suggestions pertain to your comments then we might be able to be more specific.

My main suggestion is to rigorously rethink and rework the language packs approach and the current phrase system, because its hurting international and non-English communities the way it is now.

I'll explain why I suggest such a radical thing:

1. It can take an addon developer a lot of time to simply search and replace each instance of the same word throughout the phrases system. Simple tasks are complex and time consuming here. The interface could be improved a lot to cater to developers.
   
2. After 5 years of xenforo there are quite a few languages for which there barely are any good language packs around. Not many people want to translate a whole pack with thousands of phrases. It's a monks task, so we should be happy to have any language pack.
   
3. Translations should not rely on webmasters. End users should do it. That would be a game changer.
   
4. Please consider translations of user generated content. Not just interface phrases. Its not possible to offer a translation of a resource or a page. This same problem extrapolates to addons.
   
5. It should not be the case that only parts of XF can be translated.
   
6. Google will index all forums as the same language and therefore multilingual forums hardly gain any traction.
   
7. Users will always see all forums, even if the forums are in a language they can't read.
8. Users should be able to search in their language.
   
9. XF should consider the language that a browser defines.

Translations does not equal localization. The latter is what international communities need. XF offers only partial translations not comprehensive localization.

Phenomenon like Reddit, Facebook, Wikipedia, etc are successful at the expense of our communities, in part because they offer an experience tailored to users in all countries and languages. We have the handicap that we cannot offer this.

 

[rainmotorsports]

At some point won't there be a need to find an alternative to JavaScript? Excessive JavaScript commands can greatly impact pageload times for a sites. Ergo it impact the number of add-on's you can install.

You can invent new languages all you want and wait 20 years to get to use them too. HTML 5 while a language spec, when you say HTML5 what you are saying is HTML 5, CSS3, Ajax, JavaScript quite possibly a crazy amount of it. HTML 5 is a concept. A group of technologies used together. In the future it will probably become even more of a generalized term than what it really is.