XenForo 2.0 Discussion

[Chris D]

It might be something we add a UI for eventually, but the current process (and therefore the process people will use during the dev preview) is to use the CLI (which you will need for the install anyway).

Just to be clear; the installer will automatically apply utf8mb4 if it is supported for clean installs, but, again, the CLI will be needed during the dev preview if it is installed before your environment supports utf8mb4.

It's also worth noting handling this in the upgrade is problematic as we can't necessarily distinguish between core XF tables and those added by add-ons, and we can't always guarantee a table added by an add-on will be convertible without error.

 

[Hoolio]

As far as mobile goes - it's clear that many people use that for Facebook, for example. On FB, you generally have short, clipped, terse commenting and joking. With some exceptions, or partial exceptions, you almost never have real discussion or real conversation, which is what a forum is for. Is there evidence to suggest that people like to use mobile for a real forum that uses software like XF the way they like to use it for something like FB? While I'm not a "millennial" anymore in terms of age and haven't been for years, for instance, I can honestly say that if people were walking around with smartphones they way they do now when I was, I still would never have wanted to be doing things like that on a phone or a tablet. To me that would not be enjoyable. What would be enjoyable to me is what I'm doing now, which is sitting at a desk with a full size monitor and a real keyboard to do real typing, and a UI style that has a little pleasant visual richness and depth as this UI has without going overboard. Laptop users also count as "desktop" in that sense. In fact, I would also like a little more richness and depth in that department, so there is room for more with me without going overboard yet. That's actually also one of the things I have always liked about VB as a forum user too.

I access my own and other forums 90% via mobile.

 

[Doctor]

I access my own and other forums 90% via mobile.

And you enjoy that and you're really 56? Are you talking phone or tablet? You must have great eyesight too, right? Do you know of other people who are not "millennials" who also like that? What kind of forum do you run?

 

[Martok]

And you enjoy that and you're really 56? Are you talking phone or tablet? You must have great eyesight too, right? Do you know of other people who are not "millennials" who also like that? What kind of forum do you run?

I'm not far off that age and I access forums much of the time via mobile device - mainly my 8" tablet but also my 4.3" Xperia compact phone. My eyesight is OK, I have distance glasses. I know many non-millenials who also mostly access forums with mobile devices, my gaming community is built around older gamers.

 

[Teapot]

And you enjoy that and you're really 56? Are you talking phone or tablet? You must have great eyesight too, right? Do you know of other people who are not "millennials" who also like that? What kind of forum do you run?

My Mum, who is also not a millennial, accesses the entire internet, including forums, through her smartphone - she hasn't used a desktop or laptop computer in years. The hard numbers are trending towards increased mobile usage across the board, from everything I've seen.

 

[Hoolio]

And you enjoy that and you're really 56? Are you talking phone or tablet? You must have great eyesight too, right? Do you know of other people who are not "millennials" who also like that? What kind of forum do you run?

Gadgets / music tech. But I have to say my use of the forum has changed, I am more in touch with a small admin team than in and out of threads as I used to be over the community's 14 year lifespan.

I have the varifocal lenses in my glasses "custom cut" . On mine I have the bottom (reading) edge raised by 3 mm. If i dont do that find the reading (or in my case, mobile phone) portion of the lens too narrow or "stingy". When I get a new pair of glasses the first thing I do is try to read my phone. Reading distant street signs is a lower priority...

I frequently get sniggers and laughs at how big I have the font on my phone's email and SMS (its big!)

I am a big fan of Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground rock group. He's dead now but for a while he had his own iPhone app called Lou Zoom. It displayed search results of contacts with only the first name last name and main phone number in HUGE font expanding every time to fill the entire screen. he created it because he was sick and tired of not being able to read tiny text. (Its discontinued now - shame!)

I'm not far off that age and I access forums much of the time via mobile device - mainly my 8" tablet but also my 4.3" Xperia compact phone. My eyesight is OK, I have distance glasses. I know many non-millenials who also mostly access forums with mobile devices, my gaming community is built around older gamers.

My Mum, who is also not a millennial, accesses the entire internet, including forums, through her smartphone - she hasn't used a desktop or laptop computer in years. The hard numbers trending towards increased mobile usage across the board, from everything I've seen.

When determining default font size for the forum I push it to the maximum possible that our younger audience might tolerate.

It does seem like an US v THEM situation (young vs old)

 

[Chris D]

My Mum, who is also not a millennial, accesses the entire internet, including forums, through her smartphone - she hasn't used a desktop or laptop computer in years. The hard numbers trending towards increased mobile usage across the board, from everything I've seen.

My Mum also has a smartphone. She also enjoys playing on her PlayStation 3 and is looking forward to getting a PS4.

 

[cellarius]

And you enjoy that and you're really 56? Are you talking phone or tablet? You must have great eyesight too, right? Do you know of other people who are not "millennials" who also like that? What kind of forum do you run?

I'm 40, so hardly a millenial, and yes, I use mobile devices (tablet and phone) a lot to access forums nowadays. With a good UI eysight is not a problem. You just need to adapt to the thought that things look different on mobile and you may not have all the options present all the time.

Also, many elderly people I know tend to have a smartphone now. Because of this, and exactly because they are not power users, they do not use computers anymore. They don't see why they should have and pay for a second device if their mobile device satisfies their needs.

 

[jmurrayhead]

My Mum, who is also not a millennial, accesses the entire internet, including forums, through her smartphone - she hasn't used a desktop or laptop computer in years. The hard numbers are trending towards increased mobile usage across the board, from everything I've seen.

I was going to say, my mother hasn't turned on her desktop in years. Everything is done over her smartphone now.

 

[RobinHood]

Son with a mum chiming in.

Mine uses her 6+ these days for most of her web browsing now that she's comfortable using it, using her laptop far less.

Same with my Dad now that I think about it, at least for casual web browsing and not using work applications.

It's fascinating how different generation use tech differently when introduced to it at different times and stages in their life.

My Dad responds to all texts and emails on his iPhone using dictation. For some reason it really surprised me when I found this out a while back. But it totally makes sense seeing as he adopted a smartphone (iPhone) quite late and never got used to typing fast on a screen.

But because he got one quite late, by the time he started using one, the dictation aspect had matured and the accuracy was very good.

After spending a week with him seeing how useful it was, I've started to use dictation quite a lot for replying to forum posts when on the move.

 

[Digital Doctor]

The good users post via the desktop
Smartphones are best for consuming the internets not adding to it.

Of course, I'm typing on my iPhone 7 plus, sitting beside my PC !

Maybe I'm wrong

 

[whynot]

Smartphones are best for consuming the internets not adding to it.

Bullseye!

 

[jmurrayhead]

The good users post via the desktop
Smartphones are best for consuming the internets not adding to it.

Of course, I'm typing on my iPhone 7 plus, sitting beside my PC !

Maybe I'm wrong

It really depends on the person. I'd venture that a lot of people are only interested in consuming these days. But when they do create content from there mobile devices, it's somewhere in the 144 character limit. Though, I do know people who create lengthy posts from their mobile device.

EDIT:

Posted from by self-built desktop

 

[Doctor]

Well, I guess that puts more perspective on it then. Thanks for posting, folks. I'll have to do some soul searching and figure something out, but I'll never give up and raise the white flag on my own love of desktop though. Just like Dido.

 

[RobinHood]

It really depends on the person. I'd venture that a lot of people are only interested in consuming these days. But when they do create content from there mobile devices, it's somewhere in the 144 character limit. Though, I do know people who create lengthy posts from their mobile device.

EDIT:

Posted from by self-built desktop

Exactly, lurkers are members too, many of whom check in on their phone multiple times a day while at work (separate from their office PC), out and about or commuting.

 

[Xon]

It really depends on the person. I'd venture that a lot of people are only interested in consuming these days. But when they do create content from there mobile devices, it's somewhere in the 144 character limit. Though, I do know people who create lengthy posts from their mobile device.

One of my sites has a user who semi-regularly writes +10000 word chapters of story content on a mobile.

 

[jmurrayhead]

One of my sites has a user who semi-regularly writes +10000 word chapters of story content on a mobile.

Bless their soul.

 

[RobinHood]

I often end up writing mega posts on mobile when commuting or in front of the TV, but then get frustrated trying to edit out typos or finalising formatting or looking for quotes. Luckily the XF draft system saves me, I just whip open my laptop and finish editing there before submission, 90% of the post creation was on the phone though.

 

[Kerby]

But in XF2 you cant save draft manually on mobile because the button is missing on mobile.

 

[Martok]

But in XF2 you cant save draft manually on mobile because the button is missing on mobile.

No but it auto saves every minute.