XenForo 2.0 Discussion

[John L.]

This might be a little off on my part, but I'd like to see a few things from XenForo in the future. Potentially using a CSS design framework for a base like Foundation. I think that would save KAM a lot of work when putting things together. The ability to PHP-based SCSS or LESS to compile CSS within the development tab would be awesome as well.

Getting really specific, but I think those would be nice. You can also customize Foundation to be more specific to XenForo, but that's my thought .

 

[ibnesayeed]

If they are working on features which can only be used by 1% of license owners, then the other 99% will gain nothing from the time and effort spent.

Although I did talk about graceful degradation and Ajax based fallback options in the earlier thread, but if it is too much effort then to justify the license cost, probably it will better suited as a separate add-on like enhanced search.

 

[ibnesayeed]

Thinking of XF2.0, database agnostic is one of the terms that hits my head, at least support for PostgreSQL will be awesome.

 

[AzzidReign]

If they are working on features which can only be used by 1% of license owners, then the other 99% will gain nothing from the time and effort spent.

Big boards have a great reach, so by helping big boards can only help xf as a brand. So many of my users have bought xenforo after seeing we have it. Even my competitors have moved to xf because we were on it and they liked it so much. If anything, an on/off feature that could be turned on only for big boards would be a good promotional tool to get even more big boards to convert over.

 

[Moshe1010]

Nobody really said so, but developing a CMS next to XF 2 would be a great "value pack"
I'm pretty much positive that the CMS would be an add-on like ES and RM since it would delay the alpha/beta stage of XF 2, but anyway, keep it in mind when developing XF 2.

 

[Paul B]

Big boards have a great reach, so by helping big boards can only help xf as a brand. So many of my users have bought xenforo after seeing we have it. Even my competitors have moved to xf because we were on it and they liked it so much. If anything, an on/off feature that could be turned on only for big boards would be a good promotional tool to get even more big boards to convert over.

Let's put it another way then.
Say for argument's sake there are 100 development hours available for a release.
If 50 of them are spent on a feature which only 1% of license holders can use, resulting in much fewer features that the majority can use, that's going to mean a lot of annoyed license holders.

Yes, I can see the argument for the other side.
If big forums really want that functionality now though, they should in theory have the funds to have it custom developed.
As I understand it, at least one big forum has spent in excess of £70K converting to XF and has made a lot of the add-ons available in the RM.
Perhaps another big board could do the same for this feature?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

one big forum has spent in excess of £70K converting to XF

Whoa.

 

[erich37]

will the "Resource Manager" stay as is or will it also be upgraded to XF 2.0 ?

 

[Paul B]

It's really way too early to give any specific answers.

The ideal situation would be that all existing functionality would be present in 2.0.

 

[Mike]

No questions about how 2.0 will work or "what" it will be can (or will) be answered at this point.

This post simply notes that our next step and focus (after 1.4) will be 2.0. It's a heads up and people can take from it what information they need (particularly for people working on projects related to XF).

Beyond that, when there's more information to be released, it will be released.

 

[The Sandman]

As I understand it, at least one big forum has spent in excess of £70K converting to XF and has made a lot of the add-ons available in the RM.

Seriously? I'd love to do an interview with the forum owner (if I haven't already).

 

[Alpha1]

Seriously? I'd love to do an interview with the forum owner (if I haven't already).

https://theadminzone.com/threads/interview-with-stuart-wright-founder-of-avforums.115348/

 

[The Sandman]

https://theadminzone.com/threads/interview-with-stuart-wright-founder-of-avforums.115348/

I thought it might be him. I had no idea he was in that deep.

 

[ENF]

I thought it might be him. I had no idea he was in that deep.

You know, if you actually consider man hours spent on developing and maintaining large-ish sites, the costs are significant. I suppose most people don't factor in a per-hour cost for themselves. Paying other 3rd parties for support on custom development, design or even infrastructure support is all in addition to man hours spent by owners and their teams to run and maintain a busy site.

The per hour cost is relative to your location, but lets just say the average administrator rate is ~$30/USD. If that administrator spends at least an average of 1 hour per day on their site, for 1 year... that's a bare minimum of $10,950/year. That surely is higher with most active sites... + 3rd Party Costs + Infrastructure ---It really adds up quickly when you start tying appropriate costs to each event.

XF 2.0 -- Personally, it's a long range plan and it's something that I'll keep an eye on and keep some funds allocated to capital improvements.

 

[Lucas]

Definitely looking forward to having an improved mobile view/system in place. Looks like you guys got your stuff pretty much right on track.

 

[Fufu]

Really, why, as we are in a world that has wi-fi everywhere, quad core smart phones, talks of 5G mobile internet before even 4G is out of its infancy and "phablets" quickly becoming normal, why on earth would we need a mobile optimised style? Responsive design is the way forward, and we already have it.

Taiwan (Republic of China) and China (People's Republic of China) are impossible markets for telecommunications. Taiwan (ROC) has three major carriers with boundaries that have territory restrictions and China (PRC) has dual SIM cards phones that you need just to get around the city. Hong Kong (SAR) is also on 3.5 too. The complexity of business rules and federal regulations would take another good length to explain.

Yes if you're in UK or US.
Not for us on Asia.

I think Korea (South) and Japan are in their own league on technology?

 

[ENF]

I think Korea (South) and Japan are in their own league on technology?

Can speak for Japan. Most of the country is covered in 4G/LTE and metro areas are increasing capacity. Wi-fi, free and subscription, widely available. (3G covers remote, isolated locations and there are mountainous parts with only satellite coverage.)

Korea is equal to or surpasses Japan. Haven't been there in a long time.

 

[Sadik B]

Hi Guys

While I usually refrain from commenting on speculative discussions, I think I might mention something from our perspective.

I have been working on perhaps one of the most profitable XF forum out there. We make in excess of $40K per month from an Inner Circle. I am not mentioning the number to boast, simply to lend credence to the perspective I am about to share.

Dealing with over 3000 paid members, we have discovered that in the past one and a half years, members have definitely moved on to mobile. While it is true that this depends on the niche, mobile traffic is constantly increasing at the expense of desktop even though there may not be a proportional change. I recommend everyone here to log into their analytics and compare their desktop vs Mobile traffic from now versus a year ago.

XF already has a pretty decent responsive skin. However, our experience tells us that people on iOS and Android prefer an app versus the responsive skin. We have spent upwards of $20K on developing our own apps. Of course XF by itself is a forum with a framework and not an app. However my sincerest request to both Mike and Kier is to consider offering separate products which enable people to release branded apps. If XF offers a way for people to set up a forum along with apps for Android and iOS, it would perhaps hands down be the best application to start any kind of site with. XF has an excellent framework. I have myself developed all sorts of custom features with our XF instance and where it takes me days to develop a feature with something like Magento, it takes me hours in XF. That is honest and sincere appreciation for the work of Kier and Mike and the way they have built XF ground up.

If you guys provide apps as separate products, in my estimate a large number of todays customers would buy them. To start with, the app should be able to do the basics of what XF does at least. You guys of course can think of hiring more developers if you want to explore that route.

I know this may not be the what's on top of your priority list right now, but I am just expressing the demand I see in the market.

In either case, once again, very good work guys and cheers for much! better days ahead!

 

[Sheratan]

If xenforo releasing app for mobile, please make it available for Windows phone too, not iOS and Android only.

 

[tkaragoz]

Native mobile apps enlarge users' interactions with push notifications. A quote and mention shows the phone on just in time.
Free Tapatalk app is good option for mobile but it does not bring monetizing option.
Also Tapatalk has customizable paid apps and monetizing options but it's very high price.

Mobile apps with reasonable prices could be good for future of xenforo.