XenForo 2.0 Discussion

[Gladius]

Seriously though, what is the choice you are making here? Pay $140 USD for the software then $3/month for host? You get what you pay for. There are plenty of low cost shared hosting plans that run up to date php, and if yours doesn't, it's not that hard to switch to one that does.

My thoughts exactly. Besides, if anyone desperately needs to remain below PHP 5.4 for some reason, I'm sure XF 1.x will still be quite usable for at least another couple of years. By then REALLY everyone should be on 5.5+.

 

[RickM]

5.3 is EOL so by the time XF 2.0 is released, 5.4 and 5.5 will almost definitely be available even on the crummiest of hosts. PHP 5.7 is very likely going to be out by then.

EOL doesn't matter to hosts in the slightest, hence why 5.2 is still on offer for a large number of them. Sadly people still insist on making stupid choices when purchasing hosting and going with the likes of GoDaddy, Hostgator, BlueHost and all the other companies owned by the Endurance International Group.

 

[Gladius]

Anyone running a forum on those 2-buck hosts really won't have a problem moving to a host that will support PHP 5.5 even on the off chance that they don't by then (which I believe is unlikely). Just saying... if you're going to spend $140 bucks on XF you're going to pick a host that can actually run it as well. If not, they can still run 1.x until they move off or GoDaddy upgrades.

 

[tyteen4a03]

5.3 is EOL so by the time XF 2.0 is released, 5.4 and 5.5 will almost definitely be available even on the crummiest of hosts. PHP 5.7 is very likely going to be out by then.

I think they are directly going for PHP7.

 

[Gladius]

Apparently you're right, 6 will be skipped as an interim project. Incidentally, I just noticed 5.6.0 stable has been released a couple of days ago. So even as we speak, there's already a stable 5.6.

 

[Alpha1]

Will PHP 5.4 be EOL by the time PHP7 is released?
If PHP5.5 is used as minimum version then the password hashing API features could be used.

 

[Deriel]

.. but XF is also a business.

And it must look at his installed base and can't alienate more than 70% of the PHP users. It would be business suicide.

 

[RickM]

It can be used with

Will PHP 5.4 be EOL by the time PHP7 is released?
If PHP5.5 is used as minimum version then the password hashing API features could be used.

5.3.7 and above. There's a comparability package for it on packagist/github.

PHP5.4 will go EOL in 2015. 5.3 should have gone EOL in 2013 but was delayed.

Don't get your hopes up, I HIGHLY doubt xf 2.0 will drop 5.4 support.

 

[Gladius]

Will PHP 5.4 be EOL by the time PHP7 is released?
If PHP5.5 is used as minimum version then the password hashing API features could be used.

Since planned EOL for 5.4 is in about 6 months, I think that that's very likely, even if it is prolonged somewhat.

.. but XF is also a business.

And it must look at his installed base and can't alienate more than 70% of the PHP users. It would be business suicide.

Those statistics are really quite useless when it comes to determining which PHP versions are being used with XenForo installations in general as I seriously doubt that the numbers would be on par with some general statistics. But hey, if Kier & Co. wanted to be extra sure, they could put up a poll here and outline the benefits of going with 5.5 as minimum for XF 2.0, then send a mailing to the user base asking if they support the 5.5+ requirement and proceed based on the results. That would take most of the guesswork out of this discussion.

 

[Deriel]

Still guesswork. A poll is biased anyway, just a fraction of the owners will asnwer, normally the most interested in the voting.

The numbers are not useless: they are potential buyers. Obviously XF will not support everything, but it can't go "PHP5.6 or die!". I hope that the minimum for XF will be 5.4, but I'm not crossing my fingers.

(well, I'm using PHP 5.6 )

 

[Gladius]

Now you're guessing about how many people would vote (based on your perception, which I don't agree with, since IMO a lot more than "just a fraction" of XF admins are interested in the future of XF and would respond to a mailing.

Again, those numbers you are referencing are next to useless. If you need an explanation that "entire world" is never a valid market segment for anyone to target with their product, I'm sure that there are many marketing specialists here who can explain the fallacy of assuming that anyone running PHP is also a potential XF buyer.

Also, we're talking about 5.5 being minimum, not 5.6.

 

[Stallyon]

I'll be back if xF 2.x meets my needs now.

 

[PaulB]

On behalf of NamePros and every other forum of moderate to large size, I'm putting in a request for HHVM support. XenForo is much faster than many of its competitors, but it's still a bit slow by my standards.

Of course, I'd love to see MySQL replaced with something like MongoDB, but that's never going to happen. I think a more realistic request would be for better and more complete integration with Elasticsearch, allowing it to replace MySQL for many queries.

And SVG support! I almost forgot that. With fallback to PNG, of course. Example: smilies.

 

[oman]

On behalf of NamePros and every other forum of moderate to large size, I'm putting in a request for HHVM support. XenForo is much faster than many of its competitors, but it's still a bit slow by my standards.

Of course, I'd love to see MySQL replaced with something like MongoDB, but that's never going to happen. I think a more realistic request would be for better and more complete integration with Elasticsearch, allowing it to replace MySQL for many queries.

And SVG support! I almost forgot that. With fallback to PNG, of course. Example: smilies.

Post in the suggestions forum for those here: https://xenforo.com/community/forums/xenforo-suggestions.18/

 

[napy8gen]

I would like fast style selector, only drop down form like vbulletin will do, if it comes with specific style icon is better. If you have many styles, xenforo styles selector pop up is slow to switch between styles.
Please do not condemn me.. I just point up what I feel is bad for style make like me. The style system templates and properties is over the top. Nothing to complaint.

 

[jauburn]

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!

+1 on the app idea. Superb.

 

[jauburn]

I'm quite certain my mobile users are less active. As mobile continues to grow, it will have an effect on forums as a whole. It's just the nature of the device and I think forum software needs to think about solutions.

Agree 100%. IMO, two trends have led to the gradual decline in forums: mobile and social networking. And the rise of these two trends have coincided with a proliferation of conventional forums.

 

[jauburn]

Mobile Mobile Mobile. Forums software is not taking the staggering change in how people access the internet seriously. My mobile visits have been increasing by 10% a year. The next generation won't be using laptops. Mobile forum skins are just ok. Forum software needs to take the next leap or we'll be usenet all over again. People keep suggesting big features that just don't work or work well on a smart phone.

While I agree with you, somehow I think the issue is larger than just a good mobile design or even a dedicated app that works "natively" on mobile. The issue is mobile itself and how it makes more difficult the process of contributing thoughtfully to forum content. Mobile makes this more difficult both in physical terms--the mobile keyboards are harder to use, more prone to error, and less satisfying--and in terms of how and where mobile devices are often used...on the go. So while I think that it's worthwhile for conventional forums to make themselves as mobile-friendly as possible, I think the overall shift to mobile has damaged the quality of forum content in a way that it might not recover by means of better or more native mobile designs. In other words, as content becomes weaker as a result of more mobile participation, interest in the content naturally wanes. I'm writing this, for example, on a desktop, and I would never think to undertake this response on a tablet or phone. What I would undertake on a tablet or a phone is a response such as "Yeah, I agree" or "+1."

 

[dethfire]

@jauburn I share your opinion very much. I think part of the solution will come from phones themselves developing, but software must also make the leap.

 

[Kintaro]

To who is asking "full native restful api built into xenforo"... well you have to like the first post of:
https://xenforo.com/community/threads/full-native-restful-api-built-into-xenforo.48787/