XenForo Pet Peeves - Pre-Sales Questions Before Huge Conversion

[ProCom]

I have 5 small forums already on XF. I think it's the best platform available. That said, I'm about to convert a HUGE site over to XF and there are a few things that drive me BONKERS.

So, since I haven't purchase the license for this huge site yet, I thought I'd post in the pre-sales section to see if y'all have any solutions or ideas on the following:

1) Editing a post that has images, tags, etc. is done with bbcode vs. a rich text / WYSIWYG editor

Example: I write and submit a post with a bunch of images, tags, etc., but when I go back to edit the post, instead of seeing the images, tags, etc. in the clean rich-text editor format I had when writing the post, I see the following mess of code:

Here are some user tags: [USER=14250]@user14250[/USER] & [USER=14251]@user14251[/USER]!!!

Check out all these cool pics!!!
[ATTACH=full]13564[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]13566[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]13577[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]13595[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]13554[/ATTACH]

Now, imagine a poor non-technical member trying to edit or reorder their images into a different order! They'd be so confused as to which image is which and what to do. My demographic is very non-techy and going from rich-text editor where they see the nice images and tags to the code above... they'd freak out.

So, why doesn't the editor parse the post in a way that makes it look the same as it did when the post was first being created? Is there no way to do this for our non-techy members?

2) Clicking the image button brings up a URL box instead of an "upload file" form?

I bet 98% of the time people click on an "insert image" button, they expect a modal to popup that says "choose a file to upload" and not a URL field. Seriously, how many people already have an image hosted and a URL ready when they click the image button?

Based on all the other interweb editors I've used, I'd expect the "insert image" button to bring up a "choose file" dialogue.

Ideally, the insert image pop modal would look something like the following... giving people multiple options, including showing the 5 most recent images they uploaded as well as a "more" link:

Is there any way to change the "image" button in the editor to open up an "Upload File" dialog vs. the URL field?

3: Alerts for "read" threads don't remove or mark the alert as "read".

Ok, this one is just nit-picking, but when I get an email about a thread I've subscribed to or otherwise read a thread I'm subsribed to, I'd expect that the corresponding alert should be removed or 'unalerted'. Of course, there's probably a good reason for it being this way that I don't understand.... it just seemed weird to me.


So, to reiterate: I do LOVE Xenforo and will gladly convert my big site over to it... but the items above frustrate the hell out of me, and I can already imagine my members complaining about them (well, especially the first two).

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice!

 

[StarArmy]

That would be good, I'm not sure how to do that meanwhile I have this:

View attachment 146458 View attachment 146459

You might also want to put a note that they can simply paste the image into the thread (from their clipboard) too. It's one of XenForo's coolest features.

 

[Mr Lucky]

You might also want to put a note that they can simply paste the image into the thread (from their clipboard) too. It's one of XenForo's coolest features.

You mean drag & drop? Yes, I'll add that

 

[StarArmy]

You mean drag & drop? Yes, I'll add that

I was specifically thinking of pasting from the clipboard, as in CTRL+V or right clicking and choosing paste.

 

[Wildcat Media]

I was specifically thinking of pasting from the clipboard, as in CTRL+V or right clicking and choosing paste.

That is my most-used feature right there. And I have found it works two ways. If you right click an image on the Internet, you paste it into the XF editor and it will paste the image as a link. Now, if you have an actual image in your clipboard (I post a dozen or more screen clips per day, using OneNote), it pastes the image as an attachment and uploads it in the background.

Last I checked, even WordPress can't do this yet. Not without a plugin.

I also drag and drop images from Explorer into the editor window, and they upload as an attachment. Other than using a phone, I rarely ever use the Upload button.