XF2.1 - Big Plans. Roadmap? Features?

[Mouth]

Please note that although XenForo 2 is essentially feature-locked, in order that we can progress as quickly as possible through beta testing and on to a stable, supported release, we are of course actively soliciting suggestions and feedback for XenForo 2.1 and beyond, for which we already have big plans - we are very excited to continue building new and exciting features on the new framework

Since we've been officially enticed to give suggestions for 2.1, and teased that there is already big plans, I'm keen to have a high-level understanding of these plans. It's challenging to wade through the many suggestions already within the respective Suggestions forums for both core and official add-ons, and appreciate what's worthwhile for adding to existing or creating new suggestions.

For example, Resource Manager has had very little attention since it was released 4 years ago, with some new features added to it 2 years ago to align its functionality with core XF functionality. I'm keen to understand if XF's 2.1 big plans includes significant development to Resource Manager? Or if the big plans include additional official add-ons such as Calendar/Events functionality, etc.

I think some sort of indication of the focus or area of these big plans would go a long way into assisting customer and site owners giving meaningful and aligned suggestions and feedback for 2.1

 

[marquisite]

Or if the big plans include additional official add-ons such as Calendar/Events functionality, etc

This . From an administrator perspective I'm relatively new to XenForo having migrated from SMF earlier this year. What XenForo offers in general is great (and XF 2.0 is looking even better!) but I do miss having a proper calendar. In XenForo 1.x certain calendar-type addons have addressed this in some capacity (particularly AndyB's addons - thanks!) but I can't help but think it would be much more efficient (and allow for even more addon possibilities) if calendar/event type addons could extend an official XenForo calendar system and content type rather than each one having to lay down the same kind of foundations.

Assuming it were to be a fully-fledged official addon, perhaps any thread integration could 'borrow' ideas from the existing media gallery and resource manager addons for consistency, such as an 'attending' sidebar block similar to XFMG's "In This Media" block or perhaps a link bar similar to XFRM (Event / Updates(?) Attending / Discussion).

 

[Mouth]

I do miss having a proper calendar

Great thoughts and mock-up.
I'd suggest you repost it to https://xenforo.com/community/threads/event-calendar.827/ It's a 7 year old thread with 39 likes though, so not sure what it takes to get some interest from XF or other developers. Hence why, sharing XF's big plans for 2.1 and some high-level roadmap would be helpful.

 

[marquisite]

@Mouth not a bad idea... one of those 39 likes is from me

 

[Chris D]

Forum software developers always have big "plans" but they don't necessarily translate into a releasable product / update. So if those plans are given too far in advance then that can ultimately lead to disappointment and expectations that aren't met. Taking a recent example, with IPS 4.2 no one really knew anything about that until it was approaching beta and they actually had something tangible to show. This is a good tactic and, although it might not seem like it, better in the long run for all involved.

Clearly we don't aim to disappoint and 2.0 was all about building a strong foundation for the future -- we won't waste it.

 

[Mouth]

So if those plans are given too far in advance then that can ultimately lead to disappointment and expectations that aren't met.

And if no indication is given at all, and the customer base is being asked to give suggestions, and then nothing comes from them (eg. 7 year old thread with lots of support wanting calendar/events functionality) then disappointment and unmet expectations are already occurring.
I just look at the pages of open suggestions in core and official add-on sub-forums and see lip service really. An un-curated mess of some really old and boutique requests that I wonder why they're hanging around, mixed in with some very well supported and long-time open requests that are largely ignored. The latter, potentially signalling add-on developers not to proceed in such functional area because it's under consideration by the XF team.

Anyway, without sharing of these big plans, and no strong curation of the suggestion sub-forums, then the IPS approaching of surprising people may be the best model. When you're backing it up by releasing new/additional functionality that customers are asking for to provide to their end-user communities, it probably works!

 

[RobParker]

Forum software developers always have big "plans" but they don't necessarily translate into a releasable product / update. So if those plans are given too far in advance then that can ultimately lead to disappointment and expectations that aren't met. Taking a recent example, with IPS 4.2 no one really knew anything about that until it was approaching beta and they actually had something tangible to show. This is a good tactic and, although it might not seem like it, better in the long run for all involved.

Clearly we don't aim to disappoint and 2.0 was all about building a strong foundation for the future -- we won't waste it.

If we rephrase it, do you think you'd be more comfortable answering?

What do you feel XF2.0 is currently lacking?

That's not making any commitment to adding it but for example, do you think content discovery could be improved? Or the Like system? etc

 

[kick]

Great thoughts and mock-up.
I'd suggest you repost it to https://xenforo.com/community/threads/event-calendar.827/ It's a 7 year old thread with 39 likes though, so not sure what it takes to get some interest from XF or other developers. Hence why, sharing XF's big plans for 2.1 and some high-level roadmap would be helpful.

Developers do what they want and they **** at the opinions of customers.
https://xenforo.com/community/threads/ability-to-multi-quote-in-conversations.126673/ No one like anything, but realized when the same search for correspondence is much more important and more likes https://xenforo.com/community/threads/personal-conversations-need-search-and-labels.844/ 40 likes is a very useful tool, but it is not implemented and there are many such examples.
And how much do not ask about social groups and the calendar to them all the same. They are more important than garbage as multicitation in correspondence. And it's okay though that something about the ideas of users said, but no, and the topic just hangs in the section since 2010. And why then this section? If developers do not need anything or crazy ideas. Here is a user @Alfa1 offers many good ideas with. That's just really, useful requests with not a small number of likes end up. But those that are garbage they are implemented and do not bear. But if you seriously look at it then there is no normal association of messages and the campaign is not how it is not considered. How many years have we waited for Font Awesome, well, why not add in 1.5.x? What is the difficulty in connecting Font Awesome?
You at least tell me that we will realize in the future, or at least something like that, but do not keep in ignorance. Even if we say in the future, people will already know that they looked satisfied and only wait and not sit like this simply and do not know and think, and no one needs it and at the same time seeing the picture when such a senseless functional is added which from Force is needed by 1 person. There are 100+ likes and nothing is done, for where there are no likes or 1 then this is realized

 

[Sheldon]

The more things change, the more they stay the same.... You have the masses complaining XF 1.5 is old, so they write 2.0. Now, the complaint is 2.0 isn't feature full, and the timeline demands start. Man, reminds me of the months after the lawsuit..... Fun times.

It hasn't got to BETA yet.... sheesh. Let's just relax a bit. The product is nearly released, at least in BETA fashion. Yes, the ALPHAs have been fun to play with, but with the transition of Xenforo.com to 2.0, I suspect speed in which things are added/changed will increase.

Wait,

@Chris D

Could you tell us your plans for XenForo 3.0?

 

[Alpha1]

@kick there is a limit of how much 3 developers can implement. XF is not IPS who have a large team of developers. At least now they have the framework almost ready to start building on and development will be much faster.
If you take a close look at what features were implemented in XF 1.x releases then you will see that popular requests are implemented. This is certainly not an aspect where the XF team falls short.

XF2.0 was never going to be a feature waterfall release. Its nice that they have already implemented quite a bit of new features. I know that there is a very stark contrast with IPS4.2, but they already took 3 years to rewrite their framework and took a lot of heat because of it. For a waterfall release you will need to wait for XF2.1 At that point you will see a lot of popular suggestions implemented in the same manner as happened for XF1.

In terms of roadmap: it would be extremely unwise in terms of competition for XF to publicly state their plans. However, we are at a point now that we know that XF2.1 will be big and will likely include a lot of popular features. So we now risk investing in the development of addons that will be replaced by core when XF 2.1 arrives.

 

[kick]

@Alfa1 I also do not argue that they have realized a lot, but it's not work for 5 years exactly. The progress from the first version is huge, but strange solutions like lack of coding standards, its autoloader is very crass and, in general, the principle of writing code when variables are hardcoded anywhere did not go away. Feeling that the most time spent on style. Component porridge and porridge in the minds. When they started to publish code samples, that's when the work went. Because apparently until that moment they only determined what and how they want to do.

 

[Fred.]

Could you tell us your plans for XenForo 3.0?

It's going to be build to communicate lightning fast between Earth and Mars. Live streaming build in and VR ready.
Administrators / Mods are unnecessary because AI will take care of that.

 

[Sheldon]

but it's not work for 5 years exactly.

Quick question.... could I see the comparable forum software you've created in less time?

 

[RobinHood]

Live streaming build in and VR ready.

That's not actually that far fetched and could be an XF2 add on...an online forum thread as a registration starting point for a live VR forum/stream.

We'll have come full circle and it will be like a live public debate forum with people sitting in a room actually talking and debating each other IRL, but this time with everyone in a digital VR space.

Oh man, I can just imagine some of the threads/live events now. God help the moderators

 

[RobinHood]

Live streaming build in and VR ready.

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[Fred.]

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I would love live streaming / VR, It would be really useful on my forum. But is has to be really easy to use because my users are not very tech
Just click a button on the website open camera and go.
But then we don't have content anymore... AI needs to convert it and post the transcript.
Can we also have a build in Siri / Alexi that responds on user questions? Then I have to answer less Questions.

 

[RobinHood]

The VR video could be captured and posted as content new content for members to watch.

The stream from each visitor in the room could be captured and it could be edited down automatically based on whose talking in the room and using some preset camera angles within any given VR space, similar to how the memories app on the iPhone or Facebooks automatically cuts together video clips to create a watchable video. The audio could definitely also be transcribed and posted for SEO or reading on a slow connection.

The VR space itself could be tailored to your community. For example if it's a sporting community or a say a race, then the room could be a recreation of the course and the members could walk it, commenting on how to best approach each part.

Seems a bit crazy, but I'm sure it could be cool for some communities.

 

[Kirby]

I think the importance of calendar/events is vastly overrated.

My company operates ~ 70 forums (mostly vB 4, some XF 1.5 and even less phpBB and WBB) with appox. 85 million posts in total.
Ouf of those, only 5 have more than 500 events, 30 vB 4 forums have les than 10 events.

We also have a few (maybe 5) forums that use calendars a lot and I know that we'll have to do smth. there when we switch to XF, but in general my impression is that most forums have no need for calendars.

the principle of writing code when variables are hardcoded anywhere did not go away.

Hmm, could you explain in more detail what exactly you are complaining about here?

 

[RobinHood]

There's been XenAtendo 1, XenAtendo 2, TH Calendar, TH Thread Events, FS Events (which was created by a Mod), and Calendar to name a few.

Your probably right that most forums don't need it. But judging by the number different add ons for simple calendar and events systems I'd say there's definitely a decent demand for it, even if it's not for everyone.

How many other features have that many different add on's trying to satisfy a single need?

Perhaps the quality and features of the calendar and events system has an impact as to how often it's used on your sites.

On one of my sites the calendar and events is integral due to the ability to invite members to those events. It ties in with user locations and a member map. So when an event is created I have the ability to invite all members within an x mile radius to the event.

It's pretty easy to invite entire usergroups too, if needed.

These events draw a lot of users back to the site who may not visit that often, but do what to be informed about and get invited the local meet ups. For local, hobbyist or sporting communities that meet up IRL it's pretty essential.

 

[Mouth]

It hasn't got to BETA yet.... sheesh. Let's just relax a bit.

XF asks for feedback and suggestions on 2.1, stating they have big plans. When there's a thread to ask for a high-level overview of those plans to help inform the requested suggestions and feedback, Sheldon comes along and be's demeaning to those wanting to discuss 2.1 as requested.

Yup. The more things change, the more they stay the same....