XFMG Albums Don't Bump When Updated - A Major UX issue

[Arun Kumar]

XFMG Albums Don't Bump When Updated - A Major UX
Issue

The Problem
Currently, XenForo Media Gallery sorts albums by their creation
date, not by their last activity. This creates a frustrating user
experience where actively updated albums remain buried on page 15+ while
dormant albums stay at the top.

Real User Impact:
We discovered this when multiple users on our forum uploaded new content
to their albums and couldn't understand why their fresh uploads weren't
visible in the category view. Users assume (logically) that adding new
media would bump their album to the top - just like forum threads work.

Current Behavior

• User creates album "My Photos" on March 1st
• Album appears on page 1 of category
• User adds 50 new photos in December
• Album remains on page 15, sorted by March creation date
• New visitors never see the fresh content

Expected Behavior
Albums should behave like forum threads - when new content is added, the
album should rise to the top of the category listing. This is standard UX
across most gallery systems.

Proposed Solution
Add a last_media_date column to the
xf_media_album table that updates whenever:

• New media is added to an album
• Media is moved into an album
• Media is deleted (recalculate based on remaining media)

Then provide a sort option (ideally default) to sort albums by last
activity rather than creation date.

Current Workarounds (Not Ideal)

1. Create new albums periodically instead of updating existing ones
2. Upload as individual media items instead of to albums
3. Name albums with dates to indicate freshness

Why This Matters

• User Engagement: Active contributors feel discouraged when
  their new content is invisible
• Content Discovery: Visitors miss fresh content buried in old
  albums
• Intuitive UX: Users expect behavior consistent with forum
  threads
• Gallery Activity: Makes the gallery appear stagnant when it's
  actually active

Technical Implementation
I attempted to create an addon for this but hit compatibility issues with
XFMG 2.3.5. The basic approach would be:

  // Add column
  ALTER TABLE xf_media_album ADD COLUMN last_media_date INT DEFAULT 0;

  // Update on media save
  UPDATE xf_media_album SET last_media_date = UNIX_TIMESTAMP() WHERE 
  album_id = ?

  // Sort albums
  ORDER BY last_media_date DESC, album_date DESC

Request
Could this be considered for a future XFMG update? Or could someone from
the XenForo team provide guidance on the best way to implement this as an
addon for XFMG 2.3.5?

This seems like fundamental gallery functionality that many forums would
benefit from. Happy to provide more details or test cases if needed.

Running: XenForo 2.3.x with XFMG 2.3.5

Thanks for considering this improvement!

 

[fords8]

@Arun Kumar , i will have a look at it in an hour or so. See if I can come with something for you real quick.

 

[Arun Kumar]

@Arun Kumar , i will have a look at it in an hour or so. See if I can come with something for you real quick.

Sounds great. I created them for the addon, see if this helps anyone.

 

[fords8]

@Arun Kumar , do you have a lot of albums on your forum?

EDIT: Give this a try. https://xenforo.com/community/resources/aixf-album-activity.10074/

 

[Arun Kumar]

Thanks for the addon, I hope this makes it to the official addon someday.