xenForo Improvements

E

embedded-creations

Well-known member
This “thread” is a place to suggest improvements to the new forum.

I’ll start:

There’s no email digest feature equivalent to the old forum that I found, so instead of getting a single daily email I can skim to see if someone posted something I’m interested in, I get an email for each new thread. I’m now unsubscribing which will reduce my interaction with the forum.

Looks like this could be solved by using an addon: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/suggestion-daily-digest-emails-by-user-selected-forums.181783/
 
Superscripts and subscripts don't seem to be available :( ... and haven't ported over from the old forum.

Amazing work on getting the replacement up so fast, though ... I'm super impressed!
 
The Code '</>' moved left on toolbar isn't like the old code - it pops up a window and code type drop down.
Hitting the middle '...' it shows '>...' Inline code that is more like the simpler/better old forum - given that 'c' style is common.

1699589080397.png

Here is some code: void setup() { Serial.begin( 1); while (!Serial) delay(1); if (CrashReport) { Serial.print( CrashReport ); while(1); }
 
shawn said:
The ability to search for shorter terms such as "dsb".
Click to expand...

Apparently this isn't so simple. I enabled it in the XenForo settings, which advise it also requires a setting in the database. Did that too and restarted mysql server. Query shows the setting is changed.

Code: 
mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'ft_min_word_len';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| ft_min_word_len | 3     |
+-----------------+-------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)


But it's still not working. Haven't (yet) tried diving into mysql command line client to do the table repair stuff (and I'm not sure which tables and whether they are ISAM or InnoDB format).
 
h4yn0nnym0u5e said:
Superscripts and subscripts don't seem to be available :( ... and haven't ported over from the old forum.
Click to expand...

I found this info about adding custom BB codes. Maybe it will do?

Do you have a link handy for any of the old content which had superscript or subscript? Big question is whether it imported with those BB codes intact?
 
PaulStoffregen said:
I found this info about adding custom BB codes. Maybe it will do?

Do you have a link handy for any of the old content which had superscript or subscript? Big question is whether it imported with those BB codes intact?
Click to expand...
Maybe … don’t know enough about xenForo. https://forum.pjrc.com/index.php?th...friends-teensy-modification.73806/post-333247 should link to a post I made which had superscript in it, and appears the BB code is in there but not converted to HTML.
 
PaulStoffregen said:
Apparently this isn't so simple. I enabled it in the XenForo settings, which advise it also requires a setting in the database. Did that too and restarted mysql server. Query shows the setting is changed.

Code: 
mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'ft_min_word_len';
+-----------------+-------+
| Variable_name   | Value |
+-----------------+-------+
| ft_min_word_len | 3     |
+-----------------+-------+
1 row in set (0.01 sec)


But it's still not working. Haven't (yet) tried diving into mysql command line client to do the table repair stuff (and I'm not sure which tables and whether they are ISAM or InnoDB format).
Click to expand...
I just tried the search again (for “dsb”) and it finds this one message. Maybe something needs to trigger a re-index?
 
defragster said:
The Code '</>' moved left on toolbar isn't like the old code - it pops up a window and code type drop down.
Hitting the middle '...' it shows '>...' Inline code that is more like the simpler/better old forum - given that 'c' style is common.

View attachment 32342
Here is some code: void setup() { Serial.begin( 1); while (!Serial) delay(1); if (CrashReport) { Serial.print( CrashReport ); while(1); }
Click to expand...
This seems to be meant for inline code. Like when you say: "Don't forget to put while(!Serial){} into setup()" The other one is meant for dedicated code blocks. I like the extra input box since it has a monospaced font which makes code editing much simpler
 
I'm fine with it the way it is now, but did you want to limit the duration after a post where you can edit it? Right now, it's letting me edit anything I've posted.
 
shawn said:
but did you want to limit the duration after a post where you can edit it?
Click to expand...

Yes, time limit for editing is on my list. Still haven't found how to do it with XenForo (yesterday I did find a setting that seemed to say this, but apparently it does something else or I just misunderstood). Any ideas?


shawn said:
I just tried the search again (for “dsb”) and it finds this one message. Maybe something needs to trigger a re-index?
Click to expand...

I deleted the search index, then rebuilt. Previously only tried rebuild without delete. Hopefully it will work now?
 
luni said:
This seems to be meant for inline code. Like when you say: "Don't forget to put while(!Serial){} into setup()" The other one is meant for dedicated code blocks. I like the extra input box since it has a monospaced font which makes code editing much simpler
Click to expand...
Inline was the only option on the old forum and served well for common code pasting. Indeed, the extra input box seems to offer help code editing features and using tab for indenting ...
 
C: 
// You are here - using 'new' "</>"
]// You are here - using ">..."

Both work - new default just adds extra pop up editing:
1699641366667.png
 
defragster said:
Both work - new default just adds extra pop up editing:
Click to expand...

I like the new popup, not really for myself but I believe as the first item in the toolbar it will really help new members share their code. Over and over we've seen new people unable to use the old code tags. While the old way wasn't complicated, it lacked GUI affordance to guide them using it for the first time. Just getting registered and navigating an unfamiliar forum (and today many people mostly know social sites like Facebook) is quite a lot to take in. The new popup really guides people to post their code and shows how it will look. Sure the animations and GUI popup is slower, but for people who are brand new I believe we'll see much higher success rates in posting code.
 
There's probably only a minor impact, but it would be good to have the "post your code and FULL details" banner at the top of every section, as we did with vBulletin. Some people might read it and comply...
 
Yes, the old "Forum Rule" is on my to-do list. The old vBulletin actually had a "banner ad" feature which was the mechanism the old site used to put that message at the top of every page.

We also had some customization on the old pages for posting a new thread, which showed some guidelines right next to the editor.
 
You can report them (link at bottom left of the "offending" post), but they don't disappear immediately as they did with vBulletin. I did so the other day...
 
h4yn0nnym0u5e said:
You can report them (link at bottom left of the "offending" post), but they don't disappear immediately as they did with vBulletin. I did so the other day...
Click to expand...

Yeah that was the only thing that I noticed but with vBulletin there was other options available.. I report the other day as well.
 
Maybe a "Senior member+" got more options than a lowly "Well-known member"! I don't recall seeing any option other than Report.
 
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