What's new

Upgrade Upgrade to Xenforo 2.2.x

thomas

Unswerving cyclist
Admin
14 Mar 2002
15,969
9,208
749
This thread serves as an announcement of the impending upgrade of our core software as well as an introduction of some of the new features of the latest version. Xenforo 2.2.x is currently at the stage of RC1 (release candidate) which we have already been testing for a while on a different server. While I'd assess the upgrade as "non-trivial" due to the sheer number of new features and syntax/database changes ,I do not expect major complications.

Many of the new features are of technical or administrative nature, but here is what's relevant to all our users. We will introduce some of these features in more detail at a later stage.

  • User profile banners: allows you to upload an image to your profile page that will also be displayed on the member tooltip
  • Username change management: users can now choose to change their usernames; this procedure needs to be approved and can be restricted in regard to frequency. Requires to add a reason for username changes.
  • Writing before registering: allow guests to reply to posts but ask them to register before being able to post. Hope this will generate more registrations! ;)
  • Progressive Web App (PWA): PWAs aim to bridge the gap between websites and native applications on both mobile and desktop devices using a series of emerging web standards. This will not work on Safari on macOS and any iOS-based browsers though.
  • Activity summary emails: a configurable periodical email members can opt into, which will give them an overview of what they have missed since their last visit to the forum. We already send out emails to inactive users but this allows members to set up their own reminders.
  • Text editor and attachment manager improvements: the new text editor is still based on Froala but sports a fresh new look. It fits better on narrow devices, has a button manager, new preview features, a new attachment interface and rendering abilities.
  • Forum and thread types: this allows to create new types of fora and threads, such as question threads and forums (a la Stackflow where the best answer can be upvoted), article threads and forums, and suggestion threads. All that, of course, in addition to regular discussion threads.
  • Other improvements: prefix descriptions and usage help, improved draft save trigger, improved alerts behaviour.
  • Enhanced Search - Similar Threads: once we upgrade we will switch to Enhanced Search, a module that offers improved search results - and similar - related - threads which will be displayed under each thread.
  • Resource Manager: various improvements such as Resource teams, custom fields, and review voting.
  • Media Gallery: a new lightbox for larger images, improved image and video uploading, and attachment mirroring which means that attachments uploaded to posts will automatically be added to preconfigured categories in Media.

We expect the upgrade to take place in the end of September/beginning of October and shall keep you updated.
 
The question threads could be interesting. Do you plan to implement them? Would they be in a new dedicated forum?
 
I am definitely planning to implement new thread types. I guess question forums would work well for the 日本語 forum or travel-related subfora, while article threads might be suitable for the news section. Lots of new options... :)
 
I agree with the question threads. That could help when there is a long thread and the answer is somewhere on page 18... ;)
 
Xenforo 2.2.0 has been released. After more testing and experimenting, I believe we are ready for the upgrade which will - most likely - take place this Friday afternoon (2 October JST). As we are quite well prepared I expect the whole procedure to be over in less than an hour. 🤞

We shall first focus on the technical aspects of the upgrade and later start to gradually activate some of the new features.

Watch this space.
 
tfu.jpg Moving on up !
 
Just a little heads-up: we are still preparing for the upgrade and expect to start between 16:45 and 17:00 JST.

Thanks again for your patience! :)
 
Mission accomplished! A few glitches still need to be tackled, but it was smooth sailing. :)

I will start to activate and introduce some of the new features tomorrow.
 
I think many members were glad when the animated avatar fad went away, LOL. All that movement on the screen could be distracting. I do love using gifs on Facebook , I will confess.
 
It's interesting that even in this modern age they are still using this little picture of a front loading washing machine or dryer as an icon for Save. 😄

View attachment 32891

There have been multi-page discussions about this symbol on the developer's forum where it was argued that even millennials were no longer aware of what a floppy disc was, and the FB and social media generation even less so. :p
 
There have been multi-page discussions about this symbol on the developer's forum where it was argued that even millennials were no longer aware of what a floppy disc was, and the FB and social media generation even less so. :p
Makes sense. I guess nobody found a good alternative. At least the save icon in Microsoft Windows looks more like a floppy disk. But like you said most people wouldn't know the difference anyway.
 
Even I would know this one meant storage/save. I tried one the other day and the 512MB held all 13,000 of my saved pictures.

fd.jpg
 
Or, they could just have a button that says "Save" on it. ;)

I'm not sure what image/pictogram would be better than the floppy for save though. With all of the cloud storage these days there are probably a lot of people who don't use a USB flash drive or SD card either. Maybe a picture of a cloud with an up arrow on it?

I still think if it needs to change they should just have it be the word "save".
 
I think saving itself is no longer trendy and is on its way to extinction. All the Google docs for example. There is no save as it saves constantly. Just a revision history that you can undo. And for settings in many apps, you set and it's saved once you select it even if you hit the back button. I have mixed feelings about the trend since it doesn't match the paradigm I was raised with.
 
Today, we have upgraded the software (XF) as well as our primary add-ons to their latest versions. This is mainly a maintenance update to improve performance, stability and compatibility with the newly released PHP 8.

200.gif

.
 
This morning, we have upgraded the forum software, some of our primary add-ons and our style to their latest versions. Again, this is, for the most part, a maintenance upgrade. However, if you notice any discrepancies, glitches, or errors, please report them in this thread.

200.gif
 
We have just updated the core software and some of its first-party add-ons to their latest version. This is primarily a maintenance update and does not introduce any new features.

If you notice any glitches or irregularities, please report them here.

Thank you. :)
 
Today, we have updated the core software and its first-party add-ons to their latest version. This is primarily a maintenance update and does not introduce any new features.
 
We have just upgraded the forum software to its latest version. As always, please report any errors or glitches right here.

Thank you. :)
 
We have upgraded the forum software and some first-party add-one to their latest versions. If you notice any errors or inconsistencies, please report them here. Thank you!
 
We have just upgraded the forum software to its latest version. Please report any errors and glitches right here.

Thank you!
 
Back
Top Bottom