Message Forum Upgrade coming

+1 to a more compact skin. I was going to ask about that myself (and did indirectly regarding the vB skin). For some reason most online stuff has gone less dense and more white space over the years, and I like the vB ratio of 'stuff on screen at one time'. The less stuff there is, the more you need to scroll, and the greater the chances of missing stuff.

+1 also to 'Find all threads by X'. I use that feature almost daily here.

Keep the tweaks coming.
 
A dark mode would be nice. I love black slick on the current site.

If you scroll to the bottom there's a paintbrush at the bottom right that lets you change skins. Shades of Grey is a pretty nice dark skin on there right now. I like the cream text variant.
 
If you scroll to the bottom there's a paintbrush at the bottom right that lets you change skins. Shades of Grey is a pretty nice dark skin on there right now. I like the cream text variant.

At first I am thinking "I am using that now and it isn't dark at all"...then I realized that it was giving me 4 options, split into 2 columns side by side. I did not see that at first. ;)
 
At first I am thinking "I am using that now and it isn't dark at all"...then I realized that it was giving me 4 options, split into 2 columns side by side. I did not see that at first. ;)


I did the same thing at first. I agree, a pulldown menu would be more intuitive.

Also, it wasn't clear what 'default' meant at first (i.e., was it the same as any of the choices, or was it its own thing). Better if it had a description of some kind, to delineate it from the others.
 
Thanks mclemore.

I could see the find "Postings" under my username (I can't click on anyone else's profile as it gives a you don't have permission error)
...

I really like the "Find all threads started by ___" ....

There are a lot of things, particularly with permissions, that isn't tuned yet. I'm actively working on the system. Also, I'm really a fan of the codebase from a programmer point of view. It seems written really well, though is missing some features that we have here. That's one of the reasons we never converted... I didn't want to take a step backwards. Well, now they have almost all the features, but not all. So I've added a hand full of third party add-ons, and well...they aren't written as well. I've spent many hours this week debugging problems and examining code and helping these authors fix their code. The bottom line is that I still don't know yet what plug-ins will stay or go, so users will likely gain some functionality they don't see yet, but could lose other functionality that seemed like a good idea but just doesn't pan out. Write now the biggest 'dead man walking' is the export PM add-on. It seems to be written in a really poor manner. Even exporting 25 messages takes almost 30 seconds, and if it hits 30 seconds it dies with a timeout...


A dark mode would be nice. I love black slick on the current site.

Changed the avatar back to square, looks like my avatar and some others will need to be adjusted to fit properly on the new site.

What about animated avatars? I noticed that they were no longer animated.

2 dark modes have already been added. I think I have a third one I may add too. Existing avatars often look better on the 'Original Square' style than 'Original Style', but in any case, the system does seem to chop off all avatars to make sure they are square.

The system does seem to allow animated avatars. I just tested by uploaded jawhn's avatar. I don't know whether or not they will import though. The default Xenforo system uses PHP's built in GD image library. Processing an animated gif in GD will flatten it. After I did the massive test import, I upgraded Xenforo to use something called Imagemagick instead of GD. So when we do the real upgrade, I'll have to remember to upgrade the image processor before the import, and then we'll see what it does to the images. With luck, it may save the animated images.

Sorta the difference between the "Display Density" option in Gmail... Default vs Comfortable vs Compact.

I understand. We will be using Xenforo 2.1. Third party styles can be found here: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/categories/styles-2-x.45/ If you can find a dense one that looks good I'm happy to take a look. My main issue is that it shouldn't do much template tweaking. The template modifiers usually can't resist themselves and their sample pages look nothing like the forums we are familiar with. Also, the template modifiers don't lend themselves well to being one of multiple style choices on a forum, as they can create conflicts I'm not prepared to deal with. They work best when they live and serve alone.

Is there a reason why I can't change my signature on the new site? :confused: It's got a placeholder I had when I thought I was out of the hobby a while back instead of my current one and I don't see a way to change it, I've looked everywhere.

No worries... remember, we we cut over I'll re-import everything into the new system so it will be current. Regarding not being able to edit the signature, it was a permission issue. You will be able to edit the signature. I'm beginning to see that from an admin perspective, the system is very unfamiliar. Lots of things have default settings I didn't expect, and lots of things have options that I'm not what they do yet. Everyone pounding on the system and trying things and posting here has definitely been helpful.

OK, now it's getting real. I paid extra for that!!! :D

As mentioned above... thanks for the Avatar. I just used it on Xenforo's default test admin account (not to be confused with the admin account here). When we go live you can have it back ;)

I did the same thing at first. I agree, a pulldown menu would be more intuitive.

Also, it wasn't clear what 'default' meant at first (i.e., was it the same as any of the choices, or was it its own thing). Better if it had a description of some kind, to delineate it from the others.

On the existing system, the choices are default, grey and black... with default being different they grey or black.

On the new system, it gives you a list of choices, however, at the top of the list it also gives you default. If you choose it, and then look back in the corner it will confirm which one of the four is the default. Right now it is called 'Original Style'. So yes, the default option is in essence listed twice.
 
Me too... note this is at least the FOURTH time we've changed forum software, though most uses haven't been around long enough to remember the last change.

The time to change is here though... The existing site is beginning to drown under its message load, it isn't mobile friendly, it doesn't rank as well as it could in Google because it isn't mobile friendly, and it's missing more than a decade of improvements that have grown in other software systems.

And we are finding more and more problems with the existing system. Design limitations, bugs, and more.

Oh... and we are committed to upgrading to the newest versions of PHP and MySQL and more, and well...our existing system won't even run on the newest PHP and MySQL versions without --extensive-- modifications that aren't worth doing.

We are also planning upgrades on the main site. We didn't want to make changes there without some changes here first (for a variety of reasons). So there are a lot of things pushing towards a new forum system.

I've had 6 weeks to play with the new system. It's running the greatest and latest systems. And we added Elasticsearch to help improve search.

At first, the new system seemed half very familiar and half new and unfamiliar. It took a while to figure out that some things like 'Conversations' on the new system are the same as 'PM/Private Messages' on the current system'.

But then I kept running into things to which I noted 'Wow...that's need'. or Wow...that's really fancy programming. or 'wow'... that's a neat feature.

We are still learning what settings we can adjust in the core software, what via software modifications, and what not-at-all.

Our exiting vBulletin system is dead...development has been dead for a very long time. The new system has quite active development. Not only for the core (which I expected), but also for plug-ins, themes, and more. As I get exposed to all this, it really reinforces how dead the exiting vBulletin ecosystem is...

This really couldn't come any sooner. Older Vbulletin was just hit with a massive 0-day exploit and the only thing that has saved every vbulletin forum from going down is certain server configs.

I do believe there is a vbulletin style for Xenforo but last i remember, it was a paid style. Might be good to look into getting it as a "classic" style for people to transition into.


Also, I'm really a fan of the codebase from a programmer point of view. It seems written really well, though is missing some features that we have here. That's one of the reasons we never converted... I didn't want to take a step backwards. Well, now they have almost all the features, but not all.

Kier and crew have done a great job especially considering VB is breathing down their necks every time they add a new feature.

I have VB, IPB, phpBB and XenForo experience so if you need help or clarification that you aren't going crazy- just let me know.
 
I hadn't heard about the zero day, but I see it now. It only affects version 5.x of vBulletin, and we (as many) are running version 3.x. In general, I'm much more comfortable with the security of vb 3, then I would be with 5. We are running security software on top of vb 3 also, which create some false positives which is why sometimes get stark white 'forbidden' messages.

I see a people are suffering already due to the vb 5 issue. It's a bad week for Comodo, who managed to lose user data for 245,000 people

https://www.2-spyware.com/vbulletin-zero-day-used-to-leak-data-of-245000-comodo-forum-users


I've probably spent 20 hours this week working with XF add-ons and communicating with authors about bugs I've found. The goal is that when we finally migrate (mid November?), that the new system will be in the best shape possible.

And today, having nothing to do with this zero day for vb 5, I spent almost 10 hours working on further improving network security and backup systems around here. There weren't any issues, but I always think there is more any network can do to improve.
 
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I hadn't heard about the zero day, but I see it now. It only affects version 5.x of vBulletin, and we (as many) are running version 3.x. In general, I'm much more comfortable with the security of vb 3, then I would be with 5. We are running security software on top of vb 3 also, which create some false positives which is why sometimes get stark white 'forbidden' messages.

I see a people are suffering already due to the vb 5 issue. It's a bad week for Comodo, who managed to lose user data for 245,000 people

https://www.2-spyware.com/vbulletin-zero-day-used-to-leak-data-of-245000-comodo-forum-users


I've probably spent 20 hours this week working with XF add-ons and communicating with authors about bugs I've found. The goal is that when we finally migrate (mid November?), that the new system will be in the best shape possible.

And today, having nothing to do with this zero day for vb 5, I spent almost 10 hours working on further improving network security and backup systems around here. There weren't any issues, but I always think there is more any network can do to improve.

brain fart on my end. Forgot KLOV was running an older version of vbulletin. The RCE also hit Sony's forums which briefly took them down from what i was told. When i checked on them the forums were okay. Could have been taken offline as a precaution.
 
I understand. We will be using Xenforo 2.1. Third party styles can be found here: https://xenforo.com/community/resources/categories/styles-2-x.45/ If you can find a dense one that looks good I'm happy to take a look. My main issue is that it shouldn't do much template tweaking. The template modifiers usually can't resist themselves and their sample pages look nothing like the forums we are familiar with. Also, the template modifiers don't lend themselves well to being one of multiple style choices on a forum, as they can create conflicts I'm not prepared to deal with. They work best when they live and serve alone.

Did a little poking around and found this thread which talks about skinning to look like vB:
https://theadminzone.com/threads/can-xenforo-be-customized-to-be-close-to-vbulletin.105867/

It's an older thread and unfortunately only links through to 1.x styles.

However, this looks like a perfect match but would of course have to be ported forward.
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/vb-3-x-fluid-fixed.2151/

I did some searching to try to figure out hard it would be to port it forward. Is there any way to at least put forward an effort in that regard without having to setup my own system?
 
Did a little poking around and found this thread which talks about skinning to look like vB:
https://theadminzone.com/threads/can-xenforo-be-customized-to-be-close-to-vbulletin.105867/

It's an older thread and unfortunately only links through to 1.x styles.

However, this looks like a perfect match but would of course have to be ported forward.
https://xenforo.com/community/resources/vb-3-x-fluid-fixed.2151/

I did some searching to try to figure out hard it would be to port it forward. Is there any way to at least put forward an effort in that regard without having to setup my own system?

Been a while since I've messed with this stuff. If i remember correctly, XF will warn you that you are running a 1.x style in xenforo 2 and run you through in an attempt to show you the differences and conflicts between the 2 styles. 99.9% of the time you still end up with a borked theme but it gets you somewhere.

XF's style properties IMO sucks and is a messy nightmare. This is one of the few areas where IPB has them spanked thanks to simplicity. It's nearly all run via css. You can learn css and use it on any other website. You can't translate this style properties/stylevar stupidity to anything other than forums.

With that said, XF2's default theme is simple enough where anyone with some css experience could probably get it looking vbulletin3-ish in a matter of hours.
 
XF's style properties IMO sucks and is a messy nightmare. This is one of the few areas where IPB has them spanked thanks to simplicity. It's nearly all run via css. You can learn css and use it on any other website. You can't translate this style properties/stylevar stupidity to anything other than forums.

That pretty much sums up all the comments that I read online. I figured if there was something that was close and something to test it against that I didn't have to setup (entire tool chain) I'd take a try at converting it and maybe I could figure out adding to it too. That being said I don't have a ton of spare time to screw around with it either.
 
I could make a vb3-ish theme to ease the transition.

I stress VB3-ish here. I really don't think its a good idea to make a vbulletin 3 clone theme. VB3 is stupid levels of old and at this rate something is bound to look either broken or incomplete regardless. Vbulletin3 is about 14 years old. a 1:1 clone would be like un-inventing the wheel. Transitional would be the key here.
 
I could make a vb3-ish theme to ease the transition.

I stress VB3-ish here. I really don't think its a good idea to make a vbulletin 3 clone theme. VB3 is stupid levels of old and at this rate something is bound to look either broken or incomplete regardless. Vbulletin3 is about 14 years old. a 1:1 clone would be like un-inventing the wheel. Transitional would be the key here.

LOL, I hear you and agree. That's why mclemore sent me to the v2 themes bucket. I didn't find anything there and a search found something that might fit the bill but it was one rev back.

Really, I'm thinking that if we just ported forward the older one it might be all that's needed.

I'm just an old fart and would rather have something that's more compact/text rather than all this flashy sticker covered BS. :001_sbiggrin:
 
LOL, I hear you and agree. That's why mclemore sent me to the v2 themes bucket. I didn't find anything there and a search found something that might fit the bill but it was one rev back.

Really, I'm thinking that if we just ported forward the older one it might be all that's needed.

I'm just an old fart and would rather have something that's more compact/text rather than all this flashy sticker covered BS. :001_sbiggrin:

IMO that has a high failure rate. The vb3 theme hasn't been updated in 4 years. It might still be worth a shot but i personally don't have high hopes.
 
IMO that has a high failure rate. The vb3 theme hasn't been updated in 4 years. It might still be worth a shot but i personally don't have high hopes.

You'd know better than I in that regard probably. Got no web programming exp in my background. Lots of other programming tho...
 
You'd know better than I in that regard probably. Got no web programming exp in my background. Lots of other programming tho...

The problem these days is that things move so quickly in terms of web software. You'd end up having to repeat this a number of times as software gets updated, even in small updates.

Cooked this up in about 10 mins from my browser so doing something vb-ish is absolutely do-able.

 
The problem these days is that things move so quickly in terms of web software. You'd end up having to repeat this a number of times as software gets updated, even in small updates.

Cooked this up in about 10 mins from my browser so doing something vb-ish is absolutely do-able.

You're Hired! :D
 
I've noticed the XF1 styles before. They are basically unusable.

Based on inspiration from above, I did make another child theme off of the Original Default It uses vb3 colors, at least in part, and has square avatars, slightly tighter text, font change, etc.. It's pretty similar to the sample Don posted above. The major difference is that I've strayed from the vBulletin color scheme for the top of the page. If I didn't, the non-highlighted tab text doesn't show well (white on white) on some monitors, and to fix that, too me down an ugly road.

Attached is a picture. Also, you can go to the test site and change the skin to 'Original - vb3 Test in Progress'
 

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I've noticed the XF1 styles before. They are basically unusable.

Based on inspiration from above, I did make another child theme off of the Original Default It uses vb3 colors, at least in part, and has square avatars, slightly tighter text, font change, etc.. It's pretty similar to the sample Don posted above. The major difference is that I've strayed from the vBulletin color scheme for the top of the page. If I didn't, the non-highlighted tab text doesn't show well (white on white) on some monitors, and to fix that, too me down an ugly road.

Attached is a picture. Also, you can go to the test site and change the skin to 'Original - vb3 Test in Progress'

I'd fix the header logo, expand the width of the forums content (keep in mind KLOV readers have never been accustomed to a sidebar) and rounded radius corners. There are two or three other tiny details to iron out. That's about it.

IMO the idea is to get readers accustomed to the forums software while weaning them off of the stock vb3 software. Cloning the vbulletin theme 100% doesn't do that for you, it just digs you deeper into the rabbit hole. Especially when it comes to updating xenforo in the future.

All of the bits i changed i made by changing the css live on my browser. This means you should be able to do all of this in css and add it to your extra.css template and it would make this extremely portable for future updates.
 
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