Any plans to improve the UI ?

[Anthony.]

Any plans to improve the user interface ?

I really like IPB ... but I love the XF interface :rolleyes:

[Guest]

Any plans to improve the user interface ?

I really like IPB ... but I love the XF interface :rolleyes:

As you'll have probably noticed with IP.Nexus, and the teaser images of IP.Gallery 4.0, we are introducing better/cleaner UIs as we work our way through the apps. So yes, there are plans to do so, but it'll be more of an ongoing process of improvement.

The big problem we face with this task is that we have a lot of history that forces certain design choices upon us, be it because our customers prefer a certain style or IP.Board options/settings/features that require certain elements to be present. It's a lot easier for an application like XenForo to have a clean interface, because a) it's new, and b) to be frank, it has a vastly smaller feature set.

[bfarber]

I think it would be more helpful if you indicated what exactly about the XF interface you feel is improved over IP.Board. Sweeping statements like "make the UI better" are a touch hard to address, because every person has a different idea of what is better. What do YOU think needs to be improved in IP.Board?

[Matt]

I just want to say that "yes we will be cleaning up the interface". This has been the plan for quite a while.

[Olivier Turbis]

I just want to say that "yes we will be cleaning up the interface". This has been the plan for quite a while.

Nice. Can't wait for IP.Board. :)

Crazy how any big improvement can "feel" obsolete one year later...

[Anthony.]

I just want to say that "yes we will be cleaning up the interface". This has been the plan for quite a while.

Thanks Matt ... no need to re-invent the wheel if you know what I mean :D

[Anthony.]

As you'll have probably noticed with IP.Nexus, and the teaser images of IP.Gallery 4.0, we are introducing better/cleaner UIs as we work our way through the apps. So yes, there are plans to do so, but it'll be more of an ongoing process of improvement.

The big problem we face with this task is that we have a lot of history that forces certain design choices upon us, be it because our customers prefer a certain style or IP.Board options/settings/features that require certain elements to be present. It's a lot easier for an application like XenForo to have a clean interface, because a) it's new, and b) to be frank, it has a vastly smaller feature set.

Dan everything you said is true ... XF does not just have a clean interface, it has an ADDICTIVE interface ...

everybody wants to be liked in this world and the red hot likes play into this ...

people love to collect, move up, master and grow etc ... the xenforo Trophy system plays into this ...

it would be great if IPB would have both features in the next release (optional via acp if anything). :wub:

[3DKiwi]

Have to say some of XF interface elements are slicker looking and appear to work better than similar things in IPB, specifically:

Search in XF is a lot slicker looking and it's obvious there is an advanced search. Not so obvious in IPB
Topic previewing is slicker with the smooth pop up when the cursor is hovered over the title however I do like first, first unread and last preview that IPB has
Multi page navigating is slicker and works better than what IPB has i.e. try navigating to page 35 of a lengthy topic in IPB

That said you would expect a forum software application without all the things that IPB has would be cleaner looking. By that I mean gallery, downloads etc.

3DKiwi

[A Walk in Faith]

I think it would be more helpful if you indicated what exactly about the XF interface you feel is improved over IP.Board. Sweeping statements like "make the UI better" are a touch hard to address, because every person has a different idea of what is better. What do YOU think needs to be improved in IP.Board?

The way images are handled over at xF is better. Here is a video showing an example of how it works.

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/enhanced-attachment-uploader.4131/

Jamie

[A Walk in Faith]

Have to say some of XF interface elements are slicker looking and appear to work better than similar things in IPB, specifically:

Search in XF is a lot slicker looking and it's obvious there is an advanced search. Not so obvious in IPB

Topic previewing is slicker with the smooth pop up when the cursor is hovered over the title however I do like first, first unread and last preview that IPB has

Multi page navigating is slicker and works better than what IPB has i.e. try navigating to page 35 of a lengthy topic in IPB

That said you would expect a forum software application without all the things that IPB has would be cleaner looking. By that I mean gallery, downloads etc.

3DKiwi

I like the way Search is handled, but would be interested to see how they would work it if they added other apps like IPB has.. I also like how the Multi page navigation works, but am not fond of the pop up on hovering over the title.. Maybe it's that I am not use to it..

Jamie

[Stars25]

Have to say some of XF interface elements are slicker looking and appear to work better than similar things in IPB, specifically:

Search in XF is a lot slicker looking and it's obvious there is an advanced search. Not so obvious in IPB

Topic previewing is slicker with the smooth pop up when the cursor is hovered over the title however I do like first, first unread and last preview that IPB has

Multi page navigating is slicker and works better than what IPB has i.e. try navigating to page 35 of a lengthy topic in IPB

That said you would expect a forum software application without all the things that IPB has would be cleaner looking. By that I mean gallery, downloads etc.

3DKiwi

How more obvious do you want IPB to make their advanced search? In IPB 3.0 it clearly said "Advanced" and now in 3.1.x it is a COG image. I don't know how much more clearer it can be...

[3DKiwi]

How more obvious do you want IPB to make their advanced search? In IPB 3.0 it clearly said "Advanced" and now in 3.1.x it is a COG image. I don't know how much more clearer it can be...

A cog is obvious for us experiences admins but not so obvious for a new member finding their way way around new and unfamilar forum software. If you've looked at XF's search after clicking search it's pretty clear that an advanced search is available. That's my point.

3DKiwi

[Steve H]

Please don't change the ACP to look anything like XF's. Really not a fan - it looks like it was designed by a young child.

[.Peter]

Please don't change the ACP to look anything like XF's. Really not a fan - it looks like it was designed by a young child.

Well I remember Matt mentioning that for IPB 3.2 the ACP is going to get a CSS overhaul... so we'll have to see.

[A Walk in Faith]

Please don't change the ACP to look anything like XF's. Really not a fan - it looks like it was designed by a young child.

Keir has stated in the forums that those were his doddles and he isn't sure he is fond of them either. I think they were working on the coding process and the 'pretty' icons took a back burner.

That said, from the little I have used the xF ACP in playing around with it, I currently like the IPB ACP better.

Jamie

[Glumbo]

Kier said that the doodles were just for testing but people liked it so much that he kept them in the beta release

I think the main IPB can do to improve UI is to have less page loads to do simple functions such as posting replies, editing posts etc. I also think that PB should make a default theme that looks more modern. The current theme looks really outdated to be honest.

[Mike54]

Speaking entirely for myself, I am really hoping to see the IPB devs continuing to move forward with what they have been doing all along and not trying to make IPB look/act/feel like xenForo or any other forum package. Bells and whistles do not equal innovation.

If I wanted xenForo, I would purchase xenForo. The fact remains, IPB does what I want and the sneak peeks we occasionally get of what the devs are working on have me even more enthused about the future. If you listen closely to how Matt describes the reasons for coding the IPB Suite as it has been, it's easy to get excited. I hope everyone at IPS continues to dance with the one what brung 'em, because it's really going to get better and better.

[A Walk in Faith]

Speaking entirely for myself, I am really hoping to see the IPB devs continuing to move forward with what they have been doing all along and not trying to make IPB look/act/feel like xenForo or any other forum package. Bells and whistles do not equal innovation.

If I wanted xenForo, I would purchase xenForo. The fact remains, IPB does what I want and the sneak peeks we occasionally get of what the devs are working on have me even more enthused about the future. If you listen closely to how Matt describes the reasons for coding the IPB Suite as it has been, it's easy to get excited. I hope everyone at IPS continues to dance with the one what brung 'em, because it's really going to get better and better.

While I agree that there is a trust built into running IPB, I fully trust Matt and the gang with my community, I do think there is still room for improvement.

The way images are handled for example.. This is something I noticed at the beginning of using IPB, and I only link to xF because they are doing it better.. had someone else been doing it better there would have been a link to them instead. For me, this wasn't a issue I noticed just when xF came out.. it's been one for a while.

I have mentioned how images are handled in IPB, have asked about how to manage them across all the apps and each time we talk about images it never seems to sink in that the current way is lacking.

I don't want IPB to become a copy of any platform, but I do want them to be quick enough to see when things work better elsewhere and use that as a way to continue to move this product forward, and I do think for the *most* part they do this.. but to get any new features we have to ask for them and for me, it doesn't matter who's doing it better, if there is a 'need' here to do something better then the link/example will be that other platform.

Jamie

[Taylor J]

Dan everything you said is true ... XF does not just have a clean interface, it has an ADDICTIVE interface ...

everybody wants to be liked in this world and the red hot likes play into this ...

people love to collect, move up, master and grow etc ... the xenforo Trophy system plays into this ...

it would be great if IPB would have both features in the next release (optional via acp if anything). :wub:

If everything is so addictive in XF, why not go use it then? IPB was not made to be like another forum competitor it was made so we have something that is easy and amazing to use. Not everything has to be like XenForo. Also so far you are the only person saying that everything they have over there is addictive.

[G Fox]

What I like about xenforo are mostly simple things which I will either skin myself or hope to find in ip board 3.2. I think thus the xf UI cleverness could easily be seen as default for IPB.

What I like and will be copying:
The tooltips which preview topic content, the like button (no 'dislike'), the lack of graphic boxes around report/reply/quote etc also greatly reduces visual clutter and thus highlights the post text, the default notification being settings inline, an emphasis on hiding things rather than putting them in your face ( eg. Post count), and 'staff online' showing along the side.

Note I bought IPB a few days ago instead of xenfiro because of ip content 2.1 preview, gallery 4 preview and the built-in IPB portal. IPB has a platform, xf has a nice looking forum which can be replicated.

[A Walk in Faith]

What I like about xenforo are mostly simple things which I will either skin myself or hope to find in ip board 3.2. I think thus the xf UI cleverness could easily be seen as default for IPB.

What I like and will be copying:

The tooltips which preview topic content, the like button (no 'dislike'), the lack of graphic boxes around report/reply/quote etc also greatly reduces visual clutter and thus highlights the post text, the default notification being settings inline, an emphasis on hiding things rather than putting them in your face ( eg. Post count), and 'staff online' showing along the side.

Note I bought IPB a few days ago instead of xenfiro because of ip content 2.1 preview, gallery 4 preview and the built-in IPB portal. IPB has a platform, xf has a nice looking forum which can be replicated.

I think you have nailed it, xF offers a crisp clean design that does exactly what you would expect it to do. This cleanness does make xF 'addicting' but don't everyone want their guest/members to find your site addicting? :)


I have found myself in tweaking my IPB install removing things that cause clutter.. Buttons that aren't active because you're not logged in, language changer when only one language present, the entire footer of the wrapper, etc..

I have added sometimes I thought would be useful, but am finding that it's just adding clutter... so I will be removing them soon.

My ideal thing it to have the team here see that xF will hit some marks and will work in some areas.. use them to push this platform forward. (ie: Images! :) ) Cleaning up the design like Matt has already hinted at before xF came out. And lastly building this on top of the already solid core and making it all work together with all the apps..

While I am at it.. there is already an undertone of Xen Xen Xen and this will bring out the people here that will get upset at all the Xen topics.. It's my hope that this community can see with any new player on the market there are going to be many topics of this nature, and that doesn't mean people want IPB to copy xF... for me it just means I want IPB to continue to push forward and to for the lack of better words.. rip anything that is great in another platform and work it into IPB.. This only HELPS IPB grow through great ideas.. it doesn't matter where the idea came from. :)

So let's not 'draw lines in the sand' let's step up a community and support each others wants and needs and if we don't want or need that feature, we'll just move on. Each community, each admin is different. I love IPB and don't plan on moving my community, but I do want some features of xF. This doesn't change my commitment to IPB at all.. it's just me looking out for my community which is my number one goal.

Jamie

[Tanax]

Personally I don't really see almost anything that XF does better. The "like" post within the forums(i.e. no "facebook like") is quite great. The hover tooltip looks sleaks aswell. But other than that it's not much to talk about.

I disagree with it being "less cluttery". Having it with no "buttons" or the lack of graphical boxes makes it MORE difficult to manage. I like structure. IPB currently has a very well structured post-template for instance. Sure, every product needs constant updates and improvements but saying that IPB should remove graphical boxes is to me a BIG no-no. Perhaps IPB could use a sleaker design but to do that they should instead come up with a better organized interface with more functionality where you want it and do what you want it to do. By doing that it will become less clutter in itself.

[A Walk in Faith]

Personally I don't really see almost anything that XF does better. The "like" post within the forums(i.e. no "facebook like") is quite great. The hover tooltip looks sleaks aswell. But other than that it's not much to talk about.

You start with "I don't really see almost anything that XF does better" and then go off on two features that you think are great and sleek...

I think keeping an open mind and knowing that xF WILL have some things that work better than ours is a starting point we all need aware of.

That isn't to say that xF has it right most of the time or they get it every time.. but don't discount the things they do, do well by saying ... 'I don't really see almost anything that XF does better'...

I disagree with it being "less cluttery". Having it with no "buttons" or the lack of graphical boxes makes it MORE difficult to manage. I like structure. IPB currently has a very well structured post-template for instance. Sure, every product needs constant updates and improvements but saying that IPB should remove graphical boxes is to me a BIG no-no. Perhaps IPB could use a sleaker design but to do that they should instead come up with a better organized interface with more functionality where you want it and do what you want it to do. By doing that it will become less clutter in itself.

Again, you say you disagree with it being less cluettery (is that a word) and then a few sentences down say perhaps IPB could use a sleeker design..

I think a lot of the 'features' of IPB are useful, but they are too prominent in the design. Look at the new skin Skinbox just created... it's clean, simple and would be easy for people to use. It's also how xF is.

We should be able to find a balance, between a solid core and a clean design.. The first thing we need to do though is be open minded enough to know that some of the things xF will do will be better.. It's a given. With that, we can suggest new features, function and designs and move our platform forward.

We can do that, or we can go pound sand and bury our heads and be passed by...

For me, it's an easy pick. I like IPB and the team here, so if I see something, anyone has better I will suggest it to make this product better..

Jamie

[G Fox]

Well said Jamie. Remember a lot of the iPod and iPhone success is directly from their UI.
Design really matters. Stick it on top of the awesome IPB.

[Tanax]

You start with "I don't really see almost anything that XF does better" and then go off on two features that you think are great and sleek...

I think you need to process what you read a little bit before replying :)
Like you said, I did say "I don't really see ALMOST anything that XF does better". Notice the "almost"? Please don't be one of those word/phrasing polices..

I think keeping an open mind and knowing that xF WILL have some things that work better than ours is a starting point we all need aware of.

That isn't to say that xF has it right most of the time or they get it every time.. but don't discount the things they do, do well by saying ... 'I don't really see almost anything that XF does better'...

Obviously XF will continue to develop and will with almost all certainty come up with some things that they do better than their competitors. That's to be expected by any company. For instance, IPS have way better integration with their add-ons than vBulletin does. vBulletin has sleaker AJAX and JS (in my opinion) than IPS. And lastly XF have some things better aswell.

I am keeping an open mind but at the moment I don't see the appeal of it. That's not to say I can't do it in the future but right now "I really don't see almost anything that XF does better".

Again, you say you disagree with it being less cluettery (is that a word) and then a few sentences down say perhaps IPB could use a sleeker design..

No, "cluttery" isn't a word, hence the "" around the word. Again with the word police.. geez.
So you mean that just because I disagree with XF being less "cluttery" you mean that IPB is already sleak and don't need improvements? That's quite a narrow view in my opinion. I don't think XF looks all that sleak, in fact I think it looks quite dull. With that said, IPB needs to improve aswell, it isn't perfect - as with any product it needs constant updates.

Like I said, IPB is well structured and we'll just have to see how the new UI improvements for the add-ons will look until we set our opinions in stone. I don't think XF looks structured so that's just my view at it.

I guess it all boils down to that we all have different opinions and tastes. You like simple. I like structured and organized and that's why I don't like XF, I just don't see it as either structured nor organized.

I think a lot of the 'features' of IPB are useful, but they are too prominent in the design. Look at the new skin Skinbox just created... it's clean, simple and would be easy for people to use. It's also how xF is.

Of course they are. Perhaps they are too prominent. Again, let's just see what they are doing to the updates and see if they make the features less prominent. I like the new IP.Content article system. It looks structured and well organized. The same with the new IP.Gallery update sneakpeak released on the blog.

We should be able to find a balance, between a solid core and a clean design.. The first thing we need to do though is be open minded enough to know that some of the things xF will do will be better.. It's a given. With that, we can suggest new features, function and designs and move our platform forward.

I really think you got the wrong idea about what I wrote. I am open minded about the fact that XF will do things better, in fact I listed 2 things they do better so I don't really understand where you're coming at. I'm all for moving IPS forward.

For me, it's an easy pick. I like IPB and the team here, so if I see something, anyone has better I will suggest it to make this product better..

Yes but to me it seemed as if you wanted to remove features from IPB to make it as "sleak" as XF(which in my view doesn't look sleak, just unprofessional). I agree that IPB needs UI improvements - just not like XF. Perhaps in the direction of XF but not LIKE it. And I think it's great that you suggest things you see that you think will benefit IPB, I do the same.

No offense meant by anything, hope you didn't get offended.

Cheers,
Marcus