PanSevence

I am excited about the upcoming changes, my community will be reborn anew. I am looking forward to the public release of v5 and I am upgrading to the classic license.

I am excited about the upcoming changes, my community will be reborn anew. I am looking forward to the public release of v5 and I am upgrading to the classic license.

I am excited about the upcoming changes, my community will be reborn anew. I am looking forward to the public release of v5 and I am upgrading to the classic license.

I am excited about the upcoming changes, my community will be reborn anew. I am looking forward to the public release of v5 and I am upgrading to the classic license.

A little update on development.
Our public preview of v5 alpha has been very busy, with lots of suggestions and bugs being posted. We released alpha 12 last week, and you can check out all the bugs fixed in our release notes.
We've also tested upgrading a clone of this community, a private site we use with custom apps built on v4, and created a new custom site with multiple needs and those have been informative.
The next step is public beta, and we're very close to that, so I wouldn't expect that to be very far out at all.
Thanks for all your patience. Although v5 is currently alpha, it's proven to be incredibly stable already and we're looking forward to the next step!
 

I have a question about posts. I have noticed for a long time, when editing some posts, that the background-color value is added to reset the text color. The question is, why fill the database with it, if after removing it, there is no difference?
Sample code that is automatically added to some posts:
<p> Hello. I'm a Robert.<span style="background-color: rgb( var(--theme-area_background_reset) ); color: rgb( var(--theme-text_color) );">I wanted to say hello. </span> </p> And this is the code after "cleaning":
<p> Hello. I'm a Robert. I wanted to say hello. </p> There is no benefit to adding this unnecessary code. Of course, I have the "Always paste as plain text" option enabled in the editor settings.

This is still an open bug report at present. I will see if we can get an update for you

As asked in the V5 forum, and suggested to put in feedback, in addition to traditional subscription options, we would like to see the option to be able to state a specified subscription end date for all users/purchasers of a specific subscription.
There are possibly a few use-case scenarios for this but in our case, we run a scheme to sponsor a player for our football team for the season. The season has a specified end-date. However, because we typically gather the sponsorship fees over a 3–4-week time period, the expiry dates are all over the place. We would want the term to start whenever it is ordered but want all subscriptions to end on the same date (for example May 31st each year) which we would be able to specify in the subscription. Currently I do this as a product and have to go into the DB itself and modify the expiry dates which is somewhat workable but not ideal. 
  
 
 

Yes, the fix for this is included in 4.7.18
 

This is an aside, but some general thoughts on reading and browsing multi-page topics: 
- in v5, there will probably be even less reason to be browsing all of the pages in a multi-page topic with newer features like Topic Summary, helpful, and solutions.  For users who are goal-seeking and solution-oriented, they're going to want the fastest and easiest path to their query.  
For multi-page topics that are social in nature where each post is part of the story, they're going to want to read all the posts (or at least the most reacted posts) 
- the entire concept of a page with 25 replies (why not 26 replies? Why not 100 replies?) is so Internet 2000s.  In a world of mobile first, we really ought to have infinite scroll up or scroll down of prior posts.  

For me, the new prices are very attractive, however, I kindly request that self-hosting continues to be developed despite the low interest. 🙏

For me, the new prices are very attractive, however, I kindly request that self-hosting continues to be developed despite the low interest. 🙏

View transitions are a great way to make websites and web apps feel smooth and pleasant to use.
This feature is now available in major browsers and will soon be added to others. It's also a progressive (non-breaking) enhancement, meaning we don't have to wait for universal browser adoption. Users of major browsers will immediately notice the difference, while users of other browsers won't experience any change until their browsers are updated.
Also, the good part is that some generic transitions can be implemented with CSS alone, without any JavaScript. JavaScript is optional for very specific cases but not mandatory at all.
For more information on how view transitions work:
General description: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/web-platform/view-transitions Specifics for multipage applications: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/web-platform/view-transitions/cross-document

For me, the new prices are very attractive, however, I kindly request that self-hosting continues to be developed despite the low interest. 🙏

For me, the new prices are very attractive, however, I kindly request that self-hosting continues to be developed despite the low interest. 🙏

For me, the new prices are very attractive, however, I kindly request that self-hosting continues to be developed despite the low interest. 🙏

For me, the new prices are very attractive, however, I kindly request that self-hosting continues to be developed despite the low interest. 🙏

We recently changed our pricing from 'pick what you want' to 'everything' for a few reasons.

First, a forum-only community will not survive in 2024. Secondly, we want to strengthen the relationship between apps and that is impossible to do when an app may be missing.
It sounds like XenForo is a great fit for you, so I wish you all the best!

Hi AtomiCAST,
I appreciate your question. Value is very subjective, but I can run through a few things in terms of what I think offers a lot of value.
The first thing I want to address is that we do not see XenForo as a competitor. They are a legacy forum-only system that is looking very dated with a slow development process that took over three years to bring a new version to the market that largely catches up to where we were years ago. If you purchase a license with XenForo then you will get a forum system and that is that. You do not get a commerce store, a powerful CMS and database system, nor a gallery or community blogging tool.
We are different. We do not base all our decisions around code and development, but rather our conversations with professional community management teams running large complex communities. We focus on bringing tools to the platform that people need. You only have to look through our news blogs to see our forward thinking with regards to managing communities. 
We have:
Redefined what a community product should look like with a brand new interface. Built a brand new theme editing experience designed to reduce complexity and enable everyone to theme their community. Added a way to erase frustration and find answers quickly. Added a new way to identify and follow community experts and leaders for a better onboarding experience. Added a simple badge builder to empower all community owners to create custom badges and reactions. Added a way to assign individual topics to moderators and teams to help organise your forum and provide better service for members. A brand new lightweight and fast editor that actually works. Rebuilt tagging to bring content from all over the community into one place. Added a drag and drop WYSIWYG page builder tool with dozens of pre-built widgets and layouts. As you can see, these features are not based around technology, but based around people and community. When you look at XenForo's 2.3 feature list, it's things like OAuth, Stripe integration, developer tools, web hooks, etc. These are all much-needed (and we've had them for years) but how do these help you grow a community and help your community get the best from their time on the forum? I believe their next release is 3.0 and will just be a new theme and unlikely to launch in 2024, so when will you get new features? 2025, 2026, 2027? Or you can have an alpha release of Invision Community 5 right now with a full release later this year.
The basic question being asked is "why aren't you as cheap as XenForo" and the question is simply that we do not want to be "cheap", we want to be good. We want to help your community succeed with forward thinking features, regular releases and daily communication. We will not abandon the software for years leaving your communities struggling and stagnating against newer more modern community platforms. We are constantly thinking about how to allow your members to get the most from your forum in the small pockets of time people have. Invision Community 5 being a mobile first product allows your members to check-in (or be pulled back with notifications) while in a line at that the store, or waiting in the car while your kids are at sports clubs. This is how people use your forum now.

So in terms of value, and what we offer for the price is simple:
We offer you a strong future and will work hard to support your community.
If you want a cheap forum, and are happy with the stop-start-stop development of XenForo then that is totally fine too.

There have been a few different conversations on this, especially, last year when we changed our license terms for moving forward. The summary really comes down to: the current license terms were put together in order to make self-hosting viable for the future for both our clients and us. The self-hosting market has shrunk to a very, very small part of our business (and respectively, the internet as a whole) so if we are going to offer a self-hosted option, we want it to be the best of our software suite and if we're going to sell it, we don't want to abandon our self-hosted customers so it has to be something we can continue to provide support to at a renewal which works.
It's also worth mentioning that you get what you pay for. Our software is ever evolving (check out our Version 5 Blogs). We offer monthly releases, support, Spam Defense, GEOIP, and a lot of other goodies, all for $499 one time price and $199/year afterwards. 

I've been a XenForo customer for a while, have run through a tons of scenarios in my head to find some logical explanation to this now that I'm looking into getting an IPB license but haven't found one yet.
What makes IPB so expensive when it comes to Self Hosting? I can't find any logical explanation for paying $500 for a forum software that seems to be similar in features (Perhaps a few things are more detailed and/or complex) than other forum softwares out there.
I know this question has probably been asked through out the years, but either Invision doesn't want to compete with other software or is just trying to grab as much money as possible (In my honest opinion).
Why not lower the price for a stripped down version of the suite? I personally don't need all the bells and whistles, just something that I can offer to my community to store their posts and communicate in a more organized way. No need for a CMS, Gallery, Calendar, Ecommerce, Blogs or Clubs.
I personally think that giving the price of the competition, if Invision had the amazing idea of lowering their prices drastically, it would certainly open up the doors for customers from other places to look into switching over. I don't personally mind paying anywhere between 200-250 and 75-80 in renewals (Or less in renewals but instead every 6 months due to being a stripped down version of it).
I hope it doesn't come as rough or disrespectful, but I need some clarification to make a decision.

Introducing new Page Builder tools in Invision Community 5
Widgets are an incredibly powerful tool for displaying curated content of your choice on any page of your community - and despite the extensive array of settings for customizing their data, they've often been limited in terms of their design options. But this changes thanks to the new Page Builder tools in Invision Community 5!
Widget Designs
Previously in version 4, widgets would often have 2 designs: one for the main content area and a more minimal version for the sidebar. This worked well, but it meant your page was very limited in terms of design as you'd typically need to use the same table-like layout for most widgets. Anything beyond that would typically require a custom block to be coded, often with additional HTML or CSS.
Version 5 offers much more customization by allowing you to change the design of each widget with the click of your mouse - no coding necessary! When dragging a widget onto your page, a new toolbar at the bottom of the page appears, holding all of the widget design options. Lets take a look at some below!
Grid
A familiar a very layout used elsewhere in the suite, the Grid design neatly aligns entries in a grid with a large cover photo sitting up top. A great combination of visual imagery alongside meta data such as entry descriptions.

 
Featured
A spacious list and a great way to feature content, pardon the pun.

 
Wallpaper
Perfect for content which includes uploaded cover photos or thumbnails! The Wallpaper design stretches each image to make it occupy the entire background, overlaid by a minimal amount of content. A subtle gradient sits behind the text to ensure it's easy to read, even on detailed images.

 
Rows (table)
The Rows design is a very familiar one, used very often throughout other areas of the suite. Content is displayed in a neat table, that collapses into a more compact design on small screens.

 
Minimal
Great for displaying a lot of content in a compact area! Minimal only shows primary information and hides meta data such as entry descriptions and stats. Great for sidebars, or areas with limited width.

 
Minimal Grid
The Minimal Grid design removes large meta information and displays content in a nice, compact grid. A nice option for displaying a lot of content while being cautious of vertical space.

 
Carousel
The Carousel option is quite unique because it can be applied in tandem with other widget designs, and is a perfect way to make the existing layouts even more compact. For example, by default, the Wallpaper design is aligned as a grid, but with the Carousel option enabled, the layout is converted into a carousel instead:
Carousel-widget.mp4
Here's another example, using the Featured and Carousel options:
Blog - featured carousel.mp4
 
Fun fact for developers: All of these designs use the exact same HTML structure; the only thing that differs is the class name on the parent element. This makes it incredibly easy to adjust the design of your own widgets without needing to manually code multiple layouts.
 
Widget Areas
Version 4 was often quite limiting when it came to aligning widgets in pages. Widgets could be dragged into a stacked, vertical list but that was typically as far as you could go in terms of design. Version 5 introduces a new concept called Widget Areas, which allow you to align multiple widgets in a variety of ways. Lets take a look!
To create an area, you simply need to drag one widget on top of another.
Blog - areas.mp4
By default, they'll align themselves into a grid, but can be realigned with ease by using the toolbar at the bottom of the page. The toolbar also holds controls for adjusting the width of widgets, and the gap between them:
Blog - alignments.mp4
 
Widget Designs and Widget Areas in Version 5 make it incredibly easy to create a completely custom page in a matter of seconds. We're really excited for you to get your hands on these new tools in Invision Community 5, and are looking forward to seeing all of these new page designs in the wild, in the very near future!

View full blog entry

These are on our list but will likely not make it in the initial Community 5 release. Tables sound simple enough, but when you factor everything that goes into delivering a powerful table system - background color, border color, border width, what type of content can go in a cell, what to do about overflow, actions applying to the entire row/column etc - and make it not only powerful but easy to use and reliable, the dev time really adds up.

🤔 😉

We recently announced the new Invision Community 5 editor which adds many new exciting features such as semantically correct header tags, custom boxes and more. As the new editor is a leap forward in technology, some legacy features had to be left behind. We received a lot of messages about these changes, and have created new tools based on that feedback to ensure you still have the tools you need.
The new features are based around restricting some high level editor functionality for specific member groups and enabling an easy way to add custom embeds.
Permission Levels
Invision Community 5 puts a lot of new tools in the editor, including header tags, boxes and positioning tools. These are useful features, but perhaps you do not want your members changing the semantic structure of the page by adding H1 tags. Or maybe you don't want them being able to add custom boxes with colors. Based on this feedback, we have introduced a permission levels system.
At the heart of the system lies three editor permission levels: Minimal, Standard and Advanced.
Specific editor features are assigned to one or more levels. For example, you may only want header tags and content boxes to be for the 'advanced' permission level which only administrators can use.
These permission levels are configurable via the Admin Control Panel.

When is Each Restriction Level Used?
Now that we have set up the permission levels, we need to apply them to member groups.
We do this by simplying heading over to the Member Groups section of the Admin Control Panel. In the "Content" section of that form, there are two new options:
Default Editor Restriction Level: This is the restriction level the group uses by default, for example in Forum Topics and Blog Posts. Editor Restriction Level for Comments: This is the level used for Comments (including Topic Replies) throughout the Community.
When a member has multiple groups, they will use the most permissible editor setting out of all groups.
Custom Embeds
In response to news that the ability to toggle into 'source mode' and directly edit the underlying structure of the editor document was not implemented because editor technology has moved on, many people told us they used that feature to add custom iframes from specific services they use.
We understood the need for custom embeds, and we've added the option to create iframe elements with any whitelisted URL from a link.
CleanShot 2024-06-20 at 15.49.43.mp4
Additionally, iframes created this way have configurable height and width so you can resize to your liking

This feature has two editor permissions: "Can Embed External Content," and "Can Convert Links to iframes".
Adding iframes into a post can potentially be a security issue, so strong controls are needed to ensure there isn't abuse of this system. The editor will only allow links to be converted to iframes if the domain has been whitelisted. The whitelist exists in the new tab, Admin Control Panel > System > Posting & Editor > Embeds. The feature can also be entirely disabled from here.

That wraps up this round of changes based on your comments. We hope that you enjoy this update to our Invision Community 5 editor and we always appreciate your feedback.

View full blog entry