Your XenForo board all AJAX?
The Internet has grown and all the way to and beyond web 2.0 and web apps, and many other terms such as UI/UX and progressive enhancements. And it has learned those who engineer great products and understand their target audience the things that helps them be on top of their game. Such as XenForo.
A button to leave a comment, a page refresh, user participation.. It's one thing, but it means no more than it is functional and that it helps site owners to get a non-static section for content on their site.
What XenForo has done from the start is improve usability by thinking through the User Interface and using smart frameworks such as jQuery to use logical progressive enhancements via AJAX.
Now, we can go into detail about what AJAX is, how it's only client-side and that old fashioned way of thinking is to have almost all your code server-side because it allows you to stay in control. But XenForo is a modern solution, and uses AJAX properly. You can turn off JavaScript in your browser and load XenForo to find out it's core functions work as expected.
What AJAX is could be explained with one phrase: client-side acronym for asynchronous JavaScript and XML which allows you to (without page reloads) catch input or actions, parse it to a script and get the page to update with feedback without having to have to reload the whole page. For a full explanation check out the wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)
Examples: in-line editing of page content, quick reply, alert box, gosh, it's just too much.
It's refreshing to see it being used properly. Just browsing around is done in a way that it's comfortable, signing up, logging in, participating in social profiles, private messages and of course public discussions is comfortable, easy, and logical. It's amazing once you are used to it you don't even realize where it's applied, or when you go back to another forum platform that you realize how much you're missing it when it's not done right.
Personally I strongly believe that it's a small effort to move away from outdated monopolistic setups of browsers on outdated systems and move to say Chrome or FireFox and get the most out of your Internet experience. Computers that are much modern than the old underperforming 8 year old systems are at Dell.com for 250 to 500 dollars, and will be excellent Internet browsing devices. iPads and other tablets have a full browser experience making it possible to get everything you'd get on your full desktop in a touch interface experience. Why not upgrade? I want everybody to enjoy my site the fullest, and browsers from the last 1,5 to 2 years will certainly give you that. But, if not, at least you get the core functionality and you can participate.
Therefor I leave everything on and as vanilla as possible. On my sites I don't turn off AJAX elements, or pretty JavaScript interface functionalities. As it's now more than ever effortless to browse, sign up, log in and participate. Pages update - and they update fast. Social elements are right there, and up to date when you decide to use them.
And why is this important, besides convenience of browsing? Because it keeps users on the site, it keeps users involved with the site. And that means they're feeling happy and comfortable. They continue to browse, because it's not a frustration. And they feel provoked more than ever to participate. Isn't that what you as site owner desire for your community? Isn't that exactly what your advertisers want out of your community?
I for one am glad that XenForo has invested so much in writing the right thing for their customers, and I use all the AJAX elements out of the box. What have you done? Do you offer a style without all the fancy-ness, or perhaps have you globally disabled settings such as overlays and inline editing?
The Internet has grown and all the way to and beyond web 2.0 and web apps, and many other terms such as UI/UX and progressive enhancements. And it has learned those who engineer great products and understand their target audience the things that helps them be on top of their game. Such as XenForo.
A button to leave a comment, a page refresh, user participation.. It's one thing, but it means no more than it is functional and that it helps site owners to get a non-static section for content on their site.
What XenForo has done from the start is improve usability by thinking through the User Interface and using smart frameworks such as jQuery to use logical progressive enhancements via AJAX.
Now, we can go into detail about what AJAX is, how it's only client-side and that old fashioned way of thinking is to have almost all your code server-side because it allows you to stay in control. But XenForo is a modern solution, and uses AJAX properly. You can turn off JavaScript in your browser and load XenForo to find out it's core functions work as expected.
What AJAX is could be explained with one phrase: client-side acronym for asynchronous JavaScript and XML which allows you to (without page reloads) catch input or actions, parse it to a script and get the page to update with feedback without having to have to reload the whole page. For a full explanation check out the wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajax_(programming)
Examples: in-line editing of page content, quick reply, alert box, gosh, it's just too much.
It's refreshing to see it being used properly. Just browsing around is done in a way that it's comfortable, signing up, logging in, participating in social profiles, private messages and of course public discussions is comfortable, easy, and logical. It's amazing once you are used to it you don't even realize where it's applied, or when you go back to another forum platform that you realize how much you're missing it when it's not done right.
Personally I strongly believe that it's a small effort to move away from outdated monopolistic setups of browsers on outdated systems and move to say Chrome or FireFox and get the most out of your Internet experience. Computers that are much modern than the old underperforming 8 year old systems are at Dell.com for 250 to 500 dollars, and will be excellent Internet browsing devices. iPads and other tablets have a full browser experience making it possible to get everything you'd get on your full desktop in a touch interface experience. Why not upgrade? I want everybody to enjoy my site the fullest, and browsers from the last 1,5 to 2 years will certainly give you that. But, if not, at least you get the core functionality and you can participate.
Therefor I leave everything on and as vanilla as possible. On my sites I don't turn off AJAX elements, or pretty JavaScript interface functionalities. As it's now more than ever effortless to browse, sign up, log in and participate. Pages update - and they update fast. Social elements are right there, and up to date when you decide to use them.
And why is this important, besides convenience of browsing? Because it keeps users on the site, it keeps users involved with the site. And that means they're feeling happy and comfortable. They continue to browse, because it's not a frustration. And they feel provoked more than ever to participate. Isn't that what you as site owner desire for your community? Isn't that exactly what your advertisers want out of your community?
I for one am glad that XenForo has invested so much in writing the right thing for their customers, and I use all the AJAX elements out of the box. What have you done? Do you offer a style without all the fancy-ness, or perhaps have you globally disabled settings such as overlays and inline editing?
, I for one feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I go to use an xF board, and it is true that XenForo has been designed to drive user content and keep users on as long as possible, something where in the past it was so much harder to do but now it's in the core 