xenForo 2.3 is coming soon, 3.0 is not far off.

[Carlos X]

This thread is related to Roadmap, but there's no real discussion there.

Kier's official communication is the following:

2.3 has been in active development for quite some time and we expect to start running HYS threads in the coming weeks.

That was posted July 11, 2022, today is July 25, 2023...

XenForo Cloud and self-hosted XenForo run the same software. We don't work on them separately.

Chris Deeming posted an update on July 16, 2023

I’m going to keep this brief for now but underline that work on 2.3 continues and we will work towards a more extensive communication update soon.

We hear you and we are listening but I am imploring that you listen to us very carefully when we say that there are no conclusions to be drawn other than we are working hard to bring you XF 2.3 as soon as possible and we are simply taking our time to get things just right.

There are some good things coming in 2.3 and to an extent some amount of work has already been completed towards future versions.

I feel like some of these have been addressed before but I think it’s reasonable to address some of the specific theories from this or the other thread:

* We have no plans to redirect focus to become a Cloud only product. Our product is XenForo, the software, and that is a prerequisite regardless of how it is delivered

* Work continues on XF with the same uncompromising quality as ever

* The business is doing well, with year on year sales increasing

I hope we can bring you a more significant update soon but in the meantime I’d just like to reiterate that work continues, and Kier, NixFifty, Jeremy P and I are excited to show you what we’ve been working on.

Kier finally posted a substantial update on July 17, 2023:

Along with a bunch of major performance improvements and new features that are on the slate for 2.3, one of the main things on our list to do was a totally new master style. This has been largely my domain, and I have to say I'm really looking forward to unveiling it.

However, as the design was finalised and the technology behind it was being integrated, we turned our attention to how to migrate existing styles over to the new system in as much as would be possible. It was at this point that we realised that the new style is so dramatically different in its approach that we would need to spend a disproportionate amount of time producing some sort of migration system, and that it would be unlikely to be able to do a decent job given the vast gamut of customisation options available in the existing style system.

As you will know, because we place enormous value in our ability to provide a stable and reliable architecture upon which third parties can build plug-ins, extensions, applications and also styles, we make huge efforts to retain backward compatibility wherever possible when putting out a second-point release (2.1, 2.2 etc.).

It became clear that the new style would unavoidably introduce significant breakage to third party integrations, and reluctantly we decided to hold it back so that customers can benefit from the rest of what 2.3 has to offer, without needing to do extensive work to make existing third-party functionality and styles work with the new system. Some of the back-end customisation tools of the new style have been retained as they don't require drastic changes to templates or third-party styles, but the new style itself won't be released with 2.3.

That said, we have decided to switch to a different model for the way we release XenForo updates. While previously we have targeted fairly massive releases packed with new features, this has led to extended periods between those releases. I think it's fair to say that we are as fed up with that model as many of you are. There are features we finished ages ago that are slated for 2.3 release but have been held up waiting for other things to be completed.

After 2.3, we will introduce our new release model, where we will target a single major new feature with each release. That's not to say that other features definitely won't make it because of course they will, but instead of having a big slate of functionality to introduce with each x.y release, we'll get that one major feature done and hit the release button. The intention is that we'll have much more regular feature releases.

The first of those releases will be XenForo 3.0. Right now, the only feature we are definitely pursuing for that release will be the new style and as such, we hope that 3.0 will follow 2.3 in a relatively short time, as it should be effectively 2.3+style. Once 2.3 is out, we'll be getting in touch with major XenForo style producers to help them get ready for the 3.0 style, so that by the time it's ready for release there should be good third party support ready to go.

So, sorry for the delay, but rest assured we are working hard behind the scenes to bring you great software in the near future.

 

[Shortie_]

This is great to hear 🙂 looking forward to seeing what they have to offer in the next update and the changes they are going to make as well.

Xenforo have never let me down yet and I have always really enjoyed their new features as well so this is exciting.

 

[Page]

hmm, what will it bring to the game

 

[KensonPlays]

Hopefully it'll be an update with features that I can actually make use of, or I may hold off on renewing my license even longer. (especially since, unfortunately, I am unemployed at the moment and can't afford to renew a bunch of addons & licenses for a while)

 

[Demon_skeith]

Great, sounds like updates to break my addons and themes lol.

But really, what is HYS threads?

 

[zappaDPJ]

But really, what is HYS threads?

It stands for Have You Seen. It's the developer's way of demonstrating up and coming enhancements to the software.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but I highly doubt you'll see 2.3 much before the end of this year at the very earliest or 3.0 for at least another year, perhaps two. If 2.3 was anywhere close to release there would have already been HYS threads posted.

3.0 has to include a new editor and it has already been stated they haven't yet found a replacement. Replacing the editor is a massive job that will take many months of work and Xenforo is a small company with a tiny number of staff who have divided responsibilities.

I'd like to be more optimistic because the editor in Xenforo has been a thorn in my side since forever but the speed of development is what it is and it's been pretty glacial for a number of years now.

 

[Demon_skeith]

It stands for Have You Seen. It's the developer's way of demonstrating up and coming enhancements to the software.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but I highly doubt you'll see 2.3 much before the end of this year at the very earliest or 3.0 for at least another year, perhaps two. If 2.3 was anywhere close to release there would have already been HYS threads posted.

3.0 has to include a new editor and it has already been stated they haven't yet found a replacement. Replacing the editor is a massive job that will take many months of work and Xenforo is a small company with a tiny number of staff who have divided responsibilities.

I'd like to be more optimistic because the editor in Xenforo has been a thorn in my side since forever but the speed of development is what it is and it's been pretty glacial for a number of years now.

Thanks for the info, but why do you hate the editor?

 

[zappaDPJ]

Thanks for the info, but why do you hate the editor?

It has hundreds of unresolved bugs, almost a thousand at the time of posting. Most people probably won't see the majority of them but people using certain hardware such as a Samsung smart phones or browsers like Firefox or Brave will have problems making a simple post.

Issues · froala/wysiwyg-editor

The next generation Javascript WYSIWYG HTML Editor. - Issues · froala/wysiwyg-editor

github.com

I can't for example type after placing a smiley in a post because the cursor is placed to the left of the smiley.

 

[Jay™]

IPS has some nice new things coming up.🙂

 

[Demon_skeith]

It has hundreds of unresolved bugs, almost a thousand at the time of posting. Most people probably won't see the majority of them but people using certain hardware such as a Samsung smart phones or browsers like Firefox or Brave will have problems making a simple post.

Issues · froala/wysiwyg-editor

The next generation Javascript WYSIWYG HTML Editor. - Issues · froala/wysiwyg-editor

github.com

I can't for example type after placing a smiley in a post because the cursor is placed to the left of the smiley.

I have run into that smile issue, figured it was my browser being stupid.

 

[Carlos X]

It stands for Have You Seen. It's the developer's way of demonstrating up and coming enhancements to the software.

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade but I highly doubt you'll see 2.3 much before the end of this year at the very earliest or 3.0 for at least another year, perhaps two. If 2.3 was anywhere close to release there would have already been HYS threads posted.

3.0 has to include a new editor and it has already been stated they haven't yet found a replacement. Replacing the editor is a massive job that will take many months of work and Xenforo is a small company with a tiny number of staff who have divided responsibilities.

I'd like to be more optimistic because the editor in Xenforo has been a thorn in my side since forever but the speed of development is what it is and it's been pretty glacial for a number of years now.

Well, the team HAS to bring 2.3 soon. Because a lot of customers are mad and pissed off about the rate of releases, the pace of development. The last release was after 6 months. Usually its 2 months wait for a release.

I think they're over their heads on working on 3 separate releases; the pilot release - the ones that need to fix XF, the 2.3 release, and the 3.0 release. And the pilot release in between.

My thing is, there is outstanding amount of fixes that need to be squashed. All this, Cloud infrastructure, and Kier's life - he has a kid now.

How the hell is anyone gonna be happy in December 2023?

 

[Demon_skeith]

Well, the team HAS to bring 2.3 soon. Because a lot of customers are mad and pissed off about the rate of releases, the pace of development. The last release was after 6 months. Usually its 2 months wait for a release.

I think they're over there heads on working on 3 separate releases; the pilot release - the ones that need to fix XF, the 2.3 release, and the 3.0 release. And the pilot release in between.

My thing is, there is outstanding amount of fixes that need to be squashed. All this, Cloud infrastructure, and Kier's life - he has a kid now.

How the hell is anyone gonna be happy in December 2023?

Outside of bug fixes, the software doesn't really need major upgrades often.