[Informational] New Addon Thread

Interesting. Using firefox? The chrome ABP doesn't seem to have that functionality.
Using firefox, but if chrome lets you block specific HTML tags, you should be able to use it, too.
The magic text to block is: halforums.com##.navTab.microquiz.Popup.PopupControl.PopupClosed.PopupContainerControl > .navLink

I use an addon called "Element Hiding Helper for Adblock Plus"..it lets you visually click the element you want, and then drill to the specific section so that you only block what's necessary, no more. I believe it's available for chrome, too.
 

Dave

Staff member
XenForo just announced that one of their more popular pay addons has been rolled up into the core product. And since I'd downloaded a copy when it was in beta my name was attached to the distribution list. Because of this, we now have a free copy of the XenForo Media Gallery. I must admit I don't know everything about the addon, but it allows you to upload videos, pictures, create albums, etc. So it's like YouTube or Pinterest or Instagram. Whatever. You guys can enjoy it.

Oh, and you can set your avatars based on things uploaded to it. So there's that.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
XenForo just announced that one of their more popular pay addons has been rolled up into the core product. And since I'd downloaded a copy when it was in beta my name was attached to the distribution list. Because of this, we now have a free copy of the XenForo Media Gallery. I must admit I don't know everything about the addon, but it allows you to upload videos, pictures, create albums, etc. So it's like YouTube or Pinterest or Instagram. Whatever. You guys can enjoy it.

Oh, and you can set your avatars based on things uploaded to it. So there's that.
... VIDEO avatars?
 

Dave

Staff member
That I don't know.[DOUBLEPOST=1415804331,1415804171][/DOUBLEPOST]From the XenForo site:

XenForo Media Gallery is an official XenForo add-on which allows you to add a gallery to your XenForo site.

The following is an overview of the currrent features:
  • Configure categories in the Admin CP (with options for which usergroups can upload to or view each category)
  • Set user/usergroup permissions to allow your staff or members to upload media to the gallery
  • Your members can create their own albums with with lots of privacy settings
  • Users can upload multiple files at a time to the gallery. Just like forum posts
  • Each category/album can be ordered based on various criteria and each category is paginated (per page limits available as options in the Admin CP)
  • Other options include restrictions on file size, media dimensions, thumbnail size, number of media items to be uploaded at a time, comments per page. All of these options are separate from any global forum attachment options
  • Above restrictions can also be imposed at the user group level
  • Media items can be liked, edited, deleted, commented on, rated, reported, approved/unapproved. Comments can be liked, edited, deleted, reported
  • Media items have easy to use share links. Share the page, the full size image, or even BB Code to copy/paste on other sites or elsewhere on the forum
  • See the media uploaded by each member and their albums via profile tabs or a link on their member card
  • Full integration with News Feed and Recent Activity
  • Full integration with Daily Statistics (media uploads, size, likes etc.)
  • Configurable new/recent media blocks that can be placed anywhere on your forum using Widget Framework, XenPorta or template edits
  • Compatibility with [bd] Attachment Store to allow for external storage of uploaded media and thumbnails over a CDN
  • Fully responsive, fully configurable style
  • Embed videos from your favourite sites by leveraging the power of BB Code Media sites
  • Tag your members in photos
  • Media items can be tagged and popular tags displayed in a tag cloud
  • Image editing tools, watermarking, rotate, flip and crop images
  • Set up custom fields for use on media items
  • Full integration with EXIF data including display of various stats (configurable in options) and re-orientating images
  • Easy to use Admin CP Interface
  • Configurable width/height for thumbnails plus a framework for retrieving thumbnails from BB Code Media sites (may require additional development work for non-default media sites)
  • Inline moderation for moderators and inline management for users of media items
 

GasBandit

Staff member
If there's a way to make a video avatar, I can't find it. Heh. I put in one of my videos as a test.

I can create "albums" but can't create categories.
 

Dave

Staff member
Hmm. Wonder if there's a setting about that. I'd like anyone to be able to make categories.[DOUBLEPOST=1415804768,1415804673][/DOUBLEPOST]Apparently I have to create the categories. That kinda sucks.

So what categories do you think I should have?
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Hmm. Wonder if there's a setting about that. I'd like anyone to be able to make categories.[DOUBLEPOST=1415804768,1415804673][/DOUBLEPOST]Apparently I have to create the categories. That kinda sucks.

So what categories do you think I should have?
Funny
Gif
Real Life
...

Basically, this could almost supplant the various (sfw) types of "picture threads" and "video" threads we have.
 
I don't think it will supplant videos - those are still mostly hosted on streaming sites we link to, right? I don't have a copy of Nyan Cat sitting on my computer or anything...
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I don't think it will supplant videos - those are still mostly hosted on streaming sites we link to, right? I don't have a copy of Nyan Cat sitting on my computer or anything...
It doesn't let you upload videos, it lets you link them same as you would in a thread.

It lets you upload OR link pictures.

With the category and album controls, it would be a more graceful solution to things like the "Bring out your gifs" thread or the Awesome Videos thread, because it keeps track of what you have read and what you haven't, and can show you just the new stuff, so you're not loading 20 old gifs/videos while you wait for the thread to jump to the first unread post.[DOUBLEPOST=1415806465,1415806231][/DOUBLEPOST]Also it lets you add tags to both kinds of media, and each piece of media gets its own comments section and "likes" and whatnot.[DOUBLEPOST=1415806626][/DOUBLEPOST]Also, the tags are searched in regular searches now. If you do a basic forum search for kevin spacey, first result is a gif I just uploaded because I tagged it "kevin spacey".
 

GasBandit

Staff member
One nice feature of this, is even if you add picture media via link, it seems to automatically rehost the image. So, a turnkey, no-extra-steps-needed solution that eliminates hotlinking and gets rid of the problem of "old picture posts that say 'imgur has deleted this picture'," etc.

Of course, that could get nasty with gifs... might want to set a byte limit on the pictures if you haven't.[DOUBLEPOST=1415813707,1415813549][/DOUBLEPOST]We really need to get some categories set up, though. Pity it has to be Dave who does that. Does it let you give access to the other moderators to do it? I wouldn't be opposed to being overseer/curator of the media addon, if you felt like delegating (and again, if it lets you do such things).
 

Dave

Staff member
Congrats. You are now part of the Admin group and can manage the XenForo Media Gallery. Let me know if you have questions about the Admin CP.
 

Dave

Staff member
And we have 40GB of space before I have to start really worrying. And our monthly bandwidth allowed is 700 GB. Most we've ever used is 132 GB. So as long as it's not actively slowing the site down I think we're fine.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Alright, so far I've created categories for Funny, Awesome, Real Life, Gaming, Gifs, Cosplay and Political. I don't plan to create categories for NSFW images or potentially upsetting images (a-la the Not-So-Funny image thread) because the nature of the media section doesn't lend itself to barriers to entry - you click media and there's that picture, ready or not. It can be limited same as the NSFW subforum is, but still, even people opted in for that still go to work, and the NSFW you still have to manually click into to see NSFW content. It would not be quite so with the media section... so probably best just to err on the side of caution there.

Can you guys think of any other categories?
 

GasBandit

Staff member
And, of course, there's the obvious: comics/webcomics.
I'm kinda thinking those would fall under funny/awesome - do you really think they need their own separate category? I even considered not giving GIFs their own category, and may as yet reverse it, as the gifs get thumbnailed so it wouldn't be a huge load.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Maybe an NSFW tag?

I'd personally like an Artwork tag, but I don't know if it's worth it.
Tags can't be used to subtract. So you could have a "GIF" tag if you want to see all the gifs, but you can't have it "exclude" a "NSFW" tag.

Also, anybody can add any tag they like at any time to any content. It's different than category.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I don't know if you remember the days of popping into the GIFs thread and waiting for all the GIFs ... and the animated avatars, and the animated signatures to all load.

--Patrick
That doesn't happen any more, as I said, it automatically thumbnails all content. Gifs don't actually load until you click the one you want to see animate.
 
So long as they are somehow flagged differently (i.e., "This picture will go all Harry Potter on you when you click it!") then I don't think they will need their own separate thread.

--Patrick
 

Dave

Staff member
I just added a video but it isn't showing. Does it take a bit?[DOUBLEPOST=1415850572,1415850503][/DOUBLEPOST]Never mind. I didn't save it.
 
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