Taz has left VB and gone Xenforo

My opinion on the calendar functionality, for what it is worth....

A calendar itself isn't really valuable on its own. What is valuable is the ability to create tasks and events. For instance, if you are an admin and you'd like to remind yourself of a certain task you want to do at a certain time in the future, then simply add it to your calendar and have it remind you (pop-up, notification, email) of your task.

And take it a step further. Make it possible to have workflow, which assigns you/ your team/ users tasks (Isn't there a number of "tasks" online community software can give you right now?). Here the sky is the limit actually. So many "chores" created by the software could be tasks and the time basis of a task would be connected to a calendar.

The fact this is all not really possible in the community solutions available today makes a calendar function basically useless/ boring/ unnecessary. But make all tasks within the software a task with a time value connected to a calendar, then not having a calendar becomes almost unthinkable.

Scott

 

Now you've got to the old age "Chicken and Egg"

 

Why is that?

Scott

 

What comes first ?

 

considering that Facebooks functionality is mainly a timeline and events, a calendar would be handy if it's part of the rest of the functionality. just having a calendar where events can be submitted and read is stupid IMHO. but if users can be invited, mark themselves as attending, get events in their mobile phone calendar, PUSH notifications, receive forum requests to write up their event experience and upload media, then it becomes an activity and posting generator. that would be valuable.

 

The creation of tasks, the connection of some time to get tasks done, a calendar, to see which tasks are upcoming.

Scott

 

I always get that awkward feeling when I see calenders, it just looks off in forums for some reason I really think it should be optional

 

Most definitely optional for the front-end. But unavoidable for the back-end. Think about this scenario. You have a big team of admins, mods, devs, etc. and you want to call a team meeting. Then just create an event. One that will remind all of them to come. And where you can see, who accepted the invite. Sure, you could tell everyone to just use Google calendars or pay MS big bucks for Outlook, but then it is detached from your site/ operation.

Oh, I see some really big possibilities for a calendar, mainly for operational purposes. Another scenario, say you can actually add content to your site (because you have more than just a forum), and you work to get a lot of content ready to be released sometime in the future. What better way to show when things will go public, than in a calendar?

Scott

 

I can see that a well implemented and feature rich calendar could be very useful for some forum.

 

In ten years I have only rarely seen a fully utilised calendar, and that's why it's not in vBulletin 5 at the moment.

What does amuse me, is people running around admin forums berating vBulletin for not adding a calendar to vB5. They never seem to link to XF's calendar as an example of how it should be done. I wonder why this is.

 

And what is the reason for the vB calendar not really being used? The answer is the solution.

Scott

 

Well, perhaps I could add some suggestions to the tracker. I'll tell you what, I'll go and take a look at XenForo's implementation, see if I can glean any good ideas.

Oh. They don't seem to have a link to it in the UI. Well, I'm sure it's there somewhere, since if it was so vital they surely wouldn't have left it out altogether.....

 

On a more serious note, it'd be nice to see it back, BUT it would take a lot of development time to produce something that wasn't simply a replication of the vB3/4 calendar.

Myself, I'd rather see that time spent on more fundamental stuff.

 

Fundamental.......like.....producing good quality?

I agree with you though. IB doesn't need to work on a calendar for vB at all and that wasn't what I was inferring. (Funny how you make such all-encompassing deductions from what I say, which isn't at all what I meant or said. You should try to fix that.) IB has way too many other pressing issues they need to get solved first. Like finding someone who can engineer new features properly.

Oh, and BTW, just because the competition doesn't do something, that isn't really a good reason or argument for also not to doing it (so your sarcasm above is missing its mark, haha, pun intended). You know the saying. If they jumped off a bridge.....

Scott

 

Its a forum software, not a day planner.

 

IB calls vbulletin a "community software"* and there's IMO very often a need for a calendar (yea, i agree, not EVERY forum needs one, but todays websites are much more then a forum!!!


And the competition is making a fantastic job

http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-9640-40-rsvp-enhancements-in-calendar/
http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-9644-40-minor-calendar-enhancements/
http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-9682-40-cover-photos/
http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-9645-40-improving-multiple-calendars/
http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/1174/entry-9653-40-calendar-stream/



(*)http://www.vbulletin.com/

And now back to "TAZ moved to XF"

 

Enough is enough. Content removed and user warned.

 

Was that really necessary?

Scott

 

He thinks he's clever. He's just ruined another thread with childish abuse and insults.

This site all but died after Bob decided he'd tolerate this endless abuse and trolling. It shows in the post figures...people are sick of it. Meantime, TAZ just gets busier.

Sadly it's just the same thing that happened to Admin Addict.

 

Are you now saying that Bob should ban you for trolling and abusing other members, like calling people trolls for asking valid questions.