Forum Update 2024
Hello everyone, a short summarisation of the changes that happened on the forums with the update to Xenforo 2.3
The style that we used became outdated and had visual issues, so you can now change back to MCME Dark.
Changes
Passkey
One of the biggest changes in this release is the addition of Passkeys, these are basically passwordless logins. The secret or private key is kept on your device which I used for the authentication. It can also be a physical usb key or other interface, like Windows Hello (Face recognition) that once you have setup the passkey, will enable you to login with ease.
Passkeys also add extra protection to your account as going through the login process will require the device that you setup passkeys with. This basically acts as a two factor authentication, but without the one time passwords
A Passkey can be added by going to https://www.mcmiddleearth.com/community/account/security and check 'Your Passkeys'.
We don't store your biometric information, that will remain on your device. The only information that is being exchanged are cryptographic keys, and the one on your device happens to be protection by an additional layer (fingerprint, face, etc). If you wish to learn more about Passkeys, you can visit Passkeys Explained: What Is a Passkey and How Do Passkeys Work?
More Improvements
Mostly interesting for us: Everytime a Header is used in a post, it will create an anchor that can be copied. Using this anchor will make the browser navigate the right post. Check it out by hovering over the header here!
More can be found at XF 2.3 - Miscellaneous changes for XenForo 2.3
Image Optimizations
To continue talking about improvements, the image processing has been majorly improved. The website now serves images in the new modern webp format, which is even better than jpeg. Pretty much all the images on the website have been converted by now, this lead to a 43% decrease in disk usage for the images.
However, not all browsers support webp (looking at the slackers who develop Safari, yes you Apple) WebP image format | Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc
The gains from using webp and the well adaptation of most browsers justifies the use of webp.
What happened before, was a user uploaded an image to our website (any allowed format) and we would host that image on our server.
What happens now, is that during that the user is making their post and adding a picture to their post, their device will do the resizing automatically before it sends the picture to our server. This offloads some of the processing required to the client.
For more in-depth information, XF 2.3 - Image optimization, enhanced image resizing, and more!
Trending Content
xenforo.com
Content that now is trending on the website have their own place in the sidebar.
Embed your content everywhere
Another major addition is the option to embed content from our website to other places. Content on our website can now easily be embedded on other places too.
For example simply pasting the url `https :// www.mcmiddleearth.com/community/threads/who-last-saw-the-ring-event.6151/` will look like:
More information about this can be found at XF 2.3 - Embed your content anywhere
Single Sign On
While interesting for our developers, we probably won't be seeing this for a while. But the forums can be used as authentication platform to log onto other services, this is called Single Sign On. This could be interesting if we were to have other websites or services that (without Single Sign On) would require you to create an additional account. With Single Sign On, this new account can actually be created/logged into by using the forums.
xenforo.com
More Featured Content
XF 2.3 now offers the 'Featured Content' functionality to more than just resources. We can now feature threads.
xenforo.com
Better payment processing
The website now supports the more modern and better processing methods for Stripe. Paypal for the moment still remains the legacy checkout procedure.
xenforo.com
Improved Resources, Search and Media Gallery
xenforo.com
Performance boost
Not really that interesting for most of you, but Xenforo removed jQuery and optimised a lot of the codebase to have better performance, especially for mobile devices.
xenforo.com
Hello everyone, a short summarisation of the changes that happened on the forums with the update to Xenforo 2.3
The style that we used became outdated and had visual issues, so you can now change back to MCME Dark.
Changes
Passkey
One of the biggest changes in this release is the addition of Passkeys, these are basically passwordless logins. The secret or private key is kept on your device which I used for the authentication. It can also be a physical usb key or other interface, like Windows Hello (Face recognition) that once you have setup the passkey, will enable you to login with ease.
Passkeys also add extra protection to your account as going through the login process will require the device that you setup passkeys with. This basically acts as a two factor authentication, but without the one time passwords
A Passkey can be added by going to https://www.mcmiddleearth.com/community/account/security and check 'Your Passkeys'.
We don't store your biometric information, that will remain on your device. The only information that is being exchanged are cryptographic keys, and the one on your device happens to be protection by an additional layer (fingerprint, face, etc). If you wish to learn more about Passkeys, you can visit Passkeys Explained: What Is a Passkey and How Do Passkeys Work?
More Improvements
Mostly interesting for us: Everytime a Header is used in a post, it will create an anchor that can be copied. Using this anchor will make the browser navigate the right post. Check it out by hovering over the header here!
More can be found at XF 2.3 - Miscellaneous changes for XenForo 2.3
Image Optimizations
To continue talking about improvements, the image processing has been majorly improved. The website now serves images in the new modern webp format, which is even better than jpeg. Pretty much all the images on the website have been converted by now, this lead to a 43% decrease in disk usage for the images.
However, not all browsers support webp (looking at the slackers who develop Safari, yes you Apple) WebP image format | Can I use... Support tables for HTML5, CSS3, etc
The gains from using webp and the well adaptation of most browsers justifies the use of webp.
What happened before, was a user uploaded an image to our website (any allowed format) and we would host that image on our server.
What happens now, is that during that the user is making their post and adding a picture to their post, their device will do the resizing automatically before it sends the picture to our server. This offloads some of the processing required to the client.
For more in-depth information, XF 2.3 - Image optimization, enhanced image resizing, and more!
Trending Content
XF 2.3 - Trending content
Since the initial release of XenForo 2.3, there has been a new system working away behind the scenes. One that some developers might have spotted but one that we hadn't actually talked about yet, because it wasn't relevant. Until now! Let's talk about this somewhat underlying system first...
xenforo.com
Embed your content everywhere
Another major addition is the option to embed content from our website to other places. Content on our website can now easily be embedded on other places too.
For example simply pasting the url `https :// www.mcmiddleearth.com/community/threads/who-last-saw-the-ring-event.6151/` will look like:
More information about this can be found at XF 2.3 - Embed your content anywhere
Single Sign On
While interesting for our developers, we probably won't be seeing this for a while. But the forums can be used as authentication platform to log onto other services, this is called Single Sign On. This could be interesting if we were to have other websites or services that (without Single Sign On) would require you to create an additional account. With Single Sign On, this new account can actually be created/logged into by using the forums.
XF 2.3 - Single sign on and more with OAuth2 in XenForo 2.3
We're approaching the conclusion of the 'Have you seen...?' series for XenForo 2.3. While it may seem like a bittersweet moment, we've intentionally saved one of the most exciting revelations until last. In the upcoming weeks, we might delve into a few more miscellaneous changes and improvements...
xenforo.com
More Featured Content
XF 2.3 now offers the 'Featured Content' functionality to more than just resources. We can now feature threads.
XF 2.3 - Featuring content
While the first few 'Have you seen...?' posts for XenForo 2.3 have focused on mostly aesthetic or performance changes, today we are taking the opportunity to talk about one of the first new major pieces of functionality we've been working on. Every release cycle we like to focus on at least one...
xenforo.com
Better payment processing
The website now supports the more modern and better processing methods for Stripe. Paypal for the moment still remains the legacy checkout procedure.
XF 2.3 - Introducing Stripe Checkout, PayPal's REST API and more!
Brand new in XenForo 2.3.0 Beta 2 is support for a few long overdue enhancements related to our payment and purchasable system. Let's look at each of these below! Stripe Checkout Stripe Checkout is Stripe's native and hosted checkout page which not only brings with it some powerful...
xenforo.com
Improved Resources, Search and Media Gallery
XF 2.3 - What's new with Enhanced Search, Resource Manager and Media Gallery in XenForo 2.3?
Today is the day we sadly have to report that this is the final 'Have you seen...?' thread for XenForo 2.3. While there are still changes planned, these will almost exclusively be changes to existing features, bug fixes and miscellaneous improvements that aren't significant enough for their own...
xenforo.com
Performance boost
Not really that interesting for most of you, but Xenforo removed jQuery and optimised a lot of the codebase to have better performance, especially for mobile devices.
XF 2.3 - Boosting performance in XenForo 2.3
In today's 'Have you seen...?' entry for XenForo 2.3 we're going to look at how we've zeroed in on enhancing performance, ensuring your community has a swift and seamless experience. We're going to take a deep dive into the advancements we've made and how they stack up against various...
xenforo.com
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