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If you’ve been following the development of Invision Community V5, you’re probably excited about all the new features and improvements it brings. With the beta now rolling out and more details being released, let’s chat about what’s new, what’s cool, and how it’s going to make our community-building lives a little easier!

 

 

[HEADING=2]New Sidebar Layout and Forum Views[/HEADING]

One of the first things you’ll notice in V5 is the optional sidebar layout. Instead of just relying on the top navigation bar, you can now enable a sidebar that makes it easier to jump between sections of your community. Whether you want to link to a specific forum category, gallery, or even products, the sidebar is totally customizable to your community’s needs. And if you prefer the classic layout, don’t worry—you can keep that too. (link: Invision Community)

 

 

For displaying forums, there’s a cool new Feed View mode. It allows forums to have cover photos and color highlights, giving them a fresh look. It also displays recent activity in a more modern, easy-to-read style, which is great for visitors who want a quick overview of what’s happening. Plus, this view works great on mobile

 

[HEADING=2]Simplified Topic Pages[/HEADING]

The new compact layout for topic pages is a huge win for anyone who values a clean and easy-to-read experience. All the user info like badges, reputation, and stats are still available but tucked into a mini-profile at the top of each post. This keeps the focus on the conversation itself without clutter. And if you want to keep the original post at the top of the thread, there's a new feature that lets you pin it, making sure no one misses the context of the discussion.

 

 

[HEADING=2]Updated Editor: More Power to Creators[/HEADING]

The new editor in V5 is all about making content creation smoother and more flexible. Everything is designed to work perfectly on both desktop and mobile, with a cleaner toolbar that makes it easy to add emojis, icons, and even embed media like videos and links. The updated code blocks with syntax highlighting are perfect for communities that share code, and the introduction of content boxes gives you more ways to make your posts stand out.

 

[HEADING=2]AI and Performance Upgrades[/HEADING]

On the tech side, V5 is introducing AI features that work behind the scenes. This means things like spam analysis, topic summaries, and identifying trending content are all going to be smarter and more efficient, making moderation and content discovery easier for everyone.

 

 

There’s also a focus on speed and performance improvements. V5 reduces JavaScript and CSS to make everything load faster, plus it includes built-in dark mode for those of us who prefer a sleek, nighttime-friendly look. And if you’re on mobile a lot, this update is especially designed to make your experience smoother.

 

[HEADING=2]The Beta is Here![/HEADING]

If you’re interested in trying these features out early, beta testing is happening now! Some folks are already playing with the new tools and giving feedback. It’s a great chance to help shape the final release and see firsthand how these changes work on your site(Link: Invision Community).

 

So, what do you think about the upcoming changes? Have you tested the beta yet? Let’s discuss what these features might mean for our communities and share our thoughts on what’s next for Invision V5!

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Yes, I have tested out the new beta, It's pivotal to the new community. I am designing! I love the theme editor, it makes everything a breeze
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just a sneak peak at a header I am thinking about going with. now this is a work in progress!

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minus the "press esc to exit fullscreen"

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I'm looking forward to v5. I used IPB through v3. Was a beta tester for v2 and v3. I left when I had an issue and because I use Windows servers with IIS they said they don't support windows/iis. Converted all my sites to xenforo.

 

I do have a v4 test site up. Imported almost a million posts from one of my tech communities to see if the importers could handle it.

 

Forum is on my test domain at https://forumadmins.org.

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I've been testing v5 out since today. Very pleased with it so far.

 

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Something tells me xenForo with their lack luster 2.3 release might loose a few customers
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How did you get the beta?

[mention=73]Sinistra Sensei[/mention] has an active license, where we test some stuff. I have a license since 2011 but not renewed atm.

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Something tells me xenForo with their lack luster 2.3 release might loose a few customers

Possibly yes. But at the same time, so will IC to XF. There’s always people migrating from one to the other. Literally happens every week.

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I have an active license too. I don't see anywhere to download the beta in the client area.

It's listed under your license key.

Could be because I'm a dev maybe? Edit no it's open beta you just got to join the club I think
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The primary disadvantage of the "Feed" forum layout is that navigation can become challenging with a large number of forums, such as having 12 like Administrata. If there are more than four forums, it may result in excessive scrolling unless the forums are organized into subforums. However, even then, it may not display the specific forum in which the topic is posted.

 

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The "Testing Forum Index feed' Was in the subforum "Another Test Forum"

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The primary disadvantage of the "Feed" forum layout is that navigation can become challenging with a large number of forums, such as having 12 like Administrata. If there are more than four forums, it may result in excessive scrolling unless the forums are organized into subforums. However, even then, it may not display the specific forum in which the topic is posted.

 

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The "Testing Forum Index feed' Was in the subforum "Another Test Forum"

Agreed. It’s a cool setup, but obviously not ideal for many forums.

 

There should be an option to mix the content listing.

I can fanboy about Invision Community all day but there are a few things that they have done that makes me wonder if this was a good move. I do love the fact that they gave us a Dark mode. Even though they had it in the admin CP in version 4 it took them this long to put it into the front end.
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[mention=1]Cedric[/mention] Custom badge maker?

 

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And you can make self-awarded badges by admins

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I've been playing around with the Beta for the past few days, and it's much more improved from v4. I'm loving the new Pages builder, making things so much easier to get something setup without having to use a plugin for it.
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Genius work. Got a beta myself by now. 🙈

Genius work. Got a beta myself by now. 🙈

So you broke down and got an insivisn licence or did you renew

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[mention=1]Cedric[/mention] Custom badge maker?

 

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And you can make self-awarded badges by admins

That's in 4.0 too. Noticed it yesterday when I was getting deeper into the admin. I haven't used IPB since 3.4. Much has changed and all for the better. Blows me away how they innovate while others stagnate.

  • 3 weeks later...
I think we are getting close to RC releases
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I think we are getting close to RC releases

Yeah. I've got the same idea. Loved how the latest BETA release changed the mobile app and the topic feed in the forum view.

I really enjoyed setting up my test site last night. Something about the IPS install process is broken - both 4.7 and 5.0 failed to install cleanly as per their instructions, dying with an error deep in the bowels of friendly URLs which clearly won’t work until the site has been installed. Unfortunately I wasn’t even getting to the “you have met the requirements” screen before it died trying to load a database connection.

 

I fixed it by installing a fresh 4.7, running into the same bug, patching the 4.7 to bypass loading friendly URLs, then upgrading to 5.0.

 

I dunno. Something about seeing it in front of me rather than in shiny videos feels underwhelming somehow (laughs)

Holder of controversial opinions, all of which my own.

 

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I really enjoyed setting up my test site last night. Something about the IPS install process is broken - both 4.7 and 5.0 failed to install cleanly as per their instructions, dying with an error deep in the bowels of friendly URLs which clearly won’t work until the site has been installed. Unfortunately I wasn’t even getting to the “you have met the requirements” screen before it died trying to load a database connection.

 

I fixed it by installing a fresh 4.7, running into the same bug, patching the 4.7 to bypass loading friendly URLs, then upgrading to 5.0.

 

I dunno. Something about seeing it in front of me rather than in shiny videos feels underwhelming somehow (laughs)

So you enjoyed troubleshooting the installation? 😁

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