# Styles Factory

> Practical guides for XenForo, Invision Community, and the tools forum admins actually use.

English editorial blog about building and customizing online communities — XenForo, Invision Community (IPS), themes, plugins, and admin tools. No store. Contact: contact@stylesfactory.pl. Site: https://www.stylesfactory.pl

## Home

- [Styles Factory](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/): Latest articles and featured guides.
- [All articles](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/): Full paginated blog index.

## Topics

- [XenForo](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/)
- [Invision Community](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/ips/)
- [Community Building](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/)
- [Themes & Plugins](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/)
- [Tools & Software](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/)
- [Tutorials](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/)

## Pages

- [About](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/about/): What this site is (and is not).
- [Archive](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/archive/): Domain history — shop to content site.
- [Resources](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/resources/): Curated official docs and references.
- [Tools](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/tools/): A small catalogue of admin tools.
- [Search](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/search/)
- [RSS](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/rss.xml)

## Articles (94)

- [Best Forum Software in 2026](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/best-forum-software-2026/): A 2026 shortlist of forum software — XenForo, Invision Community, Discourse, Flarum, phpBB, and MyBB — by job, stack, and hosting, not a fake ranking or a three-year invoice.
- [Invision Community in 2026: Who It Is For](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/ips/what-is-invision-community/): What Invision Community actually is in 2026: a multi-app suite, not a forum skin. IC5, Cloud vs Classic, and when XenForo is still the better default.
- [How to make a forum website in 2026](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/how-to-make-a-forum-website/): A practical path from idea to a live forum site: pick software, match hosting, install legally, and survive the first week — not a Google Form and not a Discord channel.
- [A recommended tech stack for a forum admin in 2026](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/recommended-tech-stack-forum-admin/): PHP 8.x, MariaDB/MySQL, Redis, XFES-only Elasticsearch, HTTPS, offsite backups, object storage, LiteSpeed+LSCache for guests, Symfony Mailer, and the Cloudflare rule that breaks Discourse.
- [Graphics tools for community branding: logo, OG cards, and node icons](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/tools-graphics-community-branding/): Figma, Photopea, Affinity, and Canva as tool classes for the files a forum actually needs — mark, share card, node icons — then export SVG or PNG into style properties.
- [Automated moderation software: stock gates, then the named extras](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/automated-moderation-software/): Registration approval, the XenForo spam cleaner, CleanTalk, Spaminator, Discourse watched words, the review queue, and the TL0 sandbox — what automation is allowed to do. Not a human shift.
- [Analytics tools for forums and communities: what each product actually counts](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/analytics-tools-forums-communities/): XenForo Statistics and metrics, a GA4 Measurement ID, the Discourse admin dashboard, Plausible, and Matomo — compared as jobs, not a podium. Vanity hits are not health metrics.
- [The community admin toolkit in 2026: what you actually open every day](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/best-tools-community-admins-2026/): A 2026 overview of the tool classes a forum admin keeps on the desk — ACP daily surfaces, uptime, notes, a password manager, a calendar, and stats as a class — without ranking products.
- [Optimizing images and media on a XenForo or Discourse forum](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/optimizing-images-media-forum/): WebP conversion, client-side resize, pixel-count limits, the image proxy, XFMG EXIF, Discourse TL0 caps, and the S3 versus CDN URL split.
- [How to add a newsletter when the forum has no newsletter product](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/integrate-forum-newsletter/): XenForo has no native newsletter. Use ACP mass email, watches, Discourse digests that require SMTP, consent-aware exports, and an external ESP.
- [Forum security basics for 2026: a cross-platform checklist](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/forum-security-basics-2026/): HTTPS, 2FA, backups, debug off, cookie prefixes, login limits, and the Cloudflare JS minify warning — a platform-agnostic 2026 checklist, with a pointer to the XenForo deep dive.
- [Fully responsive forum design: mobile nav, touch, and wide desktops](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/fully-responsive-forum-design/): XenForo style properties and mobile nav, Discourse CSS split by @media, the quoting popup, discourse-full-width-component, and touch targets that survive a real thumb.
- [Custom fonts and typography on a forum without a CDN](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/custom-fonts-typography-forum/): Use XenForo typography style properties for sizes and families, then self-host woff2 with @font-face in extra.less — unicode-range, font-display: swap, and CLS.
- [CSS and LESS basics for customizing a XenForo forum](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/css-basics-forum-customization/): A forum-admin primer: inspect a selector, drop it in the child extra.less, and use @xf- tokens plus xf-intensify so 2.3 variations still work.
- [The complete forum backup process (any engine)](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/complete-forum-backup-process/): An engine-agnostic backup inventory — database plus upload files — for XenForo, Discourse, phpBB, Flarum, and NodeBB, including Discourse Meta 14855 settings.
- [Migrating a forum between platforms: the mapping runbook](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/migrate-forum-between-platforms/): A general migration map for users, posts, attachments, permissions, and permalinks — XenForo importers versus Discourse xenforo.rb — not the stay-or-go essay.
- [Streamer plugins vs server-listing plugins: pick the job first](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/plugins-streamers-server-listings/): A XenForo comparison of directory, live-now, and VOD jobs — stock tools versus add-ons — without rewriting the server-listing or Twitch/YouTube/Kick setup guides.
- [Premium XenForo themes vs a custom build: a TCO comparison](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/premium-themes-vs-custom/): Stock child-of-Default vs UI.X 2 / XenBase vs commissioning custom — Resource Manager prices, add-on tax, merge cost, and when each path actually wins.
- [Common XenForo theme problems and the first fix for each](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/common-theme-problems-and-fixes/): A XenForo 2.3 style breakage cookbook — extra.less not applying, outdated templates, too many open files, hard-coded hex, XenPorta sliders, and guest cache serving old CSS.
- [The pre-flight checklist before you change a forum theme](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/checklist-before-changing-forum-theme/): A XenForo 2.3 pre-flight list before you swap a style — backup, child style, test users, add-on compatibility, variations, HTML email, and guest cache.
- [Light vs dark forum themes: what actually works](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/light-vs-dark-themes-what-works/): A design decision guide for light and dark forum themes — contrast, gaming versus news, and variation-aware colours versus hard-coded hex — not the XenForo 2.3 switch walkthrough.
- [Consistent branding across a forum — logo, palette, email, and tokens](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/consistent-branding-forum/): Build a forum brand system: one logo, palette chips, a readable HTML email style, extra.less tokens, and the same colours on Discourse if you run both.
- [News tickers on XenForo: when motion helps, and when it is noise](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/ultimate-news-ticker-addons/): Treat a news ticker as a pattern, not a shop product. Use XenForo notices and an article forum first, and only keep scrolling chrome when it earns the space.
- [XenForo plugins worth having in 2026 — official first, then a short list](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/best-xenforo-plugins-2026/): A 2026 XenForo add-on landscape: official Media Gallery, Resource Manager, and Enhanced Search, plus the community-named cache, spam, and moderation tools — not a ranked shopping list.
- [Customize a XenForo theme without breaking the next upgrade](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/customize-xenforo-theme-without-breaking-updates/): The upgrade-safe XenForo 2.3 customization stack: child of the vendor parent, extra.less, template modifications versus direct edits, and how to merge outdated templates after an update.
- [FiveStyle theme review: who it was for, and what replaces it](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/fivestyle-theme-review/): An honest review of the discontinued Styles Factory FiveStyle XenForo theme — who a FiveM/gaming skin served, and what stock 2.3 plus current Resource Manager gaming styles do instead.
- [Empire vs Dark Empire vs Vertiforo: three discontinued jobs, not three 2026 products](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/empire-vs-dark-empire-vs-vertiforo/): Honest comparison of the old Styles Factory Empire, Dark Empire, and Vertiforo themes — magazine portal, dark magazine, gaming vertical — and what still replaces those jobs.
- [XenForo themes in 2026: a Resource Manager snapshot, not a ranking](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/themes-plugins/best-xenforo-themes-2026/): How to choose a XenForo 2.3 style from the current RM — UI.X 2, XenBase, DohTheme 2.3.11, Legend — against the free stock variation baseline.
- [Writing and enforcing community guidelines — the document and the ladder](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/writing-enforcing-community-guidelines/): How to write forum rules people can actually follow, publish them where the software expects, and enforce them with a warning ladder and a report habit.
- [Building long-term user loyalty — identity, habit, and a ladder you can reverse](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/building-long-term-user-loyalty/): Loyalty is who people are in the room, what they do on a Tuesday, and which permissions they earn. Not a campaign, not a shop, not the Admin badge.
- [Creating valuable categories and sections — a taxonomy, not a map](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/creating-valuable-categories-sections/): When to open a category, when a prefix or tag will do, and how XenForo node types and Discourse walls stay useful instead of empty.
- [When the hype fades: habits that keep a forum moving](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/maintain-activity-when-hype-fades/): Post-launch and post-season activity is habit design — cadence, core regulars, archive versus delete, and stopping the empty-node reflex — not another campaign.
- [Forum vs Discord: when each wins, and when you run both](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/forum-vs-discord-when-each-wins/): A product choice: searchable forum versus realtime Discord — what each medium is for, hybrid patterns that do not split the room, and identity (SSO / login) without a webhook tutorial.
- [Community health metrics: a set you can read against your own baseline](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/measure-community-health-metrics/): The metric set that actually describes a forum — new-to-first-post, reply time, answered-topic rate, DAU/MAU, lurkers, mod load, solved — and how to read *your* baseline. No invented industry numbers.
- [Onboarding methods that actually stick — a catalog, not a calendar](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/onboarding-new-users-proven-methods/): A catalog of proven new-member methods: welcome PM versus thread, first-question design, Discourse’s TL0 gate, XenForo validating groups, notices, fields, and staff reply habits.
- [Forum events that leave something behind — AMAs, contests, patch notes, seasons](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/run-engaging-forum-events/): How to run AMAs, contests, patch-note threads, and seasonal events on a forum — logistics, leftover content, and why a prefix beats a new node.
- [Building a community around a game or roleplay server — culture, not another node](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/community-around-game-or-roleplay-server/): How to run the human culture around a game or RP server: patch-week rhythm, Discord versus the forum, lore versus LFG, and the off-season — without rebuilding the XenForo tree.
- [Dealing with toxic users: a behaviour playbook, not a courtroom](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/dealing-with-toxic-users/): A practical ladder for forum toxicity — warn, contain, remove — including brilliant jerks and brigades. Platform tools are examples. This is not legal advice.
- [Building a strong moderation team: hire, train, and keep them human](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/building-a-strong-moderation-team/): How to recruit, train, and retain forum moderators — personal vs staff accounts, ladders, shifts, burnout — without turning the job into a second ACP manual.
- [Reward systems that change behaviour — status, access, and the shop you should postpone](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/reward-systems-gamification-communities/): Design community rewards as status, access, or economy. XenForo trophies stay; promotions can reverse. Discourse trust levels already are a ladder. Do not start with a second currency.
- [How to increase active users in a community without buying another widget](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/increase-active-users-community/): Grow DAU and WAU on any forum stack by measuring your own baseline, tightening reply latency, and turning lurkers into second-session posters — not by installing another engagement add-on.
- [The first 30 days of launching a new community](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/first-30-days-new-community-launch/): A founding calendar for a new forum: staff, rules, seed threads, launch week, and the first ten members — not the member-onboarding plan that starts after someone joins.
- [Design a forum structure people actually return to](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/design-forum-structure-people-return/): Information architecture for forums that create a return loop: broad rooms, prefixes or tags, and a first screen that shows what happened since yesterday — on XenForo, Discourse, or phpBB.
- [XenForo vs Discourse vs phpBB: a three-year cost comparison](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/cost-comparison-xenforo-discourse-phpbb/): Three-year TCO for phpBB, XenForo (license or Cloud), and Discourse (self-hosted or official hosted) using public 2026 list prices — plus the staff-time line that actually decides the invoice.
- [Common problems in the first month of a new Discourse site](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/common-problems-starting-discourse/): First-month Discourse failure modes: skipped SMTP, TL0 image caps, category security loops, a disabled sandbox, rebuild downtime, and the last-post-column revolt — not another setup-wizard tour.
- [Should you migrate an old forum to a modern platform?](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/should-you-migrate-old-forum-to-modern-platform/): A decision framework for any aging board — phpBB, vBulletin, MyBB, or neglected XenForo — covering URL equity, staff retraining, feature graveyards, audience age, and the cost of not moving.
- [Discourse and Discord: chat-integration, Chat, login, and webhooks](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/discourse-discord-integrations/): How Discourse actually talks to Discord — the official chat-integration plugin (outbound notifications, not a two-way guild), the separate in-app Chat plugin, Discord login, core webhooks, and DiscourseConnect — not the XenForo Discord add-on tour.
- [SEO in Discourse: sitemaps, IndexNow, prerender, and /t/ URLs](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/seo-in-discourse/): How Discourse actually handles search engines — core sitemap and news.xml, robots.txt, hourly IndexNow, prerendered HTML for spiders, the h1 history, JSON endpoints, and permalinks when you leave XenForo-shaped URLs.
- [Building a technical support community on Discourse](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/building-technical-community-discourse/): How to run a docs-and-support Discourse: a short category list, required tags, the official Solved plugin, Doc Categories, Assign, internal staff rooms, and SSO mapping so staff land at TL3/TL4 on day one.
- [Hosting Discourse in 2026: Docker, hosted plans, and the ops cookbook](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tools-software/hosting-discourse-requirements/): An operations cookbook for Discourse — official Docker requirements, RAM and swap, rebuilds, SMTP versus Discourse ID, hosted Free/Pro/Business, backups, S3, CDN, and fail2ban — not the first-week admin wizard.
- [Discourse vs Flarum vs XenForo in 2026: a three-way matrix](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/discourse-vs-flarum-vs-xenforo-2026/): A 2026 three-way matrix of Discourse, Flarum, and XenForo — stack, information architecture, moderation, hosting, cost shape, extensions, and migrations — without reprinting the two-way XenForo vs Discourse essay.
- [NodeBB: when a Node.js realtime forum actually makes sense](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/nodebb-when-it-makes-sense/): When NodeBB is the right call — Node.js 22+, MongoDB or Redis, websockets, npm plugin culture, nginx on port 4567 — and who should not pick it (PHP-only hosts, classic paginated board indexes).
- [Flarum: when a lightweight modern PHP forum is the right choice](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/flarum-lightweight-modern-forum/): When Flarum is the right small, modern PHP forum — requirements, Composer and the extension manager, 1.x on life support versus 2.0 RC, unofficial importers, and why it is not a XenForo replacement for add-on-heavy boards.
- [Is Discourse suitable for gaming communities?](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/is-discourse-suitable-for-gaming-communities/): A fit test for game and RP servers considering Discourse — chat versus Discord, flat categories and tags versus an 80-node XenForo tree, and what fails (infinite scroll, last-post column, whitelist, credits, listings).
- [Discourse moderation: trust levels, the review queue, and watched words](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/discourse-moderation-trust-levels/): How Discourse actually moderates — TL0–TL4 behaviour, the review queue, watched words, groups, TL3 demotion, and a worked category-security example — without inventing visit-count thresholds.
- [Migrate XenForo to Discourse: a dry-run runbook](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/migrate-xenforo-to-discourse/): A XenForo → Discourse import runbook: xenforo.rb mapping, what dies (XFRM, XFMG, page nodes), permalinks, 301s, password-reset honesty, staging, and cutover — not the stay-or-move decision.
- [Pros and cons of Discourse compared to XenForo](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/discourse-pros-cons-vs-xenforo/): An opinionated operations close: what you gain with Discourse (trust-level automation, modern defaults, official hosted) and what you lose (XenForo widgets and style depth, the gaming add-on ecosystem, a cheaper typical VPS) — who should pick which in 2026.
- [A complete beginner’s guide to Discourse: first-week admin](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/tutorials/discourse-beginners-guide/): What a new Discourse admin actually does in week one — official Docker install expectations, the setup wizard, categories and tags, TL0–TL4, welcome topics, email, and a short SSO note that does not invent steps.
- [Discourse vs traditional forums: what to choose in 2026](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/discourse-vs-traditional-forums/): Discourse compared with phpBB, vBulletin, and the classic forum as a category — trust levels, topics and tags versus board trees, modern defaults, and when the old shape is still the right product.
- [Scaling a large XenForo forum: performance and architecture](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/scaling-large-xenforo-forum/): How a large XenForo 2.3 board actually scales — PHP-FPM, InnoDB, Redis as the official cache provider, a dedicated page-cache context, guest versus member, jobs, attachments, the U×N permission rebuild lock, and when XFES is the next lever.
- [Creating a knowledge base in XenForo 2.3 with pages and help](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-knowledge-base-documentation/): Build a XenForo FAQ or manual from official page nodes and help pages — route filters, index routes, and an optional Tickets KB — without turning it into a news homepage.
- [Setting up push and email notifications in XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-push-email-notifications/): Configure XenForo 2.3 email (PHP mail, SMTP, Google OAuth) and PWA push — HTTPS, short title, 192/512 icons, PHP extensions, and iOS Add to Home Screen.
- [XenForo 2.3 security best practices](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-security-best-practices/): The XenForo 2.3 security baseline: password hashes, login limits, mandated 2FA, security lock, HTTPS for PWA, debug off, nginx internals, and staff group hygiene.
- [How to migrate a community from phpBB 3.2–3.3 to XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/migrate-phpbb-to-xenforo/): A step-by-step phpBB → XenForo import: official Importers add-on, Tools → Import data, retain IDs, CLI xf:import, user merge, and redirects via import_log.
- [When to stay with XenForo and when to migrate](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/when-to-stay-with-xenforo-or-migrate/): A decision framework for XenForo admins — add-on lock-in, staff skills, search and SEO URLs, cost, and community size — not another feature scoreboard.
- [XenForo vs Discourse in 2026: a feature matrix, not a fandom](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-vs-discourse-2026/): A fair 2026 comparison of XenForo 2.3 and Discourse — nodes vs categories and tags, groups vs trust levels, widgets vs theme components, add-ons vs plugins, license plus VPS vs Docker RAM, and which way the official importers actually run.
- [Adding Twitch, YouTube, and Kick streams to XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-streaming-integration-twitch-youtube-kick/): What stock XenForo will embed, what [8WR] XenRio 2 actually scrapes, and how to ship a live-stream directory without inventing a Kick provider XenForo does not have.
- [Managing XenForo user groups and permissions at scale](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/managing-xenforo-user-groups-permissions/): Analyze permissions, private Staff rooms, hourly promotions, batch update, display styling priority, and the Never traps that only show up after the twelfth group.
- [Creating a multilingual forum in XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/multilingual-forum-xenforo/): Install languages, inherit phrases, set locale and RTL, pick a default, and accept that the PWA can only ship one language. This is the UI — not a preferred_locale user field.
- [Integrating XenForo 2.3 with Google Analytics 4 and Search Console](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-google-analytics-4-search-console/): Paste a GA4 Measurement ID into XenForo, add a Search Console property, submit the XenForo sitemap, turn on IndexNow, and link the two Google products. Nothing else is core.
- [A ticket and support system in XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-ticket-support-system/): How to run support on XenForo 2.3 — private nodes, prefixes, conversations, and help pages first, then Tickets: Help Desk and Knowledge Base (Naz) if the queue outgrows stock.
- [SEO for XenForo forums — what actually works in 2026](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/seo-for-xenforo-forums/): The XenForo 2.3 SEO options that still matter: full friendly URLs, titles in paths, sitemap generation, IndexNow, and the server rewrite that makes them load.
- [Dark mode and the theme switcher in XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-dark-mode-theme-switcher/): How XenForo 2.3 style variations actually work — enable variations on a style, Color palette Light/Dark, style chooser vs the light/dark switch — without a third-party theme switcher.
- [Safe backup and migration for XenForo 2.3 forums](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/safe-backup-and-migration-xenforo/): How to back up, restore, clone, and move a XenForo 2.3 board — database plus data/ and internal_data/, same-version restore, Board URL, and an importer overview.
- [How to build a roleplay or gaming forum with XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/building-a-roleplay-gaming-forum-with-xenforo/): Architecture for a XenForo 2.3 roleplay or gaming board — node tree, whitelist, server listings, character fields, Discord, and ranks — without buying a theme and calling it a community.
- [Practical uses of custom user fields in XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/practical-uses-of-custom-user-fields-in-xenforo/): What XenForo custom user fields are actually for — IDs, text vs choice, criteria, templates, data portability — and the field sets that pay rent on a real board.
- [News and announcements on XenForo 2.3 — a newsroom, not a second portal](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-news-announcements-homepage/): Run XenForo announcements with article forums, featured threads, notices, and stickies — and leave the everyday homepage to the portal article.
- [The XenForo 2.3 configuration mistakes that look like bugs](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-configuration-mistakes/): A field guide to XenForo 2.3 own-goals — primary groups, debug mode, guest page cache, cookie path, index route, Auto Minify — and the check that catches them.
- [Points, credits and a shop on XenForo 2.3 — start with user upgrades](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-points-credits-shop-system/): Build a XenForo economy the honest way: official user upgrades and payment profiles first, then a credits add-on only if members will actually spend points.
- [Discord and XenForo 2.3: login, roles, announcements — pick one job](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/discord-integration-with-xenforo/): How to connect Discord to XenForo 2.3 — stock connected accounts and webhooks first, then [8WR] Discord Integration for role sync — without making Discord the only door.
- [Ranks, trophies and banners in XenForo 2.3 — stock gamification that does not become a shop](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/ranks-achievements-gamification-xenforo/): Design XenForo ranks with trophies, the user title ladder, group banners, and promotions — without turning recognition into a credits economy or a permission rebuild.
- [Moderating a large XenForo forum: stock tools and a shift that scales](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/moderating-large-xenforo-forums/): How to staff a busy XenForo 2.3 board with node moderators, the approval queue, IP checks, warning points, and a duty-shift order — without rebuilding permissions at peak.
- [A modern landing page for a XenForo community — not another homepage](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/modern-landing-page-for-xenforo-community/): Build a XenForo 2.3 campaign page with a page node, one CTA, and node permissions — without stealing the forum index or cloning PAGE_CONTAINER.
- [Creating custom widgets in XenForo 2.3](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/creating-custom-widgets-in-xenforo/): How XenForo 2.3 widgets actually work — definitions, positions, <xf:widgetpos>, stock types, HTML widgets, and when you need an add-on instead of another sidebar block.
- [Optimizing XenForo 2.3 for speed and Core Web Vitals](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/optimizing-xenforo-for-speed-and-core-web-vitals/): A practical XenForo 2.3 performance guide — guest page cache, Symfony Cache, WebP, icon sprites, Gzip, Cloudflare, and a 60-minute triage when the live board is slow.
- [XenForo 2.3: what actually changed, and whether you should upgrade](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-2-3-whats-new-and-is-it-worth-updating/): A practical XenForo 2.3 upgrade guide — new features, PHP requirements, jQuery removal, style variations, WebP, passkeys — and a staging checklist before you touch production.
- [Increase XenForo engagement with stock hooks, not another add-on](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/how-to-increase-engagement-on-a-xenforo-forum/): How to raise return visits and replies on XenForo 2.3 using What's New, watches, thread types, notices, reactions, trophies, and promotions — before you buy a gamification suite.
- [XenForo whitelist requests: a stock application workflow](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/building-a-whitelist-request-system-in-xenforo/): How to run a human-reviewed whitelist on XenForo 2.3 with an apply forum, prefixes, custom thread fields, and a secondary group — without a plugin that flips groups when a prefix changes.
- [XenForo server listings: a directory of FiveM, Minecraft and Discord rooms](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/server-listing-in-xenforo/): How to run a game-server directory on XenForo 2.3 with stock tools — prefixes, custom thread fields, and Resource Manager — without pretending the board can query live player counts.
- [Building a XenForo portal: decide the first screen, then use stock tools](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/how-to-build-a-professional-portal-with-xenforo/): How to turn a XenForo 2.3 board into a professional homepage — index route, page nodes, widgets, article forums, and featured content — without installing a CMS you will regret.
- [Customizing XenForo 2.3 nodes: structure first, then paint](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/complete-guide-to-customizing-nodes-in-xenforo/): How to design a XenForo 2.3 node tree that people can actually use — types, permissions, 2.3 icons, extra.less, and the upgrades that survive next year’s style.
- [A 30-day onboarding plan that keeps new forum members around](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/community-building/forum-onboarding-first-30-days/): New members do not churn because the software is wrong. They churn because week one is empty. A 30-day plan for XenForo and IPS admins.
- [Invision Community or XenForo: choose the platform, not the fandom](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/ips/invision-community-or-xenforo/): A practical comparison of IPS and XenForo for admins who have to live with the choice — suites vs forum-first, apps vs add-ons, cost, and migration risk.
- [XenForo permissions: a practical setup for new community admins](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/blog/xenforo/xenforo-permissions-for-new-admins/): How to set XenForo user groups and node permissions without locking yourself out — a starter map, not a dump of every checkbox.

## For bots and tools

- [Sitemap](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/sitemap.xml)
- [robots.txt](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/robots.txt)
- [llms.txt](https://www.stylesfactory.pl/llms.txt)