Suggestions for Forums

Blackguy · 03-25-07, 04:30 AM

The new forum is growing on me, but there is still a few things I'd like to see implemented in the future.

1.
Its fine that you can see when post was posted, but a timestamp would be so nice. 6 days ago means nothing to me, and I would like the option to see it in dd/mm/yy hh/mm format instead.

2.
When people reply to a thread it shows up with the initial headline, instead of a re:headline. I used to be able to scoll down a forum and see what were replies and what were new post now. Now I have to click on the new post link, ( which is very helpfull I might add), or actually go inside a post to look if its a reply ).

3.
When you browse into forums you get into subforums, and you get a line that says something like: Layonara > Community & Techinacal Services > Forum Discussion ( Post Login Problems here). That menas I can easily click my way out to a higher forum in that way. But the trouble lies in when I need to click out to the main forum I get directed to the frontpage instead. Is there a way that I can go there from that link to the frontpage of the forums instead, instead of having to click on the Forums link on the top of the page.

Blackguy · 03-25-07, 04:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackguy

1.
Its fine that you can see when post was posted, but a timestamp would be so nice. 6 days ago means nothing to me, and I would like the option to see it in dd/mm/yy hh/mm format instead.

Um, did someone just change the way this was handled? In that case, I am gratefull for it.

orth · 03-25-07, 04:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackguy

The new forum is growing on me, but there is still a few things I'd like to see implemented in the future.

1.
Its fine that you can see when post was posted, but a timestamp would be so nice. 6 days ago means nothing to me, and I would like the option to see it in dd/mm/yy hh/mm format instead.

2.
When people reply to a thread it shows up with the initial headline, instead of a re:headline. I used to be able to scoll down a forum and see what were replies and what were new post now. Now I have to click on the new post link, ( which is very helpfull I might add), or actually go inside a post to look if its a reply ).

3.
When you browse into forums you get into subforums, and you get a line that says something like: Layonara > Community & Techinacal Services > Forum Discussion ( Post Login Problems here). That menas I can easily click my way out to a higher forum in that way. But the trouble lies in when I need to click out to the main forum I get directed to the frontpage instead. Is there a way that I can go there from that link to the frontpage of the forums instead, instead of having to click on the Forums link on the top of the page.

1. Agreed. I didn't like that either, changed.
2. I'll look into this.
3. The Layonara in the breadcrumb at the top now links to the top level of the forums.

Blackguy · 03-25-07, 04:56 AM

Since your so effective, I might aswell post some other things.

There used to be a link to the version that Layonara are running, that show what updates were made and such.

The "New Post" link, and the "Daily post" link only links to the start of the post, and doesn't give the option to go to the lastest reply on that thread. Perhaps you can add that arrow thingy like there is on the post on the forums, that jumps you the last reply.

orth · 03-25-07, 05:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blackguy

Since your so effective, I might aswell post some other things.

There used to be a link to the version that Layonara are running, that show what updates were made and such.

The "New Post" link, and the "Daily post" link only links to the start of the post, and doesn't give the option to go to the lastest reply on that thread. Perhaps you can add that arrow thingy like there is on the post on the forums, that jumps you the last reply.

1. That's in the top right hand corner.
2. I'm not sure I understand this one, don't you mean the little arrow that is next to the username in the Last Post column?

Blackguy · 03-25-07, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orth

1. That's in the top right hand corner.
2. I'm not sure I understand this one, don't you mean the little arrow that is next to the username in the Last Post column?

1.

Thanks for adding that link.

2.

Yes I mean that little arrow, and you have already added it, so thank you very much.

Pen N Popper · 03-25-07, 06:37 AM

I'll chime in with my biggest (pet) peeve: In the old forums, I would look for unread posts by selecting the "view posts in last 24 hours." This would give me a long list of links to the last post made in each of the threads that met this criteria. In firefox, if I'd already visited that reply the link color would be slightly different. In the new forums, the links returned are to the first post in the thread, not the latest reply. This makes it difficult for me to determine if I've read the latest reply or not. My suggestion would be to reverse the link order displayed in the list: Link to last reply in the left column and have the small arrow next to the right (which would be next to the original poster's name) go to the first post. Does that make sense?

You may be saying, "Well, just use the "New Posts" link at the top." I find that this does not reliably show all the posts. I assume it is based off of some timestamp cookie, but mine gets updated at inopportune times which causes my next visit to the "New Posts" to leave a lot out. Perhaps there could be an option to disable the automatic updating of this cookie and tie it to the "Mark Forums Read" option?

I do like the new forums, especially the gallery. Excellent work there.

minerva · 03-25-07, 06:49 AM

For personal messages the option to reply without a quote.

orth · 03-25-07, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by minerva

For personal messages the option to reply without a quote.

Well replying is inherently about an existing message, hence the natural quoting. This is how every email program works? If you want to a quick way to remove the quote, click inside the textbox then hit Ctrl-A -> then Backspace or Ctrl-X or Delete

Harlas Ravelkione · 03-25-07, 07:31 AM

I, like PenNPopper, would like to get to the latest reply when I hit a thread, and not the first one. If it is of say 3 pages then it is annoying in the long run to have to go to page 3 and then scroll down to the bottom.

minerva · 03-25-07, 07:33 AM

Thanks Orth, the other forums gave us the option to reply to the sender without the quote, which was why I asked.

orth · 03-25-07, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pen N Popper

I'll chime in with my biggest (pet) peeve: In the old forums, I would look for unread posts by selecting the "view posts in last 24 hours." This would give me a long list of links to the last post made in each of the threads that met this criteria. In firefox, if I'd already visited that reply the link color would be slightly different. In the new forums, the links returned are to the first post in the thread, not the latest reply. This makes it difficult for me to determine if I've read the latest reply or not. My suggestion would be to reverse the link order displayed in the list: Link to last reply in the left column and have the small arrow next to the right (which would be next to the original poster's name) go to the first post. Does that make sense?

Yes I understand what you mean. I'm not sure if I'll get to this, it's not as easy as it sounds and the same goes for Blackguy's suggestion which is somewhat related.

The complexity in such a task is this information is cached, meaning it is stored on the database and updated regularly rather then live fetches from the db every time a user sees the page. Adding another object like the last post title to the cache is not something I know how to do nor feel like digging into at the present time

We'll see if something easier and satisfactory can be accomplished.

orth · 03-25-07, 08:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harlas Ravelkione

I, like PenNPopper, would like to get to the latest reply when I hit a thread, and not the first one. If it is of say 3 pages then it is annoying in the long run to have to go to page 3 and then scroll down to the bottom.

Where do you speak of when you say "hit a thread"?

If there is a new thread, you want to click on a thread link and be jumped to the most recent post, even if you haven't ready any of the other parts yet? If that is the case then maybe you should be setting your Thread View Mode in your user options to Show Newest First.

If you click the arrow under the Last Post link you go to the most recent post, otherwise clicking the Thread Title sends you to the first post, which it should do.

hawklen · 03-25-07, 09:26 AM

Im just curious, is there any plans to have themes? Personally, I perfer darker colours myself, lotsof white makes my eyes hurt, Just a curious question!

(The forums do look nice, nothing against it!)

Harlas Ravelkione · 03-25-07, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by orth

Where do you speak of when you say "hit a thread"?

If there is a new thread, you want to click on a thread link and be jumped to the most recent post, even if you haven't ready any of the other parts yet? If that is the case then maybe you should be setting your Thread View Mode in your user options to Show Newest First.

If you click the arrow under the Last Post link you go to the most recent post, otherwise clicking the Thread Title sends you to the first post, which it should do.

*sighs* you guys have thought of everything, eh? I will try to search more thoroughly next time

Ioskeha · 03-25-07, 01:52 PM

I've just got a couple questions myself. I don't see the need the start a new thread about them. I hope no one minds if I ask them here.

1. I prefer to use threaded for my display thread mode myself, but it currently doesn't work for me - example can be seen here http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/908...hreadedqf3.jpg

I know that this should be posted in the bug report forums (and will go and post a report about it if needed), but it also ties into the question I have for it. Once threaded works is it possible to make it work like a real threaded message board? Example here: WWWBoard Version 2.0 Demo! If not can the threaded window at least be moved below the actual post? This is more of a personal preference. Every other board I've been to that uses/offers threaded mode displays the threads under the post.

2. Does this board have the ability to give the user the option to hide both post count and thanks/thanked count? If it does can it please be enabled? It's one of the features of the old board that I loved.

3. When ignoring a user it shows a box that the user actually replied in the thread and hides the post. If possible can that box saying that so-and-so replied be hidden as well?

Laldiien · 03-26-07, 07:28 AM

Going to tag along on the suggestion bandwagon. The previous forum had a feature that would allow the mass-subscription of threads. IE, I could subscribe to General Discussion and every post made would be sent to me via email. This was my absolute favorite feature as I could stay up to date and not have to break away from other tasks.

If this could be implemented, it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks.