Link topic to first unread post

These requests for comments/change have lead to an implemented feature that has been successfully merged into the 3.1/Ascraeus branch. Everything listed in this forum will be available in phpBB 3.1.
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EXreaction
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by EXreaction »

How about making the big icon to the left side clickable?

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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by nickvergessen »

I guess thats a good idea?
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MattF
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by MattF »

Just clicking on the topic title and landing somewhere mid-discussion is not normal behavior, for most things we do. Of course we already had a button to take us to the last read post, small as it was.

Besides, we all have evolved ways of dealing with revisiting already read threads, right? I usually click on either that tiny last read post button or the last page of the pagination links. Or sometimes I like to stat at the beginning in order to quickly review what was going on to catch back up.

I agree that the big Hot Topic Status Icon would be a better choice for this behavior. Besides, it already has the labels - No unread posts or Unread posts, slightly indicating it may have something to do with taking you to the start or to where your unread posts begin.

Also, changing the post author date to the link that takes you to the first original post is quite counter intuitive, and I didn't even know about it until I analyzed the code changes here.

Finally, it's redundant having both the last read posts icon and the topic title both there, both taking you to the same place. Not to mention this behavior breaks from the experience on sub silver, causing a disparity between our two main theme interfaces.
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MattF
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by MattF »

Another problem with this thing is in search results. If you search by topics, looking for something you may need to find again but in a topic you have not read in a long time, you end up buried and lost within that topic, and have to really find your way back to what you probably knew was near the beginning anyway (because the next 10 pages were just bogus discussion about it) :)

Now I just keep finding myself having to check what page I'm on first before I do anything when clicking on a topic...

This is just too weird a change all for the sake of those who couldn't be bothered to click the little icon that already provided this functionality next to each topic title, and is only really useful to true forum users who treat it more like a chat than a bulletin board.

And if all this change truly was just routed in the limitations of getting to that tiny icon on mobile devices, the correct solution should be to improve the icon accessibility in the responsive design for smaller devices, and leave the topic title behavior as it has always traditionally been.

REVERT PLEASE!!! And come up with a better icon/link option next to the topic title instead.
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by nickvergessen »

Feel free to create a ticket + PR
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John P
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by John P »

Well, I really like this option clicking on the topic title bringing you to the first unread post.
Most people I spoke with also like it because the topics they are interested in are followed by them and read so it's a handy way to jump to the new post.

I believe it's strange to build this feature and revert it again before it's live already.

Please don't revert!!!

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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by aleha »

It's not about reverting but a matter of choice. I agree with VSE+ that there should be a UCP option to enable/disable this feature. I sometimes find this useful and sometimes I get lost especially in a topic with a lot of pages. Having said that, maybe an extension could be a better solution as it could provide more options than a simple enable/disable.

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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by MattF »

aleha wrote:It's not about reverting but a matter of choice. I agree with VSE+ that there should be a UCP option to enable/disable this feature. I sometimes find this useful and sometimes I get lost especially in a topic with a lot of pages. Having said that, maybe an extension could be a better solution as it could provide more options than a simple enable/disable.
Exactly.

phpBB Should ship with a basic and predictable and traditional set of expected features.

Odd or minority preferred behaviors should be provided via extensions/mods.

That has always been the phpBB way.
I believe it's strange to build this feature and revert it again before it's live already.
That's also the point. 3.1 has not shipped. This is a feature that was IMO was adopted to fast and without much concern for overall user experience as a whole. During the development time is h e perfect time to try something, see if its the right thing or not, and fix it if it ain't.

I believe the idea is right, implementation wrong.

Revert to normal behavior - and makes those large topic status icons also link to the last unread post, since they are already visual indicators of whether your have unread or no unread posts.
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DavidIQ
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by DavidIQ »

Well so far there seems to be a lot more in favor of keeping the current behavior than removing it so the minority so far are those that don't like it not the other way around. That being said if there really needs to be a UCP option for it and/or an ACP option for it then that's fine but I'm not sure we're looking to remain as "traditional" as has been said.

Moving it to the topic icon is probably the best solution here as I do find it kind of odd to click on the topic post date to get to the first post, something I had not noticed before. As I mentioned in the ticket, that icon is currently being set as a background image so that will need to be changed or looked at.

P.S. I now find it annoying to go to the main phpbb.com site, click on the topic title, and finding myself at the beginning of the topic instead of where I last left off, which cannot be determined by just looking at the topic.
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by MattF »

It is being reverted back to normal, so it behaves like it is SUPPOSED to.

The big topic status icons next to the topic title can take you to the last unread post, for those who can't be bothered to simply click the smaller brown icon that already provided this functionality as well.

That solves the mobile device issue too.
DavidIQ wrote:P.S. I now find it annoying to go to the main phpbb.com site, click on the topic title, and finding myself at the beginning of the topic instead of where I last left off, which cannot be determined by just looking at the topic.
I guarantee the world at large would be equally annoyed... Remember the whole switching profiles to the right debacle with phpbb 3.0? This would have been just as jarring and abnormal to anybody used to visiting phpBB communities.

I think we now have the best solution in the works.
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