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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Pony99CA
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by Pony99CA »

VSE+ wrote:
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'm not sure that you two are on the same page here. David is saying that going to phpBB.com (running phpBB 3.0.x) is now annoying because he does not get taken to the first unread post. In other words, he is used to the new phpBb 3.1 behavior. Saying that the rest of the world would be equally annoyed undermines your point. :D

By the way, are the topic icons always displayed? If there's an option to turn those off (or if they don't get displayed at all on mobile devices because they take up space), having the topic icons go to the first unread post may not work. Or are topic icons supposed to go to the first post in the topic in this proposal?

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MattF
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by MattF »

Pony99CA wrote:
VSE+ wrote:
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'm not sure that you two are on the same page here. David is saying that going to phpBB.com (running phpBB 3.0.x) is now annoying because he does not get taken to the first unread post. In other words, he is used to the new phpBb 3.1 behavior. Saying that the rest of the world would be equally annoyed undermines your point. :D

By the way, are the topic icons always displayed? If there's an option to turn those off (or if they don't get displayed at all on mobile devices because they take up space), having the topic icons go to the first unread post may not work. Or are topic icons supposed to go to the first post in the topic in this proposal?

Steve
David is implying that the inconsistency and break in tradition is causing confusion across boards and platforms (and thus, will do so for everyone). Don't forget, this does not apply to subsilver2, so it would also be totally inconsistent with that style. And who is to say ALL style authors will all update their styles in 3.1 to do the same thing. The point is this can lead to mass confusion between versions of phpBB and 3rd party styles. :shock: Not to mention it's a behavior not seen on any other bulletin board system by default.

Yes, the topic icons are always displayed. It has already been tested across all browsers and mobile platform sizes for Prosilver and is working great now. ;)

Finally, this was a drastic solution to a minor issue that only presented itself on mobile devices. You don't re-arrange the whole kitchen just because you can't find the salt shaker. You get a better salt shaker. :D

I can't stress enough, the change added here offered nothing new, nothing that the ICON right smack next to the topic title didn't already do. Why anyone is too troubled to click it is beyond me. But as the complaint that it was awkward on mobile-touch devices is valid, we came up with a better solution, and that is to mirror that small links functionality on the giant topic status icons.

So now those giant attention grabbing topic status icons will be clickable. They can take you to the last unread post, or the first if you never read. But every user will also always be confident that the topic title takes you to the beginning of the thread, as it should, and always has. Because that is what the topic title is - your entry point into the thread.
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hanakin
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by hanakin »

I agree the topic title should take you to the first post its been very confusing for me. However I would argue that making the topic icons a link is still going to create some issues for some individuals on forums that do no rely on topic icons.

Prosilver has topic icons but in a truly mobile environment I where you are limited to screen real-estate I would value the title and reply count higher than the topic icon which would fall off on a theme due to size unless its optimized for smaller versions.

In actuality it makes more sense from a semantics UI/UX sense to redesign the latest post section on full width to incorporate a link to the latest post as the section is labeled and scale this down on a mobile version. could be something as simple as an arrow icon link in the previous and next links just larger somewhere between 18-24px
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by MattF »

hanakin wrote:I agree the topic title should take you to the first post its been very confusing for me. However I would argue that making the topic icons a link is still going to create some issues for some individuals on forums that do no rely on topic icons.

Prosilver has topic icons but in a truly mobile environment I where you are limited to screen real-estate I would value the title and reply count higher than the topic icon which would fall off on a theme due to size unless its optimized for smaller versions.
The topic status icons are still visible in Prosilver at its smallest mobile-repsonsive size. :)

Remember, we are designing for Prosilver. Those topic status icons are ALWAYS present in Prosilver. So if some 3rd party style developer wants to eliminate those status icons in their mobile style, it's on them to come up with a suitable alternative. ;)

Also, we're talking about the big status icons, not the little optional topic icons like flames, or question mark, or radioactive. It's the big'uns that indicate whether a topic is read/unread/locked/moved/active/hot/etc... :)
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PayBas
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by PayBas »

Whatever you guys decide, there should be better use of titles for the <a> elements. title="Unread posts" is simply too vague when it is implied that you are jumping to the first unread post (as opposed to the title="Go to first post" of the date-link).

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Mess
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by Mess »

Bleh, its been reverted. And no other option has been added. :(

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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by MattF »

Mess wrote:Bleh, its been reverted. And no other option has been added. :(
Thats incorrect. Those big flashy red icons next to every topic that signal "unread posts" has become a clickable link that takes you to the first unread post.

And of course, there's still the original link that has always been there since the beginning, right next to the topic title as well.

So now there are 2!!! links within a centimeter of the topic title that take you to the first unread post.
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John P
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by John P »

I agree with Mess.
Really liked this option instead of clicking on a small image.

How about a option to go to the previous situation?

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Mess
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by Mess »

VSE+ wrote:Thats incorrect. Those big flashy red icons next to every topic that signal "unread posts" has become a clickable link that takes you to the first unread post.
Thats was the first thing I tested, and it didnt work!
Works now though, and I can "live" with it. ;)

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Pico88
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Re: Link topic to first unread post

Post by Pico88 »

ATM, I will remove the small icon next to unread topic title or make it unclickable ;)

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