Posts In Thread Are Always White

[steve_sa]

Ok, I released a new version, and need to ask you guys to fix it.

Ok, here's the scenario. You are reading page 3 of a 4 page thread, and have not yet viewed page 4. Now if you go to page 4, the little status icons should still be orange... before, if you visited any page of a long thread, that thread was marked read.

Pls test.

 

[dhlucke]

The ready aim fire poll in the other section stays orange after I have read it.

 

[dhlucke]

any thread I post in turns orange :?

 

[steve_sa]

That should be fixed now. I justed posted a message in test section, and it was fine.

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Well, most of what I reported is fixed by now, with one exception:

(By the way, PicPile rocks.)

 

[steve_sa]

slvr,

That orange button is a feature. Mouse over it.. it takes you to the first unread post. Does it not?

 

[Ned_Flanders]

A superb feature - Too well hidden

Can you comment on my ideas in Russels thread?

 

[slvr_phoenix]

A week ago when I reported it it didn't. I don't think that it was even working when I posted my last picture.

It works now. And it's a nice feature.

But only since it started actually working was there any indication that it was even a feature at all and not a bug.

And while it is a nice feature to have, I can't help but feel that the placement and icon are a bit kluge. :?

1a) Can we just throw out the Last Post bit entirely and replace it with this?
1b) If not, can we at least give it a better icon or make it in some way more intuitive/clean/friendly?
2) Instead of having it try to vanish and bring up a no new posts message, can it be made to be always there and just go to the last post in the thread if there are no new posts? (Heck, with orange/white indication color changes?)

 

[steve_sa]

Solutions being proposed are:

1. create a new column just for this info
I think we already have too many columns, and that one would only applied to logged in users, and would be sparse, and only populated when there are new posts

2. mix it with the last post column, or replace last post column
All forums have the last post column, and it is universal (logged in, not logged in, have a last post or not) again a bit against the norm.

3. Distinctive icon:
How about this one. I think it is a a good solution and easy for me

a little icon like:

I think it is pretty clear what that icon means.

 

[RCPilot]

I believe there's a problem with posts that are 1. old & 2. longer than 19 pages (I believe the shortest one is 19 pages). There are 3 of them, 2 in Polls & one in the Other.... They show as unread both at the community lever & the forum level... They are active threads as well...

I go to the forum & see it has a new post & click the take me to the last post icon & it will.... I read it, then go back to the forum level or community level & it still shows as unread... I go back to the forum & click the take me the last post & it says there no new posts since your last visit... All the other threads work flawlessly, except for these old, long threads...

If I post in these threads as I've done with a test post, they will show as read, & only then.. I can use mark all as read & that's the only 2 ways I can make them show as read.

 

[dhlucke]

I'm having a problem with the longer threads always showing orange even after they've been read by the "ALL" option or the last page or anything. The only way to make them white is by marking all threads as read.

 

[steve_sa]

ok, I see that. Yes, applies to longer threads, it seems. I will check into it.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

You still haven't answered my question: What use is knowing the last poster in a thread?

We could try different methods to see which one suits best:

1) Replace the thread link with this feature. If you wanted to start from the begining you would then click on the Page 1 2 3 ...etc link

2) Replace the last poster column (the single most useless feature ever)

3) Combine the last poster column and this feature into one column

 

[steve_sa]

The 'last poster' info is:

a) standard for both phpbb and VBulletin

b) gives an indication of the last activity on the thread, dates, posters. It is also useful to people who are not logged in.

The orange icon right the left of the descripti IMHO is much better positioned, since you are already looking at the title, and it is well in line of sight, vs. having to look over to the right column to figure out if the thread has some posts needing a reading.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

It's standard. Ok, good reason to keep it then. [/sarcasm]

Your second point is pretty useless. If I wanted to know the last poster in a thread (God only knows why I would) then I'd click in the thread and check the poster and dates etc. I don't see how it is useful to people who are not logged it - If they are here so often as to need to know if a thread has another post then they'd register.

I thought of a really good way to get this feature + more usefull information in that last column.

Replace the last column with "New posts" - In there have the number of new posts since you last checked:

E.g.

[10] (the number itself is hyperlinked to the first unread post of the thread)

If there are no new posts (or the thread hasn't had one for 7 days - as per the logic we already have in place) then the number would be [0] with the link going to the last poster / no link at all

^ Best idea ever, I know.

Additionally, if your not logged in then either that column isn't shown.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Bump

 

[slvr_phoenix]

I don't know Steve... I've got to agree with Neddy on this. Just because it's been a standard feature doesn't mean that it was ever really all that useful. :? (Especially now that a newest-unread link is available.)

Personally my vote is to combine the last post and newest-unread into a single column.

The text in that column can soooo be squished. For example, using a military date format (14DEC05) or purely numberical date format (14/12/05 or 12/14/05 depending on country) takes up way less room than "Wed Dec 14, 2005". And time doesn't need an am/pm designation if it's in military time. So you could quite possibly squish the last post date/time/user/shortcut into a single line.

(Also, it'd be cool if the last post was orange/white sensitive instead of always white.)

And with that squished into a single line, a second newest-unread line could also exist in that same column then, much with the same format.

Heck, so many posts already seem to take up four lines for that matter, so even if you used the current formatting, you still have plenty of room to put both into that column.

But I also like Ned's idea of a New Posts column. It would hardly take up any room to add a New Posts column, especially if you stack the header text vertically to be:

New
Posts

As for your

file open icon ... that's a bad icon to use. The reason being that it is clear what that icon means, and that meaning is to open a file, not to jump to the newest unread post.

I think a totally different icon would be better suited. Maybe something like a pair of glasses with a little white box in the left lense and a little orange box in the right? (Like this:

) I don't know.

But even still, cramming all of those links into the topics column is messy. It has enough as it is. I think the last read column is known for being a special jumping point, so adding the newest unread link there is more expected than having it in the topics column. Or, again, make the link for the newest unread in a New Posts column. Either would be cleaner IM(NS)HO.

For that matter, you could probably get rid of the "

Goto" part and just have "Page 1, 2 ..." in the topics column. That'd clean things up a little bit more.

So basically, instead of the current look:

You could do this:

Or this:

 

[Ned_Flanders]

First off: Great post slvr.

The screen shots will help steve a lot.

I used your template to make one that will give us the best of bost worlds

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/1185/untitled8lt.jpg

^^^

Infact, thinking about it - Perhaps the last poster information in my example should just be "Last post on xxx" (can fit that on one line).

Also, the Number (not the [ and ]) should be hyperlinked to the last unread post as well.

It's all about presentation.

 

[steve_sa]

I don't have access to the 'new posts' count... it is not possible to do so, as that information is not maintained at the forum level (only available at the thread level).

I still like to hear the problem with having a more descriptive icon for new posts (e.g. it says 'new posts'). I personally like it right next to the title as I don't have to move my eyes and mouse to the right.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Well add it to the forum level. It's not hard.

All we're talking about is an integer value for threads not older than 7 days.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

The old forum had a similar feature that showed the new posts at the forum level when looking at the forum list.

The feature currently been asked for is a new post count at the thread level when looking at the thread list.

At's just a level deeper. The code is probably pretty similar even though this is a PHP board.