recent post feature

[Jezebel]

I made some major changes with the new post feature. I don't know of a way to make it only display new posts since last visit, and it's not a supported feature or mod.

What I can do is display the last x number of posts. I set it to 100 and this is what I've come up with so far:

This is what I've come up with so far. (http://intjforum.com/YaBB.pl?action=recent)

Yeah, I know, it could use some improvement with the format. But it's way too late and I'm going to bed. In the meantime, do you guys have any suggestions on making this more user friendly?

[Jezebel]

Updated this again. Now it's more condensed and (hopefully) easier to read.

[radioactivez0r]

I love it

[ehares]

Looks pretty good to me.

[Evalis]

Yeah it's useful now ^^

[Jezebel]

Ok, a couple more changes:

You can now navigate to the boards from the recent post page.

Now you have a choice if you want to start reading the beginning of the thread or start at the last post. Clicking the thread title will take you to the first post in a thread, clicking the number to the right of the thread (number of replies) will take you to the last post in the thread.

There's still a couple other ideas I have to make this more user friendly, but my lack of programming knowledge is limiting me at the moment.

[Jon]

That's a pretty snazzy feature.

[Rei]

Is there a way to make the topics with recent posts read higher in the list?

It'd be so much easier than searching through the list...

[Jezebel]

Is there a way to make the topics with recent posts read higher in the list?

It'd be so much easier than searching through the list...

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your question, but every time someone posts in a topic it goes to the top of the list. So all the topics with recent posts should already be higher on the list.

No?

[The Rose]

Is there a way to make the topics with recent posts read higher in the list?

It'd be so much easier than searching through the list...

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your question, but every time someone posts in a topic it goes to the top of the list. So all the topics with recent posts should already be higher on the list.

No?Rei might be asking that the most recent POST be at the top of the list.
I know I'D like that.

[Jezebel]

Rei might be asking that the most recent POST be at the top of the list.
I know I'D like that.
Do you mean you want the entire post to be on the 'recent post' page where you can read it? My brain doesn't work like this. I need to read from thread view in order from wherever I left off last so I can view the conversation in context... I have a feeling most people do as well, but I could make it an option.

Otherwise I'm not clear on what you mean by this. The recent post list is in order of when the last post was made, not when the topic was created. If you click on the number to the right of the topic name (the number of replies), it will take you to the very last post made. If you click on the topic name, it will take you to the first post of the topic.

If not noticing that was the problem then it's probably more of an issue of it not being clearly labeled, but my ideas to make it better are beyond my technical abilities at the moment. However, improving the recent post page is a high priority and definitely something that will get better. Lately I've just been swamped with work and I need a full, free evening without other preoccupations to sit down and figure everything out. (Yeah, I know I'm on here a lot but I make a point of it.... I'm usually working on other things in the background).

Keep the feedback coming though. I'm willing to include more than one viewing option if I know that at least a few people will use them.

[Guido]

I might be missing something, but I'm guessing she means reversing the order in which the posts are viewed. So if in a thread there are 10 posts (numbered 1 for the first post, to 10 for the last one) then 10 would be the first post displayed when you click on the thread, followed by 9 below it, etc. Currently it's setup such that post 1 is at the top, followed by 2, etc.

[The Rose]

Right.
I guess I'm kind of lazy and don't like scrolling down to the bottom of every page to see the latest post.

[Jezebel]

I might be missing something, but I'm guessing she means reversing the order in which the posts are viewed. So if in a thread there are 10 posts (numbered 1 for the first post, to 10 for the last one) then 10 would be the first post displayed when you click on the thread, followed by 9 below it, etc. Currently it's setup such that post 1 is at the top, followed by 2, etc.

So this would be an issue with the thread view rather than the recent post feature, right? I know they both involve recent posts, but thread view is a whole different file with different coding and would be independent of the recent post list.

I haven't seen a forum that does that, can you find examples to link?

[Jezebel]

Right.
I guess I'm kind of lazy and don't like scrolling down to the bottom of every page to see the latest post.

I'm just a bit confused... for any thread, you can either start at the top at or the bottom. Both the recent post list and the individual board lists have the option to either start reading from the first post or the last. No matter which one you select, and even if the thread view was reordered, you will still have to scroll either up or down to read the posts in between. What I'm not clear on is why it takes more energy to scroll down than up.

[Jezebel]

Just so we're all on the same page...

Links in the green circles take you directly to the first post, links in the red circles take you directly to the last:
Board View:
http://intjforum.com/Attachments/boardview.jpg
Recent Post List:
http://intjforum.com/Attachments/recentview.jpg


This is the same topic here...
If you click the green circled links you'll start here at the first post:
http://intjforum.com/Attachments/firstpost.jpg

If you click on the red circled links you'll start reading from the last post made, which is #7 in this particular topic:
http://intjforum.com/Attachments/lastpost.jpg


The only difference in changing the thread view will be whether you scroll up or down to get to the posts in the middle, but you can already start reading from the first or last without any extra scrolling at all. If you guys STILL want the thread order reversed because you prefer to scroll in other directions I might look to see if there is a mod that will make it an option, but I wouldn't make it the default forum view.

[Guido]

Another difference though, is that the last 10 recent posts would be visible if you click on say page 1. In this thread, if you click on the latest post, you're brought to page 2. If you want to be see post 14, (which is often needed to keep things in context) you have to click on page 1 and scroll all the way to the bottom.

It's really not that big of a deal and if it invovles you hunting down a mod or rewriting the code yourself, I don't think it's worth it. At least to me :o

[Jezebel]

Another difference though, is that the last 10 recent posts would be visible if you click on say page 1. In this thread, if you click on the latest post, you're brought to page 2. If you want to be see post 14, (which is often needed to keep things in context) you have to click on page 1 and scroll all the way to the bottom.

It's really not that big of a deal and if it invovles you hunting down a mod or rewriting the code yourself, I don't think it's worth it. At least to me :o

I understand, but don't see a huge difference. It's not an available option that comes with the forum software so it would have to be an installed mod or coded in. And it would have to be a user option, not default forum view. I love the regulars who come to the forum and keep up with threads enough to care about stuff like this ( :lovestruck: ), but I think it would really confuse visitors and members trying to read older threads if the posts are in reverse order. I've never seen a forum where that was the default.

I'm curious though, so if you do know of one post the link here.

[The Rose]

Just so we're all on the same page...
links in the red circles take you directly to the last:
Board View:...Thank you.
I will make sure I do that.

[Guido]

I'm usually not a forum junky, but I know I've seen them. Although I think they're rather rare :o

[Jezebel]

Made the recent post feature (http://intjforum.com/YaBB.pl?action=recent) a little more useful today. The topics/posts not viewed are different colors than viewed topics.

This thing still needs a lot more work.