Stack Overflow style view

General Discussions Suggestions
#1

I’ve been using forums for decades and I used to think that a big seperated structure (like JGO) was a good way to do them. But in recent years with so many Stack Overflow varients popping up (and similar things like your Facebook wall) I’ve really changed my opinion on this. So my suggestion is that I’d really like to see one page with a list of all of all topics (from all sections) ordered by their most recent post. Perhaps colour coded so I can see which section it’s from.

Tbh I just really don’t like having to check ‘Shared Code’, ‘Performance Tuning’, ‘Newbie & Beginner’ and all the other sections independently; especially when I usually only plan to click on for literally a few minutes. This would make it much more streamlined.

I just want to see what’s new.

#2

Something like http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?action=unread?

#3

Not quite. For me that’s currently empty as it’s showing unread since my last visit. In many ways it’s actually wrong as there are lots of topics I haven’t read but haven’t changed since my last visit.

I’d like it to show all topics in order of the latest post, regardless of if it’s read or not (although obviously they should be highlighted differently) and not take into account the last time I visited.

#4

So basically http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?action=unread;all except also showing topics you’ve already read?

I fail to see the point in that, honestly. Stack Overflow has so much volume that it basically works this way anyway. I doubt you’ll see the same posts in there for longer than a few minutes.

#5

That one also fails to show anything. It’s just empty, yet there are plenty of topics I haven’t read.

The point is that I don’t want to have to check 5 sections when I visit JGO. I’d prefer to see just one page.

But I don’t want any filtering, it should include things that were unread last time which I didn’t read because I might read them next time. It boils down to listing x number of topics with the most recent activity.

#6

That shouldn’t be empty for new topics from now on. You yourself said you want the list to be sorted by newer topic, and that’s pretty much what that does. BTW, that comes from “Show unread posts since epoch.”

#7

I would probably find a list of recent posts to be useful. It can be hard to find a topic again once you’ve read it.

And are ‘Show unread posts since last visit’ and ‘Show unread posts since epoch’ supposed to do anything different? They both show the same list for me.

#8

you can do it using

http://www.java-gaming.org/index.php?action=recent

this should give you a list of all recent posts or better yet use a decent RSS reader.

#9

If you use that unread page exclusively, it works great.

#10

isnt there a little box at the bottom of the front page for exactly the purpose your describing?

#11

Only problem with the unread page is it doesn’t take you to the oldest unread post within a thread. If a thread is on page 3, I have to click the tiny tiny 3 link. If I click the thread, I’m taken to page 1. Worse, if the last post I read was on page 2, if I click page 3 I could miss posts. I have to remember what page the last post I read was on, for every thread I’ve read!

#12

Just click on the [new] icon, it takes you to the exact post that was new since your last visit. :persecutioncomplex:

Makes you wonder how much SMF already supports that is never used even by regular members…

#13

I suppose yeah. That is kinda what I’m after, but it’s far from perfect. It’d be better if it was formatted like the forum sections rather then as a compact little table, and I also don’t want to see the same topic listed multiple times (knowing that 2 or more posts have occurred in a topic is a little pointless to me).

But thanks!

#14

Aha! Neat. Who would have known the little new icon is clickable. :slight_smile:

#15

?! I’ve been using that for years.

#16

It is a ridiculous piece of interface design - the most useful link is the smallest, least obvious thing to click.
In fact, would it be possible to make the thread title link go to the first unread post rather than the first in the thread?

#17

Yeah… I never knew about that. But at least I do now!

#18

Me too. I’ve always used the unread posts list but never noticed that. Sigh.

#19

I expected (almost) everybody to know that. I agree that the design is stupid and I will make the suggested changes, one of these days.

Please note that I will only make the changes on the (three) ‘unread’ pages, not the entire forum.