The thread title links to the first unread post - the case against!

[bocadillo]

I'm sure that the lazy people who can't be bothered to use the forum and its facilities properly are pleased about the change. But it is now impossible to copy and paste the URL of a thread so that you can provide a link to the whole thread.

Can this please be put back how it was.

 

[Jeff]

I'm sure that the lazy people who can't be bothered to use the forum and its facilities properly are pleased about the change. But it is now impossible to copy and paste the URL of a thread so that you can provide a link to the whole thread.

It is possible it's just a bit more difficult. I will be adding a link to the first post in the thread to make it easier.

 

[bocadillo]

Would it be practical to swap the two links over, with title line linking to the 'newpost' (most people seem to like this) and the smaller icon linking to the thread OP?

 

[Jeff]

Would it be practical to swap the two links over, with title line linking to the 'newpost' (most people seem to like this) and the smaller icon linking to the thread OP?

I thought of that, but the icon wouldn't make sense, with it pointing down but linking to the top of the thread. And people who wanted to go to the first post would probably not notice it in the same way that people didn't realise it went to the first unread one.

I'll just add a small text link for the first post, to make it clear what it's for.

 

[bocadillo]

I thought of that, but the icon wouldn't make sense, with it pointing down but linking to the top of the thread. And people who wanted to go to the first post would probably not notice it in the same way that people didn't realise it went to the first unread one.

I'll just add a small text link for the first post, to make it clear what it's for.

I do wonder though how many people would want to use it. I would suggest that the people who would want to add links are probably bright enough to remember what the icon is for.

Can you change the icon to something that might look more appropriate? A text link, however small, might look messy.

 

[Jeff]

Can you change the icon to something that might look more appropriate?

I've flipped it and added it after the thread title. I might decide to move it somewhere else if it looks odd, I'm too busy to spend any more time on it tonight though.

 

[bocadillo]

I've flipped it and added it after the thread title. I might decide to move it somewhere else if it looks odd, I'm too busy to spend any more time on it tonight though.

That's ideal. Could be said that it looks a bit odd as the end of the titles don't line up and might therefore look better in front of the title. But I'm not too bothered either way. It's functional and it works and it leaves the thread title for the more popular and more frequently used link to the first unread post.

Many thanks.

 

[Jeff]

Could be said that it looks a bit odd as the end of the titles don't line up and might therefore look better in front of the title.

That's what I thought, but if I move it to before the title it would make life more difficult for those people who click on the existing icon that appears there when there are unread posts.

 

[bocadillo]

That's what I thought, but if I move it to before the title it would make life more difficult for those people who click on the existing icon that appears there when there are unread posts.

I was returning to the thread to say that I had just realised that the existing icon is still there. I wonder how many people do actually use it now and whether it could be seen as defunct. To click on the thread title is certainly more intuitive for the action that most of the people would want to do most of the time.

Tough decision, eh?

 

[Jeff]

I was returning to the thread to say that I had just realised that the existing icon is still there. I wonder how many people do actually use it now and whether it could be seen as defunct. To click on the thread title is certainly more intuitive for the action that most of the people would want to do most of the time.

I certainly use it, but not necessarily to click on. I find it's the easiest way for me to tell if there are threads with unread posts when I look down the forum listing. I know the thread titles are a different colour, but the icon stands out more.

 

[bocadillo]

I certainly use it, but not necessarily to click on. I find it's the easiest way for me to tell if there are threads with unread posts when I look down the forum listing. I know the thread titles are a different colour, but the icon stands out more.

Yes. I can understand that even though I do tend to use the bolder print of the unread thread as the identifier. That said, the new prefixes, which always appear emboldened whatever the status of the thread, do make that a *little* more difficult in that you can't just cast your eyes down in a straight line.

I also tend to find unread threads from the New Posts link and not from 'forum indexes', so there is a difference there too.

 

[Jeff]

I also tend to find unread threads from the New Posts link and not from 'forum indexes', so there is a difference there too.

I don't use that because it usually tells me there are dozens of unread threads that are of no immediate interest to me. Most of the time I only look at the LCFC forum, and the Latest threads box on the right (for most people) will tell me if there is anything new in the other forums that I might want to look at.

Maybe a new posts function just for selected forums would be more useful, that's not currently something I could set up though, as far as I know.

 

[bocadillo]

I don't use that because it usually tells me there are dozens of unread threads that are of no immediate interest to me. Most of the time I only look at the LCFC forum, and the Latest threads box on the right (for most people) will tell me if there is anything new in the other forums that I might want to look at.

Maybe a new posts function just for selected forums would be more useful, that's not currently something I could set up though, as far as I know.

The problem of keeping things simple whilst meeting everybody's needs must be of huge proportions.

I think I'll leave it to you. :icon_conf