Board Layout

[therube]

Board Layout

Just commenting that I don't care for the new layout (in particular with the [number of] replies on the left).

Older shot for reference:
.

FFS older board layout.png (30.43 KiB) Viewed 2688 times

[xCSxXenon]

+1 The symbol on the left in the old layout was easy to see whether there were unread replies, since it would turn red. Now, there's a little flag on the right. That is not as bad as the actual unread replies in the thread not being highlighted anymore. Previously, it was easy to see which replies were new but now you just have to remember the last time you looked and check the date/time

[Zenju]

Fixed: The little red document icon now has a normal size, and been moved the the left. Additionally the "last post" URL will instead link to the "last unread post" if available.

Anything else?

[xCSxXenon]

The username font is now horrendous LOL

I would also move the 'replies' column over to the right side, but just to the left of 'views'. And then maybe make a 'Last reply' column to the left of that with the username and time like it is now, but put the time under the username to save width

[TAC109]

With the old layout clicking on the red circle took you to the first unread post in the thread. This seems to be missing with the new layout.

[bgstack15]

It appears that mousing over the "5 hours ago" section will take you to the "#unread" part of a thread, which actually sounds like it could be incorrect. If the thread has multiple unread posts for a signed-in user, I would expect the list of threads would show the most-recent comment in the thread as that "5 hours ago" piece, but if its link takes the signed-in user to the first unread (for a thread with unread comments), then it doesn't go to the most-recent comment.

Zenju, please, please, consider reverting the entire forum layout to the way it was for such a long time. This new layout is getting confusing and is making usability difficult.

[edited for more detail]

[Zenju]

The username font is now horrendous LOL

Wow! :D I find it's a little less boring. Perhaps this is a matter of taste.

I would also move the 'replies' column over to the right side, but just to the left of 'views'.

Important information should be visible at a glance. Maybe it's just me, but I want to quickly see if there is an unanswered topic, without having to move eyes all to the right. The "views" OTOH are not generally important, so they're fine on the right.

And then maybe make a 'Last reply' column to the left

I don't think we need a dedicated column for "last reply". This should be the default target when clicking on the last post's description.

but put the time under the username to save width

There's no need so save space, the forum uses only maybe half of the horizontal width. But it looks more orderly, so let's try that.

With the old layout clicking on the red circle took you to the first unread post in the thread. This seems to be missing with the new layout.

It is replaced by the red document icon before the topic title.

It appears that mousing over the "5 hours ago" section will take you to the "#unread" part of a thread, which actually sounds like it could be incorrect. If the thread has multiple unread posts for a signed-in user, I would expect the list of threads would show the most-recent comment in the thread as that "5 hours ago" piece, but if its link takes the signed-in user to the first unread (for a thread with unread comments), then it doesn't go to the most-recent comment.

You're right, this is a bit inconsistent. But in most cases "latest post = first unread post". And even if not, the "latest post" is almost always also on screen when the "first unread post" is shown. So I think the difference is too unimportant to justify two separate clickable URL areas.

Zenju, please, please, consider reverting the entire forum layout to the way it was for such a long time. This new layout is getting confusing and is making usability difficult.

Ben, you should know me by now. I never completely revert when I think that I can fix the remaining problems instead. It's like "2 step forwards, 1 step back", but overall progress, hopefully.

[bgstack15]

I was being polite. This new forum layout is unpleasant and makes me want to visit less often.

Perhaps you could make a poll to ask the users if they like the new layout better than before? Perhaps I'm in the minority.

[therube]

The username font is now horrendous LOL

Agreed.
Not that it is "horrendous" per se, but it distracts ones eye (at least mine), as in I see the username rather then the forum topic. And in that respect, I'm seeing a page of usernames rather then a page of topics.

Edit.

Oh yeah, definitely.
As I'm scrolling back up this thread, which I have not read the intervening posts since yesterday, my eye is only drawn to the names & to the (I'll call it "quirky" - garish, I suppose is the right word) fonts, so my mind is not interpreting the actual text on the page, only the names.

[therube]

Let me go on.

Now that I say, "mind, ignore those names!", my next thought is has anyone replied to the most recent threads?

And with that, I (now) need to go search for the Replies.
And with that, there simply is no "connection" (again to my mind) between some rather seemingly arbitrary number to the left of the subject line. As in I'm not "seeing" 4, oh, 4 replies. I'm seeing a number "4" that is out of context to anything.

Yes, I much prefer the old layout.
Can different layouts be set in the user, ah, you wouldn't want to do it per user, it would have to be a board checkbox (that sets a cookie) in case you're not logged in.

[therube]

garish

Don't get me wrong, garish does have it's place.

(Again, my mind) works at a XP / Win7 "Classic" mode.

These days, OS/programs have gone to a flat, monolithic, "homogenized" look.
Everything looks the same. Your browsers looks like your explorer looks like your editor looks like...
For me, I can't tell things apart & I'm like, huh?

I'm on Win7, so not an issue (on the OS end). But Firefox, has gone "homogenized", & it simply makes it more difficult for me to use. (FF is not my typical browser.) None of the millions of FF "themes" are worth a damn either. So I created my own, that works for me. It ain't pretty, you can even say it is garish, but it allows me to easily distinguish, so for me, it works.
.

Firefox looking mighty garish.png (51.12 KiB) Viewed 2593 times

[Zenju]

Not that it is "horrendous" per se, but it distracts ones eye (at least mine), as in I see the username rather then the forum topic. And in that respect, I'm seeing a page of usernames rather then a page of topics.

Novelty is also a factor, so it's hard to make an unbiased design evaluation based on the first look. But the emphasis on topic creator name was a bit too much. The latest update made the names less distracting.

Now that I say, "mind, ignore those names!", my next thought is has anyone replied to the most recent threads?

And with that, I (now) need to go search for the Replies.
And with that, there simply is no "connection" (again to my mind) between some rather seemingly arbitrary number to the left of the subject line. As in I'm not "seeing" 4, oh, 4 replies. I'm seeing a number "4" that is out of context to anything.

Unread posts are now indicated by an envelope icon on the left. The meaning of the reply number itself will be known for a recurring visitor, and for newbies the mouse-hover will show a tooltip.

[bgstack15]

Dear Zenju, why is the "unread messages" icon now a gray envelope?! It blends in with the background. Please stop making these changes. Please revert to the original design and color scheme. The only reason I knew this thread had new content was because it said "Zenju, 56 minutes ago" and I just got up for the morning so I couldn't have seen it yet.

I'll check again in a few days, and if it still looks this way, I don't think I can justify spending my time trying to understand this forum. Linux users will have to get their support from somebody else. Although I suppose breaking the source zip will bring me back....

[Zenju]

Dear Zenju, why is the "unread messages" icon now a gray envelope?!

Fixed. This seems to have been a browser rendering issue. I've replaced the unicode emoji with a vector graphic.

env.png (917 Bytes) Viewed 2560 times

Anything else?

[xCSxXenon]

Username font looks a lot better!

Envelop icon seems suuuper light, I thought it was just a box

The padding between columns should be increased I think. The title and last reply quote feel like they're spilling into the reply#/envelope icon column and the last reply details on the right.

The 'Views' header is no over the actual data column

Here is an edit, I think it looks super clean. It does widen the page a bit, but that isn't necessarily part of my suggestion, it was just easier to edit it that way

Untitled.png (214.91 KiB) Viewed 2549 times

[xCSxXenon]

- Moved '# topics' to middle of title column
- Moved 'views' over right
- Aligned thread titles and last reply quotes
- Added padding on the left and right side of the titles

[therube]

Username font looks a lot better!

+1

[therube]

(Again to my eye)

The number of Posts simply does not register.
(And to me, that is important to be able to pick up on, easily.)

What I am seeing instead, is the number of Views, which is relatively unimportant, & only matters after the fact.

[Zenju]

Envelop icon seems suuuper light, I thought it was just a box

Fixed.

The padding between columns should be increased I think. The title and last reply quote feel like they're spilling into the reply#/envelope icon column and the last reply details on the right.

Not too bad! Applied.

[xCSxXenon]

Looking pretty goooood
Maybe a little more space between topic title and last reply details

[xCSxXenon]

Also, any reason why it doesn't go wider?

[huuurz]

Long lines are bad for fast reading and keeping the line... that's why every newspaper has a layout in small columns, even for long texts.

/edit
You can change it for yourself with addons like Stylus.

Example for your specific problem:

/* ==UserStyle==
@name           freefilesync.org - 10.2.2023, 14:52:02
@namespace      huuurz
@version        1.0.0
@license        unlicense
@description    Make FFS forum wider
@author         huuurz
@preprocessor   stylus
==/UserStyle== */

@-moz-document url-prefix("https://freefilesync.org/forum/") {
    #wrap {
        max-width: initial !important;
    }
}


[Zenju]

You can change it for yourself with addons like Stylus.

No need for yet another addon if you already have uBlock Origin! Just add:

freefilesync.org###wrap    :style(max-width: initial !important;)


But as huuurz said, it's not great for readability.

[xCSxXenon]

Ah! That makes sense actually

[therube]

(Totally unrelated, but related in a related sort of way, The recent redesign of en.wikipedia.org.)

[therube]

I like better the (now) wider layout on https://freefilesync.org/forum/.

Though I find the [number of posts] distracting (& I'd think, rather meaningless).

[huuurz]

@therube
You might add something like this to your uBlockOrigin filters:

freefilesync.org##.ffs-topic-header span:has-text([Posts])
freefilesync.org##.topiclist>.row>div>.ffs-forum-link>div:last-of-type:style(color:white!important)
freefilesync.org##.topiclist>.row>div>.ffs-forum-link>div:last-of-type>div:style(color:#444!important)


Unfortunately it can't be hidden without also hiding the number of topics, so I just made the font color white.