My Assistant

[Lewis P]

I have been thinking this for a while, and have only just decided to register and post.

When you receive a new PM, you get the My Assistant Pop-Up, but, if you have just clicked a link to view the latest post, which is at the bottom of the forums, you do not see the pop-up, so you may not see that you have a PM. My thought is that the My Assistant should scroll down with you when it is open. Also that it stays open until you close it.

:thumbsup:

[Alex]

+1, any function in IP.Board or its modifications, which scrolls down to a specfic anchor, you cant tell if you have a PM or not :)

[Guest]

I would personally vote to remove My Assistant altogether, in favour of some better alert mechanism for new messages.

Every part of My Assistant is a second-class, lower quality clone of existing functionality. Remembering of course that My Assistant is also lot of code, it's not friendly for skinning and it's not very good for disability law compliance. It makes it all seem a little unnecessary.

[elj]

I may be in the minority here, but I'd agree with Dan - I always much preferred the PM alert system in earlier versions of IP.Board (possibly it was one of the 2.0 PF Releases that just had a bar at the top of the screen that said 'You have 1 new message.'?) Fair enough, that didn't scroll either, but at least it was simple, easy to skin, and easy to control. My Assistant just seems silly: especially for the new posts and PM views - there's a whole screen to use, and it's squashed into this little window...

I can't see IPS going back on My Assistant (and implementing a more user friendly system), because like Dan said, it's a lot of code - and wasn't it a major feature at the time?

[Lewis P]

I may be in the minority here, but I'd agree with Dan - I always much preferred the PM alert system in earlier versions of IP.Board (possibly it was one of the 2.0 PF Releases that just had a bar at the top of the screen that said 'You have 1 new message.'?) Especially for the new posts and PM views - there's a whole screen to use, and it's squashed into this little window...

I agree with that as well, I have always preferred the 2.0 way of displaying alerts. But, I doubt that IPS will return to that method. Will need to be done through modifications surely?

[Guest]

I agree with that as well, I have always preferred the 2.0 way of displaying alerts. But, I doubt that IPS will return to that method. Will need to be done through modifications surely?

Well you have to remember that what we're giving feedback for here is likely going to end up being version 3 of the software. Generally major version numbers are where sweeping interface changes are made.

I personally think that a large portion of what should be key to the development of IPB3 is improving the user experience. There are sections of the board that are amazingly confusing, due to excess options; There are sections that use completely new design styles, that don't blend with existing portions and don't lend themselves at all well to being styled by the existing rules of the rest of the board; Then there are the sections that simply don't need to exist at all... My Assistant, in my opinion, is one of the best examples of that.

Honestly, if you think about it, do you ever actually use the list of the five latest PM's in MA? Do you ever use the search box in MA instead of just going to the search box in the header? Probably not... right?

[Alex]

But MyAssistant is good for plugging in modifications without file edits, I can easily add tabs and loads of functions for my modifications just by doing a include in the skin template.

Personally, it is more pratical than the red dotted box that was in IPB 2.0, true that was simple to read and use, however with new technology does IPS really want to back down on AJAX?. It also contains some useful functions in one centralised location, making it easier for users to use.

[Guest]

But MyAssistant is good for plugging in modifications without file edits, I can easily add tabs and loads of functions for my modifications just by doing a include in the skin template.

Well, this is hacking the wrong thing in the easiest way to work around a flaw in the product. IPB3 should have a good hooks system to get around this issue. At which point that use for My Assistant is no more.

Personally, it is more pratical than the red dotted box that was in IPB 2.0, true that was simple to read and use, however with new technology does IPS really want to back down on AJAX?. It also contains some useful functions in one centralised location, making it easier for users to use.

The red dotted box had a purpose, that purpose was to alert the user that they had a new PM. It served it well. It shouldn't need any extra bells and whistles on top of that.

As for "backing down on AJAX"... Yes, AJAX functionality should definitely NOT be kept in the product simply because it is a new, "cool" technology. There are many, many better uses of AJAX technologies that could be implemented in IPB but are not.

My overall gripe about My Assistant though, is that whilst it may centralise a few things, they're sub-par duplicates of the full features. Oftentimes, the full features are actually more quickly and easily accessible than their My Assistant counterparts.

[Michael]

I agree with Dan, I would like to see My Assistant dropped completely.

[Logan]

I'm in agreement also, My Assistant is just a duplicate of already existing features and should be rid of. I do not use it except when I have to, for new PM notifications. Would love to see a PM alert like the one from 2.0 PF 3 make a comeback.

[Brian Garcia]

Yes I always thought the big red box in IPB 2.0 was great. I would say drop My Assistant as well, but I have no word really because I use different software.

[Brandon C]

I'll chime in here with the others and agree that the My Assistant should be dropped entirely. I liked the red box back on 2.0 as well (a lot better than the current My Assistant, that's for sure), and believe it should be brought back to replace the My Assistant somehow (for new PM alerts)!

[stobbo]

I agree with complete removal, it doesn't seem to have any use apart from clunking up the board and to be honest its pretty useless.

I haven't seen the IPB 2.0 PM Notification, but it sounds good.

[Ab Erus]

I think a good choice for alerting you of a new PM would be like a browser bar. (like the kind M****soft (its like swearing to me lol) sticks in the IE when browsing)

As the big box at the top is annoying to me too.

[Mert]

I also agree with Dan. My Assistant in IPB 1.3 was better than now.

There are 2624 new posts. (

View

)

None of these posts are replies to topics you started.

This was the most important feature for me in my assistant than anyother :) Unfortunately this function is no longer there and the links on My Assistant aren't that much required ;)

I'm happy to see that I'm not the only person who thinks PM notification system in 2.0.x was better :)

[Alex]

MyAssitant in 1.3 was ahorrible popup.

Anyway I see I am on my own liking myassistant. I just hope IPS dont remove it :(

[Mert]

Yes the pop-up was horrible but the function I stated above was good. :)

[Alex]

Ye the functions were good, maybe mix the functions from older versions with the looks of the new ones?

[Guest]

There is already a "View New Posts" link in the member bar. I'd imagine it wouldn't be that difficult to modify that to say "View New Posts (2624)". :)

[Mert]

12 of these posts are replies to topics you started.

This is what I like Dan :)

[elj]

It'd be a pretty simple modification/feature to, at the top of that page, say 'You started 12 of these topics.' That'd be useful information, still a click away - My Assistant's problem is it doesn't actually provide any useful information anymore, especially with the new search link pop-up div under the link. I just hate how we're forced to see My Assistant when a new private message appears.