Improving the UserCP splash page

[kablam]

I've been thinking lately that it might be more friendly to redirect users to a personalized splash page after logging in, as opposed to the board index. Think along the lines of a user's main homepage on Myspace or even the UserCP splash page (only much more hooked into the user's participation on the forum/site). Now I know I said the "M" word - but please don't be scared. I'm not suggesting top friends, bulletins or friend trains. :P

Most people just click "View New Posts" after logging in anyway, rather than sorting through each forum on the board index one by one. Obviously there'd still be a high priority navigation link to the board index... I just think a main splash page would make more sense and prove far more useful than being sent to a plain list of forum titles. Actually, perhaps this doesn't even need to be a new page, just an enhanced version of the current UserCP main page. (And then maybe admins could set whether they want members to be directed to the board index or the UserCP when logging in?)

Abtway, off the top of my head, some things this spunked up splash page could have:

• Profile photo
  A must. It's much more welcoming and makes users feel like the page belongs to them. Should also have links to view profile page and edit profile info
  
  
• Latest 5 subscribed topics (sorted by recent activity)
  
  
• Recently read topics and/or My Last 5 topics/posts
  
  
• An activity feed (similar to facebook) about what the recent forum activity. For instance, it'd list things like:
  
  • Username posted a reply in Topic Title
  • Username changed their avatar
  • Username gave AnotherUsername a profile comment
  • Username added a photo in the gallery
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Welcome to Site Name! To get started, browse the Board Index or look for new posts. These pages control various account and profile settings. <if a necessary message/note is found for this user, then show the next bit:> We also detect that you haven't fully set up your account. and then it would go on to list the individual notes...
    
    
  • You haven't validated your account! You may not be able to use the site fully until you validate blahblahblah <link to resend validation>
  • You haven't uploaded a personal photo! Photos help make your profile unique. <link to edit photo>
  • You haven't chosen an avatar! Avatars are display pictures that show up next to your forum posts. <link to edit avatar>
  • You haven't made any posts! View the new posts to look for some interesting topics to reply to.
  • You don't have any friends! While being socially awkward is nothing to be ashamed about, friends are handy to have. Browse the member list and find someone to stalk.
    
    
    
    
    

The user would be able to select if they'd like to view actions from all members or just their friends. They could also possibly select which actions they'd like to exclude. Also, if people are worried about their privacy (why join a community then anyway?) I suppose there could be options for each user for them to set which of THEIR actions they would like to exclude from other user's activity feeds. [*]An announcement box which displays the title or a snippet of the latest news topic(s) [*]Intuitive notifications and status messages Based on a member's current (or lack of) settings, they should get little messages about how to get started with the basics of their account. For instance, a newly registered user might see this: Of course it'd get annoying if you don't want to add a photo/avatar, etc, and these messages still show up - so the user should also be able to click a "do not show again" or "hide for 30 days" button. [*]The Personal Notepad that we currently have could still certainly be useful - but I really only use it for topic drafts that I'm not yet ready to post. (Sitenote: I don't really think it's too necessary, but maybe IPB3 could have saved post drafts)
And we don't need notifications for things like new profile/blog comments... My Assistant pops up with a notification on the spot for that stuff anyway.

So what does everyone think? For those who disagree that the splash page shouldn't be the main redirected page after logging in, I'm sure you can still agree that the main UserCP page needs some tweaking, to put it lightly. :P

[Louis M.]

Honestly, most of this seems like social networking, and I LOATHE it. When I log into the forums, I want to see the forums, not some about profile view of me. I certainly don't want some site telling me I don't have friends and to go look for them. I do like the idea of having some links to add a personal photo and avatar readily available, maybe in a dhtml pop up like PM box, once a day.

[kablam]

Honestly, most of this seems like social networking, and I LOATHE it. When I log into the forums, I want to see the forums, not some about profile view of me.

I guess it depends on why you're using the forum in the first place and what your site needs are. Personally, I think social networking is a great thing. In saying that though, I'm in no way suggesting IP.Board should become about who's friends with who, etc, and how you can stay on track of old friends from a past life. That's overkill, and I agree that sort of stuff is better suited for Myspace/Facebook etc. But you have to admit, forums are community based. And as a community product, there should be basic social elements for increasing member relations and interactivity.

Also, just added this to my first post:
For those who disagree that the splash page shouldn't be the main redirected page after logging in, I'm sure you can still agree that the main UserCP page needs some tweaking, to put it lightly. :P

I certainly don't want some site telling me I don't have friends and to go look for them.

Haha, yeah that part was mainly sarcasm to demonstrate what those notification messages could say.

[Renita]

For a forum I really think there are quite enough socializing tools, but when I read the first line of your post, I actually thought you were aiming at giving the member the option to choose what page they be redirected to after logging on, which would be kinda cute to have.

[Mark]

I agree that the user cp needs a bit of an overhaul (which I'm sure 3.0 will see)

I think it would be good for the user to choose where they are redirected to after log in.

[Mark H.]

I think it would be good for [b]the user[/b] to choose where they are redirected to after log in.

+1 to the OP, but +2 on the above.

[MrEdd]

I would not object to any of the above. What I would like to see is an extensive social networking add on similar to ipblogs, ipgallery, ipdownloads.

[sadel]

It would be great if the main profile page can be customize by the subscriber, the look they want (themes, music, style...), something similar to myspace. :keith:

[Cybertimber2009]

While I'll agree that it would be nice for the UserCP (that place where you go to change settings) to get some attention and make it a bit more frendly... custom themes? For the user settings page? Umm, no.

[crosinski]

My members use this part of the site way more than I thought they would and they love the social networking capabilities much more than I do. Personally, when I visit a forum I want to read the forum posts and that's about it. On behalf of my social networking crazy members, though, I request that a more user friendly personal portal and About Me page be thought about and implemented. I think it's a little difficult to find the About Me page and I think that would be a neat thing to develop more.