Unified header/pulldown menu

[dfadmin]

I am suggesting to clean up the index pages and unify the commands placed across the screen (sometimes easy to miss, especially if you are a member new to IPB) in a unified pulldown header menu.

To get an idea of what I have in mind:

http://demo.phpbb3styles.net/Glacier

Access to profile, messages, notifications upcoming in 3.1, login/logout/register functions would all be in one easy to find location. The menu of course changes the content throughout the forum, as a guest you have the register and sign in options, after login this space would become the personal profile pulldown. The features like mark all forum read (on main index) or mark forum read (on forum index), watch/unwatch (in forum index and thread index), delete cookies, view new content, rss feed, help, forum rules, faq, moderator options like report center, admin panel etc would all be neatly arranged instead of being text links placed all over the page.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the looks of IPB, hell i bought it for that, but I think it would be another huge improvement on appearance.

Is this something that would be implemented by IPB developers at all (maybe with the option to stick with the "conventional" style) or is this more in the domain of skin creators and already possible, except no one has done it yet?

[Invisiοnist]

I believe this is more of a skinning option imo. At least.. I think from what I have gathered. Could you provide a screenshot of the exact look you were talking about? I think IPB actually looks cleaner than phpBB but that's just my opinion.

[dfadmin]

I do agree that IPB looks clean. But I still see room for improvement.

For an rough idea, please click the link in my original post. Or try these:

http://www.shadowflames.com/development/index.php?style=49
http://www.shadowflames.com/development/index.php?style=50

By design it's (I believe) 100% written in CSS, it was first used in a 3rd party skin and per se is not exactly a phpbb-feature. However I think it does an awesome job of cleaing up phpbb, and that IPB too would benefit from the efforts.

The menu is not static but changes it contents and pulldown options according to where you are (in main index, forum index, viewing topics, etc.)

Looking at an "out of the box" IPB I see quite a few of small text links for using the forum features that could be accumulated in that place for ease of use and tidyness.

For instance:
Forum Rules
View New Content
that lonesome RSS Feed button
Delete My Cookies
Mark Board As Read

Those are items that linger around on the IPB pages, more or less hidden, often (after my switch from phpbb to IPB) i had to tell Users where they where. They are just easy to miss.

Additionally, you could implement:
Sign-in and Register (which of course disappear when logged in)
Sign out and Profile access (which are only visible when logged in)
Display number of PMs and new PMs etc.

Also, the small links in the top for admins and mods could be brought there.

I think getting all those more or less randomly placed links gathered in one place would be an awesome addition to "clean looks" and usability. Maybe I should repost this somewhere where skin creators read and post, so they can check out how much of that can already be done with skin adjustments? I'd still love IPB themselves to look into it.

[bfarber]

If your users can't find the RSS button (which is right at the top of every page, directly on the page), I find it hard to believe it would be EASIER to find it after putting it into some sort of dynamic menu.

[Calvin39]

I agree Brandon, some people are just not satisfied.

They have a sign in, they have a sign out, the Forum Rules, View New Content, are perfect where they are, put them in a drop down and you are liable to miss them because then they would be hidden. If your members are finding them hard to find, then they should not be using a board at all, as IPB 3 is the simplest board to run, when you learn how to use it, and we all had to do that.

[dfadmin]

Excuse me, if I were not satisfied on the whole I would not have purchased the software.

However, I took the header of this forum by the word.

Have a suggestion or feedback?

Post it here. Thanks!

So, is every suggested feature a sign of general IPB disapproval?

I love about IPB that it is very homogenous und consistent.

However, in my eyes, or in my view of "consistency" I wonder why there is a single RSS button next to one or more text links? For instance, why does is the RSS button a button and not simply the three letters? Or why is the link for "View New Contant" not rendered as a button, like those "Add Reply" and "Watch Forum" Links in thread view?

Given the overall consistency with such things across IPB, I cannot help but feel that there could be an improvement made in terms of index page appearance. Of course, this will not make sense to long time IPB user. Cause, the link has ALWAYS BEEN THERE. It is taken for granted. And therefore of course the simple idea / suggestion of "garbage collecting" all those links and putting them into a meaningful order is apalling heresy?

I was thinking that the input from someone who just switched his forum and userbase over to IPB would be welcome. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[bfarber]

I presume you are referring to Gerry's post and not mine? If not, I didn't mean for my post to come off as offensive. I was simply countering that if users have trouble finding an RSS icon which is right at the top of the page, I don't think moving the icon into a menu (effectively hiding it) would help any.

[dfadmin]

Yes, I was referring to the post directly above mine. I agree that the RSS button is hard to miss, and maybe I am at fault for including it in the list I made in that way.

However, the text links mentioned in the list, spread across the page, are still something that hurts my eyes, my sense of a "clean UI". I still think unifying those would be a nice idea, maybe as a toggleable option for "old-time users" that do not get accustomed to new designs easy. As I said, it is nothing that makes me hate IPB or has me regretting purchasing it. Just a tidbit of improvement in my eyes, but I can see how that might not be to everyones personal tastes.

Just something to consider, but maybe that ball is more in the court of the skinning people and I posted it in the wrong forum in the first place.

(The idea behind that is actually that most people, when discovering a pulldown menu, usually spend a few seconds hovering over each submenu and looking what entries are available. Not everyone scrolls down to the far bottom of a page to read the "small print" see and memorize that there is a "Mark forums read" link. I had to point people there quite often in the past, both with phpbb before I used that menu and IPB now...)

[bfarber]

One option might be to do this on your site and then post screenshots or a link so our designer can see how it works. His opinion of how things should be setup and layed out is very fluid and evolving. I imagine if Rikki saw how you did it and agreed it looks best that way, you might see it included/implemented at some point.

(I don't make the bulk of the design decisions, so any comments I'm making here are just my own opinions mind you)

[dfadmin]

I will try to whip something up in Photoshop. Thanks for the heads-up.