jaeitee Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 It looks identical to what it did last week, what am I missing?
TracyIsland Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 The Company changed it back to list view from grid view.
Ryan Ashbrook Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 For those who missed it: As noted, this is configurable per theme by clicking the Edit button, and adjusting the Forum layout setting under the Custom tab.
craigf136 Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 Actually @Ryan Ashbrook - is it possible to offer this option as a setting or a per user basis? I would rather give this option to the users, rather than have 2 different styles, 1 list view, 1 grid view
sunrisecc Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 I dislike the new format because I cannot easily tell where I have unread posts. The subforums are never bolded for me.
SJ77 Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 I like it a lot. Nice work team.Card view layouts are all the rage. Modern and very well suited for mobile.
Kirill N Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 I have noticed that you have changed it a bit so that the blocks don't have the same height. Now this looks awesome!
opentype Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 This grid layout can be a useful feature in several areas of the suite. I don’t think the forum index is one of those places though. Beside the waste of space when there is just one item in a line of possibly three or four, it’s just not helpful in regards to usability. The forum index is structurally a “list of items”, and therefore a list view just works best. Then you can “scan” the left part of the text row and easily find what you are looking for. With the grid view you have to go through all the lines individually — which are not even clear lines, but actually rows within lines. And even if you remember the position of your most-used forum, their position will change again when forums are added or removed … So while it is certainly visually appealing, I wouldn’t recommend to use that setting.
SJ77 Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 This grid layout can be a useful feature in several areas of the suite. I don’t think the forum index is one of those places though. Beside the waste of space when there is just one item in a line of possibly three or four, it’s just not helpful in regards to usability. The forum index is structurally a “list of items”, and therefore a list view just works best. Then you can “scan” the left part of the text row and easily find what you are looking for. With the grid view you have to go through all the lines individually — which are not even clear lines, but actually rows within lines. And even if you remember the position of your most-used forum, their position will change again when forums are added or removed … So while it is certainly visually appealing, I wouldn’t recommend to use that setting. from a pragmatic approach you are right, the list is most practical and effective. However, lists are BORING.. people get paid to look at lists. I want something that's fun and content that's engaging. I think the card layout is modern and makes the site more appealing. There is an option to turn it off so I think everyone wins here. IPB is that much better! WOO!
opentype Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 I think the card layout is modern and makes the site more appealing. I don’t disagree. I am using such a multi-column card layout throughout my 4.0 site myself. For example to make my article section more appealing. But wherever there are clear lists, which serve as an access point to more items, I stick to the list view. Those pages might be visited hundreds or thousands of times by an individual user. It’s not like they are looking for “visual appeal” every time they visit the forum index. They want to find the right forum to post in. A grid-view doesn’t really help in that regard. Just my two cents …
bigPaws Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 @Ryan Ashbrook Did you spot the issues on the mobile display when using this grid system? I kind of assume things are tested on mobile before being pushed live here
TracyIsland Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 The more I look at the grid view, the more I like it. On our board, we have three main categories. In the first category, we have 9 forums. In the second category, we have 42 forums. In the third category, we have 4 forums. We have implemented a modification so that our members only see their 'selected' forums for the first two categories, as a default display. They can always click on the 'full display button' at the top of the page to see all of the forums. But the display still shows the list view. With this new option, I think of modifying our 'select' forums to appear as just a nice grid display without the 'header' of each category. Rather, it would just show say the 4 that I have selected from the first category and the 2 I have selected from the second category, and the 4 from the third category.Thinking even more outside the box, wouldn't it be cool to have a drag and drop for a personalized display?My only concern with the grid view is that it has a very strong appearance. It makes me think there isn't any more below the page break or scroll down. It is hard to describe but somehow the visual effect makes me not think to scroll down and down. I get less of that effect in the list view.- Brian
HeadStand Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 I dislike the new format because I cannot easily tell where I have unread posts. The subforums are never bolded for me.This.Also, it looks a little off when viewing a forum that has both sub-forums and topics. The difference between the 2 layouts (one on top of the other) is a little jarring.
Andy Millne Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 I dislike the new format because I cannot easily tell where I have unread posts. The subforums are never bolded for me.That was a bug now fixed.
-FP Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 In the new grid view, if you click the forum icon to mark it as read, the forum is marked as read but you don't get any notification and the icon doesn't change until you reload.
Feneroin Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 Sub-forums are still not bolded. They are folded
Andy Millne Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 Sub-forums are still not bolded.Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you mean? Unread sub forums now show bold correctly for me. http://screencast.com/t/A4Xf20daV1E1
Izaya Orihara Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 I actually like this view. It makes the forum look less crowded in my opinion...and on my own board with like 60+ forums, this may come in handy
sunrisecc Posted January 27, 2015 Posted January 27, 2015 Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you mean? Unread sub forums now show bold correctly for me. http://screencast.com/t/A4Xf20daV1E1They do now for me also.
HeadStand Posted January 28, 2015 Posted January 28, 2015 The more I use it, the more I think it's distracting. At first I was like... ooooo, pretty.... but now I find I can't focus on the content properly. I'm not sure if this is just an adjustment thing or if I just really can't read this way. Leaning toward the latter.But I wanted so badly to like it. :(
Woodsman Posted January 28, 2015 Posted January 28, 2015 Being a traditionalist at heart I think this could actually grow on me. Might actually be more useful in a content / blog setting. But we will see how it grows...
Cemmos Posted January 28, 2015 Posted January 28, 2015 The more I use it, the more I think it's distracting. At first I was like... ooooo, pretty.... but now I find I can't focus on the content properly. I'm not sure if this is just an adjustment thing or if I just really can't read this way. Leaning toward the latter. But I wanted so badly to like it. I feel the same. It's definitely great that it's available as an option — it'll save us designers a nice chunk of time. I don't think it's the grid that's the problem, it's more about the design of it. In my opinion. It doesn't lead your eyes to where they should be looking. The avatars tend to pull my eyes away from the forum titles. Generally, a grid view like this works really well with images and not so much lists and textual information. Naturally, we read the standard or old school forum list easily because it's words in... a list. In a grid view, there needs to be a bit more guidance as to where the user should be looking. But that's up to the designer, really. It can be easily changed, so this feature is pretty awesome as it is. Just gotta put some work into it.
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