Marking individual forums or sub forums read

I've just spent 10 minutes looking for the 'Mark Forum as read' button. I still can't believe it doesn't exist.

SkipD wrote in post #17303756
What green arrows are you seeing, Tim? I don't see any when simply looking at the thread.

While I'm posting, though, I see some arrows which are incrementing a count. It appears that the green arrows and the count relate to a behind-the-scenes saving of the text that I am posting. I can change the text by clicking on the arrows. Interesting.....

When replying to a post.


Also - I hit the MQ multiquote button, then hit reply to thread, and the quoted text wasn't there to read. Am I using it wrong?

tim wrote in post #17304875
When replying to a post.

I believe those are undo/redo arrows. Pretty useful actually.

tim wrote in post #17304875
Also - I hit the MQ multiquote button, then hit reply to thread, and the quoted text wasn't there to read. Am I using it wrong?

You then use the quote tool on the left. There are all kinds of options about what you can do with quotes now. It is actually kind of cool once you get used to it.

hollis_f wrote in post #17303939
I've just spent 10 minutes looking for the 'Mark Forum as read' button. I still can't believe it doesn't exist.

It'll get there.

I have never understood that command. If you want to see what is new after you come back next day, you can go to new posts or simply look what is on top of the forum index, the threads are listed in order of new content. The effect of the command was entirely visual.

dalto wrote in post #17304886
You then use the quote tool on the left. There are all kinds of options about what you can do with quotes now. It is actually kind of cool once you get used to it.

But unfortunately having to click extra buttons is not very intuitive with how most other forums handle Multi-Quotes...

I will agree with everybody else that having an easy way to mark a section read would be helpful.

I would also like to be able to set some of the forum index to the "full view" and other sections to the "short view" without hiding the section completely. It would make the forum index page less cluttered, but still allow me to remember that there are sections for things that I don't normally read (like gear reviews, sony, leica, nikon, etc.).

KurtB wrote in post #17304929
But unfortunately having to click extra buttons is not very intuitive with how most other forums handle Multi-Quotes...

I will agree with everybody else that having an easy way to mark a section read would be helpful.

This is version 1.0. Much will change in the future.

I'll add that on the to do list!

Pekka wrote in post #17304902
It'll get there.

I have never understood that command. If you want to see what is new after you come back next day, you can go to new posts or simply look what is on top of the forum index, the threads are listed in order of new content. The effect of the command was entirely visual.

It depends how you manage new posts. IMO, this forum is way to high volume to read all the new threads. If you visit often it is fairly hard to track what you have read.

Honestly, the more time I spend with this forum the more I understand how it is intended to be used. Yesterday I was yelling loudly for this feature but now I am less sure that mark all threads would be as useful as it is on other forums.

At this point I think that what would be a lot more useful is the ability to differentiate between forums you hide from the main forum pages and forums you only hide from the new posts section. This would allow you to customize the "New Posts" to your liking. For example, I want to be able to see the for sale section but I don't want every piece of posted gear to show up in my new posts.

KurtB wrote in post #17304929

dalto wrote in post #17304886
You then use the quote tool on the left. There are all kinds of options about what you can do with quotes now. It is actually kind of cool once you get used to it.

But unfortunately having to click extra buttons is not very intuitive with how most other forums handle Multi-Quotes...

Just my personal opinion but I am not sure what the point of developing an entirely new piece of forum software only to do things the same way as all the other forums software do would be.

Pekka wrote in post #17304943
This is version 1.0. Much will change in the future.

I'll add that on the to do list!

Great!

Overall, I will have to say that I am sort of "on the fence" when it comes to many of the changes.

I like the ideas behind some of the added features, even if I don't think I will use many of them.
However, there are use UI and design issues that just don't work for me.

I will also say it is not so bad that I am going to jump ship in the first couple of days like I have heard some people say. I'll give it some time, and see what happens. I have always been more of a lurker than a poster, so the ease of reading is much more important to me than features like an improved photo gallery (that I probably won't use).

dalto wrote in post #17304961
Just my personal opinion but I am not sure what the point of developing an entirely new piece of forum software only to do things the same way as all the other forums software do would be.

There are some things that all of the forum software packages do the same way to make it more pleasing for a user. If I was brand new to this forum, I would expect it to work a certain way. If it does not, then my experience will suffer and I may or may not continue on the forum. What I will NOT do as a new user is watch instructional videos or read a bunch of "help posts" just to figure out how common functions operate.

Multi-Quoting is one of those common functions.

There are many things that Pekka has done with the design of his AMASS software that function just like every other forum software. Why did he do that? My guess would be because it improves the user experience.

If I created a new cell phone, would I change the layout of the numbers when dialing? Of course not. There are some things that users expect to function in a certain way.

Ever notice that the numbers on a phone run "top to bottom" and the number pad on an extended keyboard run "bottom to top"? That is to improve the user experience. On a keyboard, they are layed out like on a calculator/adding machine. They could have made them like on a phone, but the end user would have had to change their process depending on if they were using a "standard" or "non-standard" keyboard layout.

I do NOT want to follow or like all threads.

I want to see which threads are new since my last log on.

I scan the thread subject titles and decide THEN if I want to follow it. If it is not of interest, I do not follow it.

Having all new threads bold and older not bold (since last logon) was the most useful tool on POTN there was.

Just my personal opinion but removing the ability to determine which threads are new since last logon was the hugest design mistake that could have been made.

hollis_f wrote in post #17303939
I've just spent 10 minutes looking for the 'Mark Forum as read' button. I still can't believe it doesn't exist.

Pekka wrote in post #17304902
It'll get there. .

Pekka, please clarify "It'll get there"

Does that mean the Mark Forum Read feature will be added in a future update?

thx.

dalto wrote in post #17304961
Just my personal opinion but I am not sure what the point of developing an entirely new piece of forum software only to do things the same way as all the other forums software do would be.

Because the Mark Forum Read feature was highly used and a great organizational tool.

Having similar features does not negatively impact new software.

By this logic ("I am not sure what the point of developing an entirely new piece of forum software only to do things the same way") then making a post in a thread would also be a duplication of a feature from the old forum, so why allow posting?

Picture North Carolina wrote in post #17305193

dalto wrote in post #17304961
Just my personal opinion but I am not sure what the point of developing an entirely new piece of forum software only to do things the same way as all the other forums software do would be.

Because the Mark Forum Read feature was highly used and a great organizational tool.

Having similar features does not negatively impact new software.

By this logic ("I am not sure what the point of developing an entirely new piece of forum software only to do things the same way") then making a post in a thread would also be a duplication of a feature from the old forum, so why allow posting?

Just to be clear, my comment was not related to the "Mark Forums Read" functionality at all. This is adding functionality. My comment was related to making the existing multi-quote functions work the exact same way they work on other forums.

KurtB wrote in post #17305038

dalto wrote in post #17304961
Just my personal opinion but I am not sure what the point of developing an entirely new piece of forum software only to do things the same way as all the other forums software do would be.

There are some things that all of the forum software packages do the same way to make it more pleasing for a user. If I was brand new to this forum, I would expect it to work a certain way. If it does not, then my experience will suffer and I may or may not continue on the forum. What I will NOT do as a new user is watch instructional videos or read a bunch of "help posts" just to figure out how common functions operate.

Multi-Quoting is one of those common functions.

There are many things that Pekka has done with the design of his AMASS software that function just like every other forum software. Why did he do that? My guess would be because it improves the user experience.

If I created a new cell phone, would I change the layout of the numbers when dialing? Of course not. There are some things that users expect to function in a certain way.

Ever notice that the numbers on a phone run "top to bottom" and the number pad on an extended keyboard run "bottom to top"? That is to improve the user experience. On a keyboard, they are layed out like on a calculator/adding machine. They could have made them like on a phone, but the end user would have had to change their process depending on if they were using a "standard" or "non-standard" keyboard layout.

I understand your point if the features in question were that intuitive or effective. For example, I think moving the submit and cancel buttons to the right is a great idea. From a design perspective this is where they should be.

Let's be honest here, the MQ functionality on most forums is not very good. You have to manually cut and paste, move tags around to really get it to work right. We are just used to it working a certain way. The way it has been implemented here is, IMO, an improvement. It takes a little getting used to and if you never edited your quotes may be more clicks but in the long-term it offers improved functionality.

There is a difference between something being intuitive and it being familiar.

Pekka wrote in post #17304902
It'll get there.

I have never understood that command. If you want to see what is new after you come back next day, you can go to new posts or simply look what is on top of the forum index, the threads are listed in order of new content. The effect of the command was entirely visual.

I open a forum and start opening interesting-looking threads, from the top (newest) downwards, stopping when I get to the end of the unread threads. I then mark that forum as read. The next time I visit the forum I can see that the top 12 threads contain new, unread stuff. I'll read the interesting ones (say, thread 1,2, 5 and 7) then mark the forum as read.

With the current setup I open the forum and every single thread is marked as unread. There's no way to tell which threads I've seen before yet ignored. So I start from the top and read the intersting-looking threads (1, 2, 5 and 7) but I'm not sure if the threads beyond thread 12 might be interesting or not.

Here's a pic from another forum. You can see all the posts that have changed since I last visited (and marked the forum as read).

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Perhaps the fault lies with me - not fully understanding the operation of amass.

So a question for Pekka or anybody:

Take a theoretical user who is only interested in one forum on POTN: The Business of Photography.

Using the existing features, how would that user come to POTN and check for any new threads or new replies to old threads since the last logon (without needing to view any other threads from any other forums)?

(Repeating the same behavior each day).