layout at top of TMC thread lists

[brianman]

I frequently use New Posts, but the top bar seems to be used across many views.

Over the holidays, I tend to use my Surface Pro 2 for viewing TMC. I tend to put the Zoom factor at the IE default of 150%. When doing so, the New Posts page -- even when maximized -- is only like 2 entries. Incredibly inefficient and annoying UI. I use 150% because the targets are much easier to touch accurately and because the reading size for text is easier on my eyes.

But let's be generous and drop down to 100% zoom.

Here's the screenshot of the top...

Some thoughts:

1. What value is the second gray bar providing (the one below FORUMS / WHAT'S NEW / ...)? Total waste of vertical screen space for me.
2. Can the two black rows be combined? If not, could the 2nd black row and 1st gray row be combined? Even better would be to combine all 3 rows.
3. Follow-up for 2: I never use Vendors, and Media. I very rarely (at most 5 times a year) use Groups, Connect, and Members. As such, 90% of the time all of that is wasted UI space. Recommend providing a layout that allow me to put those in a chevron style overflow dropdown like IE has done for years when you have multiple toolbars sharing the same row and space gets tight.
4. The space to the right of { { New Posts }, { New Posts, New Profile Posts, New Media } } is wasted (pure white). The space to the left and right of the advertisement is completely wasted space. Consider combining these two rows to (a) save vertical space and (b) make it more likely that the advertisement remains on screen while scrolling down to the content I'm actually trying to view.

The theme here is simple: For horizontal layout there's a ton of wasted space that is annoying and counterproductive.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

For me, both mobile and desktop got worse (with extra spans of blankness) during the day on Wednesday. I think they're trying to fix a scrolling issue...but have made some things worse for others.

 

[Alketi]

For me, the new layout fails one important use-model.

Lets say you have multiple notifications (bell icon) and you want to read them all one-by-one:

1. You mouse-over the bell, and click on one of the notifications and begin browsing that thread.
2. But -- when you scroll down to read messages, the bell icon's row gets collapsed at the top (disappears)
3. To read your next notification you must artificially scroll UP to un-collapse the bell icon and then mouse-over click.

The login/bell icon should either be on the same level as FORUMS / WHAT'S NEW / NEW POSTS ... or you shouldn't collapse the top line when scrolling.

 

[brianman]

For me, the new layout fails one important use-model.

Lets say you have multiple notifications (bell icon) and you want to read them all one-by-one:

1. You mouse-over the bell, and click on one of the notifications and begin browsing that thread.

In case it helps, I ctrl-click the notifications. The menu stay open for the ctrl-click (open in new tab).

 

[danny]

Some thoughts:

1. What value is the second gray bar providing (the one below FORUMS / WHAT'S NEW / ...)? Total waste of vertical screen space for me.
2. Can the two black rows be combined? If not, could the 2nd black row and 1st gray row be combined? Even better would be to combine all 3 rows.
3. Follow-up for 2: I never use Vendors, and Media. I very rarely (at most 5 times a year) use Groups, Connect, and Members. As such, 90% of the time all of that is wasted UI space. Recommend providing a layout that allow me to put those in a chevron style overflow dropdown like IE has done for years when you have multiple toolbars sharing the same row and space gets tight.
4. The space to the right of { { New Posts }, { New Posts, New Profile Posts, New Media } } is wasted (pure white). The space to the left and right of the advertisement is completely wasted space. Consider combining these two rows to (a) save vertical space and (b) make it more likely that the advertisement remains on screen while scrolling down to the content I'm actually trying to view.

The theme here is simple: For horizontal layout there's a ton of wasted space that is annoying and counterproductive.

1. That is a bug. It is being worked on.
2. The 3rd row is not showing for everyone but for some. It is a bug. The 1st and 2nd row can't really be combined.
3. Yes, different users use different things. It would be nice to allow users like you to be able to customize the navbar, however that would be a whole project by itself. The navbar setup will make more sense in the future, however, for users who only use one aspect of the website it may not be ideal. In configuring the site, we take into account what new users see. Hiding away certain features of the site from new users in a menu button, is not ideal. We will see how it goes, and adjust if necessary. Nothing is written in stone.
4. You are viewing the site on fluid view, however many view it on fixed view so your suggestion would have to be considered with this in mind. The "wasted space" to the right of 'New Posts', etc., may not be wasted for much longer as we may populate that space at some point in the near future. Yes it would be nice to cut down further on the space next to the advertisements, however, we would really have to rethink the layout of the page which is a valid but somewhat complicated and low priority thing for us to deal with in the short term.

 

[danny]

The login/bell icon should either be on the same level as FORUMS / WHAT'S NEW / NEW POSTS ... or you shouldn't collapse the top line when scrolling.

Yeah, we have taken note of this and are considering it.

 

[omarsultan]

What is the difference between Discussion > Forums > Watched Threads and Discussion > What's New > Recent Threads (Watched)? The first one is populated as expected and the second one is blank for me? If something is "watched" for me (probably because a posted to it), should it not show up in the second view too?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

What is the difference between Discussion > Forums > Watched Threads and Discussion > What's New > Recent Threads (Watched)? The first one is populated as expected and the second one is blank for me? If something is "watched" for me (probably because a posted to it), should it not show up in the second view too?

I've seen the same functionality but have never been able to figure it out either so I continue to use the New Posts link.

 

[danny]

I've seen the same functionality but have never been able to figure it out either so I continue to use the New Posts link.

Recent Threads (Watched) essentially means a list of (in order of latest) threads that are in forums that you watch. The watched threads page is a list of unread watched threads. In other words there is a difference between threads from watched forums, and watched threads. The software by default does not do a good job of making this clear, and we ourselves are still figuring out how to make this clear especially given that we can't include a full explanation in the navbar.

 

[brianman]

Thx for the follow-up info, Danny. Just to be clear, I wasn't intending to suggest any of this stuff was easy.