UI and Feeds Update

We have just updated the site with a new UI and features. Please note that we are still making some adjustments and configuring things. Please let us know if you see any issues or bugs.

[If you would like to continue to use the legacy "What's New" page, I have added the ability to add a "What's New" link to your primary navigation bar and mobile bottom navbar (only effects the non-pro 2022 styles, as the pro styles already have a "What's New" link there). You can turn this on by going to your Account Preferences.]

The main updates are the following:

1. New UI Style: We have new style/theme called "TMC 2022" and TMC 2022 Dark". These are very similar to our old styles, however they are a little more streamlined, should provide better performance on both desktop and mobile, and significantly improve readability (in particular for the dark style). There are some more consequential changes that you will notice, such as: the sub-navigation bar is no longer sticky on scroll-down; on mobile, the Conversations, Alerts and Account/Profile buttons are now merged into one in the top navigation bar; and on mobile the bottom navigation bar now has the navigation menu button as well as other useful links. If you are unhappy with any of the changes, please use the "TMC Pro 2022" and "TMC Dark Pro 2022" styles which are almost identical in function to the older style. You can change/specify your preferred style on your Account Preferences page.

Or you can change it by scrolling down to the bottom of your screen:

2. New Feeds Feature: Feeds is our new way of making TMC's Community content more accessible and easier to navigate and filter. Feeds will ultimately be taking the place of the "What's New" section, as it provides the same functionality and much more. What's New will remain accessible for those who still prefer it, however we will be removing What's New from the navigation bar at some point, so please bookmark it if you really want to use it and not Feeds.

You will notice on the Community homepage, a tab bar which allows you to switch between the various feeds that we offer. By default, existing logged in users will be taken to the "Forum list", which hasn't changed. However, you can switch to other Feeds easily, and even change your default feed from "Forum list" to a feed of your preference. This can be done in your Accounts Preference page in the section entitled "Default feed". You can also set a feed as default by going to your preferred feed, and selecting the "Set as default" button as seen here:

3. Voting: We have added the ability to vote on threads. This affects a given thread's vote score, which can be used as a sort option for your thread. Vote scores are also used to help determine which threads make it into the "Hot" feed.


Below are sections from the new TMC Website Tutorial that cover Voting and Feeds.




Feed tabs:
On the Community homepage there are various feeds that you can view:

• Blog: A selection of curated article threads from our community.
• Hot: A curated list of some of the best and most recent threads created by TMC members.
• Discussion: A full list of all threads (similar in function to the older “New posts” page).
• Questions: Displays all Question threads. Each of these feeds can be filtered by forum and more. For example, you can display only threads with unread content by clicking here.
• Social: Shows the latest social status updates (AKA profile posts) from across the community.
• Forum list: Not actually a feed, but rather is a shortcut to jump to the traditional list of forums, which can also be accessed by clicking on the “Forums” link in the sub-navigation bar under “Community”. On this page you can select.

You can choose between two different formats for thread feeds:

• List: The classic, more condensed, view of the threads.
• Card: A richer layout which previews the actual content of the thread’s first post, allowing you to take actions such as reacting to the post.

There is also a “Set as default” button. This option allows you to change what feed is shown by default when you come to the TMC Community homepage. This option can also be adjusted within your account settings in the “Preferences” section.


Feed Filtration:
The “Filter” section allows you to drill down to the specific content that you’d like to see. You have many options for filtering, including:

• In forums: If you’d like to limit the feed to content only from specific forums that you select..
• Unread content: If you’d only like to see content you haven’t previously seen/read.
• Watched threads: If you’d only like to see threads you’ve created, interacted with, or manually watched.
• Watched forums: If you’d only like to see threads from forums you’re watching.
• Unanswered content: If you’d like to see content that doesn’t have any replies.
• People you follow: If you’d only like to see content from your members that you have followed.
• Order by: This option gives you a variety of sort orders such as:
  • Promotion date - when the threads were promoted to the feed by TMC Staff.
  • Last post date - when the latest reply to the threads were posted.
  • Thread creation date - when the threads were first created.
  • Vote score - the number of votes the threads received.
  • First post reaction score - the reaction score (incl. Likes, Informative, Helpful, etc.) of the first post of the threads.

Once you have specified your filtration options, you can select the “Save” button if you would like them to be saved and selected by default the next time you visit that specific feed.

Thread Voting: On any thread list page, such as a forum or a feed, you can up a thread. You can also up vote a thread on each thread's first post. The vote score is taken into account for curated feeds such as Blog and Hot. It also is a sort option that you can use in order to see threads with the highest vote score.

 

[danny]

It used it be that, if there are 10 ‘likes’ for a post of mine there will be only one alert stating there are ‘Likes’ to my post. And that changed sometime earlier this year where I will get 10 alerts one for each ‘Like’. Very very annoying.

Has that been fixed in this upgraded?

It actually is working as it was designed to, so it isn't broken, but I do agree that it used to work better, so I will take note of this.

Please replace the little bizarre UP arrow next to the quoted poster's name with a left arrow or something.. It looks like a Page Up.

If we put a left arrow, then some will likely think it is a back button or a reply button. So I am not sure if that is really an improvement. That button is there simply to take you back to that location of the quoted text, not to reply to it.

Lots of improvements here, nice job!

One desire of mine: on the iPhone presentation, getting to “New Posts” requires too many taps/scrolling. This is my major interest and it seems a lot harder to get to than it could be. No issue on iPad or desktop, but on the iPhone I wish it could be much more direct.

No need to go to "New Posts". Simply set the "Discussion" feed as your default feed, and then click on "Community" to get back to it. The Discussion feed is basically the same as "New Posts", just much more powerful and with more filtration options that you can save so that they are always applied whenever you come back.

Only thing I would recommend, change the Red accents on all the subforms/outlines etc..to a more subdued light grey or something. The red and contrast between black/red is way too much. This is not a good dark mode.

The 2022 version is the worst offender of that. The Regular dark mode not so bad but layout isn't ideal.

Glad about the updates in general though..good work.

Thx for listening if you even care!!! lol

Thanks for your input.

The red indicates that there are unread posts in those forums.

Interesting that you think the 2022 dark mode is the "worst offender". We actually consulted with some UI experts to make sure that the reds and black/greys we are using are as readable as possible while still keeping with our brand colors. While this isn't exactly a science, there are loose rules about how to go about this. Our old dark theme actually had some significant readability issues. That said, everyone's eyes are different, so it can't please everyone.

I'm glad you kept the older style as an option, the sticky sub nav bar on scroll down is a key feature for me as it's the fastest way to return to unread subscribed threads.

There is an easier way. Just set the "Discussion" feed as your default feed. Then use the filtration options to filter for unread watched threads, and hit "Save". Then, whenever you click on "Community", you will be taken to that feed with those filter options preselected. And now you have less vertical space taken up by that extra navigation bar.

Is there anyway to set the theme dependent upon time of day? Or with the device? E.g. sunrise to sunset, it is light. Sunset to sunrise, it is dark? Or it follows the devices settings - dark mode versus light mode?

Let me look into this. There are changes happening in the way that this works so we were waiting on the newer solution.

 

[stars]

I like to be able to see the commenter's location and the in the new style I need to click to expand it on each post. Is there a setting to expand all of those by default? Switched back to TMC style for now.

 

[JRP3]

There is an easier way. Just set the "Discussion" feed as your default feed. Then use the filtration options to filter for unread watched threads, and hit "Save". Then, whenever you click on "Community", you will be taken to that feed with those filter options preselected. And now you have less vertical space taken up by that extra navigation bar.

Thanks, took me a minute to figure it out but it works.

 

[UncaNed]

Any chance of adding an "Invert Ignored" option so I can periodically view only those I Ignore to see what, if anything, I might have been missing??

There's no way I could get as much out of this thread without ignoring many of us, as much as I hate to have to do that; there's just too many posts to manage, and this could be very useful, as might a way to share my ignore list with others.

 

[UncaNed]

Thank you everyone for your comments. I am looking into them.

Fixed.

I am working on a fix for this.

Thanks, @danny !

I'd love a time stamp by each quoted post, even if in smaller font so it's less likely confused with the current post's time, i.e.; where it just says above: "danny said:"

It would tell us when you originally posted it, like:

"Today at 9:26 AM, danny said:"

 

[EVRider-FL]

Question about the TMC Website Tutorial thread: I see that it's pinned, but when I use the What's New/Posts view, that thread doesn't show up at the top of the list. Isn't that what the pin is supposed to do?

 

[danny]

I like to be able to see the commenter's location and the in the new style I need to click to expand it on each post. Is there a setting to expand all of those by default? Switched back to TMC style for now.

We are sort of on the fence about whether this should just display by default, versus require one to click on that expand button. I will discuss it with @doug
My concern is that we were just wasting way too much space by displaying that info, but I do recognize that it is valuable to some to have it automatically shown.

Question about the TMC Website Tutorial thread: I see that it's pinned, but when I use the What's New/Posts view, that thread doesn't show up at the top of the list. Isn't that what the pin is supposed to do?

The "What's New / Posts" is a separate (and older) feature, which does not allow me to pin threads.This thread is currently pinned to the "Hot" and "Discussion" feeds, for about 24 hours. The Website Tutorial thread is actually a sticky thread in the "Site Feedback" forum (not feed).

Feeds is replacing What's New essentially, though we don't want to turn it off entirely as some users don't like change, however we will be removing it from the navbar at some point.

 

[SoCal Buzz]

Dark mode is awesome, thank you!

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Is there an intentional reason that we can't watch this thread?

 

[danny]

Is there an intentional reason that we can't watch this thread?

Not intentional at all. This is a bug affecting Article Threads. Thanks for pointing it out, will get it fixed ASAP.

 

[JRP3]

I'm seeing this message displayed at the top of my thread list when I click "Community":

When I click the message I get a bunch of threads that I'm not watching. I'm not sure what triggers that message as it doesn't show up every time.

 

[n.one.one]

I just noticed that my signature is missing. Is that a result of this update?

 

[JRP3]

My concern is that we were just wasting way too much space by displaying that info, but I do recognize that it is valuable to some to have it automatically shown.

I like the space savings aspect, one click to see the location if I'm interested seems easy enough. My vote anyway.

 

[tps5352]

We have just updated the site...

Now that you have dealt with my little issue (thank you) I'd like to "unwatch" this Thread. However, I can't find a way to do that.

Other threads have an Unwatch button. For example:



But not this Thread:



Could we have that fixed?

Thanks.

 

[cwanja]

Now that you have dealt with my little issue (thank you) I'd like to "unwatch" this Thread. However, I can't find a way to do that.

Other threads have an Unwatch button. For example:

View attachment 741291

But not this Thread:

View attachment 741292

Could we have that fixed?

Thanks.

See here:

Is there an intentional reason that we can't watch this thread?

Not intentional at all. This is a bug affecting Article Threads. Thanks for pointing it out, will get it fixed ASAP.

"Watch" and "Unwatch" buttons are missing from Article threads.

 

[tps5352]

...Missing from Article threads.

Thanks. MorrisonWalker should now be "watching" since he added a post to this Thread (the "Venus Flytrap" of threads). I have the opposite problem; I want to unwatch (escape). But I understand that both issues are recognized and will be fixed. This Thread will be popular (for awhile) and there will be lots of posts continually added (like this one). So it will be important to deal with "unwatching" asap.

​

 

[danny]

I'm seeing this message displayed at the top of my thread list when I click "Community":

When I click the message I get a bunch of threads that I'm not watching. I'm not sure what triggers that message as it doesn't show up every time.

Basically, I believe it is telling you that there is some new content which falls outside your current filtration selection, and it is offering you to remove some of that filtration so you can see said new content. I would have to see exactly what's happening to explain it properly though.

I just noticed that my signature is missing. Is that a result of this update?

No, nothing to do with the update.

Now that you have dealt with my little issue (thank you) I'd like to "unwatch" this Thread. However, I can't find a way to do that.

Other threads have an Unwatch button. For example:

View attachment 741291

But not this Thread:

View attachment 741292

Could we have that fixed?

Thanks.

Yeah, this is the same issue basically that @MorrisonHiker reported. I know what is causing it and will get it fixed ASAP.

 

[power.saver]

Feeds is replacing What's New essentially, though we don't want to turn it off entirely as some users don't like change, however we will be removing it from the navbar at some point.

Please don't remove the What's new from the Nav bar. I use that a lot and for me it's faster than enabling the filters on the Feeds.

For example, I usually look at two specific sets of posts: Feeds->Discussion and What's new->New Posts. For the Feeds->Discussion I have no filters as I want to see all new post in any Forum. But for What's new->New Posts, I have selected Unread, Watched Threads and Watched Forums. Both give me what I want when I select them.

Using just Feeds->Discussions, I can set the filters to mimic the What's new->New Posts, but in my case that takes 3 extra clicks to do. And then 3 more clicks to undo. Now if you had multiple user-defined filters that we could configure and select, it would not be a problem. But for now, the only way I can quickly get to my custom view is with What's new->New Posts. Since the link will remain active, it is more convenient to use the Nav bar for this instead of wasting a browser shortcut that I have to setup on each and every device I use to access TMC. Please don't remove it.

Thanks.

 

[danny]

Please don't remove the What's new from the Nav bar. I use that a lot and for me it's faster than enabling the filters on the Feeds.

For example, I usually look at two specific sets of posts: Feeds->Discussion and What's new->New Posts. For the Feeds->Discussion I have no filters as I want to see all new post in any Forum. But for What's new->New Posts, I have selected Unread, Watched Threads and Watched Forums. Both give me what I want when I select them.

Using just Feeds->Discussions, I can set the filters to mimic the What's new->New Posts, but in my case that takes 3 extra clicks to do. And then 3 more clicks to undo. Now if you had multiple user-defined filters that we could configure and select, it would not be a problem. But for now, the only way I can quickly get to my custom view is with What's new->New Posts. Since the link will remain active, it is more convenient to use the Nav bar for this instead of wasting a browser shortcut that I have to setup on each and every device I use to access TMC. Please don't remove it.

Thanks.

I hear you, and I can see how a power user would prefer to keep it. At the same time, it is not particularly user friendly to have duplicate/redundant functionality (especially for new users), and just adds to the clutter.

I will look into if we can develop a way for users to generate and save multiple filtration configurations.

 

[drtimhill]

I confess I'm a little sad about the new "reveal" buttons to show total posts/likes of posters. I know is compresses the post vertical size, but it also makes it more work to spot trolls (who typically you can spot as a flame post from a very new aka low post-count member).