Tech: Forum Additions

I understand that this is not very important, but I would like to mention it anyway, in case others are thinking the same. :wink:

I've been reading a lot of threads here lately, and it seems that posts are often either not noticed or simply ignored. I think one of the reasons for this could be that there is no "New Posts" ability that allows you to see a list of all the threads with new posts since your last visit. This has always been a great addition to other large forums I've been a member of.

The GB forum is nicely designed, but I think it is also a little confusing and cluttered.

Do you mean something like this?

I, for one, would love to see a "mark all as read" button.

gymgreg said:

Do you mean something like this?

BBBWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yes, I really just laughed like that in the GSU student center. This really caught me off guard.

Patrick: To find the new posts button you will have to click on the "board index" link at the top of the page. "Gymnastic Bodies" link will not show the button, at least for me. I am assuming that is the same for everyone here, but I do not know for sure.

phrak said:

I, for one, would love to see a "mark all as read" button.

There is a "mark topics read" in each sub-forum. There is also a "mark forums as read" on the main page, but it doesn't seem to work

slizzardman said:

gymgreg said:

Do you mean something like this?

BBBWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Yes, I really just laughed like that in the GSU student center. This really caught me off guard.

Patrick: To find the new posts button you will have to click on the "board index" link at the top of the page. "Gymnastic Bodies" link will not show the button, at least for me. I am assuming that is the same for everyone here, but I do not know for sure.

Aha! There it is! No wonder I didn't see it!

Yeah the mark all forums read button doesn't work. Would be nice with a fix

If you are logged in, the forum will automatically darken all of the topics which you have already read. Only new topics or threads with new responses will be highlighted in white.

If you prefer, you may also use the 'view new posts' option as shown in the screen capture.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Coach Sommer said:

If you are logged in, the forum will automatically darken all of the topics which you have already read. Only new topics or threads with new responses will be highlighted in white.

If you prefer, you may also use the 'view new posts' option as shown in the screen capture.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks, Coach! I used that earlier today and it was very handy!

Also, In new posts since last visit, if you click the little red square next to the thread name it will forward you to the first post within that thread that you have not read.

What I would dearly love to see implemented is hyperlinks being opened in a new window/tab when you click them. That should be a very straightforward thing to change in the settings of the forum software.

What Browser do you use? Just try and click the links with your middle mouse button/scroll wheel

I know but I just think it's more user-friendly if a regular click opens the link in a new window/tab, instead of having to click twice (middle or right button + additional click in the contextual popup menu). Every other forum I frequent (and most if not all regular websites) is set up for single click/new window.

Interesting. I just ctrl+click. Does that work in your browser?

I've never seen a forum that defaults to opening in another window or tab. Links outside might often do that, but not internal links

Sternford said:

I've never seen a forum that defaults to opening in another window or tab. Links outside might often do that, but not internal links

I am mainly talking about external links, yes. I just find it annoying when an external link opens in the same window, especially when proceeding to close the window and finding that you've closed the website you were visiting in the first place

@ the rest I know there are alternative ways to open links in new windows/tabs, it's just that I would like it to be a one-hand/one-click solution because that's what I'm used to on other websites I visit (I built quite a few websites myself, some of them including phpBB-based forums - and I always made sure that links opened in a new window upon typical, single-left-mouse-button-clicks )

But it's not that big a deal, I'm used to it anyway but I figured if we're talking small tech modifications I might as well throw it out there....

Good observations, certainly!

Sternford said:

I've never seen a forum that defaults to opening in another window or tab. Links outside might often do that, but not internal links

I use Command-Click on links and it automatically opens it in a tab without snapping my view to it. It's easy to open, say, 10 new threads and then just go through each in your own time.

Would indeed be nice if external links opened in a new tab

Patrick Smith said:

I use Command-Click on links and it automatically opens it in a tab without snapping my view to it. It's easy to open, say, 10 new threads and then just go through each in your own time.

Me too. Very handy. Also, if any of you have a MacBook, if you hold alt/option and scroll with the mousepad it works like the back and forward buttons on your browser

biomieg said:

especially when proceeding to close the window and finding that you've closed the website you were visiting in the first place

This happens all too often to me. Luckily firefox has a "recently closed tabs" menu and a shortcut to open the last one you closed. It doesn't work for closed windows though, only tabs