Forum layout redesign proposal

[St Leo]

The rule of thumb for navigation options is to have as few as possible. Eight is usually thrown around as a good number. More options == visual noise.



* News belong on the main page and in the sections. They do not belong at the top of a forum page. Forum visitors want to forum, not read news.
** Remove dropdown news menu
** Remove today in Apolyton

* There is no need to expose site sections on every bloody forum page. 99% of the time people want to forum.
** Expose sections on Main, not on Forums

* People want an easy way to search Apolyton forums. Not the web. Apolyton forums.
** Put a searchbox on every page
** Use sensible defaults
** Stick Advanced Search on the results page

* Control Panel duplicates My Threads functionality. No need for two links

* Only mods care about New Posts.
** Hide it
** Ditto for Members

* Password is always in Control Panel
** Stick Password in Control Panel

* Visitors don't need a link to see a list of CivGroups.
** Keep link to CivGroup News
** Expose CivGroup News on Main page
** Stick CivGroups as "Join a CivGroup" in CivGroup News

* If you are really nostalgic, make a special drill down page for the semi-useless gunk
** New posts
** New posts(subscribed)
** Hall of Fame
** Civ4 AU 101
** CivGroups (Join a CivGroup)
** Registered Member Count
**

* There already is a drilldown page for Interviews, Columns, Radio, and Chat.
** Expose the Misc section

* "http://apolyton.net/forums/news" is a broken link
** Great idea
** Consider making a page that has news from all sections including Misc, About, and CivGroups

* Instead of ten crappy styles, make one good one
** Look at Wikipedia, Yahoo, Guardian, BBC
** Keep colours subdued, high contrast, and readable
** Smack people who object with a large trout

* Chat is always dead and regulars know how to get to it.
** It has failed to get traction in the last n years.
** Leave it in the Misc section

Isn't this much more readable?

[DanQ]

Hi St. Leo.

A fair bit of what you have proposed is sounding good, but I voted "Seattle" because I don't agree with every point. To this end, one item that will remain is 'Today on Apolyton' ( on 'in' that was there before for the longest time). In my view, it is informative for its purpose, related to forum coverage(s) at least in part and is not intrusive in the way it goes about it.

If you're the least bit interested in what this information bar might have in it (and that you should ), you know where to quickly find it but if not you can easily bypass it.

One final point for the moment:

Keep colours subdued, high contrast, and readable

Is this exemplified in your "After" example?  

--------
Dan; Apolyton CS

[LordShiva]

I like

[Urban Ranger]

I reckon it is a PITA to do certain things by requiring multiple clicks. For example, I use My Threads once in a while, but I rarely use the Control Panel. If you want to codense the interface, I suggest using CSS drop down menus to group related functions. This way the UI is less cluttered, but it also avoids multiple clicks for most actions as well.

BTW why do you have so many tabs open?

[Zoid]

I don´t really mind "the clutter". But then I may be so used to it I don´t notice it anymore I like the "After" pic very much, but I agree with dan that the "Today in Apolyton" is very inobtrusive and very informative vis-à-vi it´s size.

[Addled Platypus]

I would use it IF

we call the "chat room"





wait for it






the "banana room"

[Nikolai]

Man Leo! You can't remove My Threads from the forum view, it's the single most used link of all for me! CP doesn't give the same result. But other than that the proposal seems good.

[LordShiva]

True, My Threads is essential.

[Zoid]

Yeah, I use it all the time. Obviously there´s room for improvement

[Heresson]

I agree with some points only. I am too tired now to explain.

[DrSpike]

We had a thread on tidy-ups recently, and although some suggestions were taken on baord I think more tidying can certainly be done. Thus, I support this.

[RGBVideo]

All the proposed changes are good.

[Dis]

bah!

I couldn't find the warlords forum!!

I hate sub-forums. Why hide a brand new expansion pack in a subforum?

the warlords forum was already slow. But since I've been at work, there have only been 2 threads that had new replies.

[OzzyKP]

I agree with most of the changes.

I say we keep the news drop down box. I rarely visit the front page, and it is the only way I see what news stories are out.

[St Leo]

Originally posted by DanQ
Hi St. Leo.

A fair bit of what you have proposed is sounding good

I am glad the right ears agree with my notions.

Originally posted by LordShiva
I like

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
BTW why do you have so many tabs open?

Habit. I am not very disciplined about closing them. Opera saves and reopens tabs automatically every time you launch it.

Originally posted by LordShiva
True, My Threads is essential.

Mine is but a prototype. My Threads is welcome to stay in.:P

I say we keep the news drop down box. I rarely visit the front page, and it is the only way I see what news stories are out.

So, in effect, the news dropdown prevents you from visiting the main page.


I hope to see some of my suggestions applied sooner rather than later. I'd rather not volunteer as the implementer as my life is busy enough. Regardless, if you are really short-staffed, I could poke around the PHP spaghetti myself. It's only a few changes. How bad could it be? ^-^