Site layout suggestion

dr.bollocko

Hello,


Was wondering if there is some aspect of the newer site layout that caters to the busier forums on boards / an easier way to navigate through to them.

Like a drop down for the "main" or highest traffic forums maybe.

Tricky enough subject because I don't want to be unfair to any community, however I see problems like this to navigate to the busiest forums in, say, arts.



Similar problems for the films default, the soccer forum, food and drink, or whatever the busiest ones in fact are.

I was wondering if, analogous to the current category and sub forum structure, you had "busiest forums" to generate a boards thread list.

If you're familiar with reddit it's like the list of default subreddits that pepper the top of the reddit main page.

Show punters the tip of the iceberg by nominating the busiest forums and then allow them discover the specifics once we hook them all in with our wonderful contributions on the highest traffic forums.

padd b1975

I have an option on my smart phone where the apps are arranged nearest the first page in order of usage.

Would it be too much of an ask to integrate this type of technology for each user??

I suspect it could well be....:o

Dades

I'd be concerned corralling new people into the busier forums would artificially bloat these forums at the expense of smaller forums.

The idea of Boards is that there's a forum for every interest (and a bunch for general banter). People might just pile into AH and never leave rather than taking time to look around.

Dravokivich

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If you're familiar with reddit it's like the list of default subreddits that pepper the top of the reddit main page.

I don't think boards should do something just because reddit did it.

There can be something up with how the categories are organised, but it's set in stone now and could disrupt how regular boardsies navigate.

Whenever I'm looking for something as a sub category, I'm expecting it in alphabetical order.

If you arrange the sub categories by overall popularity, overtime the way they are rated could change. Means people have to keep looking somewhere else to go to the same place. Doesn't really work for idle browsing or just casually popping in and out.

dr.bollocko

Dravokivich wrote: »

I don't think boards should do something just because reddit did it.

The idea is more of a functional one. Display the popular forums first - give them a weighting in terms of the UI in relation to their popularity.

Seems to make sense to me. It's not doing other forums a dis-service in my humble opinion because the main forums can still include links to their specific subs.

The search function allows you to find your specific topic. If you're idly browsing you want to be doing so where the biggest relevant community is.

The key word there is relevant. I'm saying that there is a problem and has always been a problem in how boards displays its many many many forums.

I think that this suggested alternative is a logical addition.

There can be something up with how the categories are organised, but it's set in stone now and could disrupt how regular boardsies navigate.

The structures change and continue to do.
Also I'd prefer some form of additional page / funct. rather than changing anything.

In any case the new searches and front page and all that has fundamentally changed how people use the site already.

Whenever I'm looking for something as a sub category, I'm expecting it in alphabetical order.

If you arrange the sub categories by overall popularity, overtime the way they are rated could change. Means people have to keep looking somewhere else to go to the same place. Doesn't really work for idle browsing or just casually popping in and out.

Options > Sort alphabetically > by relevance > By popularity. I'm just proposing an alternative that would provide some clarity above the bloat of many many childless nodes with minimal chat going on.

Dav

It's a solid suggestion Dr B and one I'd considered myself before for a change in the menu.

My concerns though would echo those mentioned above, busy forums may get busier at the expense of smaller ones (and/or additional mod workload in having to move things from busy forums that have been posted in the wrong place), but there's definitely a potential to make this stuff more presentable.

Our biggest problem from a UI/UX point of view at the moment is that people don't know what forums are or how they're supposed to work. Anything we can do to address that helps and this suggestions is definitely a useful one.