... how would you change them?If I had control...
The forums at the moment aren't necessarily the most easily navigable. We're well and truly aware that they could be better and more intuitive - particularly for new users.
Obviously, we want to make it as easy as possible to start (and continue) contributing, and a big part of that is simply the forum layout.
SO, what are your thoughts?
- Change the order of the boards on the index?
- Delete inactive boards altogether?
- Entirely new boards for greater discussion?
Think as big or as small as you like, here - we'd really love to canvass everybody's opinion (new and old). Y'all are the foundations of this community, and there's literally nothing more important.
So - what are your thoughts? :) What are your qualms? What do you find most difficult? What functionality would you like?
If I had control...
I would love to have indexes in big threads so that people (E.g. my mega HSC threads). So that people can find the information that they want.
Additionally, big useful threads should be stickied! (there are so many good useful threads that are lost in the sub sections of the threads (aka uni threads, vic education threads)
Thanks EEEEEEP. :)1. https://atarnotes.com/forum/index.php?topic=173744.msg983523#msg983523 .
1. Could you link to a type of thread you're talking about? How would you envision the index working? Like, links to particular posts in that thread?
2. As above, what type of specific threads are you thinking of here?
...
1. Yep, cool - I think I see what you mean. I initially thought you meant something more like this, where individual posts within a thread are linked.In RE:1, yeah that's what I mean.
I wonder if we can get this done automatically somehow as to make it all less manually laborious.
Thanks again, EEEEEEP - appreciate your posts, here!
for each sub-forum, we just have one stickied thread, linking to all other useful threads in that area.I like this idea. Not only does it mean less stickies, but it also lets users have access to all these useful resources in what is potentially just one bookmark in their browser.
Interested about how many forum users navigate through the Articles tab up the top?Potentially going off on a tangent to your question, but to be honest, I find the articles difficult to navigate. I don't think the tags work properly, because even if I click "VCE Articles" (or HSC) I just get the same generic display. Also, the categories for the articles perhaps aren't the best, I think that maybe they could be more refined/specific, but not really sure what you'd change or expand them to.
I like this idea. Not only does it mean less stickies, but it also lets users have access to all these useful resources in what is potentially just one bookmark in their browser.
Potentially going off on a tangent to your question, but to be honest, I find the articles difficult to navigate. I don't think the tags work properly, because even if I click "VCE Articles" (or HSC) I just get the same generic display. Also, the categories for the articles perhaps aren't the best, I think that maybe they could be more refined/specific, but not really sure what you'd change or expand them to.
I think if a user read a useful article once, but hadn't bookmarked it and wanted to find it again, it could potentiall be really hard to find it agian. And the fact that they're not indexed in a list can make it even hard to locate an article. IMO, could definitely be improved, and I reckon it'd greatly increase the audience numbers for the articles.
In the 'Unread Topics' section, maybe we could have an option to select the threads we want to 'mark as read'. Sometimes you only want to mark one or some threads as 'read', and that isn't currently an option. Just a thought. :)Yeah definitely agree with this ^
In the 'Unread Topics' section, maybe we could have an option to select the threads we want to 'mark as read'. Sometimes you only want to mark one or some threads as 'read', and that isn't currently an option. Just a thought. :)
Yeah definitely agree with this ^
For clarity, could you please screenshot what you mean? :)So, in the image I've linked, there is the only option of 'mark all messages as read'. If there are more unread topics, maybe there could be the added option of selecting which thread(s) we want to mark as read, so not all of them become marked as read. Not sure if I've explained this well though. :)
So, in the image I've linked, there is the only option of 'mark all messages as read'. If there are more unread topics, maybe there could be the added option of selecting which thread(s) we want to mark as read, so not all of them become marked as read. Not sure if I've explained this well though. :)Do you mean something like this:
^Yeah, I get what you mean!Great! Is there an option to make that feature available to us, or are you only able to do it currently?
I actually have the option of marking selected threads as read, hence my slight confusion! So I think it'll definitely be possible - I'll talk to Joey about implementing this as the default.
Great pick-up. I definitely agree that that would be a very sensible feature. :)
Great! Is there an option to make that feature available to us, or are you only able to do it currently?
Honestly not sure, so I'll check and get back to you! :)Thanks! Nothing else from me for now, but I'll get back to this.
What else?
I've noticed that if you click "unread HSC posts since last visit", it just shows you posts from the NSW section, but if you click "unread VCE posts" it has all the other stuff - not just Vic stuff, but also university (even picks up NSW uni stuff) and just everything else.Just checked, stuff from Forum Games appears under HSC posts as well :P
Not sure if there's much that can be done to refine it, but I find it a bit distracting to click the unread VCE posts and have to sort through stuff from Forum Games, etc.
Just checked, stuff from Forum Games appears under HSC posts as well :POops, hadn't noticed that. Ignore my failure of observation hahaha.
I've noticed that if you click "unread HSC posts since last visit", it just shows you posts from the NSW section, but if you click "unread VCE posts" it has all the other stuff - not just Vic stuff, but also university (even picks up NSW uni stuff) and just everything else.I agree with this- even though I'm the main cause of the forum games spam. :P
Not sure if there's much that can be done to refine it, but I find it a bit distracting to click the unread VCE posts and have to sort through stuff from Forum Games, etc.
I know this is a longshot as of now but id like to throw out this idea - will AN ever have a mobile app to navigate through the forums?I believe there is an iOS app, but I agree about an android version- I currently use a mix of the mobile browser and tapatalk for android and it can be extremely slow on both, depending on where I am. :)
As of right now I end up checking the forums a lot on my phone but the whole website is quite slow and not intuitive on mobile. I know theres lots of progress needed in more important areas, but just want to see what you guys think.
Im willing to help with development if need be as well
I know this is a longshot as of now but id like to throw out this idea - will AN ever have a mobile app to navigate through the forums?
As of right now I end up checking the forums a lot on my phone but the whole website is quite slow and not intuitive on mobile. I know theres lots of progress needed in more important areas, but just want to see what you guys think.
Im willing to help with development if need be as well
I want the crying laughing face emoji, it's been a recent staple in my messages. Perhaps this obsession is fleeting, or maybe it's here to stay... *perfect time for crying laughing face emoji*
Love this discussion - thank you. :)Yes this would be very handy. Even some statements cannot be explained through meer words and need a diagram to aid explaination e.g. how feet are triangles
Random thought: functionality to be able to "draw" replies. So like, if you're trying to explain a mathematical process (for example), you can simply draw your response directly in the reply function through a tablet sorta device.
Not well explained, but hopefully you get the idea. Would this be useful moving forward?
P.S. I love your handwriting, cookiedream.
Yes this would be very handy. Even some statements cannot be explained through meer words and need a diagram to aid explaination e.g. how feet are triangles
Random thought: functionality to be able to "draw" replies. So like, if you're trying to explain a mathematical process (for example), you can simply draw your response directly in the reply function through a tablet sorta device.
P.S. I love your handwriting, cookiedream.
Would love to see this feature!! Beats writing up worked solutions on OneNote, screenshotting them, uploading them on imgur and posting them as an image ;D
Hey,
by the way this suggestion is similar to one above and possibly others, but I just thought id add it anyway
on the forum homepage we could have a section like shown below where we can add our favourite boards/child boards. this way we don't have to search through the forum or have hundreds of bookmarks for our favourite boards.
Thanks :) :)
(https://i.imgur.com/8pW4IPT.png)
Brought this up ages ago: Seeing more than 10 users when you click on the up-votes :PPriorities of the upvoter.
on the forum homepage we could have a section like shown below where we can add our favourite boards/child boards. this way we don't have to search through the forum or have hundreds of bookmarks for our favourite boards.
Brought this up ages ago: Seeing more than 10 users when you click on the up-votes :P
a feature to post anonymously?
This has been raised previously in other threads and we have rejected this idea for a number of reasons, the main one being that the current anonymous feature we have completely eliminates the identity of the user. If they infringe on our forum rules, we cannot accurately identify who has posted that specific thread/post. We require the ability to attribute posts to specific people in order to keep the rubbish off the forum, which includes spam, advertisements and the like.Yeah it's understandable why you can't, but why would you need it in the first place?
I guess it could work if natmods/admins had the ability to view their identity (and everyone else could just see 'Anonymous').
I wonder why you would ask for this feature? ;)
Yeah it's understandable why you can't, but why would you need it in the first place?
A way to know who upvoted or downvoted your posts?
You can already click the little 'person' icon next to the arrows to get a list ;D
For reference, some browsers such as the latest version of Firefox won't show who downvotes/upvotes... it'll show just a list without the + or - next to each name. Depending on your browser and its settings, this could be the case too. See attached for example
For reference, some browsers such as the latest version of Firefox won't show who downvotes/upvotes... it'll show just a list without the + or - next to each name. Depending on your browser and its settings, this could be the case too. See attached for exampleI'm unable to see who upvotes my posts? Could it be a problem with google chrome?
I'm unable to see who upvotes my posts? Could it be a problem with google chrome?I'm using Google Chrome and it works just fine. What version are you using to view AN?
Maybe have a blog?
This could keep important info separate from forum chats and discussions.
A tutorial video might be nice for newbie introductions (I still have no idea about "respect" points)... ;D
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