An Idea (re: last 10 posts display)

Re: An Idea

Actually, I was thinking of making it so members can choose the last 10 posts view they want in the User CP and then only display that one on the index page for them. I was never quite satisified with how I added the second section in there. I'll think about it some more and see if there is something that can be done.

 

Re: An Idea

Version 1 of this modification is now in place.

The forum index page will now show only one section of "last 10 posts" in the "What's Going On?" section at the bottom of that page.

The default view (for guests and for members that do not choose an option) will be to display the actual last 10 posts made on the forum. Other options can be set in the User CP > Edit Options screen. The title of the last 10 posts section will reflect the particular view you are seeing for the last 10 posts. The bulletin board image on the left side of the last 10 post display is a link to the bottom of the edit options page.

 

Re: An Idea

Look again at the bottom of User CP > Edit Options page. With the new selection options, members can choose not to see ten-forward posts if that is what they wish. That was the very point of creating these different viewing options, so that people not interesting in certain sections could suppress those sections, especially if they are concerned that the activity in those sections obscures their view of the posts they are intertested in.

If you think the ten-forward volume is continually pushing other sections off the list of last 10 posts, then choose one of the options that suppresses ten-forward postings. (The one checked in this image is probably what you are looking for. No ten-forward posts will display in the last 10 posts section if you select that option. Or you can use the non-product based view that also suppresses ten-forward.)

 

Re: An Idea

Ah, that makes more sense. As your original post did not say you were talking about the guest view, it sounded like you didn't understand that suppressing ten-forward posts was already available in the option list. Now it's more clear what you are talking about.

As for going back to two separate sections, that we won't be doing. As I mentioned above, I was never happy with how that was implemented. There were several issues with having it setup that way. For one thing, in order to show two sections of "last 10 posts" we needed to do twice the processing for every index page displayed, and that was not efficient from a server perspective. Also, there was an overlap in how the collapse function worked between the two sections that I was never able to work out. Some people complained that the cookie values would randomly get reset, and a collapsed section wouldn't stay closed for them.

So, if I look at what remains to what you're asking, (if we can't go back to two sections), it'd be better phrased, "Can we change the default view for guests so that ten-forward posts don't show for them, obscuring the more serious forum section posts?"

That idea I like and agree with. I've just changed the default view for guests to be "The last 10 posts without ten-forward". That way, casual passers-by and members not logged in will be more likely to see technical posts listed in that display now. As you said, guests interested in ten-forward posts can easily click into that section to see what's going on, and since guests can't choose a custom option for that display, the non-ten-forward view is a better default for them. Of course, members can still pick any view they want.

 

Hint to Nat above, that's why I called it "Version 1".

In order to make the development easier, I used the option features available in vBulletin rather than writing my own. The radio button option they provide does not allow control on formatting, and was placing the options side by side, wrapping where it was forced to by screen width. It looked terrible. While checkboxs do imply multiple selections are possible, a member only need try to select more than one item once and they'll see it won't allow it.

I'm going to try a selection menu instead. While the vBulletin selection menu also allows multiple selections to be made, it is not quite as obvious since as you click on one, it highlights that option and unhighlights the previously selected one.

Yes, it'd be too much processing on the index page.

Someone actually suggested a dropdown menu like the skin selector already. Unfortunately, again sticking with available vBulletin interface tools and the data fields available in the index module itself, the only way to implement that would be "in session", either a URL qualifier like you mentioned, another type of session variable, or a cookie value - none of which could update the users profile permanently, and all of which would be subject to other issues...

If passed as a part of the URL, then we'd have people copy and pasting those extra parts into URLs link between posts, and others would suddenly find they've picked up someone else's last 10 posts view after following a link. Or, if session or cookie values, they'd be subject to the loss/reset conditions that the collapse field experienced for some people.

Let's try the menu selection now and see how that works.

 

Well, the Search function is very complicated in vBulletin, and it's difficult to do too much customization with it, but I'll add that idea to the list. I kind of like the idea, too, as it would let people really customize what they see here, but it might be fairly complicated in terms of the screens needed, and the fields to be stored, on a per user basis. But, I'll think about it.

The closest thing to what you what, and it's not all that close, is the RSS feed that allows you to pass a list of forum sections to include in your selection set. Example, a feed of active threads from NOD32 section only. Pretty limited, but it's a start.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/external.php?type=rss2&forumids=16,17,68