deskthority - Suggestions and Changelog

7bit · 09 Feb 2011, 00:12

keyb_gr wrote:OK guys... Now that I'm in, let me note a few things:
...
2. My eyes weren't particularly amused when trying to read threads. Those look about as comforting as most any hospital, too. Thus I had to do a little, err, redesign (user stylesheet via Stylish). Still a bit rough round the edges, but should get the point across.
...
The name- and ID-less DIV with inline styles that contains this background image hack job is temporary, I guess?

webwit · 09 Feb 2011, 00:19

keyb_gr wrote:1. This site needs a mission statement in an obvious place (preferably where even yours truly would find it).

Yes, I was thinking on the home page in place of the "Jump: Home" bit, which is not really useful on that page.

Suggest a catchy mission statement in 1 or 2 lines below!

webwit · 09 Feb 2011, 00:21

keyb_gr wrote:The name- and ID-less DIV with inline styles that contains this background image hack job is temporary, I guess?

Probably..first concentrating now on cleaning up the private messages area.

Crazy9000 · 10 Feb 2011, 05:12

Would it be possible to get a "go to first unread post" to the left of all applicable threads (before you open them)? Most forums use a little arrow or something for that. It's kind of annoying to open the thread then click go the first unread

.

sixty · 10 Feb 2011, 07:18

Yep, seems there is an addon for this. Really don't know why this is not a base function in PHPBB. It should be!

itlnstln · 10 Feb 2011, 14:26

One more suggestion, could we get a link to the mainpage at the bottom of every page? There's a link back to the current forum, but if I have read everything in the forum and want to go back to the main page, I have to scroll all the way back to the top to click the banner.

sixty · 10 Feb 2011, 14:29

Yeah, good idea actually. Should be easy too. Will look into it later tonight.

webwit · 10 Feb 2011, 14:35

Replace Return to Offtopic (example) with another Jump to: Home » Other » Offtopic as seen at the top of the page.

itlnstln · 10 Feb 2011, 14:40

That would be perfect.

sixty · 13 Feb 2011, 22:26

Kind of added this now. Its still displayed kinda weird. Will fix it in a bit.

itlnstln · 14 Feb 2011, 14:12

Works well. Thanks.

itlnstln · 15 Feb 2011, 17:48

I have another suggestion, but this one is extremely minor. Could links in posts, especially external links, default to open in another window? I wouldn't put this high on the priority list, but it does get annoying from time to time. Thanks.

Minskleip · 15 Feb 2011, 18:07

I think it's more annoying when links open in a new window when you don't want it to, and there's no way to force it to open in the same. Opera has this feature though.

bugfix · 15 Feb 2011, 18:36

Wouldn't it be better to let it open in a new tab instead of a whole new window?

itlnstln · 15 Feb 2011, 18:39

bugfix wrote:Wouldn't it be better to let it open in a new tab instead of a whole new window?

Well, yeah, but is there a standard to do that (if so, can you share the code)? I just have my browser open new windows in tabs. Chrome does this automatically.

bugfix · 15 Feb 2011, 18:40

Code: Select all

target="_blank"

?

itlnstln · 15 Feb 2011, 18:42

target="_blank" opens a new window. The browser (and any user-defined settings, if any) opens it in a new tab.

sixty · 15 Feb 2011, 18:56

http://www.design215.com/read.php?style=print

bugfix · 15 Feb 2011, 19:03

Doesn't really apply to a forum though imho

itlnstln · 15 Feb 2011, 19:04

sixty wrote:http://www.design215.com/read.php?style=print

Point taken, but I disagree with the author's point wholeheartedly. The "back" button is evil. If you're on the same site, that's one thing, but moving to other sites is something else. Also, as a website owner, you shouldn't want people to leave your site. Not opening external links takes people away from your content. Whatever, I think most programmers are pedantic and lazy, and the vast majority program for the code's sake, not for the end-user's experience and business objectives. Keep in mind, this was not directed personally towards you, sixty, but programmers like that guy should be out of a job. Bottom line, as "the business," I want a specific user-experience, and I could give a fuck about your code and standards.

keyboardlover · 15 Feb 2011, 19:14

IMHO, proper software design should always be inclusive of the user experience. Good code/design should never be exclusive of the user experience and I see no reason why it would ever have to be.

itlnstln · 15 Feb 2011, 19:21

keyboardlover wrote:IMHO, proper software design should always be inclusive of the user experience. Good code/design should never be exclusive of the user experience and I see no reason why it would ever have to be.

This. And for clarity, I was more disagreeing with the author in terms of his unwillingness to consider his employer's/commissioners' wishes. It's one thing to point out obvious problems, make suggestions, etc.; sometimes there are valid arguments there, but to all-out be like, "no, fuck-off," is unacceptable. On top of that using his personal preference and "the code" to back that up is even worse. If I'm paying him to build me a site, and I want something to work a certain way, "the code," "standards," etc. is bullshit. My response is, "figure it the fuck out."

keyboardlover · 15 Feb 2011, 19:27

Prbly a victim of the old school siloed app mentality which is not easy to break out of. We had to fire someone last year for that reason.

itlnstln · 15 Feb 2011, 19:34

To me, that's the fun part of building a web app. I'm not a programmer by trade, so I am not the greatest coder in the world, but sometimes, I run across a problem that I don't know how to solve with the skills I have, so I have to go "figure it out." After Googling, researching, whatever, I end up learning something new, and I get familiar with it, so if I need to do something similar, I can take apart the code and modify it for new tasks. I enjoy the challenge of the whole thing even if the end result is fairly mundane.

keyboardlover · 15 Feb 2011, 19:41

Ok, I finally read the article. I don't get it - that guy is still worried about standards compliancy? I thought that whole "CSS and XHTML blah blah" compliant thing went out of style years ago. It doesn't really gain you value as a developer or otherwise and in some cases it impedes the kind of things you can do. Using target="_blank" is considered GOOD design in cases where you have any links that link OUTSIDE of your site! That guy definitely seems dumb.

itlnstln · 15 Feb 2011, 19:48

Call me old, but I wonder why target="_blank" is not compliant. Hell, I was using that in the early to mid-nineties on my Geocities site for college.

sixty · 15 Feb 2011, 19:50

itlnstln wrote:Call me old, but I wonder why target="_blank" is not compliant. Hell, I was using that in the early to mid-nineties on my Geocities site for college.

<blink><marquee>that is probably why!</marquee></blink>

my eyes still hurt just from the memories.

keyboardlover · 15 Feb 2011, 19:56

There's a lot of stuff that's not compliant. It doesn't really make any sense and that's why no one really cares about it anymore. Especially when ajax came along. Talk about non-compliant javascript!

Minskleip · 15 Feb 2011, 19:59

Forcing new windows on mobile devices is very bad I think. It's really annoying to have to close a window on my phone, and much slower than to push back. The phone browser should obviously not follow _blank, but some do.

keyboardlover · 15 Feb 2011, 20:06

I disagree. The challenge is on Mobile Phone OSes to be able to handle multiple windows better. Droid's browser and the new iPhone handle it well.