Clean Up The New Forum! Use New-Found Features!

[Gary Lewis]

It looks to me that there are LOTS of opportunities to clean up the forum now that we are in our new home.  Lets use this thread to capture some ideas.

I'll go first with some ideas:

1. Ditch the Bullnose Forum text at the very top of the page.  That is actually a page title on the Weebly page, and I think there's supposed to be a title for search engines, but perhaps some of y'all know how to do that w/o having to show it?
2. Move the New Platform Discussions sub-forum somewhere else.  I don't want to delete the stuff in there 'cause there's some good thinking about what we did and why.  But we sure don't need it where it is.  Ideas?
3. Use sidebars?  I don't know if you have, but I have a side arrow that when I click it I get a Manage Blocks sidebar.  In it are lots of options to add content to the existing sidebar.  Do any of you have that?  Do you have a sidebar that shows Recently Browsing, Member Statistics, etc.
4. I just clicked "Follow Topic".  But it would seem reasonable that if I post something that I'd want to follow it, so can "Follow Topic" be turned on by default if someone creates a topic or posts?

[viven44]

Most of the action is in the general threads and all the sub-forums occupy a disproportionate amount of space up top. We should find a way to move the sub-forums below the general threads or mix-and-match based on most recent activity.

[Gary Lewis]

Vivek - You, and I, may want to take advantage of viewing options we have with Invision that we didn't have in Nabble.  I'd include a screenshot but we are over the limit on attachments and I need to fix that, so I can't attach at the moment.  But right below the Bullnose Forum text on the left you have options of Browse, Activity, & Support.  Click Activity and you then have several more options.

Using those options lets you see what has changed w/o having to go look for it.

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, I fixed the storage problem and here's the screenshot:

[BigBrother-84]

@ArdWrknTrk

Jim, you'll love this one:  You can choose the page you want by clicking on "page" word.

 

[BigBrother-84]

Gary, is there a way to get rid of these two menus, at the top of the web page?

We don't use them and they push the Forum lower.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Guys - I've found a few things and changed a few things.  But some of them may warrant their own threads, so I'd like your input:

1. I added some formatting buttons to the tool bar for "large" devices, like desktops, laptops, and this tablet.  But can edit for "medium" and "small" if you like
    
2. Right now default for "following" so you get notified is off.  So even if you create a topic or reply to a topic you won't get notified if someone else comments.  But if you click your name in the upper right you can choose "Automatically follow new content I post" and/or "Automatically follow content I reply to".  I'm hoping to set those to "on" automatically and then let you turn them off if you want.
    
3. If you want to tag someone just type the "@" symbol followed by the first few characters of his/her handle and it'll pop up a list of matching handles.  Pick the one you want and that person will get notified in whatever fashion they've chosen.
    
4. And using that option, @kramttocs has found a way to open the forum in a new browser tab w/o the menu for Weebly.  Might have some advantages, so maybe he'll fill us in?

[Gary Lewis]

17 minutes ago, BigBrother-84 said:

Gary, is there a way to get rid of these two menus, at the top of the web page?

We don't use them and they push the Forum lower.

Jeff - I'll see what I can do.  I think they are in a header on Weebly.  

[Gary Lewis]

2 minutes ago, Gary Lewis said:

Jeff - I'll see what I can do.  I think they are in a header on Weebly.  

@ckuske - Can you take a look at Jeff's suggestion?  I think I see those in the header on Weebly, which is in Settings/SEO.  But I'm not sure I should play with that.

And while you are at it maybe you should look at the footer?  We have Google capturing stats, but I think there is a way to do that also on Invision.

[Gary Lewis]

19 minutes ago, Gary Lewis said:

Right now default for "following" so you get notified is off.  So even if you create a topic or reply to a topic you won't get notified if someone else comments.  But if you click your name in the upper right you can choose "Automatically follow new content I post" and/or "Automatically follow content I reply to".  I'm hoping to set those to "on" automatically and then let you turn them off if you want.

Ok, that has changed.  I've set it up so that the default is that you are following anything you create or reply to.  And the default notification is via email.

You can edit that if you wish.