Give us your ideas for the new Forum homepage

MikeyPGT

NoMore said:

Just get rid of it, its utterly useless, give us a list of boards instead.

I have zero interest in a curated list of 'favourite' threads that I have no input on.

It's a bit like the 'for you' section on Twitter where they put all the stuff you would never in your worst nightmares choose to look at

eastcorkram

2childmum2 said:

Thanks Boots
So to get to my 'followed content' I now have to  click on the menu, then click on quick links then click on followed content. Rather than it being an option on the home page. (This is on a mobile). 

So my suggestion for the homepage is to include a followed content option.

You should only ever have to do that once though. Bookmark that site on your browser, then you'll go straight to it .

10_66

I don't like the latest adjustments to font and line spacing.  It was the only positive for me on the new layout.  Now, the font and spacing just looks squashed together and the squashed appearance makes it too hard for me.  Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but you really ought to involve people with sight issues when deciding on Forum changes.

gm0

Suggestion.  List of threads/pushed content toggle on/off.  List of forums toggle on/off. 
Favourites section appears if user has added and not if not.

As a profile setting so we can *permanently* disable with a profile update - your "push notifications" of curated lists and all similar guff and return to browsing from a hierarchical forum menu as before.  Wasn't broken. 

Or the people who don't want the menu and like being spoon fed content can do the opposite and suppress the menu.  Everybody happy.  And the unwanted variant is not clogging up the screen of either group pushing the other down page.

Forum structure is sufficiently static that the "overhead" of providing the menu is extraordinary low in comparison with the curation of content.  There does not seem to be a good reason not to provide it.

BTW it should not be necessary to favourite things and subscribe to things to generate a menu.  This is not a solution - it is just poor quality excuseware for ignoring the requirements of that user group - build your own menu from favourites. 

By all means support such a subscription feature and those that want to use it - can do so and those that don't - don't have to.

I prefer a no subscriptions needed simple navigation menu (towards or at the top of a short page). And to be able to easily suppress all the pushed content and never see it again. 

I may use forum and thread favouriting selectively as I have used thread bookmarks prior.

A flexible forum page would be shorter and allow tailoring to suit. 

I appreciate that you may *wish* to "push" content - but that doesn't make pushed content an unalloyed or universal user benefit. Once you force the push on people - you have social media design cancer.  And it is bad UI/UX.  So be suitably ashamed if you go that "they MUST SEE IT road".

2childmum2

eastcorkram said:

2childmum2 said:

Thanks Boots
So to get to my 'followed content' I now have to  click on the menu, then click on quick links then click on followed content. Rather than it being an option on the home page. (This is on a mobile). 

So my suggestion for the homepage is to include a followed content option.

You should only ever have to do that once though. Bookmark that site on your browser, then you'll go straight to it .

Thanks for that suggestion but i can't bookmark it on my phone.

dave2319

How many people often check out the homepage? I guess a lot of people land on it because they've clicked "Forum" on the main site and are looking for particular boards.

I think it's a shame you're hoping to "make it the best homepage we can" because surely people aren't here for the homepage, they're here for the forum. The homepage doesn't need more content and some people would say there's already too much. Using my content blocker to get rid of the biggest photo definitely makes it look better to me.

Anyway, I think it would be best to just concentrate on the forum and make sure people are happy in here. It's alright having a nice door but people need to like what they see when they go inside.

Sea_Shell

I agree, with Dave2319, in that I don't go to the Homepage at all (unless by accident) and just come straight to Followed boards / New posts* (via a shortcut link that was provided in the other thread).   Still hoping to get a direct button to do that! 

I flit between that and my bookmarks, my posts, my threads and occasionally look at a specific board.

*Or whatever they're called these days

J_B

dave2319 said:

How many people often check out the homepage? I guess a lot of people land on it because they've clicked "Forum" on the main site and are looking for particular boards.

I think it's a shame you're hoping to "make it the best homepage we can" because surely people aren't here for the homepage, they're here for the forum. The homepage doesn't need more content and some people would say there's already too much. Using my content blocker to get rid of the biggest photo definitely makes it look better to me.

Anyway, I think it would be best to just concentrate on the forum and make sure people are happy in here. It's alright having a nice door but people need to like what they see when they go inside.

What an excellent post - I too never use the homepage.

I just want the forum to work better and the fact that there are now 76 pages of comments on the 'give us your feedback' section and only two pages here must back that up.

rigolith

Could you make it so I can pin certain forums to the top of the front page? At the moment I have to dig through to find the ones I want.

10_66

Please centralise the reading pane rather than having it on the left side of the screen.  Not user friendly for those of us who have to use a desktop/PC.