Request for side column forum view

[General Geoff]

While I don't think the ergonomics of the forums are that bad, it has been brought to my attention that many people think it's terrible. Several friends of mine, after I referred them to the OCB thread, mentioned that the forum has "simply terrible ergonomics." This is mainly out of concern that the top bar view of details that is the default here, turns everything into a continuous jumble of repetitive user details/avatars, stuck between posts.

Compare that to a forum view with a left-hand column which contains all of the poster information, similar to how THR is laid out. It looks more organized and is easier to navigate, for those looking to read the thread posts, and don't have a vested interest in seeing repetitive user details over and over again.

Just a suggestion I gleaned from several folks who know quite a bit about website design.

[XD45]

set your computer monitor resolution higher

[ar15jules]

Not to be a total jackass, but maybe your friends could run the forum...

Jules

[RocketFoot]

Doesn't make any difference to me...

Side bar could be a fun way to switch it up sometime, but it's fine the way it is...

[HiredGoon]

There are some options on this forum that may help a little. You can set them to NOT view signatures and also to NOT view avatars. Both of these can be found under "Thread Display Options" under options in the user CP.

Personally, I have mine set to not view signatures, I do not like seeing the same thing over and over again there.

I do not mind seeing the user avatars though and have them turned on.

[SteveXD]

They need higher resolution. A side bar would make it WAY worse them...

[General Geoff]

Everyone who commented about it has at least a 1680x1050 resolution. One of them has 1920x1200, and another uses 1600x1200.

I personally use 1680x1050.

[danp]

In that case I would be interested in screen shots illustrating the problem.

I use this forum on resolutions far less than that and everything works just fine.

For the record, I am a web developer for a living as well.

[General Geoff]

I can take a screenshot when I get home, but I'm at work right now.


To illustrate the problem without a screenshot, however, at least one third of the screen is taken up by both my and your (dan's) user details in the previous two replies in this very topic. This is with my view at 1280x1024 pixels right now. With a side column, three or four entire posts would be viewable within the same screen space, because it concatenates the user details into the side column and allows the (usually short) posts to be listed in a more linear fashion.

[danp]

Originally Posted by General Geoff

I can take a screenshot when I get home, but I'm at work right now.


To illustrate the problem without a screenshot, however, at least one third of the screen is taken up by both my and your (dan's) user details in the previous two replies in this very topic. This is with my view at 1280x1024 pixels right now. With a side column, three or four entire posts would be viewable within the same screen space, because it concatenates the user details into the side column and allows the (usually short) posts to be listed in a more linear fashion.

I think I understand what you are saying, but I'm not sure if that is easily configurable through the admin, I'll check though.