More board gripes/questions

Joined
Aug 27, 2004
Messages
7,628
Location
Katy, Republic of Texas
Just a few things, some I have been brought up before, some are new. Just wanted a new post to not have all the old issues that have been addressed.
  • Are we going to ever get the option to change the number of posts per page? I hate 20 posts per page. The main sub-forum pages were changed to 30 threads, but posts are still only 20. I like 50, or even 100.
  • Any more color schemes coming? I just don't like the looks of any of them. The old forum had tons of options, this has 4, with 3 of them having tons of white, especially backgrounds (I don't like "dark" themes, but don't want all white either, I used the "Mocha" theme on the old software).
  • I still think the spacing is too big on all pages. I have a smaller screen on my laptop (15", but is 1360x768) and there is just too much wasted space taken up by blank space and larger than needed text and borders. I think it is just a design flaw since XenForo (XF) is for mobile devices more than desktops/laptops (a whole 'nother gripe about the overall www), so probably nothing can be done about that.
  • Any way to set the stickies apart better? Having a little thumbtack does nothing to set them apart from regular posts. Maybe a thick line after the last one or have them "boxed in". I would ask for a way to minimize the sticky sections, but we can't get that to work on the regular sub-forums, much less within the sub-forums.
  • Any option to show all quoted text all the time? I can't stand how it cuts off a long quote and I have to "click to expand". Some may like it, but I don't, there needs to be an option to set that. Again, I think this is a XF issue. They seem to like to make you click more to do less.
  • Any way to make a message text box bigger? Typing this reply, I can't read what I have typed at the top since the box turns into a scroll box, other forums have the ability to drag the box down and make it bigger, this one does not (probably another XF "improvement").
  • And a final thing, any way to get our old smileys back?
    The XF ones are just so blech ( this is the new vomit: 🤮, this was the old vomit:
    37.gif
    ).
    What am I supposed to use for the old
    21.gif
    , this 🤷‍♂️ or this 🤷‍♀️ ? Just not the same.
There have been a lot of things fixed for sure, and some nice things that the software brings, but I had concerns before the switch to XF, and they are still concerns that I don't like and do affect how I use and interact with the forum. It is probably obvious I am not a fan of XenForo, have not liked it on the other forums that switched to it, BITOG is the only forum that has made the switch that I have stayed active on despite the switch. Keep hoping for the better, and see some small steps, but need more IMO.
 
My major gripe is having to manually mark each forum as "read" when leaving. The old software automatically marked a visited forum as read, so when I returned only changed threads were in bold.
 
The “what’s new” page shows MULTIPLE replies to the same thread...Better when it just showed the one “newest” reply when there were several/many.
 
I think it is just a design flaw since XenForo (XF) is for mobile devices more than desktops/laptops
That's incorrect - XF isn't designed for one platform or the other. Modern forum software will have built-in 'styles' based on the platform, be it a computer or a mobile device. They are pretty much independent of each other.
  • I would also like the option of user-configurable # of posts but it doesn't seem to be a feature of XF
  • I don't like clicking any more than necessary but regarding the "Show more..." quoted post part, I'm probably okay with it the way it is. Far, far too often people quote excessively (maybe they don't realize they can delete text ? 🤷‍♂️ ), then add a one sentence response. :oops:
  • Please keep the new, modern emojis. I really like having them consistent with other boards, FB, my phone, etc.
 
My major gripe is having to manually mark each forum as "read" when leaving. The old software automatically marked a visited forum as read, so when I returned only changed threads were in bold.

If you read any thread then it will show up as bold if new posts were made since you last read it. Clicking on that thread will take you to the first new post. That's all I do ... no real need to set each forum as "read" automatically by the board software. That would actually defeat the purpose of each thread showing as read and then showing when new posts are made.
 
My major gripe is having to manually mark each forum as "read" when leaving. The old software automatically marked a visited forum as read, so when I returned only changed threads were in bold.
I agree.
If you read any thread then it will show up as bold if new posts were made since you last read it. Clicking on that thread will take you to the first new post. That's all I do ... no real need to set each forum as "read" automatically by the board software. That would actually defeat the purpose of each thread showing as read and then showing when new posts are made.
Yes, but if I don't mark all read, when I come back, I don't know where I last left off on the sub-forum page and when to stop scrolling down.

It all depends on how you use the forums and your expectations of the layout.
 
Yes, but if I don't mark all read, when I come back, I don't know where I last left off on the sub-forum page and when to stop scrolling down.

It all depends on how you use the forums and your expectations of the layout.

Some people may want the old threads they haven't read yet still show that there are unread posts ... I do that. So it would be illogical for the board to automatically mark all forums as "read" when someone when leaving/logging off. It would only make sense if there was a setting that each person could turn on or off to do so.
 
I agree that the "automatic" marking of read was not ideal, and was not one of my gripes on the update here (although I don't like having to click twice to mark them read), but an option for it would be nice.

...
  • I would also like the option of user-configurable # of posts but it doesn't seem to be a feature of XF
  • I don't like clicking any more than necessary but regarding the "Show more..." quoted post part, I'm probably okay with it the way it is. Far, far too often people quote excessively (maybe they don't realize they can delete text ? 🤷‍♂️ ), then add a one sentence response. :oops:
  • Please keep the new, modern emojis. I really like having them consistent with other boards, FB, my phone, etc.
Since the software no longer nests quotes (i.e see above, my post is not quoted in your quote), the super long quotes are not an issue like they were before.

I think the new emojis are just too bland, but they can stay, just put the old ones back as well, I know it can be done, I have other XF forums with the old ones as well as the XF default.
 
I think nested quotes are just silly and redundant. I'm glad it doesn't (at least by default).

Regarding the emojis, Wayne has indicated that he's trying to keep the board setup fairly "stock" so that lots of changes aren't required with updates. On the other hand, I'll bet the s/w handles updated fairly cleanly and it's not necessary to "start over" with each update. Maybe that's how the previous s/w worked though.
 
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