Do you ever click on this in Xenforo ? How often ?

Do you use the Latest Post information in the Forum Home Listing ?


  • Total voters
    66

Digital Doctor

Well-known member
When you click on the Forums Tab you are presented with a list of forums on the left and Latest Post information on the right. I believe this is called the "Forum Home".

When reading posts on your forums and here at Xenforo.com ...
Do you find posts via:
  • What's New ? / Recent Posts
  • Alerts / Watched threads
  • Read an individual forum
  • Click on Latest Post from Forum Home
  • Other:

forumhome.usage.webp
How I find posts to read:
  • What's New ? / Recent Posts - 75%
  • Alerts / Watched threads - 15%
  • Read an individual forum - 10%
  • Click on Latest Post from Forum Home - 0%
  • Other: 0%
So the question is: Do you use the Latest Post information in the Forum Home List ? (ie. the links in that red box).
 
Only time I really use Latest post area is for the news area :) I know the timestamps for the most recent update so it's obviously when a new one rolls out :).

Also What's New might as well be my homepage I use it so often :)
 
Well I wish I had access to xenforo.com "click" data.
I bet the number of clicks on a Latest Post thread from Forum Home is very low.

Regularly, yes. It's there for a reason ;)
And that would be ?

If Forum Home ONLY listed the forums ... and there were 2 buttons:
(1) What's New
(2) Show the Last post in each forum

The use of button (2) would be very low.
 
It's useful for quickly discovering and going to the latest announcement in the announcement forum (which is probably new and previously unseen), and I find it presents a kind of random sampling of topics. Occasionally a title will spark my interest and I'll click on it. So I wouldn't say it's totally useless.
 
It's useful for quickly discovering and going to the latest announcement in the announcement forum (which is probably new and previously unseen)
Announcements are important.
I'm sure you'd prefer being able to subscribe to Announcements and get an ALERT ! or email !
So I don't feel this scenario is a good idea.
I think people are doing it currently, only because Xenforo doesn't have subscribe or "Watch" a forum.
FYI, I get the latest posts from there via RSS.
and I find it presents a kind of random sampling of topics.
I would say What's New is better for that. In what's new you can see the whole title. More items per page .. etc.

Occasionally a title will spark my interest and I'll click on it. So I wouldn't say it's totally useless.
It's not totally useless, no.
But, it takes up a great deal of prime real estate for very little value.

If beauty = power / complexity,
The Like Button is a Super Model
and Forum Home Last Post List is Medusa.
medusa.gif
 
Announcements are important.
I'm sure you'd prefer being able to subscribe to Announcements and get an ALERT ! or email !
So I don't feel this scenario is a good idea.
I think people are doing it currently, only because Xenforo doesn't have subscribe or "Watch" a forum.
FYI, I get the latest posts from there via RSS.

I would say What's New is better for that. In what's new you can see the whole title. More items per page .. etc.

It's not totally useless, no.
But, it takes up a great deal of prime real estate for very little value.

If beauty = power / complexity,
The Like Button is a Super Model
and Forum Home Last Post List is Medusa.
medusa.gif
I used to do that .. sometimes .. in certain forums .. but now .. I never do it.
Just glancing at it here and there is not a justification for keeping it !
Out with the old, in with the new.
I wasn't aware you're a user experience expert now... I should keep on the ball with all your certifications and such :).
 
The last post area serves a purpose, and while it is probably not used to click through much (I use it only occasionally as I use What's New and mass reply or read posts), and its purpose is to show the last post, and information regarding it (date of the post, and the author).

Comparably, if it were removed the node listing would look sparse and bland. As it does serve a use, anything that was added to fill its void would likely be lacking equally in usage, or would be nothing more than eye candy serving no real reason for being there other than to fill the void.
 
To be honest I realised I use the What's New section quite rarely and do rely more on that latest posts section on the forum mainpages.
 
I used to do that .. sometimes .. in certain forums .. but now .. I never do it.
Just glancing at it here and there is not a justification for keeping it !
Out with the old, in with the new.

You asked for my vote/opinion. No need to then try to convince me what I personally use is invalid or outdated .. It's a fact: I use it .. Not because it's old, but because the data provided is useful for me. Not for you? That's ok .. you can remove it from the template. And yes, I agree, I can do without it. Just a list of forum titles is what we will be using in our next style. The amount of negative feedback I get for that has convinced me it's not just my opinion and we're currently still using it.
 
It's not totally useless, no.
But, it takes up a great deal of prime real estate for very little value.
That is prime real estate, what are your thoughts on alternative uses?

Remove the Latest Post information and put a small 'Sponsored By' banner?

(Personally I would not remove the Latest Post information unless there was something else to put in its place, but that is just my personal opinion)
 
I suppose you could replace it with the most liked post or the hottest topic, etc...

Last post info is important for some people though.
 
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