Impossible to start reading unread thread from first post

Always the very first post whether you've read it or not, or the first unread post in a thread you've been reading, or the first post in a thread you haven't read but which is older than 28 days?
 
I also would prefer the little icon to take me to the newest post and have the thread title take me to post #1. I often want to read the first post again to refresh my memory as to what the thread is about.
 
brendanc said:
If this is the case, it's bad usability to consider any thread read in this regard if they're older than X days.

I now see that this thread is over 28 days old. Fine. If it hadn't been bumped up to the top of the list just now I'd expect it to not be bold in the thread list. But if I've never read a thread before, it should *never* assume I want to start reading from the last page, because then everything is out of context. That IS terrible usability.

I like the idea that if I've been to the thread before that it takes me to the first post I have not read (even if it's on page 2 of 10), but not if it wants to take me to page 10 because I've read page 1 in the past.

Would you start reading a book from the last chapter if it's over 10 years old? Would you read the first chapter of a book and then skip to the last the next time you pick it up?
Click to expand...

IMO, There should be another marking way in the database to determine whether I've already visited a thread or not regardless of the 28 days (by default).
Or at least there should be a better way or more obvious link that always takes to the first post other than the first post date. The average user won't know that easily. And that's what XF is all about, intuitive and easy to use which in this case is not.
 
Personally I like the way it works now, greatly. :)

For you people that do not like it, what % of the time does clicking on the thread title take you farther into the thread than the first unread post?
 
Dean said:
Personally I like the way it works now, greatly. :)

For you people that do not like it, what % of the time does clicking on the thread title take you farther into the thread than the first unread post?
Click to expand...
Pretty much 100%.
 
Yes I do.:)

I know that may explain it, however, thats how many people use forums, and the way it works here is going to irritate one hell of a lot of forum users once people start using this on their own forums. It shouldn't be hard to change as I would assume that XF works pretty much the same as VB in that it keeps a record in a table of threads you have actually visited, so it would not be hard to change the behaviour of each thread link based on whether you had actually (really) read the thread rather than the overall "forum read" marking.
 
Paul M said:
Yes I do.:)

I know that may explain it, however, thats how many people use forums, and the way it works here is going to irritate one hell of a lot of forum users once people start using this on their own forums. It shouldn't be hard to change as I would assume that XF works pretty much the same as VB in that it keeps a record in a table of threads you have actually visited, so it would not be hard to change the behaviour of each thread link based on whether you had actually (really) read the thread rather than the overall "forum read" marking.
Click to expand...


Totally agree.
 
Ahmed said:
IMO, There should be another marking way in the database to determine whether I've already visited a thread or not regardless of the 28 days (by default).
Or at least there should be a better way or more obvious link that always takes to the first post other than the first post date. The average user won't know that easily. And that's what XF is all about, intuitive and easy to use which in this case is not.
Click to expand...

This is what I was getting at. The time limit marked as read is fine for unbolding the titles (indicating that they're old), but that shouldn't mark them as if I've been to (read) the thread before.

Also, I'm sure 28 days is a configurable setting, for anyone wondering about that. 28 days is so arbitrary, I can't imagine they'd hard code that.

Also also, I never click "Mark all read" and I seem to always have this problem. I rarely ever get to the first post in a thread by clicking the title.
 
To test this fairly, I opened another browser, one I have not used for browsing this forum, so I was not logged in. I purposely did NOT log in and clicked on a few random threads, all with many pages. In every case, I was taken to the very first post on each thread. Not in the middle of the conversation but at the very beginning. Sounds like it is working as designed.
 
Elizabeth said:
To test this fairly, I opened another browser, one I have not used for browsing this forum, so I was not logged in. I purposely did NOT log in and clicked on a few random threads, all with many pages. In every case, I was taken to the very first post on each thread. Not in the middle of the conversation but at the very beginning. Sounds like it is working as designed.
Click to expand...
Try clicking older threads, from back in July or August.
 
Elizabeth said:
To test this fairly, I opened another browser, one I have not used for browsing this forum, so I was not logged in. I purposely did NOT log in and clicked on a few random threads, all with many pages. In every case, I was taken to the very first post on each thread. Not in the middle of the conversation but at the very beginning. Sounds like it is working as designed.
Click to expand...

That's great for guests, but what about once you're a member and you do log in?

If it's just a matter of changing the 28 days then problem solved for me, but currently I'm still taken to random places in threads I haven't read before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Steffen
XF 2.3 regression: Clicking "Handle report" on an assigned report does not reveal the save button making it impossible to submit the form
Replies
0
Views
43
Steffen
Steffen
Ozzy47
[OzzModz] Remove Reactions From First Post For Suggestion Threads
Replies
5
Views
650
beerForo
beerForo
Crosswind
  • Solved
XF 2.2 Impossible to transfer from localhost to server.
Replies
3
Views
947
Crosswind
Crosswind
Amin Sabet
  • Question Question
XF 2.1 After update from XF 1.5 to XF 2.1, first unread post behavior is not as expected
Replies
0
Views
363
Amin Sabet
Amin Sabet
ibaker
XF 2 Price to create first post thread view
Replies
0
Views
889
ibaker
ibaker
Back
Top Bottom