Lack of interest Include an "All" link for threads that have multiple pages

[jauburn]

One thing I always loved about the free SMF forum (and still do) is the little [All] link to the right of the page numbers on threads that go on for multiple pages. Clicking that little [All] gives you a one-page view of all posts within a thread--a huge time-saver and click saver (and therefore index finger/carpal tunnel saver).

I think it's a feature that Xenforo would benefit from, either as a built-in option (preferably) or as an add-on.

On my old SMF forum, for example, I have threads that span, say, 50 pages, but I've configured the [All] feature on the backend so that users can view the whole darn thread on one page with one click. Imagine having to click 50 times to get through that whole thread. Yuck! I don't think anyone likes to do this; therefore, everyone would like an [All] option.

 

[DBA]

I'd hate to think what that would do to your server, especially if you have a busy site...

 

[Jeremy]

I personally hate All links. Thats a *lot* of data that needs to be processed by the browser, computer, and server. And its something I would disable on my sites rather quickly.

 

[EQnoble]

What wouldn't be completely horrible is a button that when clicked loads the next page's posts appended to the end of the current page's normal listings.

 

[Jeremy]

What wouldn't be completely horrible is a button that when clicked loads the next page's posts appended to the end of the current page's normal listings.

As long as it isn't infinite scroll.

EQnoble's solution would actually reduce bandwidth by only sending parts of the page versus reloading everything.

 

[jauburn]

Well, I love it and always have. I guess others do, too, since SMF has always had the feature. And on my site, I've never had a server-side issue with it. Heck, I have threads that go on for hundreds of pages, and I keep that All link active. Users love it. What would they rather do, click themselves to death? vBulletin doesn't have this All feature, but it does allow the admin to offer users the ability to determine how many posts to show per thread page. On my vb installation, I set the max to something like 200 so that, effectively, there is an All option.

I'm talking option here, after all, not requirement.

 

[Jeremy]

I would, yes.

 

[EQnoble]

Well, I love it and always have. I guess others do, too, since SMF has always had the feature. And on my site, I've never had a server-side issue with it. Heck, I have threads that go on for hundreds of pages, and I keep that All link active. Users love it. What would they rather do, click themselves to death? vBulletin doesn't have this All feature, but it does allow the admin to offer users the ability to determine how many posts to show per thread page. On my vb installation, I set the max to something like 200 so that, effectively, there is an All option.

I'm talking option here, after all, not requirement.

One click to load 20-50 posts is not really excessive and with that button if you wanted to with some quick jquery you could invoke the action of that button by scrolling to the bottom of the page and for the people that want it they could have their non clicking infinite scrolling.

As you point out you have 100s of pages in a thread, what happens when anyone who doesn't have a ridiculous server has just 25 people load a thread with hundreds of pages worth of posts, probably in the thousands and all in one shot? It would be a massive fail.

 

[jauburn]

what happens when anyone who doesn't have a ridiculous server has just 25 people load a thread with hundreds of pages worth of posts

In SMF, it's possible to establish a cutoff point after which the All doesn't show. So people with different server capabilities can adjust to taste. I'm talking usability enhancement. Little things mean a lot to users, I've found, and they're less often the whiz-bang features such as notifications and "likes" than they are the things that make their reading and writing experience as painless as possible.

 

[EQnoble]

In SMF, it's possible to establish a cutoff point after which the All doesn't show. So people with different server capabilities can adjust to taste. I'm talking usability enhancement. Little things mean a lot to users, I've found, and they're less often the whiz-bang features such as notifications and "likes" than they are the things that make their reading and writing experience as painless as possible.

I don't disagree in essence but in application but that cutoff point could also be determined by having a next button that loads X amounts of pages and again with that included it would be easy to add a method to automatically invoke that by scrolling to the bottom of the page so it would be open for any admin to fit that kind of thing to their needs if they choose to use it.

With what you are suggesting that cutoff point would effectively act as a 'click here to add x pages of posts button anyways so why not just leave it as that and have the button be at the bottom of the post list for logged in users that stay below when posts get appended above it?

 

[Adam Howard]

I can't see this being a good thing. I think I recall disabling that on a few SMF forums who were large. Don't think it would be good for XenForo.

This is something an add-on developer could do though.