Moderator menu should not be at the bottom of the page

[Sim]

On XF 2.0 the moderator menu is way down the BOTTOM of the page. On a high resolution monitor - this is a really bad place for it, especially when the assumption is that the content being moderated is likely fairly new and thus at the TOP of the page. It would be even worse if you use a high resolution monitor in portrait mode (I know a few people who do this because they create a lot of content and it's ideal for editing documents).

Yes, it works well enough on mobile (not so great on a tablet though) - but it is a really really bad idea on desktop.

Some examples:





This is a huge usability issue and the argument I hear from developers who do this is for "consistency" between devices.

I don't buy that argument - the UI on mobile is fundamentally different to the UI on desktop. Hobbling the user experience on desktop for the sake of some perceived notion of consistency is a false economy because they simply aren't the same user interface to begin with.

Given the vast majority of moderator actions are likely to occur on desktop devices, please don't hobble the desktop UI or make it less efficient to do my job.

My bookkeeping software made changes to their UI system using the same argument "consistency", yet I know very few people who do their bookkeeping on a mobile device or tablet - the vast majority use a desktop, so all they've managed to is make it more difficult for the majority of people to use their app in order to appease some misguided notion of "mobile first".

Interestingly, I'm even finding a trend away from mobile devices on my sites - after peaking at around parity between mobile and desktop usage (44% each) earlier last year, both of my sites are now seeing an increase in desktop usage, as much as 50% desktop vs 40% mobile. This has stabilised for the past 6 months, so I'm thinking we may have reached a level of equilibrium and the continued trend of increasing mobile usage is not ongoing. Naturally, the ratios for some types of websites would be a lot higher on mobile - but both of my forums (one Australian centric, the other with a global audience) are seeing similar trends.

I would urge you to reconsider throwing out decades of good user interface design practices by placing an important menu at the bottom of the screen on desktop devices.

 

[CFMack]

To be honest, I found the XF1 method much better, where it popped up as an overlay. Now in XF2, sometimes I'm waiting for this behavior, forgetting that it is waiting for me at the bottom of the screen.

 

[Sim]

Agree - either an overlay or anchored to the top of the list of whatever it is you are moderating would be far more intuitive and efficient.

 

[Ozzy47]

To be honest, I found the XF1 method much better, where it popped up as an overlay. Now in XF2, sometimes I'm waiting for this behavior, forgetting that it is waiting for me at the bottom of the screen.

Remember to like the first post.

 

[combatgamez]

yup I agree, also I cant moderate when using firefox as I have a toolbar extension that sits on the bottom and covers over it.

so much better when this was "in the page" not down the bottom.

just my 2cents

 

[Sim]

I think the XF 1.0 mechanism worked really well where the overlay followed your action, as you check a box for actions, the overlay pops up and then moves to the next box you check and so on.

Or you can just click the "Selected Threads" link at the top of display it instead which is useful if you've moved to the next page but then run out of things to moderate.



I guess the problem with overlays is that they don't work particularly well on touch screen devices.

 

[Lukas W.]

Not speaking against your suggestion, but it might be worth to invest into a high-dpi mouse, especially if you're running on a highres monitor or even multiple monitors. I'm running at 7000dpi with a precision button at the side of the mouse that tunes it down to 800dpi where precision is needed, and I personally don't find it troublesome to invest a centimeter more mouse movement to get to the bottom of the page. Again, not speaking against the suggestion, but you should give it a shot, it's a real comfort once you get used to it and it makes this a waaaayy smaller problem.