Outdated front-end

[CyberAP]

That of course is a mock-up. Have you seen any *real* examples of this working on forum software? The only one I can think of is Discourse, which requires you to type in a number. This I don't think is particularly friendly, especially to mobile users.

View attachment 117931

Just add a "Jump to last post" button and now it has the full functionality. Personally I think that all that "pages" forum concept is kind of outdated. You can change the amount of posts per page and your shared page links become broken. Share a link to a post (of course that contains only post info and no pages) – and it's always working. Discourse right now has the best alternative to pages IMO. And even more it's much friendlier and convenient for daily usage. With pages you have to move from bottom to top on every single page, with infinite scrolling your eyes always follow the flow of content and you don't have to see the header all the time.

 

[Martok]

Just add a "Jump to last post" button and now it has the full functionality. Personally I think that all that "pages" forum concept is kind of outdated. You can change the amount of posts per page and your shared page links become broken. Share a link to a post (of course that contains only post info and no pages) – and it's always working. Discourse right now has the best alternative to pages IMO. And even more it's much friendlier and convenient for daily usage. With pages you have to move from bottom to top on every single page, with infinite scrolling your eyes always follow the flow of content and you don't have to see the header all the time.

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. Whilst some here like infinite scroll, others detest it. Maybe an option for users to have one or the other would be an idea.

 

[CyberAP]

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. Whilst some here like infinite scroll, others detest it. Maybe an option for users to have one or the other would be an idea.

In terms of design it's possible, but technically...

 

[high1976]

That of course is a mock-up. Have you seen any *real* examples of this working on forum software?

it's not a mockup (explained above) but not ment as an ultimate solution
can't see the issue with it, it doesn't matter if you click on 6 for page 6 or 60 for post 60. Both end up at the same position, none is better or faster.
Mobile can popup a keyboard to enter numbers, no idea wheres the influence on usability.

While talking about usability, have you ever tried to read a large thread on mobile, always searching for the next tiny number to click on for the next page?

 

[Divvens]

Navigation on content does need an improvement for handhelds, that is a valid point... but I don't think infinite scrolling is an answer to that.

 

[Martok]

Mobile can popup a keyboard to enter numbers, no idea wheres the influence on usability.

Popping up a keyboard for navigation is a pain. It takes up screen space, on some devices you have to press two keys to type in a number, then you have to press to pop down the keyboard again. That's not as user friendly as a single press on a pagination button.

While talking about usability, have you ever tried to read a large thread on mobile, always searching for the next tiny number to click on for the next page?

Frequently actually. I have no problem finding the pagination numbers which aren't that small. I also have large fingers and use a compact phone too.

 

[high1976]

Popping up a keyboard for navigation is a pain. It takes up screen space, on some devices you have to press two keys to type in a number, then you have to press to pop down the keyboard again. That's not as user friendly as a single press on a pagination button.

maybe I missed something but last time I checked, you wouldn't be able to jump directly to page xy unless it's listed in pagination.

how do you open page 240 with a single click?
I'm sorry but but your arguments do not make any sense to me. There wouldn't be any usability changes (except saving lots of 'next'-clicks) compared to the actual system.

I have no problem finding the pagination numbers which aren't that small. I also have large fingers and use a compact phone too.

those numbers are still there in the example above, just renamed to posts with one more digit (0). But yeah, thats a huuuge difference

 

[Martok]

maybe I missed something but last time I checked, you wouldn't be able to jump directly to page xy unless it's listed in pagination.

In general they are, though admittedly not for threads with many pages.

those numbers are still there in the example above, just renamed to posts with one more digit (0). But yeah, thats a huuuge difference

Read my post again, I was comparing pagination numbers to Discourse's navigation by typing and pop-up keyboard. If you're going to try to get all superior in your responses, at least get your facts straight.

 

[Moshe1010]

I would switch software if it changed to infinite scrolling.

I loathe it.

So you're just ignoring all devices below 5 inches in which pressing the pagination numbers (in portrait) is quite hard since the buttons are quite small and very close to each other.

It's very easy to press on #4 or #2 instead of #3 and so on. You can't even swipe left/right since it's a browser and not an application. Not sure why does it bother you so much when you can use pagination and infinite scrolling at the same time, and you may even disable one or the other if that is possible (as a feature).

 

[MISC]

Okay, I understand that infinite scrolling seem to be a controversial topic. But what's about "touch-optimized mobile version" which is more important to me than infinite scrolling ...

 

[Martok]

But what's about "touch-optimized mobile version"

Define "touch-optimised".

 

[MISC]

Touch areas instead of title links, buttons, swiping possibility etc. - everything you know from mobile apps!

 

[Alpha1]

I would be very surprised if xf2 would not be much more mobile friendly. Desktop is becomming a minority and xf2 should prepare for the coming years.

 

[Divvens]

I would be very surprised if xf2 would not be much more mobile friendly. Desktop is becomming a minority and xf2 should prepare for the coming years.

Indeed.

I've noticed one thing: Social Network (and other sites which are developer/team oriented -> direct to end user) are growing faster and better because they implement whats trending and what users like.

With forums, we have the minority (admins) deciding for the majority (members of our community). Like many admins keep some feature turned off just because they don't like it - but their users may love it. And forums are also being developed with its customer base (us admins) demands/preferences first, that won't change because XF has to cater to us, but we need to start catering to what people like rather than our personal preferences.

My communities traffic (analytics) indicates that 36.49% of my visitors are via mobiles and 6.58% are from Tablets - with Desktops barely getting the majority with 56.93% - 30% of my AdSense revenue is from Mobiles. The mobile/tablet crowd is growing and it cannot be denied, PC's will never stop playing a role but we need to improve mobile experience even more (there are still many demands from users to have a mobile app because app is much more friendly than the current responsive design as it supports regular action(s) that they are used to).

XenForo is moving in the right direction with the responsive design, much better compared to other softwares handling mobile crowd (I believe responsive design is the way ahead and this has been agreed by many too) - it just needs to keep improving and keep growing in the right direction

There will always be the staunch supporters of the "traditional" forum way/feel/look/functionality, but growth and development cannot make everyone happy (especially those who cannot accept changes).

 

[Alpha1]

My big board has over 60% mobile users and I am starting to see the first wearables now. Times are changing pretty fast.

 

[rdn]

Take a look at Flarum
How they implement Infinite scrolling.
I LOVE it.

 

[CyberAP]

Take a look at Flarum
How they implement Infinite scrolling.
I LOVE it.
View attachment 118516

This one looks stunning. Except that nested comments system everything else is just charming.

 

[Fred.]

I agree the way Flarum implemented Infinite scrolling looks good and useful.

 

[CyberAP]

Oh God, I misunderstood. These were not nested comments but actually linked replies. Well done, I must say. And localization is done through extensions system. Wow.
Though it has some rough corners: no styling system (just CSS edits), strange frontend choice (outdated Less, mixed svg + font icons, incorrect semantics), hidden forums tree (implemented with tags and nested tags), templating system is quite strange (reset password page has most of app template contents).

 

[Alpha1]

I wonder how the new Android TV will affect forum browsing...
Opening Chrome or a browsing app will make forum use easy. Type trough your phone.
Add push to that. Live notifications while watching TV. Could be annoying but I would not be surprised to see it happen for social media.