Implemented Start Conversation LINK in User-Profile-page ?

[erich37]

currently it is only possible to click onto "Start Conversation" at the Member-Card of a certain user.

The Link for "Start Conversation" with a certain user should also be build somewhere into the User-Profile-page.

well, you are showing the homepage, age, gender and some other stuff at the User-Profile-page.
Why not also show the Link for "Start Conversation" ???

 

[ddmmh]

Well... in XenForo you can just do it from the MemberCard, so you don't even need to go to the profile (the whole purpose of the MemberCard in the first place ) to do it. So basically I have not much of a problem with it.

But... looking at this example:



... I agree that in those circumstances it is not quite that clear that beneath the 'About' information area there's an 'Interact' section, so regardless of the Membercard I decided to 'like' this suggestion, because for people who are already inside the Profile and want to PC a member from there it might save them from a little searching. In relation to this: it actually also took me quite a while to discover that the function to 'Find all Threads by User' was also present there in XenForo. I use this function quite a lot.

This brings me to the question: what is more important and more often used information/functionality? Is it the signature that is presented first at the top of the screen when you look at the [Information]-tab or is the 'Interact' section that is displayed at the bottom of the screen? Well... I never look at the signature. Once you've seen it in the forums, you've seen it? For me it is much more important to be able to contact the member in an easy way than to look at the signature inside a profile. On the other hand... when you use paid Advertisement's inside a signature (which I do), then it is actually very beneficial that the signature is presented there first. Maybe a new dedicated [Interact] tab would solve all 'issues'?.

Yep thats pretty much it. I got into that situation myself. I was on a profile, saw something I wanted to contact the user about and then i was like 'hmmm how do i start that convo again' its definatley not an imporant issue but a handy little feature with low to zero impact on XF and a nice little extra feture

 

[erich37]

I just received feedback from members that it is hard for them to find the "Private Conversation" information.
Is there any chance to put the "Start a Conversation" to the left sidebar of each member´s Profile-page ?

 

[Grover]

I see that as profile/user information. A link to start a conversation doesn't fit there.

If this is indeed user information (which it is), then wouldn't the best fit for that kind of data be the [Information]-tab actually? Since it is information...

I understand what Erich (and his users) are saying. (Apart from maybe the last activity info), do I really care about the following data (which is located in the other user-information box)? :

---------------
Last activity:
10 minutes ago
Joined:
Aug 1, 2010
Messages:
1,363
Likes Received:
320
Trophy Points:
83
---------------

Not so much actually, so why is it so prominently displayed on the user's profile page? I wouldn't mind putting info like this inside the [Information]-tab and more useful links like 'Start a conversation' more prominently on the page itself. 'Start a conversation' is now a bit hidden inside a tab called [Information], where it can be found under the 'Interact' part. And indeed, it has not so much to do with [Information] has it?

Ofcourse, once you know where to find it, you will.

 

[erich37]

absolutely right Grover!

My users are not so much interested in how many "Trophy Points" another member has than to find quick access of how to contact another member they are interested in via a Private Conversation.

 

[Grover]

My users are not so much interested in how many "Trophy Points" another member has than to find quick access of how to contact another member they are interested in via a Private Conversation.

Exactly my point. In fact it also took myself a while before I discovered that the Start a conversation link was hidden inside a tab called [Information]. Since XF is so good in the social/interactive part of it all... one would expect a link to stimulate this social activity to be displayed more visible/prominently.

 

[erich37]

Exactly my point. In fact it also took myself a while before I discovered that the Start a conversation link was hidden inside a tab called [Information]

you are a very experienced Forum-webmaster and can not find the link.
Imagine my members are new to the internet and from 50 to 70 years of age - quite impossible for them to find it...... especially as they also can not see that link on the member-card.

 

[Paul B]

A temporary fix would be to edit the member_view template and add some code similar to this:

<div class="section infoBlock">
    <xen:if is="{$canStartConversation}">
        <dl><a href="{xen:link 'conversations/add', '', 'to={$user.username}'}">{xen:phrase start_conversation}</a></dl>
    </xen:if>
</div>

You would add that immediately after:
<xen:hook name="member_view_sidebar_start" params="{xen:array 'user={$user}'}" />

I haven't tested this so it may need additional classes or styling to suit.

 

[erich37]

thanks Brogan for your help.

However, I feel that this needs to be changed / improved for XF-default.

Mike?

 

[MordyT]

+1 on moving this to a more public location.

 

[Dean]

My personal viewpoint.

Once the more often used items are moved into places like the post bit, the far fewer people will find all the additional information available in the Member Card. Personally I think that is why the visitor message system was not found or used much while I was using vb - no one had a reason to go to member profiles because they could do almost all of the more frequently used items such as PM from the drop down.

That said, this issue has really been a struggle on my xf forum. Several bright members cannot seem to associate the Start Conversation with sending a PM. I am going to do something on my own forum, not sure which direction I will go yet, but do have several ideas.

 

[erich37]

the "Start Conversation" can remain at the "Info Tab", but additionally it should be at the left of the User-Profiles.
Agree that "Coversation" is confused with conversation in the Forums, so "Private Conversation" or "Private Mail" is much more logic to understand for users.....

 

[M@rc]

For people that found this thread from a Google Search or the built-in xF Search.
Here's an add-on for this: http://xenforo.com/community/thread...-start-a-conversation-edit-profile-etc.25056/

Enjoy!

 

[Grover]

And yet another little pet peeve is solved by XF 2.0's excellently improved UI . There is now a [Start conversation]-button visible on the User Profile page.

(And it also seems all these other user details/data are moved from the previous left side/column into the [About]-tab, as some suggested above, making the whole User Profile Page much more clean and streamlined. But since I don't use XF 2.0 yet I don't know if it's a style setting or something, but nevertheless these improvements are very welcomed!)

[Implemented]