Sub-Forum Manager

[Neutral Singh]

Right now the XF's homepage layout is pretty simple. It would be interesting to see how it looks like when there will be sub-forums to sub-forums. I think there should be kind of Sub-Forum Manager where we could design the layout of how the sub-forums looked on homepage as well as forumdisplay... to be really frank, the sub-menu display right now in vB is pretty generic...

How is XF dealing with Sub-Forums?

Thanks

 

[Defqon]

i don't know if you haven't noticed this , but there's a one sub-forum ..
or do you want to know how the sub-forum manager works in admin cp ?

 

[Neutral Singh]

Wow! i didn't notice this till now! This is even better than i would have imagined!! Thanks

 

[ooo]

i didn't notice this till now! This is even better than i would have imagined!!

fact that you didn't notice means it is NOT good

 

[Neutral Singh]

No! it means i need to spend more time here to know the new functionality XF offers... its an excellent deviation from the old norm... Although i would prefer that admins to have the option to play with this setting like there can be an option to setup sub-forum like old vB style or just like these have been setup on my forums or what XF presently has...

 

[Ruven]

No! it means i need to spend more time here to know the new functionality XF offers... its an excellent deviation from the old norm... Although i would prefer that admins to have the option to play with this setting like there can be an option to setup sub-forum like old vB style or just like these have been setup on my forums or what XF presently has...

I think what he is saying is that each new users to your forum will have no idea there even are subforums in much the same way you just didnt.
This is a phenomena that we have been noticing.
The trade off between looking sleek and putting the info out in the open is going to be a big issue for some.

I would probably have to find a middle way between usability and sexiness.

 

[lazer]

I have been looking to see how a sub forum would display too...I completely missed the one in "Bug Reports" - not good imho.

 

[Chromaniac]

right. all my major forums are essentially subforums. i currently use a layout changer on vB that enables them to neatly appear on the homepage. this particular system is unlikely to be very nice. but i can only tell when i install it with my own forum's database. :|

 

[steven s]

Subforums need to be spelled out

North America

sub-forums: Canada | United States

| Mexico​

South America

sub-forums: . . | . . | . . | . . | . . | . . | . . |​

If someone chooses to have a zillion sub-forums, that is their choice.

 

[Chromaniac]

it would be interesting to see how XF looks like with my own forum structure with several levels of subforums...

and it would be interesting to see how the homepage looks with JS disabled because that's how search engines would be seeing them.

 

[EQnoble]

Subforums need to be spelled out

North America

sub-forums: Canada | United States

| Mexico​

South America

sub-forums: . . | . . | . . | . . | . . | . . | . . |​

If someone chooses to have a zillion sub-forums, that is their choice.

Maybe use jQ to expand a forum section with a click on a tiny lil .png to expand the row to a box with a extended forum description and sub-sections listed. ?

It would keep the original look and only be expanded if the user want's them to be...but a button could be made obvious or subtle depending on you preferences if you wanted to make it blatant that there is subs you can.

Can you picture what I'm saying or do you need a mock up image?

 

[steven s]

Can you picture what I'm saying or do you need a mock up image?

Almost on the lines of scrollers?
http://xenforo.com/community/pages/pagenav-playground/

 

[EQnoble]

I was thinking like a button right after the forum title in the form of a down arrow...

clicking the down arrow would expand the space between the 1 pixel blue border above and below the Xenforo bug reports forum title.

View attachment 1458 referencing your image above

 

[steven s]

I think this will be a problem for those with many subforums.
Hopefully there will be an addon that will list the subforums under the parent.

 

[lazer]

I think this will be a problem for those with many subforums.
Hopefully there will be an addon that will list the subforums under the parent.

Here's hoping.... Soon.

 

[Grover]

fact that you didn't notice means it is NOT good

I agree. More people find they go unnoticed:
http://xenforo.com/community/thread...-that-new-or-am-i-just-blind.1679/#post-22845

I've seen in some HYS videos that XF uses submenu's like that also more often in the ACP, so it works consistent throughout the whole product. It might be a good thing in the ACP, but I keep seeing people having problems 'discovering' subforums now. Subforums should not have to be dis-covered really. They are in fact too much 'covered' now and I believe they should be always visible on the mainscreen. Subforums can be a really important part of your forum, so why hide them?

 

[EQnoble]

• clicking the arrow brings a jQ accordian collapsible (in my head) like this below

 

[steven s]

I still want to see the subforums listed. I don't need to see stats for the forum, just need the title.

 

[EQnoble]

I still want to see the subforums listed. I don't need to see stats for the forum, just need the title.

well right this was merely a mock up for a visual ...to each his own brotha

 

[steven s]

The more I look at my v3 forum with its subforums, the more I could get used to not having them spelled out.
Change is difficult sometimes.