Lack of interest [Suggestion] Sidebar Toggle Feature.

[Vossi]

How about an option for showing/hiding the right side with online users etc (at startpage of forum)?

This would make the forums screenwide. Its just my personal taste, but maybe it makes generel sense.

 

[Shelley]

How about the ability to collapse content blocks (nodes, sidebar blocks etc)?

There are several categories I rarely pay attention to, and being able to collapse them would be helpful, and I don't pay much attention to certain blocks on the sidebar on other sites.

How about we don't faff around with second rate alternatives. I don't think toggling each individual block will help the space other blocks are taken whilst being visible whilst still being present. Great guns if you can toggle all and each one that's a bonus but the goal here is to toggle the whole sideblock and minimise completely.

 

[dutchbb]

I'm glad XF hasn't got the useless (IMO) sidebar toggle. Surely there will be an add-on soon for the ones who insist on having it, but I see no need for a core implementation.

 

[Shelley]

I'm glad XF hasn't got the useless (IMO) sidebar toggle. Surely there will be a add-on soon for the ones who insist on having it, but I see no need for a core implementation.

We strive to save space with regards to the height on the index page. Why not the width? Are you using a fixed width style that can make use of the additional width space on index? For fixed width styles it's vital imo, fluid and your fine. Yeah I'm great with the widescreen the space is like a 5 mile stretch. You view it on a fixed width style and it's not useless.

Edit: That is based on a practical use of the toggle not on it's cosmetic attribute.

 

[Kier]

I used fixed width all the time. Which part is cramped or lacking in space?

 

[Shelley]

The left part. Your basing that on the default design though Kier. The space becomes and can be restricted further with modified styles And it does.There's no harm in having a toggle function, it certainly doesn't hamper or conflict with anything but can hugely benefit in having more width space.

 

[Kier]

The left part that in your screengrab has empty space almost the width of the sidebar between the forum titles and last post info? I'm just not seeing the necessity at this point.

 

[Ray]

We strive to save space with regards to the height on the index page. Why not the width? Are you using a fixed width style that can make use of the additional width space on index? For fixed width styles it's vital imo, fluid and your fine. Yeah I'm great with the widescreen the space is like a 5 mile stretch. You view it on a fixed width style and it's not useless.

Edit: That is based on a practical use of the toggle not on it's cosmetic attribute.

I've set my site's width to 800px, space wasn't needed, if I needed space, I wouldn't have set a fixed width. Have you considered increasing the width of your page? That seems like a better solution for you.

 

[ToDie4]

I actually have a few Styles that I cannot convert to XenForo because the sidebar doesn't collapse, the design of the Styles emulate devices, one emulates an old stack system Hi-Fi which has proven very popular for older age group music related forums in the past, having a side-bar forced on the index stops such designs being used for XenForo.

 

[Shelley]

I actually have a few Styles that I cannot convert to XenForo because the sidebar doesn't collapse, the design of the Styles emulate devices, one emulates an old stack system Hi-Fi which has proven very popular for older age group music related forums in the past, having a side-bar forced on the index stops such designs being used for XenForo.

This is what I'm referring to. The suggestion is being based on a cosmetic scale (which I finding insulting to the little intelligence I have left) considering the suggestions I make are thought about and posted on a practical basis. I personally feel that we are basing the lack of need for this based on the default styles when in reality custom styles could make use what is a 30 minute coding job and benefit the people using fixed/custom styles. Design for me is everything when styling and having the option to have the forum expand offers more opportunity to all kinds of designs that would look better and feel more practical with the sidebar minimised.

This is one of a few features I was banking on being in the core so I really am going to push for this one and hopeful it will make it into the core. For now, I'll walk away and we can (at this point) agree to disagree.

 

[Shelley]

What if there'll be a new xenForo version with some of the features currently available only in the Themesinc framework?

Could it cause a conflict? Making the custom framework + themesinc skin not working.

You've got nothing to worry about there. My suggestion to have the sidebar toggle got shot down yesterday and I personally feel it got shot in the foot primarily because it's conflicting with mikos offerings. Simple as that everyone can sleep at night now.

 

[Kim]

I am actually pretty staggered it is not even being considered, this is not some whacked out idea, but a core feature of the two major competitor's products.

Shelley's screenshot contains forums with very short Forum Titles, in the real world they are often considerably longer, and things can get very cluttered, especially on a technical or in-depth forum.

Given that it is...

a. Not a huge job to impliment (I understand).
b. Adds to the overall feature set without taking anything away.
c. Crosses one thing off the "yes but XF doesn't have this... " list for potential shoppers.

I would like to throw my voice in support of the idea too.

 

[Kier]

My suggestion to have the sidebar toggle got shot down yesterday and I personally feel it got shot in the foot primarily because it's conflicting with mikos offerings.

What utter rubbish. My reason for not including a sidebar toggle in the core is that I see no reason to include it, given that I don't see any real value in the feature. It had nothing whatsoever to do with whatever Miko is doing.

 

[Shelley]

What utter rubbish. My reason for not including a sidebar toggle in the core is that I see no reason to include it, given that I don't see any real value in the feature. It had nothing whatsoever to do with whatever Miko is doing.

You may want to merge this and my previous comment into the sidebar toggle suggestion thread rather than letting this thread go off-topic. You didn't give any solid reasons why a fundamental core feature (apart from saying it's visual attributes) didn't warrant it being added to the core. I gave numerous solid reasons why it should.

 

[EQnoble]

How about the ability to collapse content blocks (nodes, sidebar blocks etc)?

There are several categories I rarely pay attention to, and being able to collapse them would be helpful, and I don't pay much attention to certain blocks on the sidebar on other sites.

I did this using collapse node addon from Cezz and modified it then included some of my own jquery stiff to do the sidebar and it was actually easy just a bit monotonous to implement.

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

sorry for the resolution..just reinstalled windows so I have no apps installed and had to use a unregistered copy of Hypercam...but whatever it served it's purpose.

 

[Shelley]

Tedious I bet. The options available here are really simple as the development of this entails such a short time to spend on yet the benefits are huge.

Set an option in the admin a checkbox perhaps Ticked toggling is activated. This would give the members the option to toggle, minimise/maximise certain elements.
Unchecked - The toggle feature isn't available to members. For those that find the toggle feature.... useless.

So for those that find it useless they would never need to activate it. Those that would benefit from it (example style developers) would make great use of features of the toggling nature and open up doors. If we just look at the toggling functions based on default styles then I feel we aren't advancing but rather restricting especially the styling developers who want to be able to design with the sidebar/nodes minimised. Let's face it, hardly anyone will keep the default style they want custom and style developers are willing to provide, create.

 

[glorify]

Shelley, I really love your work, input, and appreciate your contributions here. However, I think you would be a bit better received if you were a little less snarky in some of your posts and didn't throw around accusations about why things aren't in the core product. No offense intended, just an observation.

For the record, I like what you are suggesting but it's not a deal breaker to me. There will be ways around it if it's not a core feature. I am not a designer to your extent, though.

 

[Miko]

You've got nothing to worry about there. My suggestion to have the sidebar toggle got shot down yesterday and I personally feel it got shot in the foot primarily because it's conflicting with mikos offerings. Simple as that everyone can sleep at night now.

Nothing to do with my offering what so ever.

The Sidebar collapse addon it's already available on xenforo. What's wrong with the one posted that doesn't fulfill your needs?

 

[Shelley]

Nothing to do with my offering what so ever.

The Sidebar collapse addon it's already available on xenforo. What's wrong with the one posted that doesn't fulfill your needs?

The add-on isn't up to the standard of the xenforo product. I have a fully working jquery javascript sidebar toggle addon working on my site but this was suggested because it's a core feature which is why I suggested it. If I wanted a long term add-on I wouldn't have suggested this, The ability to have it in the core is vital. I put strong arguments why this should be included in the core, people who are against this being in the core have given nothing to the conversation, and basically referred it to being a cosmetic feature and useless.

And the add-on your referring to never ever worked for me.

 

[iTuN3r]

i Actually support shelly's idea for this one ! there are few members who suggested samething to me on my board . I have already invested enough money in add-on's & templates and just to get new feature i can't jump in and change my site skin whereas i have spend many hours doing some customizations in my site already . Hope K/M/A will re-think about this once again .

 

[Markos]

I agree with Shelley because if you want to modify a bit the board (example: for have an "everywhere sidebar" or the forums in columns) you need "more space" in the homepage, surtout if you have a fixed layout. Yes, you can do this with an addon, but i think that sidebar toggle and collassable forums have to be a standard feature for all forums software (IPB and VB has this in the core from ages....why Xenforo not?).

I respect the Kier's view, but i think this: you have created a wonderful board that give to the users more fun and "actions" respect of the competition. This feature don't need a big work to be implemented, and IMHO is very used by forum members.