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.

 

[Iestyn]

I'm all for this.

 

[Russ]

I coded one awhile back but forgot to post it as a modification, I don't see the harm in doing so, if I remember correctly it took me less than 30 minutes to get it sorted and that's because I've rarely worked with jquery cookies! We got extra user postbit info by showing enough support so hopefully this could be an option as well.

 

[Shelley]

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.

I respect Kier's views. The initial response was not even a view, nor an argument or solid reason why the sidebar toggling shouldn't be added into the core. This was unexpected because 100% of the time there's a good solid argument why a feature is not added, mostly because it's better suited as an add-on, sometimes because it's not suited for this product. The sidebar toggle however is a core feature, a valuable one at that for us style developers and also members. It'll remain consistent with the functionality of this product and the proof is right here to see. Example: The login area needs to be toggled so it slides down so people can input their forum credentials. Is this function primarily because the animation looks nice? Course it's not. it serves a purpose in keep things hidden and then opened when needed. The same rule absolutely applies with the sidebar toggle.

Throughout this thread, from the people who are against adding this they did not once provide a solid reason why a core feature shouldn't be added apart from saying that the animation looked nice and that was it and was "useless".

 

[EQnoble]

I coded one awhile back but forgot to post it as a modification, I don't see the harm in doing so, if I remember correctly it took me less than 30 minutes to get it sorted and that's because I've rarely worked with jquery cookies! We got extra user postbit info by showing enough support so hopefully this could be an option as well.

Yeah the cookies are part that put me in the oven. I just could not master them. GRRR.

I am not for or against this 100%. I know it might not be (or might be) beneficial to the forum software itself but it is to the owners of licenses , features like these attract people and gives them more control of a page which always makes people feel like they wanna be here. That is how myspace made it big in the first place...people with no real web-skill could make their own "webpage" of sorts which was more about having control over things in their browser window than anything , at least with all of the people I know.

On the other hand if done it would need options to disable as I know many people that will not return to a page that felt too "alive". I won't be torn if it is not added to the core as it 100% (I think) could be coded into an addon that integrates seamlessly with XF ( see BBCM )...however I would be excited to see it either way. It would let me replace the half-arsed one I made for myself.

 

[Shelley]

Yeah the cookies are part that put me in the oven. I just could not master them. GRRR.

I am not for or against this 100%. I know it is not beneficial to the forum software itself but it is to the owners of licenses , features like these attract people and gives them more control of a page which always makes people feel like they wanna be here. That is how myspace made it big in the first place...people with no real web-skill could make their own "webpage" of sorts which was more about having control over things in their browser window than anything , at least with all of the people I know.

On the other hand if done it would need options to disable as I know many people that will not return to a page that felt too "alive". I won't be torn if it is not added to the core as it 100% (I think) could be coded into an addon that integrates seamlessly with XF ( see BBCM )...however I would be excited to see it either way. It would let me replace the half-arsed one I made for myself.

I posted one of many suggestions throughout this thread to further my argument.

Adding a checkbox in the admin cp when ticked the toggle is activate giving the users the option to toggle. Unchecked the toggling feature doesn't show. So out of the box, the checkbox would be unchecked and would have to be check to enable it. All parties happy and content. It's a win win situation. If I'm not mistaken no forum product as that option, I could be wrong.

 

[Ryan Kent]

I am a proud XF owner. I am pleased with the product and make sure everyone knows it.

Recently I got in a discussion with someone about why XF > IPB and they brought up the collapsing sidebar feature as a feature that IPB offers, which makes their sites better. I looked at the feature, and then had to agree it was a nice feature and left feeling "I wish I had that on my site". It wasn't a good feeling.

I agree, in the big picture this is just one small thing, but it's there, and it's not going away. If there are more important items to develop I certainly understand. I just wish it was on a to-do list somewhere rather then a written-off list.

 

[bogus]

I also would like to see this a core feature. The addons are quit nice but they are not working proper and will the coder update them all the time?
Well it would be a nice supplement

 

[Jay]

If there are more important items to develop I certainly understand. I just wish it was on a to-do list somewhere rather then a written-off list.

Hear hear. I hope this becomes part of XF as a core feature in the end. Designers would love it!

 

[clockwork71]

Hear hear. I hope this becomes part of XF as a core feature in the end. Designers would love it!

I think Kier has made it abundantly clear he isn't interested. I am not a designer, maybe it's a real ***** to do, I don't know. However, he is obviously not interested. I find it an odd bit of marketing strategy, but it's not my business.

 

[Forsaken]

I think Kier has made it abundantly clear he isn't interested. I am not a designer, maybe it's a real ***** to do, I don't know. However, he is obviously not interested. I find it an odd bit of marketing strategy, but it's not my business.

From what I've seen him say, I think its because it doesn't serve much actual point.

Most people are never going to actually collapse the sidebar and it isn't like with vBulletin or IPB where the sidebar is made up of non-essential information; most things (excluding add-ons) are essential information.

 

[clockwork71]

From what I've seen him say, I think its because it doesn't serve much actual point.

Most people are never going to actually collapse the sidebar and it isn't like with vBulletin or IPB where the sidebar is made up of non-essential information; most things (excluding add-ons) are essential information.

Unless of course you have a forum on foreign exchange, like I do - and have a lot of people wanting to post charts. While it can be done, and it's not bad - a wider body certainly wouldn't hurt either!

 

[Forsaken]

Unless of course you have a forum on foreign exchange, like I do - and have a lot of people wanting to post charts. While it can be done, and it's not bad - a wider body certainly wouldn't hurt either!

There is no sidebar (by default) in posts so it shouldn't effect charts.

 

[Shelley]

I think Kier has made it abundantly clear he isn't interested. I am not a designer, maybe it's a real ***** to do, I don't know. However, he is obviously not interested. I find it an odd bit of marketing strategy, but it's not my business.

I don't give up if I feel a feature is core material and it serves a practicality, usefulness value. There are so many issues I can post from more and more frameworks (standalone/and those that come with styles) using their own toggle sidebar and them clashing with one another (checkout some topics here about it). Another thing that escapes me is a toggle function does serve a practical purpose we see it in action for the login panel. Or is this because it's nicely animated? Of course not, it hides the container and so it should it's there for a very good reason and not for it's cosmetic value.

As for the amount of work this entails, I'll say again, I had a developer whom is learning xenforo build this in a night. I'm suspecting it'll take the devs here several hours to accomplish and it could be an optional thing. It's a popular feature otherwise many devs wouldn't be including it in their frameworks so now what I'm asking is why not unify this feature so there's 0 conflicts, there's very much interest in this and the benefits are there if you choose not to ignore them.

Back again to ask this to be considered.

edit: Possibly a checkbox in Style Properties: Sidebar so those that don't want to toggle feature never need to check/enable it.

 

[Lisa]

Also, just to add what Shelley is saying, the toggle seems to be conflicting with the notices. (See screenshot).



*I'm aware that this is an add-on but I honestly feel it should be an integral part of the software. I'm not a fan of sidebars being constantly on display, and I'm sure lots of other people feel the same way.

 

[Brett Peters]

Just showing my support

I personally dont like looking at a blank space after scrolling down the page a bit and would love the option to place the sidebar as a bottom bar, But a toggle will do the same job.

 

[xf_phantom]

+1

If

The sidebar may have important information - the perfect example would be the reporting system. It's the same sort of reason why we don't generally have a global sidebar hide toggle.

is really the only reason, why not introduce a new variable which could be set if the toggle feature should be disabled on the page?

Just like with the $noVisitorPanel variable for the visitor_panel in the sidebar