Implemented The position of key buttons next to the breadcrumb

[Grover]

I am gonna to have a break from XenForo in the time to come. I just want to put the following in the limelight, because I feel it is or will become an issue when using XenForo. I think XenForo is (almost) perfect when it comes to the UI/UX, but I feel this could need some attention before XF becomes Gold.

I am talking about the position of key buttons like [Post New Thread] or [Search Threads and Posts] next to the breadcrumb. I believe this is a fundamentally wrong position and I will show why I think that.

[Search Threads and Posts]
First, there is this example about the [Search Threads and Posts]-button:
http://xenforo.com/community/thread...ics.2082/#post-30259

The [Search Threads and Posts] button there is more or less unrecognizable as a button that should be pressed to get more search options. It gets overlooked, very understandably, by endusers. To prevent it from being overlooked, it has to be put more into the viewpoint of the enduser. And that means... as close to the information-area as possible, there where the eye-focus of the enduser is. Meaning: in the center of the screen (right above the search input fields for example), not somewhere in a corner where it is not visible/clear/intuitive enough.

[Post New Thread]
The same problem occurs when users need to post a New Thread, as pointed out by Shanj in the following discussion where a visual example is posted in:
http://xenforo.com/community/thread...ead.2538/#post-41403

Needless to say that this can become obviously problematic. I don't know how XenForo displays multiple subforums underneath each other, but I could imagine it would be like this:

I believe a good UI should make it as easy/intuitive as possible to post a thread. Posting threads is THE BASIS of forums in the first place. That's why I find it a bit remarkable that XenForo puts the KEY button for this in a really counter-productive and non-intuitive position. A button with such an importance should be placed right there where the focus of the endusers-eye is, the moment he/she wants to post a new thread. And that is as near to the existing threadtitles as possible.

Those are my last constructive suggestions I will put out for a while (XF is near perfect in it's UI/UX for me). Hopefully M&K can share a part of this vision and re-think a bit the positions of those key buttons. I believe it will make XF better.

Keep up the good work (developers + community) and see you again after XF Gold's release!

Grover.

Please do [like] this first posting if you think it is a good feature suggestion for XenForo

 

[Digital Doctor]

Not sure what your point is Digital Doctor?

I dont care where the post button is.
I've not made any requests to move it either.
Others in this thread are interested in the Post button.
Admittedly, I was not able to decipher what Kier said and how it related to the [Post] button.

What Kier said is simply that XF has most of its layout finalized

Sorry. where was that ? I missed this. I just re-read the entire thread, didn't see it.

and at this time the 'post new thread' button fits on the right side in this layout. There is no reason to place it at the left side.

Certainly does fit over there.

 

[dutchbb]

Sorry. where was that ? I missed this. I just re-read the entire thread, didn't see it.

Not literally, but it's safe to assume current layout isn't going to change significantly in beta 6. To me it works the way it is, and I believe no radical change is needed.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Not literally, but it's safe to assume current layout isn't going to change significantly in beta 6. To me it works the way it is, and I believe no radical change is needed.

Agreed.
I think the devs have bigger fish to fry.

 

[erich37]

the position of the button "Post New Thread" is fine, but why is the FONT in the button "Post New Thread" much smaller than the Font we have in the navigation-bar (like for the words "Inbox" , "Alerts". Log Out", etc.) ?
The font of the words "Post New Thread" is also much smaller than the Font used for the breadcrumb-words like e.g. "Home".

The font for the words "Post New Thread" is just too small and the words in white color are hard to read because of the light-blue button-color.

I would suggest changing the button-color to orange and the text of the button to bigger fonts would fix the issue (see mockup).

I do understand the design-philosophy of XF, but the "Post New Thread" button should not be buried and hidden in blue-color. This button is very important and should not be a design-element which needs to be "discovered".

This orange button is very intuitive, just try clicking on it......

 

[Xarcell]

I don't see anything wrong with the button except it's location. It shouldn't be beside the breadcrumb. It should be just above the "watch thread" link. Between the sub-nodes and topics.

Although, I prefer list of horizontal tabs over buttons anyday.

Also, I don't want to see the theme change much from what it currently is. However I hope it changes alot in 1.1.

xF looks too much like vB at first glance. The only thing I like is the breadcrumb and visitor nav. Everything else just looks good in this theme, but when making other styles, I find myself making drastic changes.

Truth be told, Flexile is more like what I think the default should have been. Mike and Kier do a excellent job though. I can imagine if they redid the default style in 1.1(after seeing what some designers come up with), it would be awesome. Right now, I'd rather see them focus on other things...

I'm not recommending this, but check it out, bon bon buttons(look at the morphing ones): http://lab.simurai.com/css/buttons/

 

[erich37]

I still like the orange button and think it would help users to find this button better.

 

[aculate]

After i get my license, changing the button will be my first UI template change and probably the only one. I really enjoy the look and feel of xenForo except the awkwardness of the post button location...

This is how I will change it: remove the extra padding, make it bigger, and re-locate it to the left of the page navigation. If there is one button that should be different then all of the other buttons, it should be this one... it is the button where most things happen...

​

 

[Grover]

I don't see anything wrong with the button except it's location. It shouldn't be beside the breadcrumb.

After i get my license, changing the button will be my first UI template change and probably the only one. I really enjoy the look and feel of xenForo except the awkwardness of the post button location...

No, the Post New Thread button definitely needs to be moved in my humble opinion.

Some people agree with the above suggestion, some people don't. Obviously it's up to the developers to decide what they think is best. They already survived this in-depth endless digging discussion!

Having said that, I would like to point to this new feature that was introduced in Xenforo after the above interesting discussion: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/xenforo-1-1-1-released.24730/#post-301477.

When Xenforo introduced the notifications and subsequent stacked feature.... :

... it added to the point/situation outlined in the discussion above that there's quite a big distance between the [Post New Thread] button and the list of threadtitles. I am thinking of some forums on my platform (when I switch to Xenforo) where I would like to show sophisticated notices (which larger pictures/backgrounds etc and I am also thinking of placing advertisments inside it or just below it) and wondering how my members will getting used to find the [Post New Thread] above all these notices, instead of below it (where you would expect it, intuitively).

For me personally the location of the [Post New Thread] in the above screenshot is the most aesthetically pleasing actually. I also like the idea that it's actually next to the breadcrumb as if you are are following the breadcrumb and post a new thread right there in the forum that is listed in the breadcrumb .

The question only is, is it always so practically pleasing as well? When you had lots of subforums listed it was not so much practical/intuitive to find this key button 'all the way up there', but the developers changed that position now. Thanks. (Only drawback is that now the position actually switches based on whether you are having subforums shown there).

Thinking about it, it's not so easy to find a good position/solution that is both aesthetically and practically pleasing.

 

[Grover]

All good things come.... eventually. XF2's new style now places the buttons away from the breadcrumbs, improving all places where these #attached-to-the-breadcrumb-buttons where visible. Position is now so much better and the new button-colour too. Perfect.

Is there any community out there where one -as a group effort- can passionately (or... endlessly? ) discuss details (but important ones) like this through 9 (!) pages and see it subsequently making a beloved product better?

All these improvements XF2's new UI/style gives the end user, makes it the best UI of any forumsoftware at the moment, IM(H)O.