Implemented "What's New" Forum Filter / Subscribe to Forum

[DeltaHF]

I'd like to be able to "subscribe" to forums, such that I could then look at a page like "What's New?", but filtered to only show updated topics from the forums to which I'm subscribed.

For example, let's say you really want to stay on top of the "Announcements", "Bug Reports", and "XenForo Development Discussion" forums here. You'd just click a "subscribe" link, then view the respective "subscribed forums" link for a quick view of what's happening in the areas of the site you're interested in.

vBulletin's "New Posts" search has similar (but somewhat hidden) filtering functionality, though it wasn't fully baked in to the software: you have to append "&include=XX" parameters (where 'XX' is the forum ID number) to the URL craft your own search results ("&exclude" was also supported), but it is still a very useful feature that I have taught many of my users how to use.

A more comprehensive system built into XenForo would be very useful and should be fairly straightforward to implement.

 

[Jeremy]

I'd like to be able to "subscribe" to forums, such that I could then look at a page like "What's New?", but filtered to only show updated topics from the forums to which I'm subscribed.

For example, let's say you really want to stay on top of the "Announcements", "Bug Reports", and "XenForo Development Discussion" forums here. You'd just click a "subscribe" link, then view the respective "subscribed forums" link for a quick view of what's happening in the areas of the site you're interested in.

vBulletin's "New Posts" search has similar (but somewhat hidden) filtering functionality, though it wasn't fully baked in to the software: you have to append "&include=XX" parameters (where 'XX' is the forum ID number) to the URL craft your own search results ("&exclude" was also supported), but it is still a very useful feature that I have taught many of my users how to use.

A more comprehensive system built into XenForo would be very useful and should be fairly straightforward to implement.

1.2 has a Watch Forum, although doesn't do thread listing could help alert you to new threads / messages. Would you consider this implemented (so I can give Brogan some work. Hehe)?

 

[Morgain]

I think that Whats New is so various it's better to cut out what we don't want as it arises.
That way I can just click Whats New - which is many people's lifeline - and I dont get loads of old clutter Ive seen many times before as we do now.

A quick selection to cull out whole forums I dont want - maybe development if Im not a dev, the addon Search if Im not a big board, Styles if that's not my bag, and Offtopic if I don't personally come here for anything except strict XF.
After that I want tick boxes I can go tick tick tick down the Whats New page, and click HIDE at the bottom.
Bliss - no more clutter n spam - just a few more cull clicks to do each time I check WN. Like I do my email.

 

[DeltaHF]

1.2 has a Watch Forum, although doesn't do thread listing could help alert you to new threads / messages. Would you consider this implemented (so I can give Brogan some work. Hehe)?

Unfortunately, no, I don't consider it implemented. Although I'm happy to see the "Watch Forum" feature and the "Watched Forum" page, it's not an effective way to filter just the discussions in the forums I'm interested in.

It would be so great if the "Watched Forum" page simply offered another "view" which combined all of the active threads in the forums which are watched.

 

[giorgino]

+1

 

[Jeremy]

@giorgino, you need to like the first post to show support. A +1 doesn't help the developers gauge community support.

 

[giorgino]

You're right @King Kovifor Liked

 

[Jon W]

This add-on does something similar to what you are asking for:
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/ignore-new-posts-by-waindigo.139/

 

[DeltaHF]

Nice work, I'll definitely be installing that when I convert my forum, @Waindigo.

 

[Digital Doctor]

[Implemented] ?

 

[DeltaHF]

[Implemented] ?

Is it?

 

[Paul B]

Nope.

but filtered to only show updated topics from the forums to which I'm subscribed.

 

[Chris D]

We have implemented something similar in XF 2.0 which may or may not enable us to consider this as implemented.

It is possible to filter the "New posts" list via a filter named "Watched content".



To be clear, this will filter the list down to threads in watched forums AND watched threads. So the suggestion is implemented but it will also surface threads you have explicitly watched (whether they are in a watched forum or not).

You can of course combine that filter with others, e.g. "Unread threads" and "Watched content" so you will only see unread threads in watched forums / unread watched threads.

@DeltaHF do you now consider this to be implemented?

 

[DeltaHF]

@DeltaHF do you now consider this to be implemented?

Yes, I would consider it implemented.

Of course, as powerful as those filtering options are, it's not exactly how I envisioned it; I'm afraid only power users will really notice the menu.

I would suggest adding a "Watched Content" link to the "standalone tabs" in the What's New page, as a shortcut of sorts to use that filter. That's where I would expect to find it.

 

[Chris D]

The filter bar is a fairly common device throughout the UI now. Typically it was actually at the bottom of the page (e.g. "Thread Options" right at the bottom of each forum list in XF1) but we now use it on more pages, in all of the add-ons, all containing all functionality relating to filtering and sorting the list.

It's definitely going to be worth bringing it to your user's attention as it could be useful.

It's worth noting users can save their default filters or you could use the navigation system to add links which have some filters preset, e.g. this link filters the list to unread watched threads (and threads in watched forums) only:

https://xenforo.com/community/whats-new/posts/?watched=1&unread=1

 

[DeltaHF]

It's worth noting users can save their default filters or you could use the navigation system to add links which have some filters preset, e.g. this link filters the list to unread watched threads (and threads in watched forums) only:

https://xenforo.com/community/whats-new/posts/?watched=1&unread=1

Ah, that's perfect, I'm glad to see we can pass those filters as parameters.