Roundo: our new mobile-friendly theme, proposed to be set as default

[Laird]

Here is a composite image showing part of my "Unread Posts" screen in both old and new themes.

Aha. I see now that this is a feature unique to the View Unread Posts plugin. It isn't present in search result listings (which encompass this theme's current main page listing of Latest Updated Threads, as well as the listings returned by "New Posts" and "Today's Posts") nor in forum page listings of threads, nor in the listings produced by my Active Threads plugin. I reckon we should force consistent behaviour between the four types of listing, and I reckon that the behaviour you've identified is unexpected, unhelpful, and should be removed in service to that consistency. What do you (and anybody else who wants to weigh in) think?

Aha. I see now that this is a feature unique to the View Unread Posts plugin. It isn't present in search result listings (which encompass this theme's current main page listing of Latest Updated Threads, as well as the listings returned by "New Posts" and "Today's Posts") nor in forum page listings of threads, nor in the listings produced by my Active Threads plugin. I reckon we should force consistent behaviour between the four types of listing, and I reckon that the behaviour you've identified is unexpected, unhelpful, and should be removed in service to that consistency. What do you (and anybody else who wants to weigh in) think?

Well, the behaviour may be considered helpful or expected by some users. It was unfamiliar to me which doesn't make it necessarily unhelpful to others.

However I agree with the general principle of consistency in a user interface. Something with a certain appearance in a certain position should generally perform the same or a similar and related action when clicked.

In the context of the 'Unread Posts' feature, the same 'mark posts as read' within that thread can be achieved by clicking on the 'last post' link - though that does of course then display that post. That is to say, there is a workaround for the user, though it is less efficient as it navigates away from the current page to do so.

Can you estimate the percentage increase that would work best for you?


Great to hear.

Looks good to me now Laird…

I’m using it exclusively.

[Laird]

Well, the behaviour may be considered helpful or expected by some users. It was unfamiliar to me which doesn't make it necessarily unhelpful to others.

Fair call. It could be useful functionality, for those who want to mark a thread as read without loading the thread itself or otherwise loading a new, full page. My concern is that it's not clear what clicking on it does before clicking on it, especially because the tooltip doesn't indicate what it does, but rather indicates the status of the thread. The only way to find out is by clicking, which might not do what the user wants ("Hey, that marked this thread as read, but I wanted it to stay marked as unread because I want to come back at some later point and read it!").

A suggestion then: we retain the functionality but transfer it to a new, small button in the same style as the "New" button but with a different colour (orange?) and different, more explanatory text ("Mark as read"?).

However I agree with the general principle of consistency in a user interface. Something with a certain appearance in a certain position should generally perform the same or a similar and related action when clicked.

We could then add this new button to the other similar listing pages.

Yes?

[Laird]

Looks good to me now Laird… 

I’m using it exclusively.

Excellent. Given your endorsement along with the lack of objection from anybody else, I've migrated changes from the Staging/Testing version to the main Roundo theme, and set it as default. Visitors and new members will now see a mobile-friendly theme, which should also help us increase our Google search result placings.

Next up: a dark mode which can be toggled on/off.

Uhhh I'm suddenly seeing this...can I go back to the old view?

[Laird]

Uhhh I'm suddenly seeing this...can I go back to the old view?

Yep, just select "MyBB Default" from the theme selector at the bottom of every page.

Uhhh I'm suddenly seeing this...can I go back to the old view?

lol

Fair call. It could be useful functionality, for those who want to mark a thread as read without loading the thread itself or otherwise loading a new, full page. My concern is that it's not clear what clicking on it does before clicking on it, especially because the tooltip doesn't indicate what it does, but rather indicates the status of the thread. The only way to find out is by clicking, which might not do what the user wants ("Hey, that marked this thread as read, but I wanted it to stay marked as unread because I want to come back at some later point and read it!").

A suggestion then: we retain the functionality but transfer it to a new, small button in the same style as the "New" button but with a different colour (orange?) and different, more explanatory text ("Mark as read"?).


We could then add this new button to the other similar listing pages.

Yes?

Thanks for your thoughts Laird. Personally I don't feel a need to retain that functionality. But I was just considering the theoretical possibility that some other forum members might be routinely using it.

I agree completely that the the tooltip does not give any indication of the action which will occur after a click. For that reason, perhaps no-one is actually using that capability at present.

I don't want to request additional work purely in service of a perhaps abstract principle. I'd suggest going with the simpler approach of just removing the 'unexpected' behaviour and having a more uniformly predictable site.

While it is good to get a job done while it is fresh in the mind, maybe sleep on it rather than act too quickly.

Of course other members are more than welcome and invited to speak up here.

Excellent. Given your endorsement along with the lack of objection from anybody else, I've migrated changes from the Staging/Testing version to the main Roundo theme, and set it as default. Visitors and new members will now see a mobile-friendly theme, which should also help us increase our Google search result placings.

Next up: a dark mode which can be toggled on/off.

There is a quirky situation regarding the naming of the themes, since the 'default' in no longer the default. Nothing to lose sleep over but maybe at some point the theme formerly known as 'default' might be renamed 'classic' or something. That would only matter in terms of the name displayed to the user, I assume it would not affect anything internally.