Check out the new forum nav! - Page 4

That would solve a multitude of problems for me and bring back some of the navigation functionality I used to rely on for the reasons mentioned.

Well stated!

Let's see what this week's forum software update brings in the way of navigational changes.  We've been told that this is coming but I'm not completely clear regarding the particulars.  Fingers crossed....

I've been asking for that since early on because I didn't use the nav dropdown  -- and that would also solve the problem for others who wanted a quick way to go "Home".  Hope it's really coming soon (like RAF mentioned).

_Man_

Since I'm someone who has been asking for a quick way "home"...let me say that doesn't really do it for me. 

There is already links at the bottom and top of each page directing people to "home."  What I've been asking for is to have "home" included in the drop-down navigation (or pop-up menu) for consistency's sake.  Everyone should be able to do their navigating around the forum using the same device...not having to use a drop-down menu for inter-forum navigation, say...but then find a different link somewhere on the page to navigate to their home page (which includes listings of subscribed threads, etc.).  It is highly illogical. 

While I admittedly don't see the attraction to the progressive menu that Matt, Man, and RAF see, it is the ability to be able to jump to the location of one's choice that the drop-down menu used to provide that I think we can all agree on (except maybe Man, of course!  ) that provides the most options. 

Via the drop-down menu, one could instantly travel to the index page of the forum they were in (via "go"), travel to the index page of ANY other forum simply by opening the menu and selecting the sub-forum name, and travel "home" (which was the first listing on the drop-down menu. 

What else do you need?   

I believe when you hit the "back" button IE prefers to take you a cached version of the page (since you were already just there) instead of reloading the page. It depends on the site. Some sites will reload anyway. I suspect there are tags in the page telling it the static lifetime of the page, though I'm not sure. In general this is a good thing, since it saves internet traffic when you don't really need it. You can always hit F5 or click on "Refresh" to force the page reload and then you will have the latest updated version.

I know we've been told the fixes to the navigation system are coming...

I hope it's soon.  If we keep the pop-up menu, I hope it's fixed so it doesn't open below the screen anymore.  It seems like everytime I try to use it, at least half of it is out-of-sight.

And, of course, I still think it could be shrunk to about half its current size (or less). 

And the changes are in...

 

• Forum navigation/jump menu enhancements:

• "View First Unread," "Subscribe" and "Advanced Reply" buttons have been slightly enlarged for greater visibility
   

A very apparent improvement!
Thanks.


Cees

Very much improved!  Thanks so much!


Not to be a stick-in-the-mud, but isn't there some kind of "intelligent" command so that the menu will know which way to open in the window given it's position on the user's monitor?  The first time I clicked don the new menu, it opened up all right...but above the top of my screen and out-of-sight.  It seems as if the only difference is that it's opening off-screen above rather than below.  But other than that, I think all these changes are for the better. 

Also, instead of "Forum Nav" just to the left of the navigation menu, do you think it might be more appropriate to fully spell out "Forum Navigation" as a way to let new users know what they are looking at?  And, frankly, I think "More Forums" is less-than-descriptive of what the button is.  Maybe "Forum Menu?"  And maybe it could be a pronounced button...like the "clear", "preview", and "submit" buttons at the bottom of the edit/reply boxes. 

I was gonna say the same thing but didn't wanna be accused of being belligerent =)  So blame Mike on this one!  But seriously, what this is doing is trading one UI issue for another, albeit a very slightly less often encountered one.  But it's still one I will encounter a LOT.

Is there a plan to put back in a "go to this forum" link below the posts? The breadcrumb nav is still only at the top.

Dave:  I don't know if this helps, but if you click on "More Forums' you will see a link to "Current Forum" at the very bottom of the menu (next to the "Home" link).

Ah. I hadn't seen that. I don't much use the More Forums menu and hadn't scrutinized this revision.

I still want a "This Forum" link. It's a key nav tool for a forum.

Definitely improved, but there is still room for improvement. Unfornately now when you open a sub-forum menu (especially one of the bottom ones), the sub-menu can be cut off the bottom of the page. I know HTML menus are a strange animal, but with a regular Windows menu, the sub-menu will always reposition itself so it remains visible regardless of what the top-left position was set at. If this can be done with this menu, it'll be close to perfect.

Oh, and where is the "More Forums" button/link on the home page?

The popup menu really needs to be dynamic in its positioning. See this example:

It's an improvement but I still don't like it. And maybe it's just me, but the navigation tool at the bottom never does anything. The arrow indicates that the list should appear above but it doesn't.
Edit: I just realized it does come up...at the very top of the page so I have to scroll up either way.

Does it only appear at the bottom when there has been a certain number of posts to the page? This page has fifteen (plus mine) and it only opens for me at the top here.

How long do you plan to spend reinventing this wheel?

My sentiments exactly. All this tinkering to come up with a method of navigating that isn't as simple to use as the good ol' dropdown box.

I have a very simple request to make; please please set the forum to show one of two sets of navigation code, and give us the choice as to which we use. That way you can tinker with the new code to your heart's content, while those of us who want the same dropdown box method we use on other forums can make that switch.

I say just put both on the page and have done with it. There's plenty of white space on the right side of the column to fit a combo box.

I agree with Jonathan. I am visiting someone (who has   windows computer and firefox 3.0.10). and then I click on more forums, the window still starts underneath  and I still have to scroll. For me the drop-down menu was quicker (top and bottom). Also put
Home Theater Forum  ›  Forums  ›  Feedback/Misc  ›  Forum Help and Feedback
top and bottom.

Yeah, I'm pretty fed up with this navigation system too. Half the time it doesn't even work and I have to toggle between the top and bottom ones, and end up hitting the back button when neither pops up the menu. If the page hasn't fully loaded yet, you're redirected to the main forum page. And even when it does work properly, despite being initially set to the forum section you're in, it inevitably goes all over the place.

The drop-down was sorely missed when HTF initially did this "upgrade" so the fact that it was taken away was mind-boggling...especially when the replacement is so finicky and impractical.

Is there any consideration being given to any of the feedback given above?  It's been kinda quiet lately.

A dynamic pop-up menu, return of the drop-down menu...?

 When one clicks on "more Forums" one gets the forum info and one must scroll up or down. I am visiting people- my PC is windows XP and my current machine is a MAC Safari. In the first post it is stated  that the drop down is comberson!!!!!!!!!  As in many posts stated above, bring back the drop down menu top and bottom. It was  far better than the current "more forums"

Sorry for the lack of communication, we have been listening and discussing behind the scenes.  Nothing new to report yet....

I would think, Adam, that besides listening, if the staff has been navigating the forum, that it has run into the same issues as are being reported here.  Moving the "More Forums" menu to opening "up" didn't really solve anything.  It just moved an old problem to a different piece of monitor real estate. 

If the Huddler staff can't figure out how to make it work right, they might as well just replace it with the old tried-and-true drop-down menu.  As others have pointed out, it seems as if there has been an attempt to reinvent the wheel...or to fix something that wasn't broke.  Scrolling while using a navigation menu is an aggravating and unnecessary bit of confusion. 

Wait a minute.  I just realized that the "More Forums" menu at the top of each page opens "down"...while the "more Forums" menu at the bottom of the page opens "up" (even though the arrow points down)!

I didn't realize that before. 

I hate to say it...but that's even crazier.  How are we supposed to remember which one opens which way?!? 

 I don't know if this a HTF problem or the Mac Safari problem. I have been typing in a comment and wanted to see the previous page and ended up loosing what I had typed in.

I am a retired computer (main frame assembly) programmer and I would design things that were user friendly. This "more Forums" is certainly not. In my opinion - it is poorly designed.If you click on it, it puts "the Forum box" immediately after or before depending  whether you are near the top or bottom of the page. The normal case is that you are at the top-of-page where you see the HTF logo, the ads and the menu. Clicking the "More Forum" will place "the Forum box" immediately after and one has to scroll down - costing more time" One did not have this problem with the drop down forum menu. Clicking on the "more Forum" should place it at the top (or bottom,)of the displayed screen OR being able to move it (again more time) - again not a problem with the drop down forum menu.

In my previous post I stated "In the first post it is stated  that the drop down is comberson!!!!!!!!!". I would state that the current "More Forum" is extremly comberson.
There is also a funny arrow pointing down after "More Forum" at both the top and bottom of the page. I see no use for it. May I also state that as a program tester I have found many errors because the program is not idiot proof and I am the idiot that finds it.

Adam Gregorich comment "Sorry for the lack of communication, we have been listening and discussing behind the scenes.  Nothing new to report yet...."  seems to be taking a long time.
According to some people - the Drop-down menue is "comberson" and takes "too much space". I would request that the anti-Drop-down people please be alot more specific why they don't like it-



I have been looking back at this thread and see many, many posts of people who don`t like the "more Forums". I get the opinion we  are being given a solution by the people who are maintainng the forum. I have seen  NO posts of people who don't like the drop-down and like the "more forums". When asked about the survey the answer was only "many" not for example  50 to 10. All of my comments are after the most recent changes which didn't seem to correct the program. A great majority of posts in this thread are from people who do not like "more forums". As I stated above,  I would request that the anti-Drop-down people please be alot more specific why they don't like it. I want this from users of the forum and not from the "Huddler people".
Edited by Sumnernor - 10/11/09 at 1:41pm

I would say in theory the latest version of the More Forums nav menu *looks* nice, *BUT* it does seem to have more than enough bugs and/or design flaws to make it worse than the old dropdown even though I don't really care to use either one myself.

I find neither to be useful enough for how I like to navigate forum sites, ie. I prefer to know what's ahead before I jump in, and neither gives enough info for that (plus the fact I still cannot mark the current subforum as read before jumping elsewhere via either nav menu).

I think one of the biggest general problem w/ this new More Forums nav menu is that it behaves inconsistently and/or w/ non-intuitive results.  For instance, even though the latest version *should* make it easier to jump back to the current subforum's thread listing page, but in practice, I find it rather hit-and-miss (and more miss than hit), especially since it doesn't seem to respond to a simple enter/return key (to just return to the subforum thread listing page) at least for IE6 anyway.  It also does not seem to respond to the usual cursor keys for navigating the menu (again, not in IE6 anyway).

In light of all that, I'd have to agree w/ everyone who much prefers the old dropdown (that is, if I actually wanted to use either at all).  There's the old design principle of KISS that HTF/Huddler should probably take to heart in all this me thinks.


Oh, that's most likely a general software platform issue, not specific to Safari, but that may well be the wave of the future in general for the WWW, not just for HTF.  Basically, you can no longer rely on your web browser to handle backward/forward page navigation anymore for anything that involves significant user interaction/input, given the current trend of web development.  It's one of those double-edged sword kinda thing w/ the various advances in WWW tech -- and maybe the KISS principle needs to be applied more prevalently there as well, but time will tell I guess...

*BUT* the one real problem I have w/ HTF in this regard is it quite often seems to misplace (or non-intuitively place) browser focus so that a backstroke key while I'm in the process of writing a post/reply ends up unexpectedly triggering my browser's back button instead, which as you know would lose what I was typing.

Yes, an accidental browser back button in the old HTF platform (on vBulletin) would also yield the same bad result, but that seemed to happen a lot less often in the old HTF than in this new HTF (at least for me anyway).  These days I'm definitely extra fearful of hitting the backstroke key when I'm typing a post/reply on HTF -- I'm probably a good deal more likely to just submit a post/reply and then edit it several times afterward rather than hit backstroke whenever needed during my initial draft.  And when I can remember to do so (particularly for a longish post/reply), I'll copy my writing to the Windows clipboard, ie. ctrl-A and then ctrl-C, before I hit any remotely problematic key, but I inevitably forget to do so every now and then, so ...

_Man_
Edited by ManW_TheUncool - 10/12/09 at 7:56pm

Firefox Portable. Install anywhere, even a USB drive. No admin rights needed.

Hehheh...  I could live w/out use of the nav menu (or the old dropdown for that matter) since it doesn't do what I'd want anyway.  At this point, seems like I'd probably just be trading a few quirks for some other quirks apart from the nav menu thing, if I move to some other browser at this point, not that I won't ever be moving of course.  

_Man_