When reading long forum threads you have to scroll back to the top to reach the menu...can you change the page design to lock the top in place, similar to the Mediocre site etc?
please don't lock the forum header, It is extremely annoying as it blocks off tonnes of the screen space and then I can't see half of the other forum threads. plus you don't need to refer to the forum thread that often
@editorkid i know it's hard to believe, but pagination would cause more problems than it would solve. there are some problems to solve though, we just haven't found a good solution yet, though i think tl;dr mode has helped.
@katylava It mostly helps a different problem, but that is a problem and I don't mean that in a bad or snarky or even trolling way. To my mind, pagination mostly helps with the 5 million GIFs on one page problem, along with all of the jumping around that causes because the height isn't included and the wrong amount of space is left open as the page loads. And when there's a really cool but sprawling page like Joel's great Fuckit Friday post, it's hard to find the comment thread you want. For that, maybe stars could be treated like bookmarks -- not the browser kind, the literal "start reading here" kind, I guess a flag or something in programmerspeak. I dunno. I marvel at how active people like Joel and Thumperchick are because the size of these discussion pages intimidates me. Hell, I still have no idea what the "bath" joke was. I gather it was a chance to score something I didn't want for free, so I didn't miss anything there, but the cultural cue, the running joke, shot over my head too. You're probably right that pagination doesn't fix those problems, but it just feels like it helps manage them more than today's infinite scroll.
@katylava And I know you folks are thinking about it and will probably figure out some kind of answer that none of us expected but all of us really dig. I trust you people and I'm glad you're good-natured about it when we blow off that little bit of steam.
@editorkid@katylava It takes so long to load pages at times, I've read half the thing before it finishes and jumps back to whatever comment ID I was linked to. Then I pull out all of my hairs and start a little angry bonfire.
@phatmass I used to want this. Now I appreciate the mystery. Bonus: I can read into it whatever I want (e.g., aw, the person I replied to appreciates what I just said even though I tore them a new one; that's cool).
I would be fine even if they just put a auto-scroll back to top button on the right-hand side like eBay does. At least then it won't take 30 seconds to scroll back up in a long thread.
@jsh139 Have you found a way to not have to tap twice (once to get the navigation bar to show up and once to scroll)? I think it was only a single tap in iOS 7.
@Pamtha I haven't found a thread that doesn't scroll to the top with a single "flick" swipe (although I'm gonna try this on the huge neoprene thread right now (okay I lied, but generally a flick swipe does the trick for reasonably-sized threads))
@PocketBrain Keyboard is somewhere on a truck. Thank goodness we are nit in Snowpocalypsemageddon here. @lotsofgoats - yep thats what i do, and glad it scrolls faster than a mouse
@tightwad Unfortunately I just want it on my Windows tablet, where I don't have a convenient home key and I don't have a convenient tap-at-the-top thing going on… That's the sort of bizarre limbo you live in on a Win tablet though…
Oh, I like that. Seconded.
but maybe a modified header that's only one line deep? the regular header is huge on my screens and would harm readability.
please don't lock the forum header, It is extremely annoying as it blocks off tonnes of the screen space and then I can't see half of the other forum threads. plus you don't need to refer to the forum thread that often
I just hit the button on my keyboard to jump to the top instead of scrolling.
@hallmike Yup. There ya go.
@hallmike oops - the < Home > part got cut out. It should say "I just hit the < Home > button"
@hallmike Niiiiiice!!! Thanks!
Also, pagination.
@editorkid -1
@editorkid +2
@editorkid -3
@editorkid Also yes.
@editorkid /2^4
@dave @katylava
@editorkid i know it's hard to believe, but pagination would cause more problems than it would solve. there are some problems to solve though, we just haven't found a good solution yet, though i think tl;dr mode has helped.
@dave @editorkid +/-
@katylava It mostly helps a different problem, but that is a problem and I don't mean that in a bad or snarky or even trolling way. To my mind, pagination mostly helps with the 5 million GIFs on one page problem, along with all of the jumping around that causes because the height isn't included and the wrong amount of space is left open as the page loads. And when there's a really cool but sprawling page like Joel's great Fuckit Friday post, it's hard to find the comment thread you want. For that, maybe stars could be treated like bookmarks -- not the browser kind, the literal "start reading here" kind, I guess a flag or something in programmerspeak. I dunno. I marvel at how active people like Joel and Thumperchick are because the size of these discussion pages intimidates me. Hell, I still have no idea what the "bath" joke was. I gather it was a chance to score something I didn't want for free, so I didn't miss anything there, but the cultural cue, the running joke, shot over my head too. You're probably right that pagination doesn't fix those problems, but it just feels like it helps manage them more than today's infinite scroll.
@katylava And I know you folks are thinking about it and will probably figure out some kind of answer that none of us expected but all of us really dig. I trust you people and I'm glad you're good-natured about it when we blow off that little bit of steam.
@editorkid @katylava It takes so long to load pages at times, I've read half the thing before it finishes and jumps back to whatever comment ID I was linked to. Then I pull out all of my hairs and start a little angry bonfire.
@katylava Mind me asking why pagination causes issues? I'm a web developer myself and use both techniques. Curious why you wouldn't use pagination.
Yeah, Ctrl-Home in Windows... No big deal.
@Cinoclav all fine and games if not on a small tablet like I usually am
@tightwad You need an iPad where you can tap the top of the screen to return to the top of the page.
CMD+UP Arrow on Mac... fixed navigation just takes up more room...
Also, little tiny avatars.
@phatmass Second.
Also, I want to see who stars me... It could lead to romance.
@phatmass I starred you. Buy me dinner?
@phatmass They had that feature early on, I miss it.
@hallmike boom chicka wow wow
@phatmass I used to want this. Now I appreciate the mystery. Bonus: I can read into it whatever I want (e.g., aw, the person I replied to appreciates what I just said even though I tore them a new one; that's cool).
@phatmass as long as nobody can see when I shamelessly star myself...
@phatmass That would suck because I'd have to quit starring my own posts...
@Headly I wouldn't.
I would be fine even if they just put a auto-scroll back to top button on the right-hand side like eBay does. At least then it won't take 30 seconds to scroll back up in a long thread.
I just tap the top of the screen on my iDevice to scroll to the top of the page ;)
Insert trollface here.
@jsh139 Have you found a way to not have to tap twice (once to get the navigation bar to show up and once to scroll)? I think it was only a single tap in iOS 7.
@SSteve Unfortunately, no. However, the top nav seems to appear when you reach the bottom of the screen, so sometimes it's already there.
@jsh139 Interesting. I don't get the top nav when I reach the bottom of the thread.
Doesn't everyone just open each thread in a new tab on their phone/tablet and press the back key to close that one and switch back to the forum list?
@dashcloud but then you don't see the updates that happened while you were in a thread!
So is there a magic action I can take on an Android tablet (Nexus) to jump back up??
@Pamtha Just hit the Home button on your keyboard. You did buy a Meh bluetooth keyboard, right?
@Pamtha I haven't found a thread that doesn't scroll to the top with a single "flick" swipe (although I'm gonna try this on the huge neoprene thread right now (okay I lied, but generally a flick swipe does the trick for reasonably-sized threads))
@PocketBrain Keyboard is somewhere on a truck. Thank goodness we are nit in Snowpocalypsemageddon here.
@lotsofgoats - yep thats what i do, and glad it scrolls faster than a mouse
It is perfectly mediocre, don't change a thing.
A CSS based "back to top" icon floating in bottom right corner would be a super simple solution. display:none for mobile.
@phatmass Mobile is where I WANT it....on the PC the home button is just fine
@tightwad You no like flicking your finger. Dat fun!
@tightwad Unfortunately I just want it on my Windows tablet, where I don't have a convenient home key and I don't have a convenient tap-at-the-top thing going on… That's the sort of bizarre limbo you live in on a Win tablet though…