It seems to me that it might make things easier to follow when displaying in flat mode if the message numbers were displayed and the replies said something like "reply to ###". Otherwise, I find myself needing to flip to threaded mode to understand some messages. Apologies if this is already in there somewhere--I'm new around here...
Bill Dimm, <A HREF="http://MagPortal.com/" target="_new">MagPortal.com</A> - find magazine articles
Nice idea! I think all messages should be tagged with a # and then replies tagged with 'In reply to #x' as you suggested. Excellent idea!
Muhammad Chishti Creative dIRECTOR <font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>
Out of all the suggestions I've heard for ways to follow a conversation in flat mode, I think this is the best. It should be fairly simple, and doesn't involve awkward interface changes. I like it! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />
In thinking of this one, where would anyone suggest the message # and the In Reply to be displayed. This would be easy when post headers are on top, but when you have the post headers on the side I'm just not sure where this would go.
Have a look at <A HREF="http://www.hytext.com/cgi/config.pl" target="_new">http://www.hytext.com/cgi/config.pl</A>. When it's tucked into brackets like that, it's pretty discrete and doesn't take up much space wherever you put it.
personally, I would vote to tag it on the end of the subject line... that way it can be useful to some hacks (especially one in particular that I am working on <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> where I have already added it on in this fashion...)
Right now, I am just adding ~~1234~~ but brackets would work just as well... all I need for my hack is to pull that parent number out of the subject line...
I guess what my question is then, is where do others envision seeing it? If it's going to be viewed in threaded mode, are you going to add another column to the table? I don't know about others, but I would really prefer to somehow incorporate it into the subject line...
I wonder what others think... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> (sitting back and waiting for more comments from the field...)
It would be great if the page numbers where there are posts that are non-read would be bold, the rest either not bold or itallic. Say I have read all posts on pages number 1 and 2. Pages 3 and 4 would be bold, or somehow highlighted. Sounds cool?
This would require some extra calculations for each print statement. And since this could get run quite alot on listings with alot of replies this might add a large spike in the load to do this. Great idea, but might be a bit resource costly.
Muhammad Chishti Creative dIRECTOR <font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>
Muhammad Chishti Creative dIRECTOR <font color=white><A HREF="http://www.imcuniverse.com" target="_new">http://www.imcuniverse.com</A></font color=white>
I guess I'm the only one who don't particularly like it on the threaded view. Doesn't add any value and I don't think it looks as nice. I mean, who cares if I'm post 18542? <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />
I can see you point, but it is also nice for the end user if they see consistency throughout the system... that is why I think it should go there as well... but, as always, tis nothing more than a personal preference... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />
Congratulations on tackling the problem of following the discussion in flat mode.
As for numbers, if you guys are happy with them then you're all arithmetical geniuses in my book. I can't see how using a four, five, six digit post number is easier to follow than the name of the person they are replying to, ala Remarq.com. The number will be more exact but I reckon that's all it's got going for it.
On the positive side, your users will spend more time on your site trying to figure out which number is a reply to which number. You folks must have been buying those memory tapes from your late night shopping channels. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />
It's great to have something in there though and a good spot for it too.
Gosh, now that I think about it... we're on post number 536940868 -- I guess that isn't exactly the easiest to follow. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /> (It took me a second to even make sense of it. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> ) I'm torn, though, because when a thread gets going, it often has multiple replies from the same users, so just giving the name would be severely lacking in such conversational threads. Maybe just the last three digits of the post number, such as [Post#: ...868 / re: ...860] or something along those lines?
That's right, that's where it becomes less exact with the names. But if I reply to you and you reply to me and then I reply to you, etc, it's going to be pretty unusual for my last reply to you not to be to your most recent post. With names is a step up from how it was, less exact than numbers, but more user-intuitive. Anyway, something is better than nothing.
The number listing may not be the most elegant but it is the most server friendly. The reason being is we already have the Post number that this post is actually in reply to so it's just a matter of printing it out. To list the name of the person you are replying to we would have to do another database call to find out what the username is that is associated with the post you are replying to. And remember, we try to avoid extra database calls whenever possible;).
Now y'all know why I use threaded mode exclusively. I wouldn't even allow flat as an option if it were up to me. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />
Hm, just thinking about the name option here... would it be really that tough? Couldn't you just put the name of the parent post into a variable, pull the next record, get that printed with the parent's [Re:Name], and put the current name into that variable... maybe this sounds too easy to be do-able. I would definitely prefer the name option! While the numbers are a good idea, it looks a bit confusing and I haven't yet once tried to find the post number, maybe it just needs getting used to... BTW I'm a flat mode fan... I like to pull one page (posts set to 99 per page <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> ) and read it all without having to click on the individual posts and waiting for them to show up.
Doh, of course my idea was too simple (and I was stupid enough to try - it worked, but defies the purpose - simply lists the previous post's username). Darren, you are right! That would be the easiest way, it would mean to add to the table, though... but other than that, this would be the way to go! The only real catch is that this would only work for future posts, not for existing ones, but some upgrades in features will bring that I guess. Either way, we just need to store the $ResUsername in an extra field in w3t_messages (?) when someone makes a post and pull that when we display the messages. Shouldn't be so hard to implement!
*LOL* <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> That's right, he should know if it's feasible. I know it can be done and I could do it, but it makes more sense to check with him first to see if the extra load would be significant or not.
This would definitely be possible and wouldn't create any extra load, since we would just pull the info when displaying the post along with everything else. Great idea guys, of course MattyJ will be a bit disappointed but hopefully he will get over it. I will get this in for the next release, along with a conversion script that will work through all of the old posts to populate the new field.
That's a great idea. Since you can't search on Message#, there's really nothing in its favor other than expedience. I'm sure Matt, like me, is only concerned with the best solution, not who thought of it, and will be as eager to adopt this alternative as I am.
P.S. Next time you have a brilliant idea, speak up sooner and save us all a lot of brain damage. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />
I will get this in for the next release, along with a conversion script that will work through all of the old posts to populate the new field.
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Wonderful <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> ! That's excellent news! Looking forward to the next release (I think I'll wait to upgrade till then)!
Actually, that solution doesn't bother me... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" /> I'm working on a different script where I'll have to be making some changes to the actual subject line that gets stored in the database... The changes we've been talking about here are really only cosmetic... so there's no conflict. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" />
Anyway, sounds like a good way to go... an eileen, I couldn't live using threaded mode... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" /> I stick only to flat... isn't variety wonderful? I love that we have the choice to see things how we want. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />
It sounds like a great step forward. Eileen, we may convert you to a flat mode user yet! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Smile]" src="images/icons/smile.gif" />
Remember I'm on an opposite timezone to you guys and when I log on to check out the discussion of a morning some things have already been signed sealed and delivered. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="images/icons/cool.gif" /> I don't think the message number concept was even in existence when I went to bed the night before. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="images/icons/wink.gif" />
And Eileen made up the 'Frame' type lay out over at WOPR. I use the 'Collapsed threads' in the left pane and the 'Flat mode' in the right pane. It works real well, even though, Eileen hates it,the combination of the two is real neat. And one can see where they are within the grouping.
Is it possible to have the threaded list of messages displayed on the page before all the flat mode message bodies? (or at least have the option to)? Couple that with a link in the header area of each flat mode message to the appropriate threaded subject listing so that people can click that link to return to the threads list at the top of the page to see what the flat mode message was in response to...?
