Omnimaga

Omnimaga => News => Topic started by: DJ Omnimaga on March 19, 2014, 02:15:55 am

Title: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 19, 2014, 02:15:55 am
By default, SMF software has the following features that let you view the most recent posts:
-Recent Unread Topics (http://www.omnimaga.org/unread): Unread topics with new posts since last browser session. Not visible to guests.
-Updated Topics (http://www.omnimaga.org/unreadreplies): Topics you posted in that got new posts. Session-friendly, but invisible to guests.
-Recent Posts: Latest 100 individual posts, 10 per page. Visible to everyone

On the old Omnimaga SMF forums, Recent Unread Topics was replaced with the following feature, similar to Tapatalk:
-New Posts: Latest 200 active topics on entire board. Visible to everyone.

That feature was liked by many members, because like on many other softwares, the default features present on SMF often pruned themselves if you accidentally closed your browser or had to login again. This often resulted in missed activity, which is why the New Posts replacement was appreciated.

Shortly after the upgrade, which broke compatibility with the mod used for the "New Posts" list, the Recent Posts feature was modified so that it only shows one post per topic, as a temporary measure to bring back something that looks closer to your good ol' session-timeout-friendly feature. Unfortunately, it displayed the latest post of each topic and the title of the latest post, rather than just the topic title without the content. In addition to that, only 10 topics were shown per page, for a total of 100, split in 10 pages.

Now, it seems that your good ol' favorite "New Posts" feature is back, as "Recent Posts"!

http://www.omnimaga.org/recent (http://www.omnimaga.org/recent)

This time, however, instead of showing the latest 200 active topics in one page, it now shows 50, but as a big plus, the list now includes every single thread ever posted on Omnimaga (excluding 2004), split accross several hundreds of pages! This could be handy for users who come back from a few months of hiatus and wants to catch up on what happened easier, but remember to avoid topic necromancy unless justified.

Also, since this is not a pre-made mod designed for sub-sections and sidebars, the person who worked on it (I believe it is Cooliojazz) went ahead and made it so that topics are displayed the same way as in sub-forums, giving the user much more freedom. Also, from there, if admins ever decide to setup the board so that 20000 topics per page are shown, they should now be able to delete the entire Omnimaga content in one click and if they need to monitor suspicious activity, hopefully they could be able to perform some moderation duties from there.

Enjoy!
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Juju on March 23, 2014, 02:02:29 am
Yaaaaay~ I really missed that feature I wonder why forums don't put it in by default.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 23, 2014, 02:23:29 am
I wondered if anyone would even notice this topic considering it took 4 days before it got approved. <_<

And yeah normally forums use the standard recent posts feature, but it's annoying to lose the entire list everytime we close our browser. The trick is to read every new post but sometimes we don't have enough time. Hence why I added the new posts feature in 2010 and why I pushed Kerm to add his own on Cemetech.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Geekboy1011 on March 23, 2014, 03:00:00 am
I wondered if anyone would even notice this topic considering it took 4 days before it got approved. <_<

Yeah Apologies for that google at the email :/
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Hayleia on March 23, 2014, 03:51:50 am
Indeed, it is a lot better like that :D
The only differences with the old feature are:


But that's already great, don't worry, I am not complaining, just listing differences :)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Streetwalrus on March 23, 2014, 04:11:20 am
Flutteryaaaay ! I really missed this one. :D
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Sorunome on March 23, 2014, 04:37:45 am
Yay, missed this feature! :3
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: TheCoder1998 on March 23, 2014, 04:41:28 am
i missed this too :D
great work!
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Streetwalrus on March 23, 2014, 04:44:50 am
I love how it looks like the rest of the forum. Also same as what Hayleia said : links go to the first page instead of last post. If it's possible to change that it'd be nice.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: SpiroH on March 23, 2014, 05:16:30 am
Yeah, i really missed that feature, i'm glad that it is back. Around here we have an old saying that goes more less like this: "If a team (or formula) is winning why change it?"

Also, a bit off-topic, but i've been tempted to put this question to web developers and/or site administrators (Eeems, Geekboy, Sorunome, other) :
'How difficult would it be to provide local storage for posts's inline (not attached) images ?'
The reason for asking has to do with the fact that all pictures' servers i've choosen to date always end-up vanishing from scene after sometime together with my dear stuff  :( . Any workaround up your sleeves?
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Sorunome on March 23, 2014, 05:19:49 am
I love how it looks like the rest of the forum. Also same as what Hayleia said : links go to the first page instead of last post. If it's possible to change that it'd be nice.
If there are page buttons just hit the latest page button in the list :P
Yeah, i really missed that feature, i'm glad that it is back. Around here we have an old saying that goes more less like this: "If a team (or formula) is winning why change it?"

Also, a bit off-topic, but i've been tempted to put this question to web developers and/or site administrators (Eeems, Geekboy, Sorunome, other) :
'How difficult would it be to provide local storage for posts's inline (not attached) images ?'
The reason for asking has to do with the fact that all pictures' servers i've choosen to date always end-up vanishing from scene after sometime together with my dear stuff  :( . Any workaround up your sleeves?
We have a own image uploader: http://img.omnimaga.org
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: SpiroH on March 23, 2014, 05:24:25 am
We have a own image uploader: http://img.omnimaga.org (http://img.omnimaga.org)
Ooops, thanks! Has it been there for a longtime?
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Sorunome on March 23, 2014, 05:25:44 am
It has been there since removedfromgames didn't allow upload anymore :P
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 24, 2014, 12:49:23 am
I wondered if anyone would even notice this topic considering it took 4 days before it got approved. <_<

Yeah Apologies for that google at the email :/
No problem. Actually at first Eeems didn't approve it yet because he wanted to see if people would notice the new posts revival before approving the news, but I guess it was eventually forgotten. :P

We have a own image uploader: http://img.omnimaga.org (http://img.omnimaga.org)
Ooops, thanks! Has it been there for a longtime?

I hope img.ourl.ca stays online for a while too since it would suck to have all images taken down due to some idiot uploading adult-only material there like someone did on RFG >.<

Indeed, it is a lot better like that :D
The only differences with the old feature are:
  • clicking on the title of the topic in that list opens the topic at its beginning instead of opening it at the last post (what opens at the last post is the button on the right)
  • it only lists 20 posts


But that's already great, don't worry, I am not complaining, just listing differences :)
Actually if you check carefully:

*1: To get around that, you can click one of the page numbers at the bottom and if, for example, you see 1-2-3...98-99-100, clicking the ... will expand the page list. Also, in the last post column, there's a small icon leading to the latest post.
*2: I think 20 depends of your forum settings, because I have it set to 50 in my account settings. Also, for me there are 296 pages of topics (going all the way back to 2005), so in fact the New posts list now lists about 15000 topics :P (or more if you're admin)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Sorunome on March 24, 2014, 01:37:20 am
We have a own image uploader: http://img.omnimaga.org (http://img.omnimaga.org)
Ooops, thanks! Has it been there for a longtime?

I hope img.ourl.ca stays online for a while too since it would suck to have all images taken down due to some idiot uploading adult-only material there like someone did on RFG >.<

That is why img.ourl.ca is moderated: I see every single image uploaded and I approve or delete them very easily ;)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Hayleia on March 24, 2014, 01:41:22 am
*1: To get around that, you can click one of the page numbers at the bottom and if, for example, you see 1-2-3...98-99-100, clicking the ... will expand the page list.
Yeah, but I don't want a page list, I want more posts on the same page :P

Also, in the last post column, there's a small icon leading to the latest post.
Yeah, I already saw that (and said it in my post) but clicking that small icon is less convenient than clicking the title. It works though, so no problem, it's just a matter of habit :)

*2: I think 20 depends of your forum settings, because I have it set to 50 in my account settings. Also, for me there are 296 pages of topics (going all the way back to 2005), so in fact the New posts list now lists about 15000 topics :P (or more if you're admin)
Indeed, I just went through my settings and saw an option "Topics per page" O.O
I set it to 50 (the maximum), it is a lot better now, thanks :D
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 24, 2014, 02:28:01 am
Yeah I think 50 is fine since it was the old board default for topic lists and even if it's still lower for the new posts page, it's more than enough for our current activity (last Saturday I think there were 4 active topics and 10 posts x.x)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Eeems on March 24, 2014, 10:06:42 am
Indeed, it is a lot better like that :D
The only differences with the old feature are:
  • clicking on the title of the topic in that list opens the topic at its beginning instead of opening it at the last post (what opens at the last post is the button on the right)
  • it only lists 20 posts


But that's already great, don't worry, I am not complaining, just listing differences :)
Actually if you check carefully:

*1: To get around that, you can click one of the page numbers at the bottom and if, for example, you see 1-2-3...98-99-100, clicking the ... will expand the page list. Also, in the last post column, there's a small icon leading to the latest post.
*2: I think 20 depends of your forum settings, because I have it set to 50 in my account settings. Also, for me there are 296 pages of topics (going all the way back to 2005), so in fact the New posts list now lists about 15000 topics :P (or more if you're admin)
I have 862 pages >.>
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: TIfanx1999 on March 24, 2014, 10:09:41 am
This is great! Now we just need to add a link on the nav bar or on the main page so it's visible. :)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Eeems on March 24, 2014, 10:10:27 am
This is great! Now we just need to add a link on the nav bar or on the main page so it's visible. :)
It is ;) Look on the forum drop-down.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: TIfanx1999 on March 24, 2014, 10:12:53 am
Oh, I thought that was just a heading for Recent unread or Recent replies.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Eeems on March 24, 2014, 12:20:17 pm
Oh, I thought that was just a heading for Recent unread or Recent replies.
If you click on the main part that opens the sub menu, it takes you to recent posts. The sub menu is for those pages.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 24, 2014, 06:48:31 pm
Yeah the sub-menus are to ensure that the navigation doesn't get large.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Streetwalrus on March 24, 2014, 06:51:36 pm
It's a bit misleading this way though. Recents shouldn't have a sub menu with those two options. Instead they should be tabs like on the old forum. ;)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 24, 2014, 06:53:26 pm
True, but still, it's part of forum, kinda. I guess it could be added as main link if many people request it, though. It isn't as visible right now. Another idea would be to include Recent as both a parent link and child link in the dropdowns, since it kinda look weird to have one recent post link in a separate menu than the two others.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Streetwalrus on March 24, 2014, 06:57:38 pm
What I mean is that hovering over Recents... gives another menu. The options that gives should be tabs on the recents page like on the old version.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Eeems on March 24, 2014, 06:58:21 pm
It's a bit misleading this way though. Recents shouldn't have a sub menu with those two options. Instead they should be tabs like on the old forum. ;)
I'm not sure what is so misleading about having a menu item marked as recent under the forum menu.

Currently the full menu (not all of which most members can see) has these menu options:
Home, About, IRC, Downloads, Forum, Tools, Help, Admin, Moderate, Profile, My Messages, Members Logout

Adding another menu item for Recent posts, which logically falls under the forum category doesn't really make sense.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Streetwalrus on March 24, 2014, 07:01:02 pm
Read my post above yours. I made it clearer since both of you didn't understand.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Eeems on March 24, 2014, 07:04:13 pm
Read my post above yours. I made it clearer since both of you didn't understand.
Ah, well then this isn't the right place to be asking for that. You should submit a request to ourl.ca/request (http://ourl.ca/request)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 24, 2014, 07:05:28 pm
I think he wants every single navigation option in one single line with no dropdowns with 4K resolution users in mind :trollface:



Actually I see what you mean now.  :P Also it would be nice to see the online list there, although I guess OmnomIRC serves that purpose now (when the userlist actually works properly, which is rare :P)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Streetwalrus on March 24, 2014, 07:35:26 pm
LOL DJ. People need to have OmnomIRC enabled though. I don't.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: TIfanx1999 on March 24, 2014, 09:13:06 pm


It's a bit misleading this way though. Recents shouldn't have a sub menu with those two options. Instead they should be tabs like on the old forum. ;)

Pretty much the same with me Street. It's good since I know now, but other people might not realize that it's clickable navigation.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 25, 2014, 02:57:36 pm
Yeah the issue when you have a dropdown option that opens a new dropdown or a menu option that opens a dropdown, you might think that it isn't clickable or that it will just error, because on certain sites, the latter is what happens or nothing happens.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Eeems on March 25, 2014, 11:00:28 pm
Already fixed you guys.
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on March 25, 2014, 11:12:32 pm
Oh yay! Thanks. Hopefully it will be clearer for everyone :D
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: Streetwalrus on March 26, 2014, 01:51:54 am
Yeah that works. :)
Title: Re: The "New Posts" feature is back!
Post by: TIfanx1999 on March 27, 2014, 10:04:42 am
Yepp, already saw it. Very nice! :)