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Arantor

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Board descriptions
« on February 12th, 2012, 01:49 AM »
Hmm, there are a few things that bug me about board descriptions at present, would love to know what you think.

1. Board descriptions being shown inside the board too. (Optionally or otherwise) Is this necessary? Given that we're talking the same description on the board index as we are inside the board, is that actually worth doing?

2. Would it not be better to have a main board description that's used on board indexes, and an optional bigger description that can be used inside the boards themselves?

3. Regardless of where the content comes from, is it really necessary that such a description should be a user preference rather than an admin one?

4. Right now the board description is used in favour of the board title for meta description. I'm not sure that's entirely a good idea, but it makes me think that 2 is a better option: supply boxes/storage for both a small description for the board index and a larger description for inside the board itself. That way you can also get a better description in place for SEO purposes etc.

Thoughts?
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Norodo

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Re: Board descriptions
« Reply #1, on February 12th, 2012, 03:36 AM »
Quote from Arantor on February 12th, 2012, 01:49 AM
1. Board descriptions being shown inside the board too. (Optionally or otherwise) Is this necessary? Given that we're talking the same description on the board index as we are inside the board, is that actually worth doing?
I think they make sense to keep. Sometimes people click their way into a sub-board, either from the index (with no description) or from another webpage (with varying degrees of context provided.) It makes sense to keep it as an option IMO.
Quote from Arantor on February 12th, 2012, 01:49 AM
2. Would it not be better to have a main board description that's used on board indexes, and an optional bigger description that can be used inside the boards themselves?
I'm not sure to be honest.
Quote from Arantor on February 12th, 2012, 01:49 AM
3. Regardless of where the content comes from, is it really necessary that such a description should be a user preference rather than an admin one?
Users should only really have access to options that matter much to them (seriously, even on simple devices, users manage to mess things up.) I say it does good as an admin preference.

As for my personal opinion: I don't know, but I'm sure what you decide on will be a good solution. :)

Arantor

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Re: Board descriptions
« Reply #2, on February 12th, 2012, 03:43 AM »
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I think they make sense to keep. Sometimes people click their way into a sub-board, either from the index (with no description) or from another webpage (with varying degrees of context provided.) It makes sense to keep it as an option IMO.
Considering that it's a core SMF feature that's off by default (and is off by default for users), most people have never seen it, nor know what it looks like...

The thing is, I take the view that a description designed for the small confines of the board index (where it might be a 'line' or two there) isn't going to work so well when it has pride of place at the top of the board listing.
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I'm not sure to be honest.
That relates to the above point.

Let's take this board, The Pub -> Features. According to the board listing in The Pub, this board's description is "This is the place to discuss upcoming features, existing features and brag about whatever we implemented in Wedge."

It's quite long on the board index, but it's barely a line wide when considered for the inside of the board.
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Users should only really have access to options that matter much to them (seriously, even on simple devices, users manage to mess things up.) I say it does good as an admin preference.
That's my take on it too.
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As for my personal opinion: I don't know, but I'm sure what you decide on will be a good solution.
That's what I'm hoping to achieve - and I'm thinking about the whole short/long description facility, which implicitly functions as an option for the admin to configure it how they want, and then remove the user option. If the admin wanted it, they'd use it.

Or, I could remove it from display, not bother with the extra, and turn it into a plugin like the 'Board Notice' mod for SMF or similar.

live627

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Re: Board descriptions
« Reply #3, on February 12th, 2012, 04:01 AM »
Quote
Or, I could remove it from display, not bother with the extra, and turn it into a plugin like the 'Board Notice' mod for SMF or similar.
Does that mean we get a hook on the message index now? (Buttons don't count here)
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Arantor

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Re: Board descriptions
« Reply #4, on February 12th, 2012, 04:07 AM »
Well, messageindex_buttons will do the job just admirably anyway, it's just badly named because it's a relic of the dark times. :P (Pull $board_info from global scope, grab the details, inject the new template into the list)

Nao

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Re: Board descriptions
« Reply #5, on February 14th, 2012, 11:34 AM »
Just a quick note -- if there's no board description inside a board on Wedge.org, it's only because the Noisen codebase puts it into the sidebar, and on Wedge.org I replaced the text with the site slogan... So, well.

godboko71

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Re: Board descriptions
« Reply #6, on February 20th, 2012, 12:51 AM »
I like the short/long idea and removing the user option. Be it a plugin or core I like the idea.
Thank you,
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Nao

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Re: Board descriptions
« Reply #7, on February 20th, 2012, 05:58 PM »
The less, the better.

I'm starting to feel that way after converting the Wine skin to be a child of Weaving... On the one hand, with the tools I wrote for this, it was actually doable and I did it in a couple of hours, which wouldn't be possible without said tools. On the other hand -- SMF/Wedge's amount of CSS is so huge, it's just impossible to deal with it and not end up with a single bug... I don't know how future Wedge themers will do to deal with that! (I guess they'll just create new themes... :lol:)

nend

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Re: Board descriptions
« Reply #8, on April 25th, 2012, 07:14 PM »
I rather have it the other way around, just the board title in the board index with no description, on child board have a short description and with a full description in the board. Who says you can't have both though, maybe optional or leaving it up to the theme designer.
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Nao

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