Wedge

Do you really think admins are going to question the semantics of this? I'm sure they care about it as much as the fact that I'm close to 9k posts and you're still going to beat me to it by tomorrow :P meaning, not much :lol:

The admins might not, but I do. It's long bothered me that it never felt right, but it wasn't until this conversation I was able to understand *why*.

End of the day, it's something that's been brought to my attention through whatever means and I don't like it!

I've already changed show_no_signatures to show_signatures (yes, everywhere in the code, hell I even made what I think is a half way decent attempt to fix the French translation) (This took about 5 minutes, and had I just been bold enough to do it, I would have done it already and the argument would have been moot anyway :P)

I know this question is directed at Arantor, but yes! An emphatic yes!

Semantics and grammar matter and correct usage will make things much easier to understand quickly.

I wouldn't, if it weren't for Arantor's explanation I would have thought this was more about readability than semantics. I'm fine though as long as the option I choose it what takes place; so if I choose to show avatars and they are shown all is well with me :)

The semantics explain why it's easier to read the positive assertions ;)

Anyway, the first two of these are now done, and as we go forward hopefully we can keep things positive ;)

Changing the subject - or rather not keeping the subject but I don't want you not to not think I don't think semantics are unimportant because I don't not  :unsure:

Back to your original question of clutter, and just an idea, how about 2 tabs between "Show descriptions inside boards" and "Preferences", but over to the right, above the actual options. One tab could say "Set defaults" and the other "Change users' options" perhaps.

When the first tab is 'active' (right word?) the "For guests / new users" option drop-downs are displayed; when the latter tab is clicked the "For existing members" drop-downs are shown.

This means that it is on one screen, the labels on the left remain the same for both actions (i.e. setting defaults and overwriting users' options), it is perhaps clearer to the average admin and it is shown as two columns.

Sorry I'm not too good at explaining - I could knock up something in Paint if you'd like?

Semantics aren't really that important in themselves. What's more important is understanding what results. It is one thing to understand that 'show avatars = yes' is easier to understand than either 'don't show avatars = no' or 'hide avatars = no', and another thing to understand why. Semantics gives you the answer as to why, but you don't need to know why in order to make use of it ;)I don't like the idea of having tabs. Having more tabs indicates another level of hierarchy, as it is, there's already the tabs of the main menu, the admin menu, and the manage member options menu.

There is also the concept of chained actions, if you think about it. You might want to set the defaults when starting out, but it's also quite likely that later on you're going to want to reset the default and reset everyone to that default when you do change, much as you might do with themes. In that case, having the two together is sensible.

OK, here's an updated screenshot. Even just having the breaks visibly improves things to me.

I do also get the feeling to a point that this is one of the things that looks horrible but isn't so bad once you actually get using it.

Perhaps we should bench this one for now in UI terms (though not the wording changes, haha) and come back to it when Wedge is publicly accessible in some fashion so that you can actually try it out yourself and let me know how it feels to actually use - right now I'm probably the only person that's used this.

 :cool:

Damn, still got a "Dont warn on new replies.....= No "

 :angel:

Yeah, yeah, I know :P I didn't want to tackle everything at once :P

I have some ideas on improving the others too, as it happens... for example converting 'show most recent at top', why not 'order of posts' being a select box of 'newest first' / 'oldest first'?

"You might want to set the defaults when starting out, but it's also quite likely that later on you're going to want to reset the default and reset everyone to that default when you do change" - fair enough :)

Yes that looks better with the line breaks. "and come back to it when Wedge is publicly accessible" - so when will that be?? :angel: I'M JOKING!!!!!

It'll be when it's ready but I'm increasingly getting a nagging feeling that it needs to perhaps be sooner rather than later if only because I'm finding it harder and harder to make more objective choices about things like this.

Hell, yeah !Just a question-
Why would anyone want to scroll through old posts to get to the newest?
Is this the blog way?
I know if I had my emails oldest first/newest last I would missforget about a shit load of important stuff

 

It doesn't refer to the list of topics, but posts within a topic.

In normal thread view, you get oldest to newest by default... and have done for years in SMF. I find that much easier to follow so that you have the conversation top to bottom in chronological order.

Sorry, I didnt think too much about what you were saying, did I?
Chose the wrong day to quit smoking !