Action buttons: positioning
Poll

Where do you like your action buttons best?

At the top of my posts, like it used to be.
0 (0%)
Below my posts, like now.
16 (72.7%)
Either way is fine to me.
2 (9.1%)
Either way is awkward to me, at least for now.
1 (4.5%)
I think they should be located on planet Mars, where at least with a good telescope I might be able to notice them.
3 (13.6%)
Total Members Voted: 20

Nao

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Action buttons: positioning
« on May 4th, 2012, 04:32 PM »
So... It's been a few days/weeks since I moved the action bar from the top of a post to the bottom.

I haven't got around to dealing with the moderation checkbox and the Quick Edit button, though.

Still, I think it's a good time to determine what's best for a 'default' setup.

(1) TOP

Pros:
- It's what every SMF user is used to...
- Pretty much immediate recognition of the Quote button's position.

Cons:
- It makes it harder (much harder) to make the post header look good, as on smaller widths + longer titles it will breaks these titles, or make them warp on a small width which is even worse...
- Vertical positioning isn't easy. I had to resort to using CSS table emulation, which I'd rather avoid as much as possible...

(2) BOTTOM

Pros:
- It fits nicely into the 'Last edited' box.
- The quick edit button takes space anyway -- might as well use that space...
- Logic says that you're more likely to answer a post after you're done reading it, rather than before you read it (it's not always the case, i.e. very long posts in a two-man discussion, I tend to favor answering first), thus the Quote button would be more useful at the end of the post...
- It just looks better, layout-wise. Just like FluxBB's default layout, it feels a bit more organized. Better thought-out.

Cons:
- Seriously... I can't get the hang of it. It's been days, weeks, and I still have to look twice before I find that damned Quote button!

So... There's only one con that I can think of, but it makes it hard for me to actually commit my changes. Looking for opinions! Will add a poll, too...

PS: a freebie for teatime... How come if you edit a post in the middle of a topic, your Topic Summary has the last posts *before* that post, but if you quote the same post, the Topic Summary has the latest posts in the topic instead..? I understand the idea, I just don't know if it makes sense for the common man...

Arantor

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #1, on May 4th, 2012, 04:42 PM »
Having it at the bottom does make it look more organised, yes. Mostly the reason you're looking twice is because you've been using SMF for so long that you're absolutely familiar with it where you have seen it for years. But note that you have less cons for it than you do for the 'before', none if you exclude familiarity, while there are major issues with before.

Familiarity isn't always a boon, either, I'd honestly rather have things at the end where they would naturally fall in how people read posts and reply to them. If you're replying without reading first, there's always the reply button at the top of the thread anyway...
Quote
PS: a freebie for teatime... How come if you edit a post in the middle of a topic, your Topic Summary has the last posts *before* that post, but if you quote the same post, the Topic Summary has the latest posts in the topic instead..? I understand the idea, I just don't know if it makes sense for the common man...
If you're editing a post in a topic, you want to see what came up to that point (as presumably you're not editing it with the knowledge of later, but only for is applicable up to that point) but if you hit quote, you're replying to that, and would likely want to take the rest of the thread into account. Always made sense to me.
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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #2, on May 4th, 2012, 05:50 PM »
I prefer having those buttons at the bottom, as Arantor said, it looks more organized and it makes you actually read the entire post and then choose an action.

nolsilang

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Nao

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #4, on May 4th, 2012, 06:30 PM »
Quote from Arantor on May 4th, 2012, 04:42 PM
Familiarity isn't always a boon, either, I'd honestly rather have things at the end where they would naturally fall in how people read posts and reply to them.
Okay then, I'll commit... ;)
I wasn't too sure because you were confused at first, and thought it was an error on my side, instead of encouraging me to 'keep' that error online ;)
Quote
If you're replying without reading first, there's always the reply button at the top of the thread anyway...
Except that doesn't quote... Answering posts without reading their actual contents is what politicians and zealots do, not normal people ;)
Quote
If you're editing a post in a topic, you want to see what came up to that point (as presumably you're not editing it with the knowledge of later, but only for is applicable up to that point) but if you hit quote, you're replying to that, and would likely want to take the rest of the thread into account. Always made sense to me.
Yup...

One of the things that confuse me is, I think, the Like button... I'd probably like for the ability to push it to the Plus button, actually. This is because over the years I've been so used to clicking the first button in the list to reply, it just became a no-brainer... Now I have to be more careful (although it's not too bad since at worst I can simply unlike a post.)

Perhaps we should give users the ability to choose what buttons they want inside and outside the action button... I don't know. It could be something we store in the generic data field.

Arantor

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #5, on May 4th, 2012, 06:35 PM »
Quote
I wasn't too sure because you were confused at first, and thought it was an error on my side, instead of encouraging me to 'keep' that error online
I was confused because I wasn't expecting it and I thought it was a bug to start with. But the more I look at it the more I think it works.
Quote
Except that doesn't quote... Answering posts without reading their actual contents is what politicians and zealots do, not normal people
Heh, I see what you mean.
Quote
One of the things that confuse me is, I think, the Like button... I'd probably like for the ability to push it to the Plus button, actually. This is because over the years I've been so used to clicking the first button in the list to reply, it just became a no-brainer... Now I have to be more careful (although it's not too bad since at worst I can simply unlike a post.)

Perhaps we should give users the ability to choose what buttons they want inside and outside the action button... I don't know. It could be something we store in the generic data field.
I'd strongly prefer to keep the like button where it is, assuming it's enabled[1] or else find a similarly prominent place - there's no point having what is essentially a social feature that is hard to find, and having it in the More... area makes it distinctly harder to use. Remember, it is often to express like of something without expressly commenting.
 1. Currently not an option but I want to make it one in the future.

Nao

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #6, on May 4th, 2012, 08:56 PM »
Logic talked to my brain again.
How about... We move Last Edited to the top next to the posting date, and we use that spot for a left-aligned Like button? Problem is, Like button + list of people who like this is going to overflow very quickly... (perhaps give just the number, and show who likes it in the title hover or with an Ajax click?)

Arantor

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #7, on May 4th, 2012, 09:09 PM »
Well, the maximum number of people shown will be: 'x, y and <number> others like this', though currently there's no AJAX click to load who likes something.

I like the idea of the positioning you've mentioned, it sounds like it should work but until we try it, I suspect we won't know for sure.

Aaron

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #8, on May 5th, 2012, 12:34 AM »
I, too, much prefer the action buttons at the bottom. It could do with some tweaking i.e. visual clues that separate post and buttons (different background colour, perhaps?), but I certainly like it better overall.

As for the quote button's position: why not swap the Like and Quote buttons? (I see three buttons on most posts, including the 'more' menu.)

While we're on the subject: I guess post headers can be narrowed down a bit now, by aligning the date next to the post subject. Not sure whether that'd look good, though; on my own forums, I usually separate posts quite visibly — see the attachment for an illustration. (And yes, I actually had plans to move the action buttons, sometime, haha!)

 datbar.png - 56.73 kB, 1125x314, viewed 425 times.

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Nao

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #9, on May 5th, 2012, 01:09 AM »
I've done a quick mockup of the Like button repositioning. Is it all right this way?
The 'x likes this' mention is shown in small print, but eventually I think I'll move it to a popup, and replace it with a <span class="note">NUMBER OF LIKES</span> (and class="warn" if you liked it, yourself. Isn't it a good idea? :P)

Arantor

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #10, on May 5th, 2012, 01:14 AM »
I like it like that, but we can make the full list a popup when there's 'x others'.

There is a value to not hiding it too much.

Aaron

  • Posts: 356
Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #11, on May 5th, 2012, 01:55 AM »
I like the new position of it, actually!

Few nit-picks: the like-link isn't horizontally aligned with the text in the post above it (alignment is important!). More importantly, it doesn't really look like a link anymore – to me, it looks like it's just a prefix now; mostly because of the text colour being the same as the link colour, I think.

godboko71

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #12, on May 5th, 2012, 03:28 AM »
I voted for bottom as it is more logical. Good idea!! It is one of those simple things that may seem to not matter but makes all the difference.
Thank you,
Boko

Arantor

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #13, on May 5th, 2012, 04:18 AM »
You know, I think it might be better if the like button were actually a button in the style of the other buttons. Sure you'd have to add the thumb-up and thumb-down to the sprite for that, but I think it'd look better that way.

Quick mockup using Chrome, see the lower-down post.
Posted: May 5th, 2012, 04:12 AM

Or it would if the attachment system wasn't breaking the file for some reason, it is very firmly a working PNG before upload.
Posted: May 5th, 2012, 04:16 AM

I don't have a hex file editor installed and I'm a bit too drunk to investigate but I'll post the pic to the gallery and investigate when I sober up a bit.
Posted: May 5th, 2012, 04:17 AM

 like_button.png - 66.86 kB, downloaded 117 times.


live627

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Re: Action buttons: positioning
« Reply #14, on May 5th, 2012, 05:31 AM »
Quote
You know, I think it might be better if the like button were actually a button in the style of the other buttons
Too many borders and lines. I like it more minimalistic like how it is now.
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