2012-04-20, 09:40 PM
I would like to raise a discussion on the use of tables. These are obviously very important in a forum software, considering the tabular structure of the information that is stored in the database and displayed to the user. You have a thread, a couple of users and their respective posts, along with the date it was posted on and some other information. It's all correlated and a table helps organizing these things. That's how MyBB currently does it and it makes sense to use tables here. Same thing for pretty much all the areas in the forum.
However I've been thinking about why we have to follow that tabular structure. Look at the forum index, for example. It's essentially just a list of links of all the forums. That's exactly what the forum index is for: list all the forums so users can choose which type of discussion they want to take part in. So far, this sounds like a <ul> to me. Then we added each forum's number of threads and posts, as well as the last post, into a separate column. And that's where we needed the table. But why did we have to put things into their own column? The thread/post count could have been perfectly implemented inline (I don't think it's very important anyway). The last post is harder to fit in, but it doesn't have to be in a table either. I'm sure we could arrange it somehow.
Am I making any sense? Personally, I don't see the index as a table. It doesn't make sense to me. It's just a quick access page to links of all the areas on the forum, with some simple statistics beside it. I'm sure you agree with me on some level if you were able to follow me. And it's not just the index, I think threads need to be redesigned as well. In its purest form, a thread is just a conversation. A user raises a question and others reply to it. Why does this information have to be displayed as a table? We only have two essential pieces of information: the user who posted the message and the message. This doesn't need a table. Take text messaging in iOS for example. That might be a bit of an extreme example since text messages are practically small talk and stuff, but I think it's a great concept that could potentially be ported to the forum software world (in a more robust form of course).
Now, I'm not hating on tables. The index and threads are probably the only places I'd remove tables from. Profiles need to be redesigned as well - they are grossly outdated - but you'll probably have to fit in a table or two somewhere. There are a few more areas I could mention here, but those would unquestionably have to be changed if we were to do this. Everything else makes sense to me. The calendar, the member list, the thread list, search results pages, etc. Those are great examples of tables. They contain a good amount of information and a table is the perfect way to display that information.
Do note this is not just about not using tables in the HTML, but also taking away the table based layout from areas that need to be changed. I realize most of you will probably disagree with me because you're all used to the current model of a forum software and it's really hard to unsee it. Am I wrong? Maybe, I don't know. I honestly think what I talked about here makes a lot of sense. I probably didn't have to write this much to explain my idea, but this is it. This is my opinion. I had to make my voice heard. What do you guys think?
/rant
However I've been thinking about why we have to follow that tabular structure. Look at the forum index, for example. It's essentially just a list of links of all the forums. That's exactly what the forum index is for: list all the forums so users can choose which type of discussion they want to take part in. So far, this sounds like a <ul> to me. Then we added each forum's number of threads and posts, as well as the last post, into a separate column. And that's where we needed the table. But why did we have to put things into their own column? The thread/post count could have been perfectly implemented inline (I don't think it's very important anyway). The last post is harder to fit in, but it doesn't have to be in a table either. I'm sure we could arrange it somehow.
Am I making any sense? Personally, I don't see the index as a table. It doesn't make sense to me. It's just a quick access page to links of all the areas on the forum, with some simple statistics beside it. I'm sure you agree with me on some level if you were able to follow me. And it's not just the index, I think threads need to be redesigned as well. In its purest form, a thread is just a conversation. A user raises a question and others reply to it. Why does this information have to be displayed as a table? We only have two essential pieces of information: the user who posted the message and the message. This doesn't need a table. Take text messaging in iOS for example. That might be a bit of an extreme example since text messages are practically small talk and stuff, but I think it's a great concept that could potentially be ported to the forum software world (in a more robust form of course).
Now, I'm not hating on tables. The index and threads are probably the only places I'd remove tables from. Profiles need to be redesigned as well - they are grossly outdated - but you'll probably have to fit in a table or two somewhere. There are a few more areas I could mention here, but those would unquestionably have to be changed if we were to do this. Everything else makes sense to me. The calendar, the member list, the thread list, search results pages, etc. Those are great examples of tables. They contain a good amount of information and a table is the perfect way to display that information.
Do note this is not just about not using tables in the HTML, but also taking away the table based layout from areas that need to be changed. I realize most of you will probably disagree with me because you're all used to the current model of a forum software and it's really hard to unsee it. Am I wrong? Maybe, I don't know. I honestly think what I talked about here makes a lot of sense. I probably didn't have to write this much to explain my idea, but this is it. This is my opinion. I had to make my voice heard. What do you guys think?
/rant
