2013-03-13, 02:32 PM
Apologies for not bothering to read through the threads to see if these have been suggested or not, but here are a few things that I would definitely like to see in future versions:
- Simple on/off switch for post icons
See that silly little row of smileys and images that a thread creator can select to stick onto his thread, so that people can see it when browsing the list of threads in the forums? That's horribly tacky IMO, and I had to spend way too much time trying to remove that tiny little annoyance. Something like 20 or 30 different templates that had to be modified, just for that one thing. Problem is, when an update comes around, if the update affects any of those templates, I have to reapply them again. In all fairness, not a major issue, but its an annoyance, nonetheless.
- American date format
YYYY-MM-DD is used by Americans. Now while I disagree with that date layout, simply because it looks absolutely silly, I find it strange that this format is not included in the options under the date and time formats.
- Multi-user PMs
PMs are useful for privately messaging individuals. Hell, it's in the name. However, what if you want to have a private discussion between three or more people, and have everyone's replies visible to everyone? To my understanding, the best we can do at the moment is to just use the Reply All button, but replies to these replies will only be visible to the one who pressed the Reply All button in the first place. What I'm suggesting here is pretty much a thread, in which the only people who can view and reply to it are those who have been invited into the PM, effectively becoming a private thread.
- Thread previews
Though I don't run a large forum, where this would be very handy, thread previews are invaluable to quickly checking whether or not a thread might be interesting enough to enter. I have seen plugins of this, but if a plugin can be implemented into the actual forum (ie, instead of being a plugin), there's a better chance of it being something stable, and non conflicting. The best form of preview I have seen on other forums is one where you simply roll over the link to the thread, and the title attribute (in the HTML) contains the first few hundred characters of a post. No markup is displayed, and images are ignored. Just the text.
- Image resizer
Currently I use a plugin for this, but this would be another one of those things that would be nice to just integrate. My personal preference is to let the image load as it if were at full size, but have it at the largest size possible, so that it doesn't stretch the post beyond its normal width. That way, the images don't have to be processed and uploaded to the server, and users can right click and view the image without having to load the full size image again.
- Security questions
Optional, of course, but I have found that security questions are the most effective anti-spam measures around. This is another plugin I use, that would greatly benefit being implemented. With the intent on creating a forum based around a mutual community interest, you can ask a question that only those potential members would be able to answer, for instance. Works like a charm. Never had a single spam post since. And that was about three or four months ago.
- Shorthand markup
In my experience, both in the forum I run, and other forums I frequent, quoting specific parts of a post, and posting youtube videos are some of the most common forms of markup used (there are others, but their markup isn't long enough to be an annoyance). Currently, you can use the multiquote button, but that quotes the entire post, which defeats the purpose if I want to reply to a specific part of peoples posts, or specific parts of someones long post. One forum solves this quite easily. instead of {quote}, they use {q}, plain and simple. As for videos, most people link youtube, so why bother with {video=youtube} if you can just do {yt}, right? Keep the original markup, of course, but have this as an extra. Much faster, especially if you like to use the quick reply box, where the markup buttons are unavailable. Currently I use the MyCode function to achieve this, but it's another nice thing to add, just to make posting a little more convenient.
I probably have one or two more suggestions that I forgot about, but I'll post them if I remember.
- Simple on/off switch for post icons
See that silly little row of smileys and images that a thread creator can select to stick onto his thread, so that people can see it when browsing the list of threads in the forums? That's horribly tacky IMO, and I had to spend way too much time trying to remove that tiny little annoyance. Something like 20 or 30 different templates that had to be modified, just for that one thing. Problem is, when an update comes around, if the update affects any of those templates, I have to reapply them again. In all fairness, not a major issue, but its an annoyance, nonetheless.
- American date format
YYYY-MM-DD is used by Americans. Now while I disagree with that date layout, simply because it looks absolutely silly, I find it strange that this format is not included in the options under the date and time formats.
- Multi-user PMs
PMs are useful for privately messaging individuals. Hell, it's in the name. However, what if you want to have a private discussion between three or more people, and have everyone's replies visible to everyone? To my understanding, the best we can do at the moment is to just use the Reply All button, but replies to these replies will only be visible to the one who pressed the Reply All button in the first place. What I'm suggesting here is pretty much a thread, in which the only people who can view and reply to it are those who have been invited into the PM, effectively becoming a private thread.
- Thread previews
Though I don't run a large forum, where this would be very handy, thread previews are invaluable to quickly checking whether or not a thread might be interesting enough to enter. I have seen plugins of this, but if a plugin can be implemented into the actual forum (ie, instead of being a plugin), there's a better chance of it being something stable, and non conflicting. The best form of preview I have seen on other forums is one where you simply roll over the link to the thread, and the title attribute (in the HTML) contains the first few hundred characters of a post. No markup is displayed, and images are ignored. Just the text.
- Image resizer
Currently I use a plugin for this, but this would be another one of those things that would be nice to just integrate. My personal preference is to let the image load as it if were at full size, but have it at the largest size possible, so that it doesn't stretch the post beyond its normal width. That way, the images don't have to be processed and uploaded to the server, and users can right click and view the image without having to load the full size image again.
- Security questions
Optional, of course, but I have found that security questions are the most effective anti-spam measures around. This is another plugin I use, that would greatly benefit being implemented. With the intent on creating a forum based around a mutual community interest, you can ask a question that only those potential members would be able to answer, for instance. Works like a charm. Never had a single spam post since. And that was about three or four months ago.
- Shorthand markup
In my experience, both in the forum I run, and other forums I frequent, quoting specific parts of a post, and posting youtube videos are some of the most common forms of markup used (there are others, but their markup isn't long enough to be an annoyance). Currently, you can use the multiquote button, but that quotes the entire post, which defeats the purpose if I want to reply to a specific part of peoples posts, or specific parts of someones long post. One forum solves this quite easily. instead of {quote}, they use {q}, plain and simple. As for videos, most people link youtube, so why bother with {video=youtube} if you can just do {yt}, right? Keep the original markup, of course, but have this as an extra. Much faster, especially if you like to use the quick reply box, where the markup buttons are unavailable. Currently I use the MyCode function to achieve this, but it's another nice thing to add, just to make posting a little more convenient.
I probably have one or two more suggestions that I forgot about, but I'll post them if I remember.
