MyBB Community Forums

I'm working on developing my new forum now. I'm really happy to be doing this again, finally; I forgot how much I missed developing the concepts and branding for a new project.

One of the things I am going to do is to remove all the superfluous elements of forum design that we've become accustomed to. For example, these:



Aside from the "closed" icon, does anyone ever actually notice or pay attention to these in any meaningful way?

Other things:

• getting rid of post icons; nobody ever uses them
  
• determining which links actually deserve prominence in the header. How many people actually use the member list frequently?
  
• removing thread ratings; again, almost never utilized for anything useful
  
• maybe get rid of e-mail form; PM should be the method of communication between forum users
  
• change "private messages", "messenger" etc. to "messages" and change "PM" button to "message" as well; PM is outdated "forumer" terminology whereas "message" is a common term anyone can understand
  

Ultimately, I'm doing what I can to create a more human interface.

I wonder what else is superfluous. What do you think guys? If you have any suggestions and I take them, I'll include them in this OP and credit you. Hopefully this will inspire some themers to borrow these ideas.

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 22

• change "forum announcements" to "announcements", and "normal threads" to "topics"
  
• change "thread" to "topic" in general; "thread" is leftover terminology from when boards were actually threaded
  
• change "user cp" to "settings"? or "user home"? "my account"?
  

Quote:Aside from the "closed" icon, does anyone ever actually notice or pay attention to these in any meaningful way?

I do! Helps determine unread/read topics!

(2010-09-22, 04:38 PM)dikidera Wrote: [ -> ]

Quote:Aside from the "closed" icon, does anyone ever actually notice or pay attention to these in any meaningful way?

I do! Helps determine unread/read topics!

There are already two other ways to tell:

1. There will be an arrow next to the topic to bring you to the first unread post.
2. The topic title will be in bold.

I can't speak for everyone but I'm fairly confident in saying that both of these are noticed far more often than those little topic icons.

I also pay attention to those silly little icons - but some of them can be quite boring to look at but I guess I'm a stickler for details, perhaps more of a modern-day face-lift would be more appropriate!

I think this is a great idea though, the humanizing factor! The PM should be done away with, I agree, nothing is private afterall on a forum - Message is a good idea. I think the title structures of a forum can be very daunting to alot of people, especially those who have never used a forum before. Threads, posts, moderation - I find the words are a little daunting and could be a bit more less inhibiting - more humanized

Yeah exactly. If I've never used a forum before how the hell am I supposed to know what "PM" and "User CP" means? Obviously there's a help menu etc. for this, but I think that if it's well designed, items will be self-explanitory.

I see what you're trying to do. Looking forward to results from this experience.

Have a look at some bbPress powered forums, they're extremely simple and I think you might get some ideas.

Hmm it's a bit more simple than I want, haha! Very cool stuff though.

If you do decide to change them, then i think instead of "My Account" it should be "My Profile"

I've been trying to do this to be honest, but it's quite stubborn how people are set in their ways.

Anyway, I think User CP should be 'Options'. If only I would pull my finger out and get to work on another forum system...

(2010-09-22, 05:59 PM)dikidera Wrote: [ -> ]If you do decide to change them, then i think instead of "My Account" it should be "My Profile"

(2010-09-22, 06:17 PM)Tomm M Wrote: [ -> ]Anyway, I think User CP should be 'Options'. If only I would pull my finger out and get to work on another forum system...

This conflicts with two options within the User CP: Edit Options and Edit Profile. I really think "My Account" is a better summary of everything as it encapsulates your entire account, including profile, options, avatar, etc.