UI Suggestion

Dave Sexton

Disclaimer: This might have actually existed once upon a time & been removed because it didn't work well in practice. Seems like a good idea in my head, but the reality might actually be stupid. I really like the default CP message board layout & the way it sparks discussion but I sometimes struggle (mostly in the lounge) to see how a reply links back up to a previous reply a few posts up, particularly if one reply spawns a new discussion. It helps if the poster quotes from the reply he is replying to but when there's 5+ or so posts between it gets harder and is just the slightest bit more taxing on the brain than if there were a visual clue of how a reply related to another. The UI suggestion: Run a thin, almost treeview-esque line between the replies when the number of posts between two replies exceeds a certain number. E.g. The current layout:-

Message
Reply A
Reply A.1
Reply A1.1
Reply A1.1.1
Reply A1.1.2
Reply A1.1.3
Reply A1.1.4
Reply A1.1.1.1
Reply A1.2
Reply A1.2.1
Reply A1.2.1.1
Reply A2

In this case it's not immediately clear that Reply A1.2 is a reply to A1. At first glance one could mistake it as being a reply to A1.1. The suggestion:

A thin line provides a visual clue that A1.2 is a reply to A1. Personally, I don't think that these visual clues should be visible all the time as that would really mess up the UI. They should appear & disappear depending on which reply has focus.

But fortunately we have the nanny-state politicians who can step in to protect us poor stupid consumers, most of whom would not know a JVM from a frozen chicken. Bruce Pierson
Because programming is an art, not a science. Marc Clifton
I gave up when I couldn't spell "egg". Justine Allen

Chris Maunder

I played with this a bit but one issue I found was that the amount of HTML that was generated became a little insane and slowed down page rendering. I've seen it done elsewhere and it's nice, but until we can pixel-push efficiently in javascript it will have to stay as a TODO.

cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

Dave Sexton

Thanks for the reply Chris. Nice to see that even tho' CP is ~6.7 million strong each suggestion is still considered.

But fortunately we have the nanny-state politicians who can step in to protect us poor stupid consumers, most of whom would not know a JVM from a frozen chicken. Bruce Pierson
Because programming is an art, not a science. Marc Clifton
I gave up when I couldn't spell "egg". Justine Allen

Rajesh R Subramanian

Think again. The TODO has approximately 6.7 million entries.

“Follow your bliss.” – Joseph Campbell

Chris Meech

And it's LIFO. :)

Chris Meech I am Canadian. [heard in a local bar] In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. [Yogi Berra]