Change the 'homepage'

sweeney

I'm just wondering, is it possible to change the index page of the forum from the list of all discussions to the list of categories? Much as I love the idea of the big list, it's not too usable for an informative forum...as people will have an extra mouseclick to get to the list of categories which they'll want (and in my case, this will be the probable user scenario). So; I'm looking for a quick solution (is there an extension perhaps?) which will stand the test of future upgrades. If it turns out to be too messy, and would be helped by an extension...i'll be happy to write one once the docs come out and I have the time! Regards; M.

stuhartley

I just renamed the vanilla index file on my local server to main.php, and then made my own separate index file. I figured this would be the quickest and easiest thing to try. Upon opening this new main.php file I got a fatal error, so thats not a good idea. Looks like the code would need a fiddle for you to get a separate index page, or of course an extension, which I don't believe there is at the moment.

Minisweeper

Yeah, i think an extension would be the best way to do it. And i imagine it would be very simple (once you knew how, obviously) I'd say the best thing to do would be to wait for mark to get back and he'll probably write you a one liner or something.

This mightn't be bad as a core feature though.

chimaira

Doesn't that defeat the object of this forum? Just my opinion, though.

Mark

I think it totally defeats the purpose and would make the navigation strange and clunky without a helluva lot of work (unless I'm a frickin genius and I thought ahead to this idea while programming - I can't remember). Too hung over to explain it, but trust me on this one. But guess what? This is a dead simple extension. You only need to change where it directs you when logging in. That's it.

Minisweeper

/me doesnt see how it makes it a great deal more difficult to navigate, but shrugs "unless I'm a frickin genius"...i thought that was a given?

Minisweeper

um...those quote things...what?

lech

lol, looks like the entity bug moved from the titles and now into the body.

xtremesniper

Yeah I would like this... I think maybe there should be an option in the settings to let the user choose where they should be directed to first.

CharleyParker

This was the first thing I wanted to know after installing Vanilla, how to make Categories the default view. I'm not sure I understand why you would want it otherwise. Someone's going to say: "So you can see the most recent posts.", but if you have a large an active board wouldn't you want to see the most recent posts by category? Otherwise what's the point of having categories?

xtremesniper

Exactly, exactly. You got it right on the dot.

Mark

Categories in vanilla are supposed to be treated more as a way of filtering discussions. I didn't want to create another board where you spend 9 hours jumping from category to category, but a lot of people wanted that option - which is why the category tab exists at all. I can create an option to make the category tab the default, though. In case people haven't understood this yet: I wanted to *change* the way we think about discussion forums. Not recreate it in a different style. It actually bothers me that everyone comes in here wanting to add options that I think are completely unnecessary and already available on 90% of other boards. If you want things like a signature at the bottom of every post, or smileys, or "who's logged in right now"... you're probably better off going with some other board. If you want to think about what those boards don't have, but you'd like to see, try out Vanilla.

jonezy

well put.

lech

I think it's also safe to say, if you REALLY REALLY want it ...

MAKE IT INTO AN EXTENSION!

vinay

Agreed. I very much like the idea of thinking about categories on vanilla as filtering tags. I only wish it were less like categories and more like tags. Predefined tags, but tags none the less. (i.e. multiple catogires).

Scottish

Mark, I admire your ambition, I am enthusiastic about Vanilla, and I am eternally grateful for the hard work you've put into it... But you have to think there's a reason all the other boards default to the Category view. Your board is fantastic because of its architecture. But its lack of now-standard features will cause a lot of people to turn away from it, because they won't take the time to figure out extensions. I'm not trying to be down on you or Vanilla--as I said, I love it--but that's the sad truth.

vinay

Seriously though, I think they all have the category view because one did it, and then all the others followed. I mean look at how tags and photos have taken off. Why not have them sorted into specific categories and then just show categories.

If you want a "category" view, there _is_ the category pull down on the left hand side. I just wish the categories were more like tags.

jonezy

just because every other board does it does not mean that it should continue to be that way... why not try something new and see if it works... i think that's the whole point of what mark is trying to do here.

Scottish

Personally, I like viewing them all in one big list myself, but clearly there's a large segment of the population that prefers to keep things organized by category. If there wasn't, surely by now the other boards would have shifted their main pages to the type of "View Posts Since Last Visit" page that they offer. Being experimental and such is great, but you have to strike the balance between that and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

jonezy

i love vanilla because it is very similar to what o8 was (and i loved that format) basically there were no categories or forum names or whatever... it was all one big list and the pace was frantic and it was pretty awesome.

lech

and if you were gone for more than a day, you spent a few days playing "catch up" due to that pace :D