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Impressions of Vanilla -> Suggestion
I really like the Vanilla forum system, and find it to be excellent. However, I'll get straight to the point and spare the flattery. I'd like to point out a few small problems and add them to a suggestion list for the next version.
1) When you are reading posts, and decline to read one unread post, it is still marked unread next time you log in. Most other forums change the status upon log out unless there are new posts.
2) The permissions options are very good, however they should be organized a bit, possibly the default system options could be organized and then have another grouping for extensions. Also, there should be a side by side permissions chart (as in Drupal), because even the default install has quite a lot of ranks and editing similar roles could be a pain in Vanilla.
3) New and unreplied posts on the discussions tab say they have one comment- which I as a user think it means there is a new reply. Just a smaller suggestion.
4) The addons directory does not appear to have any CVS/Subversion control, which means that new versions are hard to find of extensions.
5) The addons directory tags are not clickable- any way to click "formatting" to find other formatting extensions?
6) You cannot reply with comments to projects, only rate them. It would be helpful for new downloaders and for the extensions admin if they could see what is wrong or right with their projects.
7) This has been said before I am sure, but there should be a built in Tabs and Panel ordering mechanism- either with AJAX or weights.
I will post more as I think of them. These are all my personal opinions, so feel free to disagree or tell me I am a complete n00b because I am.
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I understand what you are saying, but just because other forums work that way doesn't mean it's the "correct" way. I'll make three points about this:
1. Technically, no matter if you've come and gone and then returned, if you haven't "read" a discussion, then it is still "unread".
2. Most forums operate in the way you describe because it is way easier to program than the way Vanilla works.
3. It sounds like you want a modified version of the MarkAllRead extension that automatically marks everything as read when you leave/return - which can be done quite easily - especially since the groundwork has been laid by Hutstein's extension.
2) The permissions options are very good, however they should be organized a bit, possibly the default system options could be organized and then have another grouping for extensions. Also, there should be a side by side permissions chart (as in Drupal), because even the default install has quite a lot of ranks and editing similar roles could be a pain in Vanilla.
I totally agree. The permissions are a sore spot for me. They work fantastic as far as programming goes - any add-on developer can create and add new permissions with ease - but the organization of them in a visual sense is totally messy. I haven't had time to put any more thought into how to overcome that hurdle, but it's on the drawing board, that's for sure.
3) New and unreplied posts on the discussions tab say they have one comment- which I as a user think it means there is a new reply. Just a smaller suggestion.
This has always been a personal preference of mine. Each discussion contains comments, and when a discussion is started there is one comment. Changing it to say "Replies" and reducing the number by one is an easy change, but I just personally like it this way. You could change your discussion template pretty easily if you wanted.
4) The addons directory does not appear to have any CVS/Subversion control, which means that new versions are hard to find of extensions.
The addons site needs a complete makeover, but I haven't had time. I won't be adding subversion control in the next rev, but it's something I'd like to think about.
5) The addons directory tags are not clickable- any way to click "formatting" to find other formatting extensions?
Yeah, I know the tags are sucky, too. Again - haven't had time.
6) You cannot reply with comments to projects, only rate them. It would be helpful for new downloaders and for the extensions admin if they could see what is wrong or right with their projects.
When I get around to it, the add-ons will have discussions created below for people to talk about them - the discussion will also appear here on the community forum (comments posted to one will appear on the other and vice versa).
7) This has been said before I am sure, but there should be a built in Tabs and Panel ordering mechanism- either with AJAX or weights.
This has been discussed a bit, and the real problem right now lies in the fact that the order is hard-coded in the extensions. It would require a lot of work to make it both backwards compatible and weighted in a different way. I'm open to ideas, though.
#3 is easy. Copy the /themes/discussion.php file into your /themes/vanilla/ folder. Then open it and edit it (that file will now be used in place of the one that sits in the root /themes folder). Change these lines from this:
<li class="DiscussionComments"> <span>'.$this->Context->GetDefinition('Comments').' </span>'.$Discussion->CountComments.' </li>To this:
<li class="DiscussionComments"> <span>Replies</span>'.$Discussion->CountReplies.' </li>1) When you are reading posts, and decline to read one unread post, it is still marked unread next time you log in. Most other forums change the status upon log out unless there are new posts."
personally i find this tobe a plus. some discussions are real old but i like to know i haven't read them.
Visiting a forum does not mean you read all the unread posts.
Vanilla's interpretation of unread is correct, please leave it as is.
Now if you want a working "Mark All Read" extension as an option, fine that's acceptable as it gives us the choice.
Posted: Wednesday, 21 February 2007 at 11:58AM (AEDT)