Three ideas for you!

I have 3 suggestions:

1) I love the way the admin portion is setup so that you can just click on the 'question mark' graphic at the top for more assistance with that feature and/or topic. (Although some of them open into another window - the better idea so you can reference back and forth - while others do not. If you've entered any data before looking for help, read it and then return, you have to retype everything.)

My suggestion is to set up your user side like this too. Wouldn't it be great for someone who has never posted a topic to have a question graphic up at the top that provides the new window of info they need about the 'add signature,' 'subject,' 'topic graphics,' 'emoticons,' 'more smileys,' 'message box,' and the editing tools. And this is only one example from the many pages the user can click to.

Yes, they can go click the FAQ, but this way would be more user-friendly, and would be 'right there' where you genuinely need it -- like our admin. No other forums provide this service (that I'm aware of), and I know it would be very much appreciated.

2) Provide a box for 'My Groups' on the subscription(s) page so that the user can see any groups they have subscribed to, and can click to go to them. I would have never thought to look under the 'member list' page because I'm not looking for more people, just the groups of "them" that "I" have joined. (I'm sorry if this one doesn't make any sense. I'm have a difficult time understanding this feature in the forums.) Perhaps they could have links to the calendars and/or special events they have subscribed to also.

3) An option for us to not require the user to make one post first before they can load the avatar. I realize why you require it, and it's a good idea for most sites, but I wish we had a choice. Instead of '0' turning it off, I wish it meant '0 posts are required to load the avatar.' '1' could turn this feature on if it's wanted.

GREAT forums!! Thanks!!

I knew there was something else ...

I wish that when I clicked on the 'quote' link in the right side of each post that it auto-populated this reply composing box with it. If I didn't want to quote the post, I wouldn't have chosen that option, so it seems like extra work to have to click 'Quote original' above. See what I mean? It's an extra step that I don't think should be necessary by the user.

(Side note: One of the things that impressed me the most - beyond your obviously excellent customer service - was how often you published improvements to the software. We get to pass those improvements on to our guests and look like the 'good guy.' Thanks, even if you don't like any of my ideas!!) [sm=rolleyes.gif]

LAST one for tonight, I promise! I've been thinking of these for several days and just never had a chance to submit them:

You know how we can add our own customized questions for the user profile? (Thanks for that , BTW!) I wish we had an option to display the answers in the left column under the Posts: and Joined: data.

For example: "I have been to WDW 5 times!" or "My first Pontiac was a '66 GTO." You know, little pieces of 'profile data' that could add to the individual theming of each site's forums.

When presented with the customized field option in Admin, we'd have a check mark to indicate we'd like the answer displayed in that left column OR on the profile page (default). And, of course, the user would have the option to not show it at all as you already have.

That's it! No more! Off to bed!

ORIGINAL: csanchez

I knew there was something else ...

I wish that when I clicked on the 'quote' link in the right side of each post that it auto-populated this reply composing box with it. If I didn't want to quote the post, I wouldn't have chosen that option, so it seems like extra work to have to click 'Quote original' above. See what I mean? It's an extra step that I don't think should be necessary by the user.

I think this is a very good idea. It's how most forums currently work, and while I don't always find it necessary to conform to the others, I this is pretty standard and users might wonder why it wasn't automatic. Just turning this 2 cents into 4

We had an discussion on this before.. The "Quote" has two functions - 1. of course to reply to the message and maintain the tree structure 2. to quote the message. not everyone wants to quote when replying. asppg has the feature to show the association of posts in a thread in both viewing formats, so you don't necessarily have to include the original message, unless you want to emphasize something. Plus, you can even highlight a few words in any message and hit the "Quote" button to quote the highlighted words. No others have this extra functionality when it comes to quoting.

It is just one click away, by the way, if you don't like it.

No others have this extra functionality when it comes to quoting.

True, but seeing the word "Quote" implies that the message will be quoted when it is clicked. It's fairly standard across the board and is misleading to the user if it acts otherwise IMO.

While from a developer standpoint I can understand the tree-structure, my users don't care about that. They want obvious interaction with the forum.

not everyone wants to quote when replying.

True, that's when they'll hit "reply" instead of "quote".

Personally (I have not gotten this forum yet, but most likely will), I will probably have to change the wording of the button to avoid confusion. ("Reply to this message" or something of the sort).

The highlighting feature is nice, but users will not do that intuitively.

why not add 2 buttons?

one says "reply"
the other says "reply with quote" or just "quote"

Here I go again putting in my two cents...

I agree that the "quote" button is not intuitive. And ASPPlayground is not the only product that does it this way. I've never really understood why it's done the way it is, and figured I would change it at some point or figure out why so many boards do it the way they do.

The way it is now, the "quote" button doesn't really quote when you click it, it replies. And since many posters don't want to quote anyway, it would be better if it were labeled "reply". If they did want to quote, it would make sense to click a button that said "quote" that would automatically insert the quoted message, as expected. As an aside, the ability to select text and then hit quote is indeed very cool, but I stumbled upon it by accident and I'll bet most users will never realize it's there.

So in my opinion, having two buttons is probably the way to go.

nothing is foolproof. It takes some getting used to (10 secs or so) but this is by no means a "problem" to me.

the ability to select text and then hit quote

what's this? i never knew about this feature. that's neat!

I've never really understood why it's done the way it is, and figured I would change it

same here. except, i think that this is a minor issue and i've been too pre-occupied with doing other mods to make this change myself.

the average person who would want to reply would simply hit the "post reply" button at the top or bottom of the page. the "quote" button is almost a misnomer because, initially, when the popup window loads, it's really a "reply" not a "quote." any user who actually cared about the tree structure, but didn't want to quote the message (few IMHO if they went to the trouble of clicking that small little "quote" button in the first place) could just as easily select and delete the quoted text.

guys, thank you for all your info! I really appreciate your efforts and suggestions here to make ASPPlayground more user friendly! I will do my best to incorporate these suggestions in the upcoming 2.1.5 (will be released next week). Bascially I will just add another icon (a "reply" icon) to counter this issue.

Regards and thank you all again!

Plus, you can even highlight a few words in any message and hit the "Quote" button to quote the highlighted words. No others have this extra functionality when it comes to quoting.

This 'highlight and auto-quote' feature truly is coo-o-ol. I do agree, however, that no one would ever know it was available. (I'll be sure to point it out in the help forum I'm putting together.)

Samuel, I think this very example is a reason why a question mark graphic that appeared at the top of any user-page, user-popup, whatever, would be really useful and appreciated. Or maybe a lightbulb graphic that not only supplied the FAQ-type stuff, but also tips on how to maximize it.

I'm 'pushing' for this because something that I have observed on the Internet in general, especially anything interactive, is that everyone assumes 'we' are all on the same level of experience. I wish Internet designers were more conscience of new users ... and they number in the millions each year. As more and more 'neato' features are thought of, they become more details that a new user has to learn and figure out.

I realize this idea is not just a 'modify the code and it's done' sort of thing, so please just file it away as a possibility for the future ...

Thanks for listening, [sm=tongue.gif]

TGMiKE

BTW, your solution to the quote-thing sounds perfect to me. I'm with the group who believes someone will click 'reply' when that's what they want to do, and 'quote' when that's what they want to do. Having the 'reply' link/graphic will simply be more convenient than having to scroll all the way down the page. (I still say that I think the vast majority of users would expect to see a post auto-quoted if they do, indeed, click 'Quote.'