This is a suggestion.
Not a criticism.
Back before the Internet, I ran and programmed a Bulletin Board System, BBS out of my home.
If you're not familiar with a BBS, think of it as a precursor to the Internet.
You needed a modem and you dialed out to other BBSs. Which had forums (like this) and you could download pirated software and all.
The reason I mention that is, a caller, back then, could call in and read any New Messages that had been posted with the option of configuring which boards he/she wanted to check.
This was over 20 years ago.
I was wondering if the Moderators on this forum could contact their software company and ask for this type of programming in the software.
I'm tempted to go into the specifics on how this can be done on a programming level but believe me, if I could do it more than 20 years ago as a hobby, the programming has got to have advanced somewhat more than when I was doing it.
Don't get me wrong, I love this forum.
It's the software that needs to be improved.
A user ought to be able to log on and see posts are new from the boards that he/she configures.
Like I said, it was done long, long time ago.
So, that option shouldn't be such a hard thing to do.
To try and explain this without getting in to the programming involved , , , each post is numbered.
Your software already does that . . . notice the number of posts stated at the bottom of the Board index screen?
When someone logs on, the information on what the last post # was read by the person is retrieved and all posts then become old or new based on that post #.
Sorry that gets into the programing level - I said I didn't want to get into it.
Anyway, just a thought.
Not a criticism
Just a suggestion.
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
Maybe I'm not getting what you're saying, but when you are on the index page, there is an icon right underneath the time ("It is currently...") on the upper left hand portion that says, "Read new posts" and when you click on it you get a page of the topics that have the newest posts on them. Sorted by the latest time stamp, if I'm reading it correctly.
Is that what you are asking about or is it even more specific than that?
Peace
I failed to mention the advantage of having the option of New Messages is, as you went from board to board,
it would take you to the last message on that board that you hadn't read. Simply by comparing the last message # you read to the message number on the board.....
arrrrrgggghhh this is so hard to explain.
Anyway, my point is the powers that be here (whoever they may be) might want to ask about this option from the software company they use as a possibility.
It makes scanning the boards so much easier.
And back in my day, 1200 bps each byte transferred took time. Nowadays, transmission rate is well . . . far far faster.
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
Maybe I'm not getting what you're saying, but when you are on the index page, there is an icon right underneath the time ("It is currently...") on the upper left hand portion that says, "Read new posts" and when you click on it you get a page of the topics that have the newest posts on them. Sorted by the latest time stamp, if I'm reading it correctly.
Is that what you are asking about or is it even more specific than that?
Peace
OMG, David.
I'm an idiot.
I never saw that.
That's exactly what I was talking about.
OK, change my suggestion to THAT SHOULD BE HIGHLIGHTED in some outrageous color that can seen!
Walking away with his tail between his legs, head drooping, muttering, "What an idiot you are, Ken . . .
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
Okay,maybe this will also help...
There is a small orange square that lights up when a topic has a new post in it. "New" meaning new since the last time you saw the post. Clicking on that little orange square takes you immediately to the latest post in that thread. You can also see these little orange boxes when you go to the "view new posts" page.
Now, that is just for that thread and not for that Forum page. So, for example, if you were following this thread, you could go straight to this new post. As opposed to "show me all the new posts for the Suggestions page." Or are you looking for one for the whole page instead of for individual threads?
Peace
I think I need a tutorial.
LOL
Excellent. Small is right. I never would have thought of clicking on that.
Thank you so much for feeding my head.
Very helpful.
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
Not to worry, Ken. Most of this stuff I'm able to tell you is simply because either (a) I simply clicked on something out of curiosity one day or (b) someone else did and told me about it! :wink:
There's probably a lot more to this forum than I know. There certainly is to Guitar Noise. Not to mention guitar in general...
Peace
So that's what that orange thing is!! I didn't even notice it until now. :oops:
OK, back for another lesson.
Once you click the small orange square and you've read the new posts on that board, is there a fast way of going back to the "View New Posts" without having to start all over again from Board Index?
It's the rock that gives the stream its music . . . and the stream that gives the rock its roll.
My favorite way of going through threads on forums is something like this:
-Click on "view new posts". Takes me to a search page of all the new posts.
-I then just scroll through and click on the "go to latest post" link of each thread that I am wanting, but I open each one in a new tab.
-Next I click the "mark all forums read" link. This makes sure that I dont re-read stuff.
-Now I have all the the threads I am interested in, open in individual tabs, and on the posts that I havent yet read.
It works pretty well for me anyway, but everyone seems to like to do things differently :)
Also, sometimes the "go to latest post" link doesnt work just right, so you may have to scroll back a bit to avoid missing some posts. Hope that was at least a bit helpful :)
My favourite way of checking the forums is to drop in on each one (okay, not all of them) and see what new threads have been started. If it doesn't have an interesting title I generally don't bother reading it.
