Little things that bug you/me about the forum

[vapourminer]

you know that button - the clickable new button shows at the end of the thread title that takes you the the latest posts in a thread... can it be moved to the front?

Are you talking about this button?


And your suggestion, to move it to before the topic title.
Well, I don't use it much, so I don't see much difference in its usefulness. But, for those who use it, if this is really useful, it may be something to change.

yup thats the button. when come i here and land on my watchlist page i just click on a bunch of the new buttons to open up a pile of tabs at once. putting them all 1st seems cleaner.

[joker_josue]

yup thats the button. when come i here and land on my watchlist page i just click on a bunch of the new buttons to open up a pile of tabs at once. putting them all 1st seems cleaner.

But in that case, why don't you use these buttons?


It always leads to the last post, and everyone is lined up.

[LoyceV]

But in that case, why don't you use these buttons?

Those buttons lead to the last post, while "new" leads to the first unread post in a topic.
I don't like how "new" disappears if I open the first page of a topic. That way I lose track of where I have to continue reading, while I haven't visited that page yet.

[PowerGlove]

Don't worry, I'm on it.

Nice. But, pretty much completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.

(You get a pass for being the member that sent me my first ever merits... 10 IIRC. Thanks!)

Can you further help in the area of autosave of typed posts?

I'll likely look into this at some point. I know TryNinja put together a script for this, but, something built-in would be nice, I agree.

Would a btalk app be a realistic possibility.

(I'm just kidding, I know you said you're only asking from the perspective of technical curiosity.)

That's a really tough question to answer. From my point of view, the short answer is yes...

The long answer involves all sorts of shit that you and everyone else would probably find incredibly boring. But, basically, I can see a path to eventually getting Bitcointalk to a place where the database remains as-is, but it's "wrapped" in a way that makes it possible for it to service multiple frontends. In that universe, there'd still be the tried-and-true "legacy" frontend for the diehards that want to keep using SMF, but there'd also be one or more "modern" frontends that would be more feature-rich and would be much easier to develop on (right now, adding features to the forum involves way more work/thinking than it really should: SMF is a security-incident minefield; a saner architecture/codebase would allow for development to happen at a much quicker pace). Another way to state my perspective is that I think SMF's database schema and invariants could be maintained (at least, to the extent that the "legacy" frontend wouldn't break), and that, with clever enough engineering, non-SMF frontends could be erected on top of the existing database, allowing a modernization effort to progress without ever actually having to "migrate" anything or anyone.

Built in photo upload option.  This would be freakn sweet.  Not having to use imgur and those of that ilk would be lovely.  

Yup, that would be nice! But, like Loyce mentioned, I can't imagine theymos wanting to deal with the hassle of hosting the images directly. I've been thinking for a while now about some kind of distributed image hosting, run on a volunteer-basis by interested forum members. I've also been thinking about a new BBCode tag to specifically reference content-addressable images that are being hosted in this way. If that project ever gets off the ground, then I can see a way to make uploading images feel like a completely built-in feature (but without getting theymos tangled in administrative/legal issues).

(...) say "Last Active: (Recently)" and i was not well pleased.

Ha! That made me smile. (The thing you're complaining about is due to this. I'll probably not get around to fixing it anytime soon.)

For example, I may not be looking for any particular conversation I've had with user X, but I want to get all the messages we exchanged.

I'm currently working on something that'll help with that. If what I have in mind doesn't end up solving your problem, then I'll re-visit your specific suggestion.

Another feedback: When searching for PM, I want to be able to search to my Outbox only, instead of my Inbox.

Yup, it's on my list (it originally came to me from Cyrus).

you know that button - the clickable new button shows at the end of the thread title that takes you the the latest posts in a thread... can it be moved to the front?

Nice idea! I run into that exact same thing.

(I think this is one of those ideas that should be behind a profile-setting, though.)

Those buttons lead to the last post, while "new" leads to the first unread post in a topic.

The first few weeks (maybe even months) that I used the forum, I didn't realize that the little blue "new" thing was a button... I just used the "Last post" icon at the end. I probably missed a lot of posts before I figured out the difference between the latest post and the newest post.

[TryNinja]

you know that button - the clickable new button shows at the end of the thread title that takes you the the latest posts in a thread... can it be moved to the front?

In the meanwhile...

Code:

// ==UserScript==
// @name        Move NEW to beginning
// @match       https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=*
// @grant       none
// @version     1.0
// @author      TryNinja
// ==/UserScript==

[...document.querySelectorAll("a[id*='newicon']")].forEach(a => {
    const td = a.closest('td.windowbg');
    if (td) {
        const b = td.querySelector('b');
        if (b) {
            b.parentNode.insertBefore(a, b);
        }
    }
});

[joker_josue]

Built in photo upload option.  This would be freakn sweet.  Not having to use imgur and those of that ilk would be lovely.  

Yup, that would be nice! But, like Loyce mentioned, I can't imagine theymos wanting to deal with the hassle of hosting the images directly. I've been thinking for a while now about some kind of distributed image hosting, run on a volunteer-basis by interested forum members. I've also been thinking about a new BBCode tag to specifically reference content-addressable images that are being hosted in this way. If that project ever gets off the ground, then I can see a way to make uploading images feel like a completely built-in feature (but without getting theymos tangled in administrative/legal issues).

When it comes to hosting images, there are several aspects involved. And they all must be taken into account.

But, you already know that for this area, you can count on me. 

[Jessie2121]

What about something like the notification if someone quotes your post, like it should be shown at the bottom of the post you made instead of clicking it yourself, what I'm saying is it should be in auto active so you just click it and it goes straight to where the next person who quoted your post...🤔🤔

[Synchronice]

I probably won't participate all that much in this topic, but I promise to carefully read/consider every post. If I leave merit on your post (it won't be much, because I'm not a source), it likely means that I've added your suggestion to my backlog and that I intend to work on it at some point. If you see a suggestion in this thread that resonates with you, please leave some merit for that poster; if I notice a suggestion that's attracted a lot of merit, I'll probably add it to my backlog.

Thanks.

First of all, thank you for your contribution and support on this forum, you are an amazing member. I have posted this before but I don't know if you missed it or not, so I'll post it again.

I think that responsive forum with dark mode is what we all want. We want to be able to access Bitcointalk from our smartphones with a mobile friendly UI and there are also many people who want dark mode too. The current template of Bitcointalk is built in a very old-fashioned way, in html tables but can you change that structure and use flexbox or grid? I built Bitcointalk's website from scratch, used CSS Grid and Flexbox, used CSS gradients instead of images and also implemented dark mode because all colors and backgrounds are in a CSS code instead of in an image form.

Have a look at this post: bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5414229

Can you do it or is it very difficult on SMF? I think that there is a demand and in 2024 website, especially as famous as Bitcointalk is, should meet the basic modern standards.

[tranthidung]

I think that responsive forum with dark mode is what we all want. We want to be able to access Bitcointalk from our smartphones with a mobile friendly UI and there are also many people who want dark mode too.

Some users want to have dark mode, some users don't want it. Not all forum members have a same demand on forum displaying mode (dark or light).

Can you do it or is it very difficult on SMF? I think that there is a demand and in 2024 website, especially as famous as Bitcointalk is, should meet the basic modern standards.

Some past works from forum members for reference.
Dark theme for Bitcointalk(CSS only)
Bitcointalk Dark Theme
Bitcointalk Dark Theme by franckuestein.
(GUIDE) How to easy change the appearance of Bitcointalk to dark (Dark Theme)?
Bitcointalk Extension - All In One - Available on Chrome store - Version 2.5

With a dark mode, you might have problems with highlighted texts so developers must think of possible solutions with too bright highlighted texts with glow block

Code:

[glow=red,2,300][/glow]

[philipma1957]

we need the particular time the person login to the forum

Why? What makes you think you have the right to know this? I just changed mine to "Recently", it's none of your business.

Well I read what he said and was about to tell him fuck off.

But you did a much better job and were polite here are some merits.

[tranthidung]

we need the particular time the person login to the forum

Then from what IP addresses and more privacy-broken features. Years ago theymos disabled "Show general statistics for this member." and possible reasons can be privacy.

[Lida93]

Don't know how this would seem like but it's a suggestion anyway.

We repeatedly have newbies making similar posts as a way of introducing their ignorance about the forum or creating thread for  repeatedly asked newbie questions.

I know there are relevant pinned posts on each board that newbies are expected to intimate themselves with to prevent those errors but they keep making it.

So my suggestion is, why not create a child-board  and name it newbie zone  with an explanation like (everything a newbie would want to ask) about the board just beside as it's done with all existing boards on the forum. And this child-board should be place just next below the Beginners and Help board  it will be easier for them to see there.

Now, the board will contain all well selected  questions (threads) from the beginners and help board that newbies have been known to repeated asked upon registration.  All they will have to do is to  check-in and scroll for them in the pages and read previous replies.

I presume that even the newbies (especially those that want to actually learn fast) will love it that way.
What this will do is that it will help reduce spam from both the newbies and the old forum members repeating replies to thread similar new threads.

I don't know if I was able to make my idea clear.

[larry_vw_1955]

So, if you can think of something fairly specific that you'd like to see fixed/improved and you estimate it to be a small(ish) task

"Show new replies to your posts." doesn't really do what it suggests. A more appropriate phrase would be "Show threads you have commented in that have new replies" and that's really fine. But there really should be a way to unfollow threads that I am no longer interested in receiving updates about. So they won't continue to show up everytime someone posts a new reply in it. Because I am not interested in some of them anymore. Why should I have to be reminded about them forever just because I made one comment one time?

Before someone says "just click on mark all messages as read" yeah that doesn't do anything. that's not what i'm trying to do. i just don't want to see updates about some threads anymore.

[PowerGlove]

Can you do it or is it very difficult on SMF?

I wouldn't say it's very difficult, but it's hard, yeah. It's hard for three reasons (from my perspective):

(1) There's a lot of subtlety to the current HTML/CSS. That is, in a lot of places, it works well, but it's kind of ossified into this fragile mass of markup and styling interdependencies. For example, it took me ages to figure out exactly the right way to fix this (almost every small adjustment I made ending up breaking the layout in some subtle and sometimes very difficult-to-reproduce way; in the end, I found the right spell/incantation, but, damn, it wasn't easy). So, I expect a serious effort to modernize SMF's markup/styling to be a much larger undertaking than it might initially appear.

(2) As a (kind of) corollary to the previous point: there's also a history-preservation/conservator lens to look at this issue through. I think the forum has a very important legacy, and it shouldn't be messed with by just anybody. It's kind of like if you wanted to have a very important artwork restored: you'd look for someone that seriously knows what they're doing; it would be a mistake to let the wrong person anywhere near it. Anybody that says: "Sure, I can do that, it's easy!" is going to mess it up, mark my words. (I mean, "mess it up" is different for different people, and I've witnessed what I consider to be a total fuckup go on to be praised by others, so, I'm not speaking in absolutes, I'm just saying that the end result wouldn't pass muster with me.)

(3) There's a way to completely avoid the previous two hazards, by doing the visual overhaul within the context of an alternative frontend. That way, SMF is left (just about) as-is, with only minor changes to it every once in a while, but there'd be another frontend where we could basically go nuts and try all sorts of fun stuff (without worrying about either of my previous two points). In fact, I'm pretty certain that I could make it so that switching (in either direction) between the legacy frontend and the modern one would be as simple as clicking a button. The problem with that approach is that there's a large amount of technical groundwork to be laid before it would become feasible (and, though I'm willing to do that work myself, it currently falls outside my purview).

In summary: It's harder than it looks, it's probably not a good idea to begin with, and the work necessary to make it easy and sensible hasn't been done yet.

P.S. Don't be discouraged by my answer, the work you did is really cool, it's just that, when looked at from many angles, it's a very small part of the puzzle.

[joker_josue]

(3) There's a way to completely avoid the previous two hazards, by doing the visual overhaul within the context of an alternative frontend. That way, SMF is left (just about) as-is, with only minor changes to it every once in a while, but there'd be another frontend where we could basically go nuts and try all sorts of fun stuff (without worrying about either of my previous two points). In fact, I'm pretty certain that I could make it so that switching (in either direction) between the legacy frontend and the modern one would be as simple as clicking a button. The problem with that approach is that there's a large amount of technical groundwork to be laid before it would become feasible (and, though I'm willing to do that work myself, it currently falls outside my purview).

In summary: It's harder than it looks, it's probably not a good idea to begin with, and the work necessary to make it easy and sensible hasn't been done yet.

P.S. Don't be discouraged by my answer, the work you did is really cool, it's just that, when looked at from many angles, it's a very small part of the puzzle.

When this layout and forum structure were made, it was based more on tables than on CSS divs. Therefore, changing from one to another is really a very difficult task. I've already done this, and it really takes a lot of hours, to understand how each element fits together.
Furthermore, the HTML layout is spread across several forum script files, which makes things even more laborious and complicated.


_{If you ever want to go down this path. You don't have to do it alone.} 

[LoyceV]

I've been thinking for a while now about some kind of distributed image hosting, run on a volunteer-basis by interested forum members. I've also been thinking about a new BBCode tag to specifically reference content-addressable images that are being hosted in this way. If that project ever gets off the ground, then I can see a way to make uploading images feel like a completely built-in feature (but without getting theymos tangled in administrative/legal issues).

That sounds like a really nice feature, but I can think of so many ways it can fail. To start, what if one of the hosts replaces images by his own? This is one of the things I'd like to see, but the fact that nobody has done this before makes me think the drawbacks don't outweigh the benefits.

[Synchronice]

Some users want to have dark mode, some users don't want it. Not all forum members have a same demand on forum displaying mode (dark or light).

Does it make any discomfort for anyone if there is a light/dark theme switcher? I think that absolutely everyone will be grateful, that's how I have made it in my BT template.

In summary: It's harder than it looks, it's probably not a good idea to begin with, and the work necessary to make it easy and sensible hasn't been done yet.

P.S. Don't be discouraged by my answer, the work you did is really cool, it's just that, when looked at from many angles, it's a very small part of the puzzle.

No, I am not discouraged in any way. Instead, I want to thank you again for everything that you have done for this forum and yes, I know what I did is a very small part of the puzzle. When I did it, my intention was to experience the responsive Bitcointalk on my devices, to see how this forum would look like in my smartphone if it was responsive. The only way to test that in real life was to write the template from scratch. It just then came as an idea for me to offer the community to make this change on the forum.

[tranthidung]

Does it make any discomfort for anyone if there is a light/dark theme switcher? I think that absolutely everyone will be grateful, that's how I have made it in my BT template.

Dark theme works well and issue only appears if you're reading a highlighted text.

In light theme, highlighted text works well, even so some people will see annoying. But issue is more severe in dark theme, with too bright highlighted text, depends on chosen color, it would become annoying.

You can feel this annoying issue if you use dark theme and my post is to say, whether there is solution for it in dark theme.

[joker_josue]

@PowerGlove
I detected a small bug that you might be interested in solving.

Based on the conversation about the "new" and "latest post" button we found in the "watchlist".

When we click on "last post" it takes us to the post in question, with the adjustment you made to highlight the post in question.



But, if you click on the "new" button this no longer happens.


I know why, because it is not highlighting a specific post, but the information that is in the database for each user.

But it would be much more relevant in this scenario to have this highlighted. Do you think it’s viable?

[larry_vw_1955]

but the fact that nobody has done this before makes me think the drawbacks don't outweigh the benefits.

it's called "hotlinking". no one wants to be used as a hotlink repository. which is why most image hosting services don't allow hotlinking anymore.