I like it... I like the Hybrid view - but if that is the default view for the forum - which for the forums I am used to, I would prefer as all I ever look at is either unread or past 24 hours - I always skip the main view as it is not efficient unless I am looking for something specific - will you be able to post a new topic from that view, and select a forum from a drop down list or something? or will you need to go to the proper forum, and from there create a new topic?

I can see a situation where a user selects which forums they want in the recent posts part, and then that view would become their main view. Most of the forums I follow I read or at least look at the title of each post - which actual forum it belongs to is meaningless to me really when reading posts - but it is important when actually posting. I can almost see tags replacing forums. Interesting.

Excellent question! The new form for submitting posts will detect the source of the request. If the "New Topic" button was clicked from within a forum it will default to that forum. If it was clicked anywhere else the user will have a list of forums to choose from for where the topic should be posted.


Exactly - Active Forums 4.3 will include an option for Categories, in addition to tags. The user will be able to define what categories or tags they want to "watch" or "subscribe". The user can then completely customize how they read your forums. In the Advanced/Hybrid Layout, the center section becomes a consolidated view of all the content they read permissions. They can then apply various filtering options.

Holy moly... Awesome!!!!!

This looks super cool. When you are looking at grid and hybrid layouts I am hoping that the balloon and head icons are the miniprofile pic? We also need to be able to put the profile picture beside the person's post in 'What's New' template.

You can do that now. Just add the HTML to your template do pull the profile picture specifying the [AUTHORID]

Will, could you please post details here (http://www.activemodules.com/Commun...px#55221), thanks.

Will it be possible with these features to get back the grouping of forums in active topics as it was in AF 3.7?

We have not had enough interest to justify adding back the grouping for Active Topics.

I think the change to the active forums page from 3.x to 4.x was a very bad move.. And so do nearly all of my users... In fact, I've probably lost paying members over it.. It seems trivial I know, but to some people it's really a big deal.

Here's a link to just a few of the comments I've receive since upgrading:

http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...fault.aspx

There are some other problems mixed in there, but by and large, the vast majority of the complaints that I have about the upgrade from 3.7 to 4.1 have been about the active topics page, one of the few pages in the forums that I can't do a thing about other than modify the colors.. It's VERY frustrating.

Shad, thanks for sharing the link. Some very useful information. Now, I did read all of the comments and I have seen comments from users of other sites. The reason people liked the old active topics was so that they could quickly see topics from forums they were most interested in, not simply because of the grouping. If users really want to see all the active topics from all the forums then that isn't any different than the Not Read view.

What's important is that users want to quickly see new information from the forums they are most interested. We are aware of this and have taken this into account for Active Forums 4.2.

It's always important to find out why people prefer one feature over another. Simply saying "Active Forums sucks now because you changed Active Topics" doesn't mean anything at all. Some users are going to complain about any change you make. The value is finding out the real reason why users prefer one thing over another--which we believe we have done.

Understood, and thanks for taking the time to read. Change is hard, it is.. My average user is a 65 -70 yr old retired man who isn't necessarily computer savvy. When things start changing around on them, they get grumpy.. Grumpy old men..

I guess you need to understand how important the Active topics page is. It's the #3 entry page on my site after the homepage and the main forum page. Many people bookmark that page as their entry to my site. The Active Topics page is also #3 in pageviews, following the same 2 pages. It goes without saying that the active topics page is pretty important in a large, active community like mine.

If there is a way to present the data that people are looking for in a way that's better organized and easier to navigate, I'm all for it, but the current active topics page ain't it.

For the most part, I'm sure you've found I'm fairly passive. I patiently wait for new features and releases. I don't rock the boat. I know what it's like to be on the other side, of the deliverable. I felt that I needed to pipe in on this one though. I look forward to the release of 4.2..

Forgot to mention.. They've been doing it for 9 years, in the old Snitz forums then in AF.. They're deeply entrenched in that habit.

Shad, I think you may have misunderstood some of my reply. I'm not disagreeing with you and I'm not saying the Active Topics page isn't important. I know how important it is. I'm saying that we are going to change and make it even better, but not back to the way it was because some people just don't like change.

From the comments on your site...




These are comments that we have heard before along with others. The majority of those that liked the old Active Topics liked it because they could easily skip over the forums they didn't care about. It had nothing to do with being able to see all of the forums. As I said before, not read gives them that capability. Users want to easily see what's new in the forums they are most interested in. Active Forums 4.2 will allow users to select which forums they are most interested.

My users complain also a lot about the missing grouping. I think the AF team underestimate the importance of active topics. Deleting the grouping option without having an good alternative for so long says enough. (Yes I'm very frustrated to)

The grouping is so important because the topic list is not one big unreadable list but is broken in to readable pieces.

Also not all the forums have the same priority so the less important forums can be skipped when they are visible in little groups. This priority is for each user different. The option to give the user de ability to make a forum (un)visible is nice but not enough. When an user looks at the forums when he has a lot of time he want to see more forums than when he is in an hurry. Then he only want to see the most important forums.

For me the best option for active topics would be that there is a grouping and users have the ability sort the forums to their own interest. The high priory forums on top and the low priority forums on the bottom.

Guys, I just got a sneak peek at the advanced layout in action... you are gonna be blown away.

Teaser

I agree, that is just cruel to tease us like that!

Aawww... come on. That's just mean.

I agree. Mean. Let's see a screencast!!!