Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Forum Home Default = New Posts

arn

arn

macrumors god
Original poster
Staff member
Apr 9, 2001
16,412
5,873
I've made a change to what the default forum home is. That means when you visit https://forums.macrumors.com/ - it now shows "New Posts" view instead of "Forum List".

I've always thought that "Forum List" has been a relatively bad default view for folks visiting the forums. It requires a second decision and can be a bit overwhelming. Choosing New Posts has its own issues, but at least it's dynamic and ever changing. It also has a diversity of choices to draw new visitors in who might be casually visiting the site.

In order to provide a bit of "best of both" worlds, I also added a the forum list to the sidebar, so you should be able to access everything at once.

Screen Shot 2020-06-14 at 5.18.57 PM.png



On mobile, the sidebar is Hidden. In order to see the sidebar Forum List, you can tap on that tab or use the sidebar button to reveal it. Or you can go directly to Forum List with the tab with that label.

Screen Shot 2020-06-14 at 5.19.55 PM.png


I Don't Want a Sidebar in New Posts

Don't want the New Posts sidebar on desktop view? This button will remove the sidebar, and is saved if you are logged in.

Screen Shot 2020-06-14 at 5.23.12 PM.png

I Want to Go Back to Normal!

I know change is hard. If you want to switch back, you can do so in your Account Preferences


Choose Forum List instead of Default, and everything goes back to how it was.
Screen Shot 2020-06-14 at 5.21.55 PM.png


I Don't Want to See XYZ Forum Posts

The "New Posts" view respects "Ignored" forums. If you don't want to see Politics, for example, you can visit that forum and click on "Ignore". This will remove the forum from any new posts that you see.

Alternatively, you can do it on an Opt In basis. If you only want to see forum posts from specific forums, you can "Watch" those forums and change the New Posts filter to only include Watched content:

Screen Shot 2020-06-17 at 7.39.40 PM.png


arn
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Love
  • Sad
Reactions: ErikGrim, Nightfury326, Shirasaki and 31 others
arn said:
I know change is hard. If you want to switch back, you can do so in your Account Preferences

https://forums.macrumors.com/account/preferences
Click to expand...
THANK YOU! I try to adapt to new changes the best I can, but when a website I visit multiple times per day and know my way around fairly well has a massive change like this, I'd rather go back to how it was.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HunterCupp, Wackery, Aspasia and 12 others
TheSkywalker77 said:
THANK YOU! I try to adapt to new changes the best I can, but when a website I visit multiple times per day and know my way around fairly well has a massive change like this, I'd rather go back to how it was.
Click to expand...

I get it. If you get a chance give the new system a chance. I've been using it for a week or so now, and I like it. You just have to get used to using the sidebar for forum list.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheAppleFairy
arn said:
I get it. If you get a chance give the new system a chance. I've been using it for a week or so now, and I like it. You just have to get used to using the sidebar for forum list.
Click to expand...
I probably will. Either way though, thanks for the work you put into these updates! :)
 
arn said:
I've made a change to what the default forum home is. That means when you visit https://forums.macrumors.com/ - it now shows "New Posts" view instead of "Forum List".

I've always thought that "Forum List" has been a relatively bad default view for folks visiting the forums. It requires a second decision and can be a bit overwhelming. Choosing New Posts has its own issues, but at least it's dynamic and ever changing. It also has a diversity of choices to draw new visitors in who might be casually visiting the site.

In order to provide a bit of "best of both" worlds, I also added a the forum list to the sidebar, so you should be able to access everything at once.

View attachment 924133


On mobile, the sidebar is Hidden. In order to see the Forum List, you can tap on that tab or use the sidebar button to reveal it

View attachment 924134

I Don't Want a Sidebar in New Posts

Don't want the New Posts sidebar on desktop view? This button will remove the sidebar, and is saved if you are logged in.

View attachment 924137
I Want to Go Back to Normal!

I know change is hard. If you want to switch back, you can do so in your Account Preferences


Choose Forum List instead of Default, and everything goes back to how it was.

View attachment 924136

arn
Click to expand...

Ah, and I thought that I had inadvertently (and stupidly) hit on some button while on my third glass of white wine (Chardonnay grape) from Burgundy, and idly wondered what the (cue: hissed aside, basically, a reference to the abode of the rebel angels) had happened.

Well, that's a relief.

And, yes, while "change" is hard, I actually prefer the older look.

Thank you for the welcome explanation.

ps: where can I find "account preferences"?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: EM2013
arn said:
It requires a second decision and can be a bit overwhelming.
Click to expand...
Indeed. When I first found this place 10 years ago and landed on the forum list, being an overall Apple newbie, I was overwhelmed with the plethora of choices in topics. That was before iDevices too.

Nice overall change here with the decision.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigMcGuire and arn
Thanks, Arn! Works fine and doesn't bother me any at all; usually first thing I do is look to see if I have any messages and then I go right to my "Watched" list and read all the posts there; after that is when I usually look at New Posts. Only time I bother with the forum listing is when I specifically want to go to, say, the Digital Imaging subforum and then it's just as easy to go to the Forum list as it is to also find a thread in which I'd participated on there and click the "digital imaging" subforum link, which gets me to the same place.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scepticalscribe, AngerDanger and arn
Lobwedgephil said:
Appreciate the option to switch back, new view just too messy for my tastes. Prefer the clean Forum List view.
Click to expand...

Also surfaces a lot of conversations... I really don't care to be having on macrumors!

I get PRSI must generate a lot of clicks and content (evidently, based on how many political debates dominate the new view), but that's not why I'm here.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wackery, trsblader and Scepticalscribe
spyguy10709 said:
Also surfaces a lot of conversations... I really don't care to be having on macrumors!

I get PRSI must generate a lot of clicks and content (evidently, based on how many political debates dominate the new view), but that's not why I'm here.
Click to expand...


Click on that and say yes. It will stop appearing for you.

We restricted PRSI so it doesn't appear if you are a guest or if you have less than 100 posts. So it's not something we promote.

arn
 
  • Like
Reactions: sbailey4, Scepticalscribe and spyguy10709
arn said:
I've made a change to what the default forum home is. That means when you visit https://forums.macrumors.com/ - it now shows "New Posts" view instead of "Forum List".

I've always thought that "Forum List" has been a relatively bad default view for folks visiting the forums. It requires a second decision and can be a bit overwhelming. Choosing New Posts has its own issues, but at least it's dynamic and ever changing. It also has a diversity of choices to draw new visitors in who might be casually visiting the site.

In order to provide a bit of "best of both" worlds, I also added a the forum list to the sidebar, so you should be able to access everything at once.

View attachment 924133


On mobile, the sidebar is Hidden. In order to see the Forum List, you can tap on that tab or use the sidebar button to reveal it

View attachment 924134

I Don't Want a Sidebar in New Posts

Don't want the New Posts sidebar on desktop view? This button will remove the sidebar, and is saved if you are logged in.

View attachment 924137
I Want to Go Back to Normal!

I know change is hard. If you want to switch back, you can do so in your Account Preferences


Choose Forum List instead of Default, and everything goes back to how it was.

View attachment 924136

arn
Click to expand...

This is a nice change. Brings new discussions front and centre - this is truer to the spirit of what a forum is about. Thank you, this is a nice refresh.
 
  • Like
Reactions: arn
@arn, if I may suggest, would it be possible to optimise the spacing between elements and the width of the two main columns such that the column of posts is slightly less wide and the column of categories slightly wider? The 'discussion' coming in the next line seems jarring, and the elements in the left column could use some adjustment to spacing to make for a cleaner, more optimised look.

I tried full screen, and this does not set News and Article Discussion in a single line. Maybe some spacing adjustments will make for a better look. See if you can try, at your convenience.

Thank you!
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot 2020-06-15 at 12.48.29 PM.png
    Screenshot 2020-06-15 at 12.48.29 PM.png
    32.5 KB · Views: 283
macintoshmac said:
@arn, if I may suggest, would it be possible to optimise the spacing between elements and the width of the two main columns such that the column of posts is slightly less wide and the column of categories slightly wider? The 'discussion' coming in the next line seems jarring, and the elements in the left column could use some adjustment to spacing to make for a cleaner, more optimised look.

I tried full screen, and this does not set News and Article Discussion in a single line. Maybe some spacing adjustments will make for a better look. See if you can try, at your convenience.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

the easiest way to get that done might be just to reduce the size of that font
Screen Shot 2020-06-15 at 3.38.12 AM.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: macintoshmac
Personally, I always start the site by looking at my Watched list then move to New Posts. To do this in the new setup involved an extra click to go back to see the New Posts link as it disappeared from the top bar. So I’ve gone back in preferences.
 
  • Like
Reactions: arn
cepenpark said:
Personally, I always start the site by looking at my Watched list then move to New Posts. To do this in the new setup involved an extra click to go back to see the New Posts link as it disappeared from the top bar. So I’ve gone back in preferences.
Click to expand...

In this situation, "Home" leads to New Posts... when it's default.

Screen Shot 2020-06-15 at 4.03.56 AM.png

arn
 
  • Like
Reactions: cepenpark
Might be worth putting a banner at the top sign posting the changes so people don't get confused.
 
maflynn said:
I actually prefer the forum list as the default. I think for those of us who bounce around to specific forums, having the new posts as the default can an annoyance.

For new users, its going be jarring and disconcerting, they're presented with an unorganized list of new posts
Click to expand...

I kind of agree with this too. Even for me, a long time user, when the page loaded to new posts for the first time I was genuinely confused as to why was I seeing a list of seemingly random posts. I can only imagine that for new users it could be a tad difficult to grasp that the forums actually do have an structure, where to post for the first time...

But hey, maybe I'm wrong, and I'm sure you guys have put much more thought into it than I have, so let's try it out!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Scepticalscribe
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back