Usability recommendations

[Kane Marrok]

I work on the internet by trade, and as such, started to notice a few usability issues that I felt were worth bringing up. I wouldn't be surprised if they're already part of the conversation in the inner circles, but no harm in reiteration:

1. Gigantic Shoutbox 'above the fold'

Shoutbox is a thing. Hit the site at any time, and at least a few somebodies are in the chat. However, even when it's Disabled, it takes up a massive amount of real estate on the screen.  I'm currently viewing in a widescreen monitor, and even with the Shoutbox disabled, I'm losing the top 3rd of my browser.  When it's enabled, I lose the top half of the screen.  Further, I haven't seen a user setting to default Shoutbox to minimized. I personally dislike chat boxes, and would prefer to have the box be as small as possible while I'm searching for RP or posting.

2. Mobile Friendly

Simply put, the site is not. I looked into SMF since the footer of the site points to it, and a quick look did turn up a few themes that were developed with mobile in mind (EX: https://custom.simplemachines.org/themes/index.php?lemma=2870)  I know people migrating to this site that are currently very reliant on mobile use, and this is a major hangup to talk them into joining.  Having a default mobile friendly theme would be a big improvement.

3. Giving 'Notify' by Default

I brought this up during my Pending Approval limbo, since it seemed to be a very intuitive need. While in Pending status, I was able to Bookmark my Introduction thread, however, I would not get notifications about replies to my thread, and didn't have access to the Notify button until I was listed as Approved.

If you create a thread, no matter what level of account you are, you should by default receive notifications whenever a reply has been made. It will help a lot with user and especially Unapproved retention, since people will know when they're getting attention, rather than just making them commit to hitting the site over and over.

[Vekseid]

Most of my work for this site is keeping up with bit rot while I help with Elkarte. We will be migrating to that when the time comes, and unlike what I would need to do for a mobile theme, I helped make Elkarte mobile-friendly from the start.

We also have multiple blind members, which is also something I need to keep track of.

For the shoutbox size, are you referring to the full header?

I can look into notifications again. Situations were different for awhile. <_<

[Kane Marrok]

Generally the full header (Shoutbox at the top of the page, banner beneath that), yes.  I can understand a bit of real estate dedicated the marquee between the shoutbox module and the index tabs and threads, but overall, I imagine things could be optimized (Patreon/Paypal block being moved into the marquee, the New Message/ Unread Posts piece being in a navbar at the top of the page, etc... )

Attached a screenshot of a 'minimized' shoutbox on my 13' laptop. Even Disabled, there's a ton of lost space.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

[NightLux]

I work on the internet by trade, and as such, started to notice a few usability issues that I felt were worth bringing up. I wouldn't be surprised if they're already part of the conversation in the inner circles, but no harm in reiteration:

1. Gigantic Shoutbox 'above the fold'

Shoutbox is a thing. Hit the site at any time, and at least a few somebodies are in the chat. However, even when it's Disabled, it takes up a massive amount of real estate on the screen.  I'm currently viewing in a widescreen monitor, and even with the Shoutbox disabled, I'm losing the top 3rd of my browser.  When it's enabled, I lose the top half of the screen.  Further, I haven't seen a user setting to default Shoutbox to minimized. I personally dislike chat boxes, and would prefer to have the box be as small as possible while I'm searching for RP or posting.

One of the features I like about the Greasemonkey script that Sseith made for Elliquiy is that you can hide the Shoutbox entirely.  No dead space at the top.  It also has a ton of other features that I love kind of relates to the Notification - you can have it customize what threads you want to be notified about - it won't email you, but it'll create a "Replies" section that shows the number of threads you want to be notified about and what is available.

[Rook Seidhr]

Further, I haven't seen a user setting to default Shoutbox to minimized.

There's a button for "Disable Shoutbox." It should be sticky. It is for me…

EDIT: Aha, yes, there's another step to make it sticky: go to Profile, Look and Layout subsection, and change your theme to elliquiy2. That should make the "Disable Shoutbox" setting properly sticky. IIRC anyway.

[Kane Marrok]

It's sticky if you use the same device over and over and remain logged in. I play across a number of machines (tablet, different laptops, etc...), and in each one, when I log in I have to Disable.