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Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

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Re: Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

#111

Post by [deleted] »

snek_case wrote: post #54
fuzzy2 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually believe vBulletin 3 is where it’s at! With modern forums, it’s mostly the UX that sucks. PWAs that never recover from errors, endless scrolling, stuff like that. Also * Falsehoods forum developers believe about network reliability – did you know the network can be down? Then up again? * Falsehoods forum developers believe about time – did you know that time can jump forward, by huge amounts, because the pa…

Why do people hate endless scrolling so much?

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

#112

Post by layer8 »

ngrilly wrote: post #30
Semaphor wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually love threaded discussions… On HN and Old Reddit. But anything is better than whatever XDA uses, and almost everything is better than discourse.

I also prefer reading threaded discussions, but are you aware of a good way of keeping track of new messages? That’s my main issue with threaded discussions, for example here on HN.

The way Usenet clients and traditional email clients work is that unread messages are marked as such (usually by use of bold typeface), and you have keyboard shortcuts to navigate from one message to the next, or to jump to the next unread message.

For example, the Tab key jumps to the next unread message, Space/Backspace scroll up/down within a message, and the Up/Down arrow keys jump to the previous/next message (regardless if unread or not). A message is marked as read automatically when you navigate to it (it gains focus). There’s also a keyboard shortcut to mark a read message as unread again if you w.

The keyboard navigation means that only one message has focus any point in time. You have a threaded view of all messages, where the unread ones are highlighted (e.g. by bold typeface). Then you can decide which ones to navigate to. Usually you just use Tab and Space to jump/scroll through the unread messages. It’s incredibly efficient to use.

Re: Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

#114

Post by Zopieux »

Looks nice! But as with any 2022 project that publishes user input, please put a section in the README describing counter-abuse and moderation features, even if (especially when!) there is none. Here it seems there is an easily defeated captcha.

Re: Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

#115

Post by JasonFruit »

MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #24
ftth_finland wrote: post #7

I dislike forums which indent successive replies. I hate forums which indent replies and don’t support collapsing sub-threads. The proper way of handling replies is to post them under each other and support quoting.

That's just, like, your opinion man. I prefer HN's indented approach to a typical forum listing where it's just a firehose with quotes. But the best approach is to allow the view to be switched as desired.

The problem with letting users choose the view is that the chosen view affects how they write. If I can see it's obvious in my tree view who I'm responding to, I won't point it out, and then someone who uses the firehose view won't be able to follow the conversation.

Re: Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

#116

Post by whartung »

NoraCodes wrote: post #97
gcanyon wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apollo (reddit client on iOS) solves this by having the same gesture undo itself -- tap at the top to scroll to the top of the reddit post, tap again to return to where you were. I'm not saying your complaint is invalid, just that there are ways of mitigating the issue. And that said, I can't imagine how reddit threads would work if paginated.

> I can't imagine how reddit threads would work if paginated. Presumably similarly to HackerNews threads, which are paginated.

HN also lets you elide branches with a click, so you're not trapped in a section you're not interested in. It's so nice opening a 400 response thread, getting 10 messages into the top comment, and clicking the hide button and watching 200 messages vanish.

Re: Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

#118

Post by Semaphor »

asddubs wrote: post #82
halikular wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notifications and sorting for new like reddit has.

that only really works for responses to your comments and top level comment chains though.

Technically, you should be able to subscribe to any comment’s descendants. But that is not implemented anywhere I know, sadly.

Re: Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

#119

Post by llanowarelves »

IshKebab wrote: post #91
dmitriid wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Threaded conversations are really good because you can have branching discussions that don't interfere with each other. But the only forum I know of that realised how to properly do it is this old Russian software forum [1] You need a mail client-like interface so that you can see your place in the discussion. Triple quoting someone and trying to read the actual thread in a flat forum sucked then and sucks now. [1] E…

Check out the D language forums. Easily the best forum software I've seen.

What are they using?

Re: Show HN: Minimal, no-JS web forum software

#120

Post by llanowarelves »

bulatb wrote: post #98
moffkalast wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do still wonder why the fast and responsive software can't invest a little bit into design in order to not look like complete shit. Sure something like phpBB is light, but the UX is also barely usable. Give me something like Reddit or Discourse over that any day. Why can't we have the best of both worlds? Hackernews on the other hand manages to lack both (in some speculations intentionally), with neither usable des…

FOSS tends to treat aesthetics like developers complain executives treat software quality: This doesn't help me. Why does it matter? Why should I care? I see no difference. Improving either is an uphill battle when decision makers don't value the work, at best, or at worst are committed to resistance. And you don't even get paid.

Yep often they don't see aesthetics/usability as a feature, and sometimes even have a grudge against it.

For example, Blender pre-v2.8, many many flamewars belittling people who wanted something usable, akin to calling them shallow/superficial Untermensch who "don't understand" Blender's supposedly genius but strange design choices at that time.

I suppose that's why most aren't capable of making a product and are relegated to being an employee or unpaid open source employee.

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