Usability question on webmasterworld

[irish_john]

Is it just me, but if you are reading a discussion ( on webmasterworld.com), having the Post New and Reply on this screen, can lead to a tendancy, to Post a new Topic accidentally, when what you actually mean to do is reply.

As a suggestion, the Post New button should not be on the read discussion detail. Only Reply should be.

[satanclaus]

I think thats a pretty good suggestion.

[pmkpmk]

Never ran into this problem. Also I haven't seen posts along the lines of "Oops, I didn't want to start a new topic, how can I delete?" so far.

[eWhisper]

You might not see them because the mods delete these threads.

Personally, I've never found it an issue, but it could be that It's now a reflex how to reply/start new topic from a thread after so many posts.

[SEOMike]

I did this once as a newbie, and noticed right away because the post new topic page is different from the post reply. I knew something was fishy when I could enter a title / description for what I thought was a reply.

Maybe as a solution, the two could be more separated, or different colors.

[Brett_Tabke]

agreed there needs to be something different done there irish_john. I was thinking of putting the post new topic button over on the left instead of right and in a different button style.

[pmkpmk]

In other forums I have seen the "post reply" button BELOW the accumulated messages. Sounds reasonable: it's a little incentive to read ALL of the posts so far before you start to reply.