Forum Design Suggestion

[AffiliateDreamer]

Hi,

I have to say WebmasterWorld's forums package is very usable, I have a suggestion and would like to see what others think.

instead of having the user information on the left side of each post, why not have that above the post. Having the user information above the post will give more room for the actual post (having a wider area, or longer lines).

comments?

[kodaks]

I think that idea would just take up more page space. I personally like it the way it is...

[incrediBILL]

19" monitor @ 1280 x 1024 - the comment area is enormous :)

You're using a laptop, right?

[AffiliateDreamer]

no i'm on a 19" trinitron actually!

just a comment, I like it the way it is actually...but for those on smaller screens it might not be as easy to read as for others.

vB decided to do what I mentioned earlier, with the userinfo on the top of each post.

[Marketing Guy]

I've got to say I much prefer user info to the side of the post. I think after a certain width, content becomes harder to read.

[AffiliateDreamer]

MarketingGuy,

That is what I was also thinking whilst doing my post, having to move too far left and right to read does become a little 'hard' on the eyes....

[eggy ricardo]

Yea I think it can be a little hard to read also.

Even on my 1024x768 14.1" laptop screen, i find it much easier to read with my Bookmarks side panel open to squash things up a bit. I have seen forums with the information at the top of each post (primerily a phpbb forum template with that layout) and i don't really like it. It feels as though it takes up more space, and tends to distract from the actual flow of the discussion.

Cheers
Richard

[Brett_Tabke]

The human eye is best at scanning horizontally - left to right. (you know, "neanderthals scanning the horizon looking for those big game cats")

99.9% of people read a news paper in the classic "Z" pattern (scan top left to right, then down left to right).

We scan left to right on WebmasterWorld too. We start with the poster on the left and then see their words on the right and then back to the left for the next message. Or, we scan down the page from message to message with out visual interuption.

I've even made some pages where the time is off to the left. I put it back on the right because it helps with the seperation and readability of the page.

[AffiliateDreamer]

ahh, nice explanation.

Do you have any screenshots of the moderators view of things? very interested in the functionality of this hidden puppy! hehe

[dom86]

having to move too far left and right to read does become a little 'hard' on the eyes....

I agree with this. When I make a Blogger site I make sure the Blog content width is a min and max width size of 550px this is just perfect for reading.

[Marcia]

I was using a 15" monitor (can't lift anything bigger by myself) with 800x600 resolution for a long time and the layout was perfectly fine. The only thing that was annoying was when members had ultra-long usernames that made the left column overly wide, but haven't noticed that for quite a while.