Layout Decision made and executed - Updates in top post

[jminer]

Oppo has spoken

Nearly 80% of the respondents to the poll wanted a clean single category feed with chronological (like Kinja) ordering. That's as close to a mandate a community this diverse can give.

I've updated both the home page and the Oppo button to route to the new 'Oppositelock' category. To achieve the sort option you're after click 'Sort by' then 'Topics: Newest to Oldest'

If you still want to see what everyone is commenting on right now you can click the 'Recent' or 'Popular' buttons in the navigation bar with recent being a feed of everything (including the new segregated oppolitics category) sorted by most recent comment first.

If one wants to browse to the 'Oppolitics' Category click the 'Categories' in the navigation bar and pick the 'Oppolitics' category. Things here stay here-moderation rules are still TBD, but let's all stick to the golden rule of be excellent to each other. This will give a folks a place like the old cigar lounge to talk about politics without threatening to kill each other while keeping it walled off from folks not interested in seeing it.

Even though we've called the main forum Oppositelock, all Kinja refugees are welcome here. I've reached out to mods at Overland and Photography but I don't know any of the others. If you do, send them our way if they're looking for something new.

Original Post

So we have a bit of a dilemma on layout at the moment. The chronological post (topic in node parlance) feed option only works at a category level. I tried moving all categories under 'general' and marking it as the forum home page, but it doesn't feed in posts from the child categories.

Options are:

1. Combine all categories into one 'general' category and be able to maintain a cohesive newest to oldest feed that ignores comments. We'd still have tags to organize by.
2. Leave as is where general posts show in the feed on the home page and users can navigate into other categories for posts or hit the 'recent' feed to see latest replies.
3. Go back to the original layout with home page being the 'recent' feed and with multiple categories for exploring specific topics (builds, shitposting, aviation, 2 wheels good and so on).

Poll above- ui is a little twitchy so click the text of which option you like then hit vote.

Thanks for the feedback and participation!!!

[WhoIsTheLeader]

I didn't mind the one where the most recent comment/upvote (?) sent a post to the top of the feed but it risks burying some posts if there is a lot of activity at once. I think all options are acceptable but I haven't used it long enough to tell which one I prefer.

[jminer]

@whoistheleader That's fair. The 'recent' feed is still accessible by hitting this button.

I just changed the default feed to categories to make it a little more like the chronology of Kinja which people were after. I'll admit I like the recent feed though.

[Smallbear]

IMO the best thing would be a hybrid of 1 & 2: put most things back to the General Discussion section, and only seperate (A) Long term builds/projects, so they're all in one place and they can be easily found and (B) Very off-topic or sensitive subjects like politics... Basically another Cigar Lounge. Stuff you want to be open for discussion but would be best off of the main page to keep things civil.

Beyond that, as you say it can be sorted with tags.

[jminer]

@smallbear Hmmm - solid idea with a cigar lounge sort of place. Keeps it segregated for sure from folks that don't want to see it. I'd be hesitant to fold builds out on their own too as it'll really drop the traffic they get if they're not in the main feed.

[Smallbear]

@jminer said in Thoughts on Layout? (Feedback requested and poll inside):

@smallbear Hmmm - solid idea with a cigar lounge sort of place. Keeps it segregated for sure from folks that don't want to see it. I'd be hesitant to fold builds out on their own too as it'll really drop the traffic they get if they're not in the main feed.

Yeah, I'm not totally in love with it as I like seeing builds on the main page too--but thought it would be nice to have the ability to file things in one plave as well.

If it were my build, I'd personally like to have the seperate section even just for myself. I'd make my main post on the main page, and just link to it in my segregated build thread.

But in reality, I don't know how many people would bother to jump through the hoops. You've probably got the right opinion on that one.

[jminer]

@Smallbear I mean I liked the orig 'recents' feed with everything updated on comment age plus categories for further refinement but a fair amount of folks complained about it so I'm here to do what the community wants.

[barnie]

Thank you for this effort to give us a new place to continue our screwyness!

So far:

• 2M limit for profile pics is low. use ImageMagik or whatever it is these days to resize on the fly up.
• format is way wide. Suggest a 2nd column on the right (opposite of DT) with something in it that does not scroll. Tuck the user, replies, all that stuff closer to the post pick and title. No need for all the columns of Posts(?), View, LR, etc. A single comma separated string would do fine under the username and timestamp - we'll get used to the format. Maybe tiny icons like Oppo now?
• Lose the SubCats and all that stuff at the top. But that's in the poll. Vote early and often folks for this to go away!
• Larger icons for pagination at the bottom of the page. Easier to click on when inebriated. And a "Top" button when not on 1st page.
• This post editor at the bottom of the page is a pain when the upper part of the page still scrolls. And the stuff on the right? Get rid of it - I can see what I'm writing while I'm typing; don't need a copy. Maybe a preview process like SlashDot but not necessary.

FWIW, I'm very good at picking nits in s/w. I'd like to help so unless I get docs duty or something, all I can do is send my nits.

[jminer]

@barnie I'll up the size limit on the profile pic, a couple have complained but it is easy enough to resize in paint (or whatever). A lot of the other things are the core forum functionality or skin so not a lot I can do about it. I'm no developer though so if you're fluent in node.js and css that's what this guy runs on. Open source nodebb forum running on AWS is where we are at now.

Thanks for the feedback though and joining!

[Chariotoflove]

I like subcategories, and I’m okay just seeing recents and going to sub forums when I want. This is awakening my long latent forum instincts. Like riding a bike.

The only thing is conversations aren’t nested in a thread, but I was used to dealing with that too.

[ttyymmnn]

So, there's been a lot of discussion here and on original Oppo about forum vs blog. I guess the old Oppo was a bit of both. Some people used it as a forum, while others, like myself, treated it as a blog. It seems to me that the functionality of the original Oppo worked well enough to cover both of those bases, and No. 1 seems to do that. TBH, I can understand the point of No. 3, but to this old man, having the page look different every time I hit it is confusing.

Since this remains a work in progress, maybe the best thing would be to try all three, but let each trial run for a few days, or even a week, so folks can get comfortable with each option before making a final decision.

[jminer]

@chariotoflove This is how I feel, but we have a substantial younger audience that the closest they’ve been to a forum is Reddit so it’s completely foreign. The most common complaint/comment so far is the ordering and organization.

@ttyymmnn You’re exactly right, Kinja was a hybrid of commenting/blog system which doesn’t really exist elsewhere. The forum is the closest thing I could find to similar functionality to what we had that could be spun up in short order. Ultimately we may end up with something like a wordpress or ghost front end with this or disqus as a comment engine. I think ultimately OPPO should be a place to both showcase work of folks like you that is very high quality and for the connection building and shitposting that built this wonderful organization.

I also think that DT has a role in this, the connection to other enthusiasts it gives us is undeniable.

[Chariotoflove]

@jminer said in Thoughts on Layout? (Feedback requested and poll inside):

I also think that DT has a role in this, the connection to other enthusiasts it gives us is undeniable.

I've been chatting with Stef and other about this on old Oppo today. I keep thinking there is no real reason why we can't link the two. DT can be where we would put formerly embiggened content, and DT could have a link to our forum with all out categories, including shitposting, cigar lounge, fur face, etc. Likewise, this forum seems to have nearly as many authoring tools as Kinja for the kind of posts we make, so fancy #content could be shared from here.

Maybe I'm being silly or just redundant, but I keep shooting my spitballs to anyone who will read them.

[chan]

I would miss a lot of shitposts if they were segregated into their own section.

[jminer]

@chariotoflove I've thought the same. Had this exact conversation in discord today about tagging some of the posts with 'come see us on oppositelock' or something like that. We're not ready for that exposure yet, but possibly in the near future. Could be a good way to recruit new blood.

[jminer]

@chan Shitposts are a frankly critical part of Oppo (100% serious here) they will not be segregated out of the feed.

[Chariotoflove]

@chan said in Thoughts on Layout? (Feedback requested and poll inside):

I would miss a lot of shitposts if they were segregated into their own section.

You are right, of course.

[sn4cktimes]

As handy as the categories are for organization I think the chaotic nature of some people's posts and running into unusual stuff was a "charm" of O.G. Oppo (this while forever be how I refer to kinja-Oppo now)

[Jb boin]

I don't know if others have the same issue on polls like on this page : The radiobox buttons are not visible.

What seems to be the issue (in CSS), it's possible that there is a JS that is supposed to do an animation and modify that and is not working :

.checkbox input, .radio input { opacity: 0; }

[3point8isgreat]

I really just want the feed to be ordered chronologically without comments. Having the comments bump stuff up makes stuff get buried very quickly and it feels like I only see the same stuff.

Also using mobile, the sort by features dont seem to work. When I click on it, the screen changes like it should be showing a list of options. But no options show up.

[ttyymmnn]

One more thought on the layout. I clicked in this morning nine hours after having gone to bed, and I'm seeing some of the same stuff at the top that was there when I logged out. Maybe it's because of my experience with Kinja, but not having the posts in chronological order means that there may be posts that I never see.

[Hooker]

@jminer I'll be honest, I cannot get the most recent posts to show regardless of what I do. It's always mostly a hodgepodge of recent, but most recently interacted with as well. Also, nested reply possibility? I genuinely like this layout better than DT. I think it has more potential. I thank you for all your hard work and dedication!

[davesaddiction]

@jminer I like the one feed (that's OPPO...) - the only thing I would separate out it politics, so it can be easily avoided by those who choose to.

[davesaddiction]

@3point8isgreat @ttyymmnn @Hooker Click the "OPPO" in the top corner, and then sort by Topics: Newest to Oldest.

Works on desktop, not sure about mobile.

[Smallbear]

@davesaddiction Can confirm works on mobile too.

99% of the mobile experience is fantastic, actually. And fast. The only things I've had that don't work right so far are the polls (same issues as desktop) and the sorting. Had to switch to desktop mode to change the sort option and then change it back to mobile.