# Make post links more visible with new right gutter timeline
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920
**Category:** UX
**Created:** [27 במאי, 2016, 9:19pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920 "2016-05-27T21:19:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/47 "2016-06-10T02:52:31Z")
I think this works quite nicely once we get rid of outgoing links
It’s a comment about this comment. So comment on comment makes sense. Not the prettiest of icons but it is pretty semantic.
For a less ugly one, comment-o can do the job…
---
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 3:15am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/48 "2016-06-10T03:15:39Z")
Anyway… I just stripped off all outgoing links so it should be significantly easier to explain now. We also should add a tooltip… that can help.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 5:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/49 "2016-06-10T05:33:42Z")
Ugh not generic speech bubble. The arrow is fine, it is a link, same glyph we use to notify you when someone links to your posts.
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 5:45am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/50 "2016-06-10T05:45:20Z")
I agree with @codinghorror from 2013:
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> The correct way to think of them is as incoming and outgoing links.
>
> - _If the arrow points ← **toward** the post, there is an incoming link to this post from another Discourse post in a different topic_
> - If the arrow points away → from the post, this post contains an outgoing link to another Discourse post in a different topic.
Maybe right-align the text so the arrow can point left and toward the post?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 5:53am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/51 "2016-06-10T05:53:16Z")
I slightly prefer the right alignment, but @sam was adamant it had to be on the left.
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### Author:  [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 9:13am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/52 "2016-06-10T09:13:15Z")
Let’s compare a few options:
**1. Left aligned, arrow pointing to the left**
**2. Left aligned, arrow pointing to the right**
**3. Right aligned, arrow pointing to the left**
**4. Right aligned, arrow pointing to the right**
I like **option 2** the most.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 9:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/53 "2016-06-10T09:52:52Z")
Putting on my 🚴♂️ 🏨 hat, 1) is consistent with the notifications you get, and consistency wins
3 and 4 look terrible, like an out of place text pyramid
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### Author:  [@gerhard](https://meta.discourse.org/u/gerhard)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 10:12am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/54 "2016-06-10T10:12:28Z")
> [@sam](#):
>
> 1. is consistent with the notifications you get, and consistency wins
Good argument. Maybe the icon in the notifications is wrong too? 😜
But before this bikeshedding gets out of hand, let me just say that option 1 is definitely better than 3 and 4 or no icon at all.
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 2:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/55 "2016-06-10T14:33:54Z")
Of the options above, I like #1 the best too.
Here’s another option like #2 that has the arrows pointing _away_ from the source topic and _toward_ the destination post (but would require flipping the icon used everywhere):
**5. Left, aligned, arrow on the right, pointing to the left**
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### Author:  [@DeanMarkTaylor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DeanMarkTaylor)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/56 "2016-06-10T15:39:08Z")
In keeping with the Android iconography of incoming and outgoing calls…
Which personally I see many times a day and I’m sure other users do too.
There isn’t a perfect icon in font awesome but some simple rotation provides us with.
… a simple rotation on a long arrow looks OK too
Keep in mind these arrows look different at 100% zoom - which they are not without clicking to enlarge the image.
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 3:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/57 "2016-06-10T15:47:22Z")
It would be better if they were at least pointing up to the post they refer to, instead of away from it.
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### Author:  [@watchmanmonitor](https://meta.discourse.org/u/watchmanmonitor)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 3:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/58 "2016-06-10T15:51:05Z")
> [@gerhard](#):
>
> Let’s compare a few options:
I’d love to see #2 with the arrow pointing to the topic title itself. #1 works as well.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [10 ביוני, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/59 "2016-06-10T23:06:13Z")
Another option is the dual headed arrow:
That might be best, as these are indeed dual-way links. I also like that it reminds me of a simple list dash bullet, as it is not overly arrow-y. Let’s try that out, since we can … wait for it …
**HAVE IT BOTH WAYS**
😆
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [11 ביוני, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/60 "2016-06-11T02:51:11Z")
I think you just pulled a reverse King Solomon
That icon sure is ugly 🙂
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [11 ביוני, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/61 "2016-06-11T02:58:09Z")
I think it is ok, reminds me of this
```
- item 1
- item 2
- item 3
```
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### Author:  [@Falco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Falco)
#### Post date: [11 ביוני, 2016, 3:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/62 "2016-06-11T03:35:13Z")
😁
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### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [11 ביוני, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/63 "2016-06-11T05:20:01Z")
OMG just remove the icons already!!!
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [11 ביוני, 2016, 5:33am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/64 "2016-06-11T05:33:06Z")
Maybe @falco is right. I thought about using link icon. At least then it is not a rare glyph we barely use anywhere else.
Like @falco’s post above if you prefer link glyph.
edit: this is clearly never going to be resolved to anyone’s satisfaction. (I’m not saying I felt there was an obvious “winner” anywhere in here, either.) So, in the interest of less bikeshedding, **I am making the final editorial decision that we’ll use the link icon there** , since these are _absolutely_ links, and that thematically ties together the link button action, and there’s no arrow direction to worry over 😉
---
### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [11 ביוני, 2016, 6:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/65 "2016-06-11T06:17:16Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> I am making the final editorial decision that we’ll use the link icon there
Y’alls moving too fast for _me_ at least. I don’t get why all this bikeshedding is going on, and how this is the answer.
For me, the 🔗 icon is what I encourage members of my community to use to link to _this_ topic, esp to pull in friends and colleagues via email or social media, not to say there are incoming or outgoing links to other topics on my site. Meanwhile the hitherto used left and right arrows on linked topics are meaningful. They show you which posts link _here_ and that this post links _to_.
> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> OMG just remove the icons already!!!
If anything, just do this. Remove the icons and only show the _incoming_ links. The outgoing links are not hard to find.
---
### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [11 ביוני, 2016, 6:22am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/make-post-links-more-visible-with-new-right-gutter-timeline/44920/66 "2016-06-11T06:22:16Z")
> [@tobiaseigen](#):
>
> only show the incoming links. The outgoing links are not hard to find.
Already done and deployed yesterday
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