Redesigning the default category page

(Tom Newsom) #20

Might it be wise to call this a new “Home” page so that people can continue using the “Legacy” categories page if that’s what they like?

(Daniela) #21

I really don’t like it.

For new users that line have no-sense and I saw a lot of forums that are using the same color for the category and sub-categories or only for sub-categories

See:


Catégories - iunctis.fr (colors are similar for most categories)
http://discuss.cognitivejourneys.com/
https://community.smartthings.com/
Codecademy Discuss

For old users in those forums is impossible understand the subcategories (for iunctis forum I think that they can’t distinguish most of the categories too).

I prefer if the categories and sub-categories are displayed like the tags are in Latest (under the title) with some size adjustment
ONLY for the category page:

(Sam Saffron) #22

I agree with trash here, I feel the chip add lots of visual noise and confusion especially if it shows up on two columns, would far prefer to use the proper category styling on latest list there.

(Jeff Atwood) #23

Probably fine, I am saying we should re-use a renderer there rather than creating a new one.

(TechnoBear) #24

http://webaim.org/resources/quickref/#color:

###Do not rely on color alone to convey meaning

  • The use of color can enhance comprehension, but do not use color alone to convey information. Be especially cautious of red/green color combinations.
  • Make sure that color contrast is strong, especially between text and background.

WebAIM: Visual Disabilities - Color-blindness

(Régis Hanol) #25

Ok, the first pass is now live. Let me know what you think!

categories.png1357×1095 196 KB

Each category pages show list of all categories before the topic list after update
(Tom Newsom) #26

<3 at first sight :slight_smile:

PS: that should so be a shortcut for :heart:

(Sam Saffron) #27

perhaps in the end of latest a link to “more latest topics”

also … can you do a few screens on how the looks if you only have 3 categories and how it looks if you have 200 ?

(Régis Hanol) #28

There’s a new site setting categories topics which you can use to tweak the number of topics you want to show on this page.

(Jeff Atwood) #29

Oh yes this is a great idea!

(Tom Newsom) #30

The list should end with Show More, which just goes to the Latest view (autoscrolled to that point in the list, of course!) - EDIT, I see we are surrounded by Great Minds :smiley:

Meanwhile:

Pasted image1328×961 134 KB

This is great though, regardless of any bikeshedding.

I think this is important. The legacy view is useful in its own way and I suspect you’ll get some backlash if this new hybrid view replaces it.

(Anton) #31

Will there be a setting to switch the left/right columns? For instance, I’d try them vice-versa.

(just an idea) Also, when the “Latest” column is shown on the left, the auto-paging could be added as well, so that users can just keep scrolling down until they get interested in something. In this case, I’d say the page would look like a list of the Latest topics with a “table of content” floated to the right-top corner, e.g. like in some wikis.

(Jeff Atwood) #32

Not a bad idea, but some sites have large images for their category definitions.

@zogstrip should the “Latest” column show new, unread, etc indicators that are specific to the current logged in user?

(Daniela) #33

Really good, I like it very much :+1:

Is it possible make avatars a little smaller, something like 32x32 instead 45x45? When I see the new category page my eyes go to avatars immediately.
I think the categories and the titles are the most important things in that page.

(Can’t stop to fix avatars. It’s a new drug!)

(Joshua Rosenfeld) #34

@zogstrip this is great! One thing I have noticed (as I’m current on Android, thus the site loads slower) is that the latest side of the screen loads independently of the category view. So, I see the header with loading animation below, followed by category on half of screen with loading animation on right.

Any way to make the screen wait until both halfs are ready before loading?

(Jeff Atwood) #35

Why would we want to slow down the page? I think it’s correct to show categories first as we can, rather than arbitrarily waiting.

(Joshua Rosenfeld) #36

It just seems inconsistant. I can’t think of anywhere else in Discourse that parts of a view load while others are still loading. The closest analogy I can think of is infinate scrolling, but this seems much more noticible/odd.

(Just another happy Discourse user) #37

I think that the positioning of the unread and new topic counts is confusing because they appear in the Category column when there is a specific Topics column.

I notice that the OP screenshot doesn’t show topic stats outside the Topics column.

Why not move the topic stats and show subcategory stats in that same spot?

Pasted image1394×197 13.5 KB

(deanCheng) #38

I really don’t like this page.:cry:

Pasted image1269×492 46.3 KB

(Joshua Rosenfeld) #39

Care to be a bit more specific? The team can’t fix/improve things if they don’t know what’s wrong!