Last week we began a discussion on the modern message board and its GUI, we talked about ways to improve this common and outdated user interface by making things slimmer, cleaner and more logical. There was extremely good feedback on the article and concepts overall, the only real complaint was that the concept lacked a design logo/brand. I feel a logo is not necessary to the overall software package, some argued that some administrators would want to leave the software as is, but replace the logo/brand with one of their own. My response was “I feel it’s just as easy to add a logo as it is to replace one”. Although, the more I think about it, I think there is a possible solution that would work well as a compromise, without real sacrifice.

Code the logo into the skin, but by default have it turned off in the admin control, then if the admin wants to have a logo to replace or a logo at all they can simply turn it on and upload their own image. This allows administrators that do not require or want the logo to leave it off, but gives less experienced administrators a way to apply a logo/brand with little to no html/css experience.

Now that that’s out of the way let’s talk about the topic list. This is the common succession from the forum index, but also in some cases this would be the default main page, so it’s important. My goal with the topic list view is the same as with this entire project, to make it as simple, clean and logical as possible.

To start we will have the same header section as the forum index, this would be a global part of the forum software, and appear in every area of the software.

Next we’ll need bread crumb navigation, this is a common part of modern and classic forum software alike.

For our concept I’m going to make the bread crumb navigation have a yellow “note card” background, to make it clear and obvious, the font is going to be large, but not huge, and only add links to the back trail, no need to link the title of the current area. Here’s a quick screenshot of the bread crumb navigation in relation to the global header.

Below the bread crumb I’d put the name of the forum we are currently in, I would make the size and color of this text match the category names on the forum index (for design consistency).

Across from the forum name, I would put the page navigation (if any) and the “start topic” link; I’ve highlighted the “start topic” link so it would stand out next to the page navigation. In the case that the topic is not paged I would have the phrase “single page topic” appear in its stead.

For the topic list itself, I’d keep the same flow and consistency from the forum index, with a couple of minor tweaks to accommodate the varied information.

I’d remove the topic description completely. I feel it’s not used enough to warrant display, and when it’s used it’s commonly repetitive and useless information. I would also strip out the author’s name, as it’s inconsequential to the topics validity, it can also be listed on the topic view itself so it’s not needed here, and it just causes clutter and often times confusion when coupled with the last reply information.

The last reply information would be displayed below the topic title with the yellow highlight, exception would be in the case of a closed topic, in which the last post information would be changed to “topic closed on: date” and the topic title would be struck through to indicate its no longer relevant to the topic list, and would automatically drop to the bottom of the overall listing.

New topics would be displayed at the top of the list in blue as with the forum index, and the blue “new” text icon.

Topics you’ve posted in would be marked with a blue “checkmark” icon, and topics with an attachment would be marked with an orange “paper clip” icon. Total replies would be listed as a large number on the right hand side of each row, and alternating background colors would offer visual separation between topics. Here’s a screenshot of the topic list as described.

Below the topic listing would be a second start topic link and page navigation, across from that on the left side would be a forum jump menu, to allow for quick forum changes. Below that I would place the “online users viewing this forum”, with the same links from the forum index, creating consistency of design with only changes in relative information to the view.

Some things I’ve left out; polls, hot topics, sorting options, moderation options, rules, topic pages.

I discarded polls, because I don’t believe that they are necessary or useful to forums. I can see where they might be useful to the administrator of the software for polling his member group, so I would not fight their inclusion, and if the software had them I would simply create a purple icon with a question mark on it to indicate topics with a poll attachment.

Hot topics were left out intentionally. I feel they shouldn’t have a place in forum software, the number of replies already indicates popularity of a topic, and the rank within the list shows activity, a separate icon or coloring for this type of topic is unnecessarily redundant.

Sorting options, I considered adding these, but then asked myself if the options are used enough to justify placing them inline to the topic list, when they could just as easily and more logically be placed in the users preferences. Now I know sometimes they are used to find a buried topic, but this can be done just as easily with the global search.

Moderation options, I don’t believe the topic view needs to have moderation options built inline, but I do understand the time saving benefits of having them, so again I would not fight their inclusion, and I would place them directly below the topic list with a pink background to highlight that they are not seen by everyone.

Rules were left out as they are not necessary to the topic list, the rules should be located in one central are of the software, and can be categorized on a forum to forum basis if the need arises, no need to clutter the topic view with information that is often ignored anyways.

Topic pages, this was left out because it’s not necessary, the topic itself will have the page navigation available. Showing the pages on the topic list is sloppy, but not 100% useless so I would not argue their inclusion and would display them to the left of the large replies number.

I think that pretty much covers it. Here is a full screenshot of the topic list view.

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions on this view, I am open to suggestions and comments as always, again thanks for reading I appreciate it.

Next week, part three: Topic Reading view.