Screen real estate use

z201205

Screen real estate use on the forum is poor. On my phone, I can barely see one thread title at the start of contribute tag due to the enormous contribute banner and other baggage. Even scrolling down I can only see 3 thread titles. If you compare that with WhatsApp, I can see 7 conversations. Please look at screen layout, font size and whatever it takes to improve screen real estate use on both the thread titles and the thread contents. It's long overdue on this platform.

mrjeeves

z201205

How could this even be done?

Spacing on desktop was heavily decreased late last year, but threads on mobile are directly next to each other.

How do you propose that "empty space" is cut down? To me, this looks pretty full already...

Simulated iPhone 5/SE:

endorphin

z201205 yes I agree, there is a lot of white space; it's a pity we can't choose to switch to a more utilitarian view as an option (akin to text only vs html but not as drastic). The forum layout seems to be more suited to the helpees', rather than to a helpers', viewpoint, which I suppose is understandable.

There were some improvements made when Flarum was first introduced https://community.giffgaff.com/d/33032314-revised-discussion-list-layout-now-on-the-preview-site/ but nothing else since.

stephenpperry

z201205 I like the forum space and size it’s very easy to read and very easy to focus

z201205

mrjeeves on that first screen, the tag is mentioned twice. That's gratuitous waste of space. The font sizes are huge compared to other apps. And whitespace between thread titles is poor. I've suggested looking at WhatsApp as an example. The messages app and Gmail app are others. They manage a lot more information on the same screen real estate.

mrjeeves

z201205

That top "tag" is clickable and is used to switch to a different tag.

In that case, why have the Google logo on the search website when the domain is "google.co.uk"?

andy69

With this CSS mod https://community.giffgaff.com/d/33003477-welcome-to-our-new-platform/658, I can get all service updates on one page:

And the top of service updates looks like:

z201205

On the start of the service updates page, there's service updates twice: once in the pull down, once in the pink box. The one in the pull down should not be truncated: there's screen real estate available along the top for that. The one in the pink box could be removed. Looking at the screens posted by andy69 it's better but more could be done: the font for the thread titles is big and there's lots of whitespace between posts. I reckon 6 or 7 threads could be visible per 2nd and subsequent screens rather than the 3 or 4 visible now.

mrjeeves

z201205

It's so big because you use such a small phone.

Modern phones have large screens, meaning this isn't an issue.

It's not an issue for me.

z201205

I'm using a Moto G6. It has a 5.7" screen. I would not call that small. I can only see 4 threads in announcements:

Looking at https://www.dpreview.com/forums, you will see their forum is a lot more screen real estate friendly. Eg https://www.dpreview.com/forums/1002 and scrolling down a little, you see a lot more thread titles:

mrjeeves

endorphin z201205

To be honest, this is a possibility.

Dark mode development is complete from my end, and I'm looking for a new project. (Before you ask, we've got to

Dark mode is going to be an option in user settings, like notifications and privacy, so it's always possible to just add another item to that (like a slider) to control Flarum's "compactness".

Does this sound good to you guys?

z201205

mrjeeves so it's always possible to just add another item to that (like a slider) to control Flarum's "compactness".

Does this sound good to you guys?

That sounds great.

endorphin

mrjeeves it's always possible to just add another item to that (like a slider) to control Flarum's "compactness".

That sounds like the bee's knees but I suspect it won't be easy! 🙂

Make it so!

mrjeeves

endorphin

It would be fairly simple (final words!). I can just repurpose the dark mode extension and modify it for spacing/padding instead. The main framework is there and ready.

z201205

stephenpperry that's why it'd be good to have an option. Clearly you're happy with the way the forum is presented at the moment. Others, including me, would like less scrolling and better use of screen real estate.

endorphin

mrjeeves I'll take your word for it. 😮

@ianmorland do you have any thoughts on this?

z201205

mrjeeves that'd be a great birthday present! 😂 No rush: you have to the end of the month 😂

mrjeeves

z201205

It's manageable. Just need permission from @ianmorland 😛