Traditional forum layouts now feel like work.

KBExit

Is it just me, or does the classic 'Category-first' forum layout feel incredibly dated?

I’ve realized that I avoid forums that make me hunt through a directory to find the latest posts. Flarum’s 'Latest' index is exactly how the modern web should work. It’s conversational, fast, and removes the friction of the 'filing cabinet' UI.

Big shoutout to the devs for sticking to this design philosophy. It’s the reason I’m here.

VS.

navindra

Flarum is actually configurable, you can change the default landing page to be Tags, but the layout isn't the best.

Personally, I don't think Tags is a user-friendly concept. They are powerful, yes, but they are not user-friendly.

To me, a hierarchical organization makes sense for someone new to the community. It is a simple and intuitive concept. Fortunately, you can build such a concept using tags:

https://discuss.flarum.org/d/38778-friendsofflarum-categories

Personally, as someone who uses forums a lot, my default view is always going to be the Latest index. However, this is not a new concept by far.

Here's an example of a very old community on very old software that has a such a view:

https://forum.pianoworld.com/ubbthreads.php/activetopics/30/1.html

In fact, I think this view is quite superior in some ways, because all the latest content is immediately accessible and you barely ever have to click individual articles to read them. Contrast this to Flarum, where you only see the titles.

KBExit

navindra yeah I agree. But I'd say, despite it being an old software, it does have that "Modern" take since the Internet adopts the former (like SMF and PhpBB) as "Traditional" layout.
I do agree that the layout works there as you mention, kind of like Reddit in some aspect, but see all of the content upfront also hurts the engagement in some ways since it doesn't bring you in. You just "doom scroll" like you would on Facebook and carry on.
But clicking in on a post in Flarum registers the click engagement and entices the end user to join in on some regard.

GreXXL

navindra In fact, I think this view is quite superior in some ways, because all the latest content is immediately accessible and you barely ever have to click individual articles to read them. Contrast this to Flarum, where you only see the titles.

Quite easily possible with https://discuss.flarum.org/d/37231-friendsofflarum-synopsis

KBExit

GreXXL I do want to add that, if the extension can be set by default for the users, it would be 100% better as guests don't know that setting exists lol.

stryguardian

I've used both styles quite a bit and have no issue getting around any of the interfaces. However, I much prefer the design simplicity of Flarum and Discourse. And while I think Discourse is technically "better" and in more "advanced" development, I chose Flarum because it feels better to use. It's snappy, it looks great and its simple design gets out of the way of the content.

As for the old category-first method of forums, I would never use one for my own forum again. Not that they can't be used or are inferior technically, they just don't feel as good to use and they don't tend to follow the simple design philosophy of Flarum, which I much prefer.

I'd also like to shoutout Misago Forums. It's just a one developer forum software and development progress has been extremely slow due to that, but what he's accomplished over there should be commended. He actually created forum software I wouldn't mind using if it was more developed and ready.

KBExit

stryguardian Discourse has more backing, thus making it more "advanced" to many. But when I used it, it felt like a bloated mess that needs way too much resources just to be a community forum. Sure, you can disable stuff like chat, but why pack it all in one place when you can be modular like Flarum? That's what brought me to Flarum 100% of the way.

andrewjs18

my current forum uses the traditional category layout and I had a custom flarum forum theme built based on using the categories extension, but I'm not sure if I'll use it or not...for basically the reasons you mentioned - it feels outdated to me.

that said, how do we make flarum look different than every other flarum instance out there if we keep its current layout and structure?

KBExit

andrewjs18 well, you do have FoF/Synopsis that aids in the change a bit.
But you can manipulate the CSS to make unique layouts.

andrewjs18

is there a demo of FoF/Synopsis installed anywhere?

KBExit

andrewjs18 https://cobbtalk.com/
You have to login to see it though... I mentioned this as a suggested change before.

andrewjs18

navindra old school portal.....