Suggestion: Position of search box and header elements

henrywright

I was playing with the positioning of some of the header elements so that the search box could be closer to the list of forum topics. Having the search box high up in the header (away from the list of forum topics & search results returned) didn't seem as friendly. Here are a couple of mock-ups I've made for the various screen sizes. The aim was nothing major, just a very subtle re-juggle of the header elements.

Thoughts?

Tablet screen size

Tablet

Desktop screen size

Desktop

Fastidious

henrywright the only thing I like is not having the side menu when on a smaller screen (I actually prefer it to behave like it does on the thread view, that you can hover to show it), but the relocation of "Start a Discussion" and "Search" are no good.

Toby

Search is in the header so that it can be used from any page, not just on the discussion list. It can also be used to find users and tags (coming soon), so it's not specific to the discussion list.

On the other hand, starting a discussion is an activity that's pretty specific to the discussion list, so it doesn't really belong in the header.

henrywright

Fastidious I also much prefer the 1-column layout.

Berlyn

Fastidious Not having a side menu already happens on tablet sized screens though.

henrywright

Berlyn Yep, that's why I did two mock ups, one for each screen size.

I think I'd prefer to see a 1-column layout for desktop too. Not sure?

Berlyn

henrywright Seems counter intuitive to scroll horizontally to view the list of tags in my opinion.

henrywright

Berlyn agreed, although there will be alternative ways to display the tags within a 1-column layout. That said, I'm still not 100% convinced 1-column is best for desktop. I kind of like how it is now. Just throwing ideas out there 🙂

Berlyn

Honestly, if this became a thing for dekstop, I'd be developing an extension to revert it. Haha.

henrywright

Berlyn how the elements are arranged within the 1-column layout could be better. However, don't let their current arrangement decide whether a 1-column or 2-column layout is better; the arrangement can be easily changed. For example, the horizontal scroll could be made into an option list etc.

Berlyn

henrywright Yes I know, I guess if I am basing it on preference, I really like the sidebar.