I use an iPad primarily for 2+2 and see no point to this change. I use thread titles when I want to see poles and the first time I open a thread, the rest of the time I use the arrow. Took a couple of days to learn to zoom in on them before clicking on them, and if I miss I use the go to first unread link in the thread. Tablets are too new to be radically changing the interface for, this change seems motivated because you don't know how to use your tablet.

Sure, I can zoom. On the scale of world problems, it's minor. But I'm a poker dealer, so I'm always looking for ways to shave steps and increase efficiency. Poker is a game of the cumulative effect of small edges.

Which is easier: zooming and aiming when you want to go to the new posts (or clicking and the clicking the "new" link at the top), or clicking the link and then tapping the top of the tablet to jump to the top when you want to go there at ANY time? Which will be done more often?

Again, I know, really minor. But I like efficiency. I also have a fairly long track record of encouraging people to try something, people resisting it, then them finally trying it, and ultimately realizing it was a good idea. For example, using racks in home games, or learning how to shuffle properly for my home game players.

I wanted this change before tablets. I just felt maybe things have changed enough to open others to the idea more than last time. It seems I was right.

No one likes you for that and everyone wishes you would stop. No one likes the circular nature of your discussions and everyone wishes they would stop. People try it to shut you up. There are no end to bad ideas that get put in place because the people pushing on them won't shut the **** up when everyone says they are bad.

This minor change opens the risk of adding defects to the way 2+2 works, there is always a risk of this when a change is made to software. The benefits the change would generate don't offset the risk of making the change.

Okay, sorry. I wasn't aware there was a poll and everybody said it was bad. Thanks for doing the research on that.

I know I'm bad about explaining stuff on here. In person, people generally ask me my opinions about things, and often thank me after implementing my ideas. I get used to that.

I'll try to back off. I'm just trying to address concerns I see, and fight the urge to stick with the status quo "just cuz".

If you have a personal beef with me, it belongs outside this discussion. I'll back away now, and let others hash it out. It's minor, I don't really have much invested in it, I just thought it'd be nice and that others might think so too.

Thanks to TPTB for at least entertaining the idea.

This would be the best change to the forum that could be made imo. I mainly view the forums from my iPad and iPhone (mostly iPad), and one of the the things I have quietly disliked is how small of a target the down arrow is for something I tap more than anything else.

The mobile app is great for the iPhone, but I prefer the full website on the iPad. Sure, I can zoom and tap, but it would make catching up on the latest posts in a bunch of threads so much easier if you don't have to zoom every time. Also, when you go "back", you wouldn't be going back to a page that's zoomed in on an arrow that needs to be zoomed back out.

There's a reason that a lot of popular sites like espn have an iPad version of their site. They're formatted for a much more comfortable experience for that type of interface. This proposed change would go a long way towards making the regular 2p2 site tablet-friendly. That seems like a big plus for 2p2 going forward.

While I'm loath to inject further rationality into what has potential to become a good, nasty ATF fight, I can't resist presenting this idea: Perhaps a nice partial solution would be simply to make the arrow bigger. It looks to me like it could be expanded without increasing the overall line height. (This might be wrong, in which case the idea would suck.) If that could be done, perhaps along with a minor increase in padding space around it so that misclicks were less likely, it would at least partly obviate the problem without having any of the feared deleterious consequences.

probably not possible, but imo ideal would be to change the links to point to first unread, but increase the "2 week window" to something huge. that way noobs would get the front page anyway.

in fact I'd be happy with any increase in the "2 week window", I have plenty year+ running threads subscribed to that I like to catch up on every now and again, but not checking them often enough to avoid missing big ****** of posts sometimes.

iirc the barrier to expanding the two-week window much farther was the 2p2 database. (It has been expanded once, fairly recently.)

Beaten to the punch. Surprised this wasn't what was being suggested in the first place. I mean, if you're not fat-fingering multiple rows, this "solution" seems reasonably sound.

Agree that making it wider is probably more important than making it taller. Also, In the thread pages links, it would help immensely if the ">" could be replaced with "Next >" to provide a larger target.

Any update on the possibility of this? I find it hard to believe the the majority of reading isn't jumping to new posts, despite the "what if" fears given here. Does anybody reading this right now prefer top of the thread even half the time?

To click the title and go to new, that's two clicks in, and then two back-buttons out. Thats four actions. To click the arrow, that's a two finger tap and zoom, then a click... And to get back, it requires back button out and a two finger tap and pinch. That's six or four actions, depending on your counting.

To click the title to jump to new, that's one click in, one click out.

Were we designing this UI from scratch, the way it is now would be a total failure. Think about all the apps we all download and use. You know the ones that feel smooth and feel clunky. Right now, we're very clunky. And I saw more tablets among more poker players than I did in the general population last year. We're early adopters.

And to amplify this, if that many extra taps and pinches doesn't seem like much, multiply by a dozen or more threads checked per visit to 2p2, and it makes a big difference in the experience of using the forums.

i think a larger button for go to first unread would be an ideal solution

Last time I asked this, people said "app on the way; we fear change."

Tablets have exploded in recent years, and touch interface is entering laptops.

I assume it can be done because that's how it works on the front page.

I can't imagine the clicks of people wanting to read the first post is anywhere near the clicks of people wanting to jump to the next new post. It's gotta be multiple orders of magnitude different.

A good UI minimizes actions. Having to zoom to click the primary navigation tool of the site is bad UI. Update the site to reflect changing times.

Please.

There is an app isn't there? It hasn't been updated in a while but it's there.

Apparently it sucks. Besides, tablets benefit from graphics and the like.

There's no reason to have a tiny little target as the primary navigation tool of the site, no matter your platform.

I'd rather see old threads auto locked.

Hey, I created a new thread. It was merged.

FYP

Why not turn the whole of the little box to the left of the title (the one that usually has a poll / ? graphic) into a 'go to first unread' button.

Given that the vast majority of posts make no use of this area it would seem like a better use of the space.

Within the thread, turn he whole of the box that says 'view first unread' into a link, rather than just the little arrow.

Yes, exactly. I'm glad it was merged. Thank you.

It's been years, and technology has changed a lot. Mice are becoming obsolete, at least for navigating social media.

I see no reason not to implement this change other than "don't wanna". It would greatly aid the navigation and use of this site on the computing platform and user interface that is quickly becoming dominant.

Or if we're tied to the title being a link to the top of the first page, how about moving the tiny little target to the right side of the cell? That way it's not in the middle of three other links that do drastically different things.

I don't think I'm out of line or unreasonable here. Computers are not what they were when this site was created. This is a good change to make that benefits everybody.

Your proposed change reduces flexibility.

A much better idea would be to optionally increase the target size of the 'jump to new posts' link.

Often in design, less is more. Reduced options on the main page isn't necessarily a bad thing. But if you need options, at least move the link somewhere more accessible.

Doesn't it make sense for the most-used feature to be the most accessible? Why not have the thread link jump to new, and a "top" button included for threads you've already read? It can be a little up-facing arrow. To reduce confusion, include it on the right side next to that blue check-mark thing. It fits thematically there, anyway. "This is a thread you've viewed. Click here to revisit it."

If you want options, fine. Just please put the most common navigation tool somewhere that's easily accessible via modern browsing methods. If we're talking options, the current configuration is not a good option for anything except a mouse, and even in that case it's unnecessary target-shooting.