'Post New Thread' from FORUMHOME (button in forumbit)

[heyzeus909]

Looking for something close to this.

The idea of having to click on a forum name to post a new thread is clunky. Doing so could be made unnecessary if there was a 'Post New Thread' in the forumbit on FORUMHOME.

Unlike the mod linked to above, I don't want a small, unobtrusive button that's sandwiched between two other small, unobtrusive buttons that no one ever notices. I want the 'Post New Thread' button prominently displayed so people will actually use it. What about sub-forums? Sub-forums suck, that's what about them (requiring a prefix would largely get rid of need of any sub-forums).

So, to be clear, using these two forumbits as examples, I'm wanting to take my forum homepage from this:

To this:

Or this:

This is a vital part of a #trifecta request which will largely make the idea of the forumdisplay template obsolete, which is a good thing. It could revolutionize the way vBulletin is navigated, posts are made, and information is discovered, using other fine Dragonbyte Tech mods such as Live Feed and hashtag support.

Please and thank you.

 

[Ozzy47]

TBH I don't see how that would quite work, because most sites have subforums and the button would have no way of knowing which one to go to.

 

[heyzeus909]

Wait, so you're saying that people post in the sub-forums now?

I kid.

The 'Post New Thread' button on the forum home would serve the identical function as the 'Post New Thread' button on the main forum display page.


Instead of posting a new thread via this process:

Member on forum home page >>> clicks on the title of the main forum on forum home page >>> clicks on 'Post New Thread' on forum display page


It would be this process:

Member on forum home page >>> clicks on 'Post New Thread' button for the main forum


If someone wants to still post a new thread in a sub-forum, the process would still be the same as it is now. Personally, I want to get away from sub-forums and replace them with hashtagged forum prefixes . But even if someone didn't want to employ the idea of hashtags as thread prefixes, a 'Post New Thread' on the forum home page would still make it easier for users to post new threads in the main forums.

Less page clicking and page loads + Easability = Better user experience.

 

[heyzeus909]

It would only effect forumbit level 2 (main forums), in other words.

 

[Fillip H.]

You can actually achieve this with a simple template edit (and it's not possible to do automatically without a significant performance detriment). I implemented it using one of the existing statusicons, but you'd obviously be free to change the image (in this particular location, 12x12 is the required dimensions).

In the template you mentioned, find

		<ul class="forumactionlinks td">

and add below

			<vb:if condition="$forum['allowposting']"><li class="forumactionlink newthreadlink"><a href="newthread.php?{vb:raw session.sessionurl}do=newthread&forumid={vb:raw forum.forumid}" title="{vb:rawphrase post_new_thread}" style="padding-{vb:stylevar left}:0;"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_statusicon}/thread_new-16.png" height="12" width="12" /></a></li></vb:if>

 

[heyzeus909]

Very cool. Thanks!

Here's how it looks (red arrows, obviously):

Unfortunately, without me beating people over the head to remind them that they can click on the pencil/paper icon, people aren't likely to remember they can do it. It's such a small and relatively non-nondescript icon that people will forget about it and what it does. I'd also have to point it out to each new member that signs up, too.

I'm guessing that having larger buttons (which would open up the capacity to be more explanatory) that are placed more toward the left side of the forumbit - like I was illustrating in my first post above - is prohibitively difficult or impossible to do?

If so, let me present you with this: Those buttons in the green circle in the picture above...they don't do anything when they are single-clicked. Double-clicking them will turn them from green ('green' meaning that forum has new posts) to red ('red' meaning the forum has no new posts/has been marked "read"). But single-clicks do nothing to them. Is it possible to arrange it so that single clicking those buttons will act as a link to newthread.php for that forum? Even if it meant that the double-clicking function would have to be disabled, I'd be ok with that. I have other ways people can see if new posts have been made, such as checking in with your awesome Live Feed mod.

If single-clicking those buttons to open up a new thread can work, then I would simply change those buttons from what they are now to the words "Post New Topic" or something to that effect.

THAT would be awesome. Even better than what I had imagined in my opening post, actually.