Forum Navigation - what needs fixing

[OLDYELLR]

I have a few complaints about forum navigation, as they still persist.

1. When reading messages in a thread, when you get to the bottom and there more pages, when you click Next or a new page number, often you get an error screen and have to return to the previous page and try a different way. This mostly happens with newer postings.

2. When I got the above error and went back, I would then try clicking Message Listing at the bottom, which would take me back to the thread, showing more new messages. This doesn't work half the time anymore, again mostly on newer, active threads.

3. A popular way to get back to the thread you're reading after the the above two ways don't work is to click the forum you're reading is the navigation panel on the right. The problem with that is if it's a long thread, you have to scroll all the way up again. This could be fixed by making the navigation panel floating, always in view, or having a Top button at the bottom of the page.

4. My kludge to get around those above problems is to hit Ctrl-Home to get to the top and then click the forum name at the top again, but this should not be necessary if the board was configured more user friendly.

***Edited Labels***

[RogersShakir]

Hey @OLDYELLR

Thank you for your input, greatly appreciated!

[RogersMargaret]

The issues you've mentioned in #1 and #2 might get fixed in the next little while; I'll be able to confirm that soon.  

I like the idea of the 'floating' navigation and have added it to a list of enhancements.

Thanks!

[OLDYELLR]

Well, I hope I don't jinx things by saying this, the last couple of days it seems that clicking "Message Listing" at the bottom of the page now takes you back to the first page, not some random old page like it was doing.

However, at least for recent posts, clicking Next or another page number at the bottom still gives this error message:

"An invalid set of parameters has been specified in the url.

Return to my original page"

[roxandtreez]

@OLDYELLR  I also noticed that "Message Listing" is consistenly taking me back to the first page which saves one click.

The Prev/Next/Page # is a problem with active threads like Navigatr which might have several pages of new posts each day.  What I do to get around is to click the title to get to the first unread post, finish that page and note the page number.  Then I click "Message Listing", click the last page arrow for the thread and then edit the page number in the URL to be the next page after the one I previously viewed.  Then the Prev/Next buttons navigate properly.

The other way is to click the last page arrow and then prev back until there are no more "New" posts, and then work forward from there.  Either way is a pain.

[OLDYELLR]

@roxandtreez It looks like the Prev/Next/Page # works on old threads. However, I start by clicking the bold threads for new posts and that's where it falls apart, perhaps when there's no new posts on the selected page. But I cn't be positive and think it used to work at one time.

[RogersRoland]

Hi @roxandtreez and @OLDYELLR,

Does this issue still persist?  If so, can you let us know which Thread/Page you were viewing?

RogersRoland

[roxandtreez]

@RogersRoland

Yes.  I tested it again today.  The most problematic thread is the New Navigatr thread, because it has the most activity.  If you click the description, it takes you to the first new post, but the format of the URL is incorrect with the page number in the middle.  So if you try to use the page numbers, or the prev/next you get an error message.

If you click on one of the page numbers for the thread, then the URL format is different and has the page number at the end.  Then the prev/next and page number all work.

I have previously deleted cookies and cleared the cache and the problem remains, even with different browsers.  Others on the site have reported the same problem.

[roxandtreez]

@RogersRoland

Here is a link to the previous discussion:

http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/MyRogersSupport/message-id/14574...

[OLDYELLR]

The problem is that the forum is being constantly changed. As soon as something gets fixed, another change comes along and it's undone. Two weeks ago Message Listing didn't work and it took you back to some old page instead of the newest page. It was fixed a week ago and you could click the number in the new message column and see them. With the latest change there is no Message Listing but Back to Board, which takes you to a graphically fancier first page where threads with new messages shown in bold, but no way to find those new messages because there is no longer a new messages column.