Can we please modify the Discussion Forums layout, especially the sidebars?

[GregSands]

I'd find the sidebars on the forums much more useful if I could modify them by doing one or more of the following:

1. Remove particular boxes (close button in the top-right corner?)
2. Reorder boxes (drag and drop?)
3. Set box height (slider beneath each box?)
4. Set how much information is provided in a given box, perhaps with scroll bars if it's more than fits in the box
5. Prevent the sidebar (as a whole) from scrolling with the forum/message/idea - in fact the header and footer should probably stay static too, especially if I can choose what information is present (e.g. remove the "Announcements" box at the top!)

If I could do those things, I'd set things up with the information I want to see, just the right height for my screen, so that it stayed in place where I want to see it as I browse the forums. At the moment, anything displayed beside what I'm looking at is rarely what I actually want to see, and I need to scroll to particular places to access that.

[GregSands]

Some images to help.  Here's the current layout:

Note the duplication of information, and the arbitrary limit of my screen.

[GregSands]

And now, a quick mockup of something similar to what I'd like, all fitted to the current window size:

[johnsold]

Greg,

I think you have some good ideas. I would probably set up my layout quite similarly to yours.

The Announcements box and perhaps the sidebars might show up when you first log in, but when you click into the first Board, it switches to the layout specified by the user.  By doing it this way, NI can assure that anything they think important is shown to the user at least once on each visit.

Although not directly related to this idea, formatting the Author field to show the date and time of the original post (same format as Latest Post) might reduce the incidence of people replying to antique threads.

Lynn

[JÞB]

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@johnsold wrote:

Greg,

The Announcements box and perhaps the sidebars might show up when you first log in, but when you click into the first Board, it switches to the layout specified by the user.   

Lynn

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Oh NO - I kinda like the announcement bar just the way it is!  Don't you?

[johnsold]

Jeff,

It is fun when both our names are up there.

Lynn