Homepage shows recent site activity

[pmackay]

This is to decide what should replace the current views to fix these:

• https://github.com/folklabs/hernehill.org.uk/issues/631
• https://github.com/folklabs/hernehill.org.uk/issues/620

[pmackay]

@GilesGibson would be great if you could outline what would be ideal to show on homepage for forum updates. @djwesto your comments also welcome.

[GilesGibson]

I am with @djwesto in that it would be great to show, maybe separated in sections, the latest comments on the Forum, the latest additions to services and groups. Otherwise knowing about something new is a matter of stumbling across it. be great to have integration with facebook and twitter too, a social "breaking news" newspaper of all types of media.

[pmackay]

Is it essential to merge the content (forums, services, groups)? That is quite a lot harder. If forum changes can be separate, any thoughts on what you want it to show?

Please separate out FB/Twitter stuff into another issue.

[GilesGibson]

Wec an move twitter/facebook stuff to another issue if you wish but I do see it as being part of the same solution, maybe not immediately but as soon as we can.

The Forum posts - ideally if it is a new topic then that is displayed in one way, if it is a comment about a topic then that is displayed slightly differently - colour/layout/indent etc. Needs to mention what it is replying to.

[pmackay]

How do you want to avoid the repetition you were expressing about current views, if both posts and replies are shown? Would it be better to just show a thread summary with activity (number of posts, views, likes)? Posts wont have titles anymore.

[GilesGibson]

Currently we have the topic on the right hand side and the comment related to the topic in the centre, a bit disjointed. I think the aim of the central area should be to highlight that there is new content i.e. if there is a comment, then mention it with the text somewhere at the top along the lines of "New comment in reply to topic XXYYZZ". The topics would just be "new topic XXXYYYZZZ". Ideally with the first line of their text as a teaser. Would appreciate input from @djwesto

[djwesto]

Before addressing this @GilesGibson, what sort of news would you see coming from FB and Twitter streams that would be any different to the news you're posting on the site yourselves? Please explain – is this from your own social accounts or other people's? How would you manage this? If it's only your accounts then surely what appears on those is an echo of what's already on your site? There's a lot to unpack there which is probably why @pmackay's asking for you to keep it separate.

[djwesto]

Now, if we were to properly re-design the central news stream on the home page, we'd audit all the objects we want displayed there and how each should look so readers can differentiate between them.

So which content alerts would we (ideally) like to expose in a homepage news stream? Here's what we already have:

Left	Center	Right
Upcoming events	News	Alerts
Latest tweets	Forum replies	Recent forum topics

I like @pmackay suggestion that Forum posts and replies could somehow be combined into one block, although I'm not certain how this would look. Here's what Facebook does. You get a nice initial posting plus an indication of latest activity underneath with the opportunity to open up the "View more" widget to show all replies: Was this vaguely what you had in mind @pmackay ?

[djwesto]

In addition, would we also include certain updates to some or all of these:

• Public groups
• Trader pages
• Galleries
• Venues and Places (combined into Locations in OL)
• Newly-added Events (we'd keep the Upcoming Events listing separately in the sidebar?)
• Could we even have new users who've just joined included in this listing or is that too much?
• New comments on News Articles?

[pmackay]

OK we need to decide if this is about forum updates or a sitewide "stream" of updates. If the latter it needs a separate issue as its more complex.

[djwesto]

Sorry, I probably overstepped the bounds of this issue. But I was trying to explain my vision for this and where I think we should be aiming, so that design decisions we take now for the design of the forum cards will contribute to a longer-term goal. I essentially agree with your idea of combining new forum posts and the replies to those posts into one card. I'll focus on that.

[djwesto]

So, to return to the issue of displaying forum posts and replies, to combine what you've both already suggested, what do @pmackay & @GilesGibson think of these two solutions – the first for new posts, the second for new replies?

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January 14, 2015 - 1:32pm New forum topic in Gossip and chit-chat by Joel Taylor

Network Rail plans round Station Square

I read from the Herne Hill Forum newsletter that Network Rail has rather big dramatic plans for Station Square. The newsletter says that 'all the Station Square shops from the Launderette to Bl... MORE ≫ 17 replies

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January 14, 2015 - 2:32pm New comment in reply to topic Network Rail plans round Station Square The Herne Hill Forum has been meeting with Network Rail to discuss their plans. Despite spending the last two years trying to mend the roofs of some of the shop units, using the old fish shop as their "office" to gain acces... MORE ≫

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Alternative suggestion

Taking @pmackay's suggestion, we could standardise on one single treatment for Forum posts which would be simpler but would mean you'd see a far less detailed view of the conversation happening from just looking at the home page. However, this might look like this:

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January 14, 2015 - 1:32pm Joel Taylor added a new forum topic to Gossip and chit-chat "I read from the Herne Hill Forum newsletter that Network Rail has rather big dramatic plans for Station Square. The newsletter says that 'all the Station Square shops from the Launderette to Bl..." MORE ≫ 132 views | 23 likes | 17 replies

[djwesto]

Also, @pmackay can we assume that if we use Harmony Forum, we'd be able to add the tool strip of links under the posts on the home page itself, see screenshot below?

[pmackay]

Is it a good idea to replicate all the features of the forum on the homepage? Surely better to just show a small summary to point people there?

[djwesto]

OK, forget the Reply functions but what about the No. of Views, Likes and Replies you suggested yourself?

[pmackay]

That shows activity which draws people in I guess?

[GilesGibson]

This is an example of what Ning does, nicked from HOL.

The forum items gives a flow to the discussion "X replied to "Y's post on ZZZ" sort of thing. A bit like someone was telling you, blow by blow, who did what and when. Gives you an idea of the activity going on, as though you were looking across the pub and someone was briefing you on everything that was going on, who was doing what, who had come in, what group was in the corner, who replied to what and so on.

If we can somehow merge in Twitter and facebook then we have a real winner.

[pmackay]

The Message Stack (https://www.drupal.org/node/2180145) has been designed with this activity stream stuff in mind... Also used by several other distros...

[djwesto]

Excellent stuff. Would love to see that get added, but @pmackay would you prefer we separate the discussion about a more broadly-featured activity stream taken aside to a new feature-request issue?

[GilesGibson]

could it give us a little more of what we are after?

[GilesGibson]

happy to separate the super duper version from trying to get a simpler iteration of what we currently have