[Mockup] Chronological Order is missing a "Show Parent" button

Hyrum Graff·7/13/2014, 4:32:01 PM·10 votes·462 views

We all agree: flat view is getting better by leaps and bounds. But there's still one problem: When people reply in nested view, they often don't quote. They don't need to. But when you view that same discussion in flat view, it's often unclear what the poster is responding to!

'Show Parent,' like we used to have, was a great idea; the issue was in the implementation: someone reading in flat view wants to see the previous comment right there and in flat view, not in a different place, in nested view. Therefore, I present the following suggested implementation. Yay, mockups!

First, we add in the buttons to show parents to each post:

https://i.imgur.com/hiAYRRK.png

Then, when we click on it, the parent slides up, "from behind" the comment whose parent we want to read, and comes to rest like so:

https://i.imgur.com/g4Gevp4.png

Note that the 'show parent' button that I clicked now reads, "Hide Parent." Thoughts?

Cheers,
Hyrum Graff

8 Comments

Pryotra7/14/2014, 1:50:07 AM3 votes

I actually like the idea!

It keeps from adding unnecessary lines until you want to follow them. the only thing I would change is maybe add the parents username next to it. This way it adds context to the post so that you don't have to click the button just to get an idea of who they were talking to.

So in your example, Show Parent turns into Show Parent (Riot Pwyff)

Thoughts?

PhailRaptor7/14/2014, 3:52:52 AM3 votes

This would make the new format at least endurable for a significant portion of GD posters. People keep telling me "just use flat view, suddenly it's not reddit anymore!", not realizing that when you do that, the context for comments is completely missing. In part, because they are comments, not posts.

Lénekton Bot7/14/2014, 9:09:19 AM1 votes

Good idea. Second option would be including the parent as a quote for every child post. The would make it even more like a traditional forum.