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

Hyrum Graff·Jul 13, 2014·10 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

PryotraJul 14, 20143 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?

Hyrum GraffAug 12, 20142 votes

Oop, never got around to saying that YES, good idea :D

PhailRaptorJul 14, 20143 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.

Hyrum GraffJul 14, 20141 votes

I like that a lot! I'll edit it into the OP in a little.

Lénekton BotJul 14, 20141 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.

Hyrum GraffJul 14, 20141 votes

That takes up a lot of space that may or may not be necessary. If people are clicking 'Show Parent' on 2/3 of posts, we should probably show the parent as a quote, by default. If they're only doing it for 1/20 of posts, we probably shouldn't. But we won't know if we should or not until we know how often people are using this feature => we need to implement this first.

In the end, if I had to guess, your idea is probably the best. But I think we should start with this one, if only for the purpose of getting data on how people actually use the forums.

Lénekton BotJul 14, 20141 votes

I'm fine implementing your suggestion first but wouldn't it be nice of summoners could choose between showing the parent link and showing the parent as a quote?

Hyrum GraffJul 14, 20141 votes

I'm not sure. On one hand, it would allow us to customize our experience even more. On the other, it could just add unnecessary complication if, say, the overwhelming majority always wants to see the parent as a quote.