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Relative Time

It will be nice to have a relative time together with the old version of time. I know that there is mod already made by Live is not that popular but it is a nice add up though. IMO it will make the forum look more modern especially if the time can be made more live. This can be referred to SimpleNetwork Mod by Marcus.

Re: Relative Time

Reply #1

The problem with relative time is that it sort of falls apart if it's not updated in real(ish) time. To have a post open from 'a few seconds ago' in a tab that's a day old in the browser can look a bit silly.

Re: Relative Time

Reply #2

Well you could make the same argument about the today and yesterday, but in practice it never seems to cause any complaints. I think most people would be ok with old tabs showing old content.
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Re: Relative Time

Reply #3

Today/Yesterday are typically 'longer' so the problem never seems to come up.

I'm mostly just sharing the argument we already had about it in case it's useful. Personally I'd love to see it be included without worrying about the 'out of dateness' of the time/date.

Mind you, you guys hid the time/date on posts...

Re: Relative Time

Reply #4

Well that wasn't "you guys" so much as Spuds, IIRC. :D I want to have the time and date on show, and move the thread title somewhere innocuous. My preference is to see the time and date above each post, and not have the thread title constantly shoved in my face (particularly when it is infested with that "response prefix").
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Relative Time

Reply #5

Ouch .... did anyone get the plate number of that bus that I was thrown under  :'(

Actually you did have the time and date above the post,  but after a few "suggestions" about that (not from me), and your statement that you had added back the subject on your test site .... well I added it back here to see if that was better or not.  The hover over text was changed to the reply # and post time.

Anyway all just testing for what is the most useful data to display, or used most often so its available first.  Personally I don't think I'd hide any of that information anyway.

Re: Relative Time

Reply #6

I like seeing the time on a post too. As for the reply number, I don't mind leaving that on the subject title.
Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion, you must set yourself on fire!

Re: Relative Time

Reply #7

Are you saying instead of the subject or along with the subject ?

Re: Relative Time

Reply #8

;D drives bus away into the sunset

Hey one thing I did do a while back is remove the dastardly response prefix from my site. I had a cunning plan.

If you ask people their opinion on it, they'll give you their opinion. This usually varies from "Hate the thing - kill it with fire!" to "Umm, well I kinda like having an indication to make it clear that the fifteenth post on the page I'm looking at isn't the OP of the thread, y'know?".

So, what I did was just remove it, everywhere, without telling anyone. I did this around Christmas. So far, there has not been one question or complaint. Not one, in over a month of constant usage on a live site. :P
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Relative Time

Reply #9

The response prefix is something I've not been happy with for a while but I have yet to figure out how to answer 'but I like seeing the subject and seeing that it's a reply, not the opening post', similar but not quite the same, especially when you're coming from search results or recent posts or similar.

I do find the lack of time a bit sparse, and if it is going to stay in a tool tip, you probably should strip the <strong> tag from Today items ;)

Re: Relative Time

Reply #10

Well, I found the way to answer it. Just ditch the damned thing without asking for opinions. Seems to work a treat. Like I said, not a single complaint or question, even though the change was made absolutely everywhere and without any warning.
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Relative Time

Reply #11

That's all well and good until you're not the only person with access to change the files back ;) And the other person likes having the differentiation (and will review the changes)

There is actually a bigger consequence of not having the prefix, actually, you get to save a ton of random performance stuff by simply not having to figure out the $txt['response_prefix'] given the language juggling that goes on.

Re: Relative Time

Reply #12

Yup on the <strong> thing  :P  ... I just don't know why Ant insists on hiding all that markup in the sources.


Re: Relative Time

Reply #13

Oh I'm aware of the overhead benefits of ditching it. They're a nice extra, but weren't my primary motivation. Still, I'm all for saving overhead when it's incurred by crap I don't want anyway.

My point about the change was that even those who claim that the prefix is necessary/useful/awesomesauce/whatever don't really seem to miss it at all when it's not available. I have had the discussion before on the same forum quite some time ago, and at the time there were some objections to removing the prefix, so I decided to see what would happen if I just went ahead. I expected at least one complaint or question about it, but it hasn't happened. My impression is that it's one of those things that people will feel compelled to give an opinion about, if and only if they are directly asked for said opinion.
Last Edit: January 31, 2013, 05:08:25 pm by Antechinus
Master of Expletives: Now with improved family f@&king friendliness! :D

Sources code: making easy front end changes difficult since 1873. :P

Re: Relative Time

Reply #14

Eh, that's one of Unknown's from back in the day; timeformat() has always done that.

QuoteMy impression is that it's one of those things that people will feel compelled to give an opinion about, if and only if they are directly asked for said opinion.

I think you're right about that, you know.