Was just reminded of something. Carrying on from discussions about the possibility of dropping the menu duplication, how about the quickmod stuff?
It has options for icons or checkboxes. That means more code and general crap. Do we really want both? I've never used the icons anyway because a/ theyr'e uggerz and b/ they're too cluttered and c/ IMO the checkboxes are fine anyway.
The icons might arguably be better if you just want to lock or whatever one topic, but are not so good if you want to apply an operation to multiple topics. So it's a bit of a toss up as to which one is better, and in practice I very much doubt people will go switching from one to the other. They'll just choose one and stick with it.
If we just go with the checkboxes, we save some images and http requests, and a nasty chunk of coding in sources and templates and css. Ths is good, yes? :)
I liked this idea so much I just went away and did it. It's not a big job to do at least on the template/user preference end (assuming you just always make them visible like I did). Experience has shown that if someone's going to lock a single topic, they're probably already in the topic anyway where there's a handy button.
The real mess is cleaning up quick moderation's back end afterwards which is a much nastier job. It didn't help that I did that some time after removing the UI end and didn't understand why there were these two very separate - and strange - paths to the code.
One thing I was thinking just a couple of days ago and barely related: the "MOVED" topics are now redirects and if they are not set to disappear after a while the only way to remove them is to enable quick moderation (that I usually have off because to me it's a waste of space) and use it.
I was thinking that a small icon for example where the "sticky" icon is could help a bit.
Why wouldn't they be set to disappear, if the staff want them to? Seems like a non-issue, in practice.
Because it's not on by default, because fudge nuggets happens, because...there are several reasons.
Putting my personal bias on which I like or don't aside ... I don't see the harm in leaving whats there so people have choices in how they choose to set up the UI, its a personal choice. Of course if we are certain that say <5% of users make use of some feature, and said feature is a semi code monster, perhaps then we should remove it as baggage and PITA to maintain.
Doh!
K. Well on by default is one admin clicky. Hey ho.
Anyway, reason I like the checkboxes is because they do all sorts of fancy tricks and don't take up a lot of space. I don't run them in an extra column like Jurassic SMF. I just tuck them under the last post icon, so they take up hardly any space at all. There's no real difference if they are on or off. Consequently, I always have them on, which is very handy. :)
Hey thought. :D
K given that some people (bonkers ones like Ema) don't like quickmod enabled all the time due to space constraints......
........and given that teh devs are too lazy to pull all the unnecessary code out to streamline quickmod (so we're keeping both modes)......
........and given that some nutters may well prefer using the icons version even if they do have tiny screens (but wont want the clutter all the time).....
........how about making it clicky like lots of other stuff?
Hide by default, with clicky button. Click button > all bunnies jump out of hatz.
One advantage of doing it this way would be better target areas, especially for the icons option. At the moment, they are effn useless on touchscreen (meaning tablets, specifically). If we're not constricted by having them on pemanent display, the layout can be sorted so that it will work with mouse or fingers.
It sounds good..., but when it's a clicky somewhere, it needs to be very clear where/what does that button-thingie, and be consistent across board index and topic display, I suppose: since you have checkboxes on display too, if it's set to checkboxes.
Err, I guess I'm saying that I don't know how handy/clear/usable that'd be, even if it's true that an entire column all the time is kinda too much. But that might be because my imagination is lacking. If you're willing to make a proof of concept, go ahead.