What do you think about XF's decision to hide user info in postbit?

What do you think about XF's decision to hide user info in postbit?

  • I completely agree with it and will keep it that way on my own (XF) forum(s)

    Votes: 65 55.1%

  • I agree with it, but I'm still going to add more user info in the postbit on my own (XF) forum(s)

    Votes: 33 28.0%

  • I disagree with it, I think it's too minimalistic

    Votes: 16 13.6%

  • Not sure / no comment

    Votes: 4 3.4%
  • Total voters
    118
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dutchbb

Well-known member
XF is all about minimalistic and clean design, something that also seems to be the latest trend on the web. But what do you personally think about the decision to hide most of the user info in postbit? Please cast your vote in the poll.
 
I think for this community it suites it perfectly although letting the owner who paid for the license make the final decision is even more grand :).
 
The one feature that truly grabbed me and impressed me most when I first saw xF... Brilliant!
 
I think it's both daring and brilliant. I will definitely keep it this way on my forum.
 
I am all for it. I actually strip a lot of nonsense from other providers and love pre-made designs that use a minimalistic approach to existing softwares, IPB and VB. I actually refuse to use one of these forums that is cluttered and completely overwhelming with content boxes, information. I was always taught, clean navigation, clean design, reaps best results. Game forums are some of the worst I have ever seen for clutter...
 
Anthony Parsons said:
I am all for it. I actually strip a lot of nonsense from other providers and love pre-made designs that use a minimalistic approach to existing softwares, IPB and VB. I actually refuse to use one of these forums that is cluttered and completely overwhelming with content boxes, information. I was always taught, clean navigation, clean design, reaps best results. Game forums are some of the worst I have ever seen for clutter...
Click to expand...
And a lot of gamers don't care about most of that information :P.

I used a very minimalistic style on my vB3 board, and most of the users were fine with it (Some really enjoyed it, because they don't care about most of the information). 
 
At first. I wasn't to keen on the postbit data being hidden but the longer I browsed and remained here the more I thought this decision was justified. The benefits I find right off is that it reduces bloated data in an area where content should be the first focus point, content being key and being the content. Secondly, the idea of bloating the posting area just attracts your eyes to data which is not that important which can otherwise be hidden or one click away (membercard). I would class the data in postbit as "curiosity data" because in most cases, people glance towards it wondering how many posts that member made, where they are from, whether they are online. Normally, and I can only speak for myself. If a posting has interested me and I've read what I have to read I then commence in viewing the member card where otherwise I'd normally glance mid-reading if the postbit data was there present in the postbit which I feel disrupts your reading and in some case can be the prominent focus point when it shouldn't be.

I would say it gets some getting used to with the data being hidden but it doesn't. It was actually a very smart and brave move which worked out very well.
 
I don't like having to click on the users avatar to see this very important information. I also miss not see if the member is online or not with the indication of a little green image.

This will hopefully be an admin setting to be able to view information below the avatar. If not I'll need to make template changes.
 
AndyB said:
I don't like having to click on the users avatar to see this very important information. I also miss not see if the member is online or not with the indication of a little green image.

This will hopefully be an admin setting to be able to view information below the avatar. If not I'll need to make template changes.
Click to expand...
This sort of thing is likely to be a template edit issue - all the data is exposed, so it's not going to be a difficult thing to achieve, but adding admin options for this sort of thing really only serves to make the base product more subject to bugs and unexpected behaviour, not to mention the performance penalty of carrying around so many options and having code to support them.
 
I disagree with that decision, too minimalistic. As a user, i like to see the number of posts, the provenience, the join date etc. of other members...
 
Right now, the poll shows 72% or responders like the data where it is(n't), so it may not be a good candidate for an option, but should it arise that there are significant numbers of people who want the info and equally significant numbers who don't, then it would become something for which we'd look at providing an option.
 
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