What Would YOU Like the Category Order to be on the Home Screen?

[Moderator_1]

Here’s our current home screen, which you can access from wherever you are on the site by clicking the C icon in the upper left corner.

Should we list our categories/forums exactly as they were on the old site? Announcements, Dressage, etc. Should we have more frequented, non-discipline-specific categories listed first like it is now? Do you have another idea?

What do you want to see?

Also, if you click the menu with three gray horizontal lines next to your avatar, you’ll see a list of categories that automatically customizes itself based on your personal use of the site. So, there, the forums will appear in an order according to where you tend to visit and interact more.

• Exactly how it used to be!
• I like how it is now.
• Something else I’ll elaborate on below.

[BAC]

I can’t even figure out how to get to the home page most of the time and when I do its too busy with all those colored circles and numbers. I guess I will get used to it in time and I appreciate that you are trying to improve the forums. I’m not too concerned with the order of the categories but I would prefer that they stay in the same order all the time, instead of having them all mixed up based on the most recent replies.

[Simkie]

@BAC

I can’t even figure out how to get to the home page most of the time

Click the big C in the upper left hand corner, or, on mobile, click the three line hamburger menu in the upper right, next to your avatar image, and select “Categories”.

@BAC

I would prefer that they stay in the same order all the time, instead of having them all mixed up based on the most recent replies

Hmmmm, they have stayed in the same order for me since launch? Maybe you are viewing from the “latest” page instead of categories? If so, you’ll probably like categories a lot better!

[BAC]

Thanks Simkie, that was a big help. Yes I was on the latest page instead of the home page/categories, that is much easier for me.

[phantomhorse]

I like alphabetical order for the main page, since the categories are sorted by my reading preferences in my own 3 bar menu.

[trubandloki]

There was no option for - I don’t think it matters.

I am fine with how they are now.

It does make sense to put things that are not used much at the bottom - unless you are trying to make sure people actually see those forums and then by putting them at the top people will see the titles of the top few topics.

Of the changes, the categories being in a different order was a quick thing to not worry about for me.

[Jealoushe]

Eventing should be first, always

[Where_sMyWhite]

I just got used to the order they used to be in but I am, believe it or not, trainable

[skydy]

It would just be one less thing…

[Where_sMyWhite]

@skydy

It would just be one less thing…

What… to whine about?

So, tell me again when I’m at the bottom of a topic, how to get back to the main page quickly without scrolling??

I am more than sure it’s been discussed many times but at this point, many things to sift through.

I did answer my own silly question (fortunately before asking it ) about how to make the FAQ text box go away…

[Simkie]

@Where_sMyWhite

So, tell me again when I’m at the bottom of a topic, how to get back to the main page quickly without scrolling??

Clicking the thread title in the top bar will do it. Or drag the thread slider to the top. Or click on the timestamp/date of the first post in the thread slider. Or the top of the thread slider. Or hit the # key and type 1

[Where_sMyWhite]

@Simkie

Clicking the thread title in the top bar will do it. Or drag the thread slider to the top. Or click on the timestamp/date of the first post in the thread slider. Or the top of the thread slider. Or hit the # key and type 1

I knew there were ways… I discovered earlier the ‘Top’ in the upper right hamburger (never heard that term until we went live here) by my avatar and last time I visited here discovered the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of the timeline slider.

the #key things… not likely to stick in my fuzzy brain but there are options that will

I know it is appealing to go back to the ‘known’ over having to venture into the ‘unknown’ but the more I use this (bad beta tester, I know but also needing to use it in a more life-like environment) the more I like the flexibility that this has along with appearing to be ‘contemporary’ software and not something that forgot to change with the times

And while I suspect most of us would rather not have ads, if ads let me have COTH as a destination, I’m all good and the performance issues attributed to ads the past appear to have not cropped up here

I like to nest parens so it would be nice if Discourse would flag unmatched parens… (just kidding on this one

[Garythesquirrel]

I would like it if the user could control the category order. I know this isn’t an option but it would be nice.

Being able to remove categories is nice though!

[Bluey]

@Where_sMyWhite

So, tell me again when I’m at the bottom of a topic, how to get back to the main page quickly without scrolling??

I click on the big C on the upper left to go back to the categories page, if by “main page” you mean that page.

BUT, the same function may have different paths, not everything seems to work the same way for everyone AND each one can format so much to do things their way, not necessarily like others may do them.

[Simkie]

After being one of the guys that pushed for the original forum order, I’m finding more and more that I’m not using the categories page as “home” so…maybe it doesn’t matter quite as much

Although as people come back, they might find some solid footing and familiarity in the old order. One less change.

[Firebug]

@BAC

I can’t even figure out how to get to the home page most of the time and when I do its too busy with all those colored circles and numbers.

I agree everything is too busy!

[Akogler]

Everything is way too busy. I dislike the whatever you call them, the circles that identify who the latest commenters are (avatars, yes?) its so distracting and to me unnecessary. I just want to see the topics. I dont care what order they are in.

Thank you for everything you all do and for giving us the opportunity to weigh in.

[Moderator_1]

@Akogler

Everything is way too busy. I dislike the whatever you call them, the circles that identify who the latest commenters are (avatars, yes?) its so distracting and to me unnecessary. I just want to see the topics. I dont care what order they are in.

A lot of users really value the ability to see who started a thread or who is contributing to a thread. The first avatar circle shows the OP, the last one show the most recent poster, and any in the middle show the most frequent contributors in the thread. If you hover your pointer over any of the avatars, it will show the username of that poster (screenshot below).

This type of information has always been provided on the forum-level page, and is used by a lot of members of the community, so I don’t foresee us changing that. I’ll look around to see if there’s any option for a user to change their personal view to eliminate them, but I don’t think it’s a possibility.

[Jarpur]

I’d like for the user to be able to sort the categories in the user’s preferred order. If that is not possible, then the old order.

I am thankful for the ability to mute categories.