The XDA forums are getting WAY WAY too cluttered. - About xda-developers.com

Back when XDA started out, it was pretty big but more or less guidable. Now.....its just a joke.
Looking for someone is basically impossible in the all section. My personal improvement would be something like the Steam forums.
They have thousands of games but they are put into a "grid like" view. Apply the same thing here and you can even add a + icon next to each device and it would expand the usual General, Q&A, Dev, etc.
Its just getting too much bloat and it takes a hit on page loading (and I imagine the servers/database as well)

I agree

riahc3 said:
Back when XDA started out, it was pretty big but more or less guidable. Now.....its just a joke.
Looking for someone is basically impossible in the all section. My personal improvement would be something like the Steam forums.
They have thousands of games but they are put into a "grid like" view. Apply the same thing here and you can even add a + icon next to each device and it would expand the usual General, Q&A, Dev, etc.
Its just getting too much bloat and it takes a hit on page loading (and I imagine the servers/database as well)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not post your thoughts here to the Admins & Moderators, vice making a new thread (clutter)....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1976627

Related

Just a thought.

I have been trolling the forums for years and have spent 1000's of hours
reading and learning and searching...
mostly searching...
I was just wondering. How taxing would it be to have links
in the forums to entries in the wiki detailing what a given subject is all about?
similar to Tomboy notes in Linux.
where no special taging in the post needs to be made.
any word that has a wiki entry would automatically link to the article.
for instance:
while reading a forum entry about flashing a ROM, there is talk about
HARDSPLs, RADIOs, CID Unlockers, Nand, HaRET, Compcache, different
versions of android Donut Cupcake Eclair etc.... Tinboot, Flash,
CustomRUU.exe the list could go on forever.
Being able to click on the word that is of interest and lead them to a
stationary section for an answer(such as a wiki), may keep the "Stupid" or
repetitive questions to a minimum and help clear up the boards.
Instead of re-explaining how to do something every time a new visitor to the
site decides to ask noob questions, a noob would see something they don't
understand and then click on that word that links them to an article that
best describes it.
the problem is that stickies don't always stay up. good explanations don't
always have their own thread, and searching the forums usually just brings
up posts of people using those words in a sentence but not necessarily
explaining in detail what it is about or how to use it.
often there are very good posts that explain in detail certain subjects.
and if you search for them you will find them.
but you will never get rid of "Lazy" people that don't want to search for hours
reading countless numbers of non-helpful or incomprehensible jibberjabber.
and its not always a matter of being lazy. sometimes it is just damn near
impossible to find what you are looking for.but it is there....
it has just got to be.
Also, if this is possible to have setup,
when there is a subject matter that doesn't yet have an entry any
knowledgeable person that has permission to create an entry can do so.
(i am guessing thats already true for the wiki)
I am sure that may be more complicated than I am seeing it. But it sure would be nice.
I like this idea. At some point we are going to have to migrate to a new wiki (the one we have is no longer supported). When we do that, I will look into this as well. Thanks.
I think not... Cause i will always click the words by accident,
If i want to know something, i will look in the wiki myself
Maybe an option so you can choose
I don't like it either. That way it looks like some ad app has hijacked your browser and hyperlinks all relevant words for you. But, if you could choose wether to turn this option on or off, it might be an idea!
Why are you calling yourself a troll? WTF does trolling mean then? You don't sound like a troll right now.
Overloaded said:
I think not... Cause i will always click the words by accident,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you doing? just clicking around randomly at your screen as you read???
J/K
I know what you mean though... I always "Highlight" with my mouse while I read and I would get mad if I kept getting redirected when I do that.
for sure this would be a better thing if it was "ON" by default for noobs
and then you could turn it off in your user settings when you no longer need it.
maardiweb said:
I don't like it either. That way it looks like some ad app has hijacked your browser and hyperlinks all relevant words for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I absolutly HATE those damn ads. especially when they POPUP little windows that wont go away until you click the little x.
poetryrocksalot said:
Why are you calling yourself a troll? WTF does trolling mean then? You don't sound like a troll right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I consider a troll to be someone that joins a forum just to get access to a download or to frequently get info about something and never contribute back.
I don't really consider myself a troll... when I have something of value I will post. when I get really stuck with a problem I post. but I have no need to rant about BS or make comments on things that I am not really sure about.
Overloaded said:
I think not... Cause i will always click the words by accident,
If i want to know something, i will look in the wiki myself
Maybe an option so you can choose
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with the above and an 'option' seems to be better.

Ban "Sent from my XXX using App" garbage

I can't be the only one who is getting bored of every second post (at least in the i9000 forum) containing:
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something should be done about it, because it's getting out of hand.
1) It makes quoting posts frustrating. It actually punishes us, because we need to manually remove the crap, which is ironically MUCH more difficult on mobile webbrowsers, than PC.
2) It makes posts more difficult to read. Most of them add a few blank lines and itself, making less fit on a screen without scrolling
3) It's totally unnecessary.
4) It is spam by the apps themselves.
5) Users who need an XDA app, can just type "XDA" into their app stores. So it can't even be argued that it is difficult to find such apps otherwise.
My Proposal:
1) Automatically filter the comment out of posts. They are lame, and unneccessary. Get rid of them automatically (simple string substitution).
2) Give a 3 month warning that users utilising clients which post such garbage, will be given 3 warnings, and will be temp banned if they use them. It is fair.
3) Start a shame list of poorly designed XDA clients.
I agree it isn't the end of the world, but its a lot of wasted productivity, and it's unnecessary. It's bad enough that I have noticed that some people here have massively long/intrusive signatures. Some of those people also have these annoying tags, so they have 3x more "crap", than they do actual post.
I agree with this, but it's up to the admins, will flag this to them.
TheDeadCpu said:
I agree with this, but it's up to the admins, will flag this to them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been flagged!
The thing with the signature is that it serves the same purpose as the default signature of your mobile phone in the email client (for example: "Sent from my Verizon Droid X"). It helps to inform people that your message was written while mobile, and so the text might contain errors, or might not be as well thought out as it would have been if you were in front of your computer. The signature is activated by default on our Android apps (and, actually our Windows Phone 7 app).
That said, if there is huge support for turning off the default signature in the application, we'll do it, but this is the first time we're hearing about it being a problem. As mentioned, it serves a practical purpose.
Thanks for the feedback.
svetius said:
It's been flagged!
The thing with the signature is that it serves the same purpose as the default signature of your mobile phone in the email client (for example: "Sent from my Verizon Droid X"). It helps to inform people that your message was written while mobile, and so the text might contain errors, or might not be as well thought out as it would have been if you were in front of your computer. The signature is activated by default on our Android apps (and, actually our Windows Phone 7 app).
That said, if there is huge support for turning off the default signature in the application, we'll do it, but this is the first time we're hearing about it being a problem. As mentioned, it serves a practical purpose.
Thanks for the feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit: deleted..
I can respect that, but surely, there must be better means of doing so, or at least filter them when using Quoting capabilities.. I recall seeing people get in trouble because they included the comments in their quotes (but I might be imagining it)
Auzy said:
I recall seeing people get in trouble because they included the comments in their quotes (but I might be imagining it)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? I agree it's useful ... more so than not, at least, as an identifier and a screaming 'hello I'm on my mobile so if this doesn't make sense you know why' kinda thing. I don't see how this is a big deal ... at all. LOL ... ? I also fail to see how it gets in the way of anything, like quoting especially, as it is essentially another single line that still precedes the quote tags.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
conqu1stador said:
Huh? I agree it's useful ... more so than not, at least, as an identifier and a screaming 'hello I'm on my mobile so if this doesn't make sense you know why' kinda thing. I don't see how this is a big deal ... at all. LOL ... ? I also fail to see how it gets in the way of anything, like quoting especially, as it is essentially another single line that still precedes the quote tags.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's useful IMHO and I am not aware of any issues in including the signature in quotes- it's a single line... who cares? I imagine someone quoted an entire, incredibly long OP, to say "thanks"...
I don't know if it is possible, but how about making the signature from the tapatalk app's just smaller than average text? That way, people can still be informed it was written while mobile, and it would be less obtrusive for the ones who don't like it.... And I'm sorry, I know my normal signature is long
Sent from my Computer using Mozilla Firefox App
RANT
You have to post one way or another - we don't need to know how or what you used to post. It is getting easier to post so more people are posting. Teens are no longer getting flip phones and now populating this forum with more and more silly questions looking for answers you can easily find using google. People have the EVO 4g and think they can post anything they want in the EVO General forum because you have an evo and you are posting in the general section. I want to see general information about the EVO and not other phones on other networks and other random things you find interesting. There are other forums for that.
We all have to start somewhere I know that and when I joined in 2006 the first 4 years I probably posted 100 times and now I am posting like crazy trying to help these people find answers hoping people learn something. People are here 1-2 years with over 1,000 posts.
Yeah, it helps to know that is was posted on a phone but with keyboards and big screens take a couple extra seconds to make sure everything is typed right. I do it why can't other people.
But what if you could have the benefits of knowing which client it was posted with, without having that crap in posts too? Surely that would be better, correct?
svetius said:
It's been flagged!
The thing with the signature is that it serves the same purpose as the default signature of your mobile phone in the email client (for example: "Sent from my Verizon Droid X"). It helps to inform people that your message was written while mobile, and so the text might contain errors, or might not be as well thought out as it would have been if you were in front of your computer. The signature is activated by default on our Android apps (and, actually our Windows Phone 7 app).
That said, if there is huge support for turning off the default signature in the application, we'll do it, but this is the first time we're hearing about it being a problem. As mentioned, it serves a practical purpose.
Thanks for the feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, please, don't turn off signatures in the app. Can't they be stripped, however, the way they're stripped when quoting and responding on the desktop app? I agree, they're difficult to remove if you're responding on the app, but as you said, they're useful to indicate the poster is swyping, or whatever may account for little errors in their post.
rushco said:
RANT
You have to post one way or another - we don't need to know how or what you used to post. It is getting easier to post so more people are posting. Teens are no longer getting flip phones and now populating this forum with more and more silly questions looking for answers you can easily find using google. People have the EVO 4g and think they can post anything they want in the EVO General forum because you have an evo and you are posting in the general section. I want to see general information about the EVO and not other phones on other networks and other random things you find interesting. There are other forums for that.
We all have to start somewhere I know that and when I joined in 2006 the first 4 years I probably posted 100 times and now I am posting like crazy trying to help these people find answers hoping people learn something. People are here 1-2 years with over 1,000 posts.
Yeah, it helps to know that is was posted on a phone but with keyboards and big screens take a couple extra seconds to make sure everything is typed right. I do it why can't other people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fail to see how this post is even for or against the 'signature' argument.
Its a single line.
Like me finishing off my post with this single line.
Or this one, or below.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

Forum jump tab missing?

Seems like for the last week or so the forum jump tab that was located at the bottom/right of the screen has gone missing. So now the only way to go to another subforum is to click at the home icon located at the top/left of the screen. Any reason this option was disabled, or is it just me?
Srsly? No one else has this missing?
peachpuff said:
Srsly? No one else has this missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, missing for me as well. I LOVE that feature!
svetius said:
Yup, we removed it because we found an opportunity to improve performance on the site. Turns out that little drop down include a TON of HTML calls.
Our impression was that few people used it. If it turns out that it is greatly missed, we'll bring it back, but we rather enjoy the slight boost in I/O performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1233259
Sucks that there isn't some way to to quick jump, or navigate back from the bottom of the page, to at least the last forum browsed. Apparently not many people do use quick jump because its not so much missed judging by the lack of traffic on the subject
Bummer hope they bring it back.
I always miss it when it's removed (I've seen it for the same reason on other forums), but I know it does make quite a load on the server.
Sent from a state of Serendipity
I miss it. Forum jump was a great tool, saved time by not having to go to index to change sub forum.

XDA 2013 Beta Theme is Now Live! [Comments Thread]

Today we are announcing the public beta of the new "2013" theme for the XDA forums. This theme is in active development, though for the most part it should be suitable for daily use. You can access it via the "Style Chooser" in the bottom left corner of most pages.
Please note: this theme is not bug free. It's possible that you will notice some funky behavior while using it.
Some of the primary benefits/features:
When we finish optimizing, it will be significantly faster than the existing "XDA 2010" theme.
Optimized for displays 1280 width screen resolution
We've added a sidebar to update you on PMs and subscribed threads/forums. This is collapsible for users when reading threads.
Tabbed home page which will default to showing your subscriptions to give you easy-access to the forums you care about most.
Enhanced device information pages (for example: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1533) that will show specs and root instructions for some devices.
Plus many other little additions and improvements.
Most of the user-facing changes are cosmetic. We created XDA 2013 as a platform for much more significant enhancements to the site, which will be rolling out over the next few months.
Please use this thread to post your comments and suggestions. If you have bugs to report, please post your thoughts in this thread.
Thank you for your help!
Just wondering, is there a place where we users can send in our device's info, so that the people working on it won't have so much work?
Cheers for all the effort put into it! Looks awesome!
Use it sice a week and its very fast. the only problem is the thanks-expand-arrow, he is too wide away from the text
Admin Edit: I made the "expand" text clickable also. - js1999
Edit: Thanks Admin
Awesome loving the new refreshed look of the site
just a suggestion.
The "online" symbol should be more green as currently difference between offline(black) and online(green) is very less noticeable
I really hate that there is so much crammed everyhwere, the right side portal stories are annoying, if I want portal stories I click on "portal"
I think the 2010 version is better, some of the fonts are cooler on the 2013 version but there is just way too much crammed on the screen at once.
sweet, trying it now.
This is defiantly different, looks clean, futuristic. I like it, will take sometime for my eyes to adjust to it tho.
orangekid said:
I really hate that there is so much crammed everyhwere, the right side portal stories are annoying, if I want portal stories I click on "portal"
I think the 2010 version is better, some of the fonts are cooler on the 2013 version but there is just way too much crammed on the screen at once.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can close the sidebar if you don't really like it.
So far, the only thing I don't really like about this is the fact that if you click on a device (e.g. the HD2) all of the subforums appear. I understand that outside of the HD2 this won't be a major problem, but it still looks a bit clunky. Also, on normal zoom (i.e. I've pressed ctrl+0) I get a scroll bar thing along the bottom? Seems a bit odd, probably just a little glitch. Don't have it outside of when I'm replying though.
Needs are darker font system wide. Post_bit fonts are too light. That's the only thing that I see that I would change at this point.
But, that's just the VBulletin Admin in me coming out. LOL.
the_scotsman said:
You can close the sidebar if you don't really like it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only see the ability to close the sidebar while viewing a post and not forums. Is there a option Im missing?
I like the look but would like the ability to collapse the sidebar.
eollie said:
I only see the ability to close the sidebar while viewing a post and not forums. Is there a option Im missing?
I like the look but would like the ability to collapse the sidebar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's up the top right in the forum view too.
I think he meant the Forum Home view. There is no choice to collapse it on the main All Forums page.
Hmm I must not be special enough to get that option yet .
How about an inverted/dark/black theme for AMOLED devices when people don't use Tapatalk?
Oh my, this is quite nice.
The new theme is kinda awesome
But the page goes out of my screen so i have scroll a lil bit ... !!
Can we maybe have an option to only remove the portal posts from the side bar but instead display ALL messages and subscribed threads / fora?
Because clicking on "View all messages" takes you to the PM page. I'd rather have them in that list (best would be if it takes as much place as available ) (same for threads and fora)
if possible remove xda portal sidebar......if other guys agrees on it

Search on these forums is awful now

Without changing to the old XDA theme down below (ie XDA 2015) which works amazingly well and advanced search is very useful and you can arrange your results that can come in the form of THREADS or individual POSTS and sort by relevance, last posting date, creation date....and the list goes on.
The search feature now you just begin typing and pray to god what you search for make something pop up close to what you are wanting. Good luck though because most likely the results are going to be in a terrible non chronilogical order (i have results pop up from 3 years ago....then very next result is from 2018 and all over the place!!)
How in the heck can you perform an advanced search without going down below and changing the theme to something OLD so that you can reach the "advanced search" button
The search plus feature is a piece of junk
Educate me on how the AVERAGE person is not immediately turned off and frustrated by this. If it wasn't for the old theme still avalible down below....i absolutely could not find what i am searching for on this website.
deskjet390 said:
Without changing to the old XDA theme down below (ie XDA 2015) which works amazingly well and advanced search is very useful and you can arrange your results that can come in the form of THREADS or individual POSTS and sort by relevance, last posting date, creation date....and the list goes on.
The search feature now you just begin typing and pray to god what you search for make something pop up close to what you are wanting. Good luck though because most likely the results are going to be in a terrible non chronilogical order (i have results pop up from 3 years ago....then very next result is from 2018 and all over the place!!)
How in the heck can you perform an advanced search without going down below and changing the theme to something OLD so that you can reach the "advanced search" button
The search plus feature is a piece of junk
Educate me on how the AVERAGE person is not immediately turned off and frustrated by this. If it wasn't for the old theme still avalible down below....i absolutely could not find what i am searching for on this website.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google
Subject then
site:forum.xda-developers.com
deskjet390 said:
Without changing to the old XDA theme down below (ie XDA 2015) which works amazingly well and advanced search is very useful and you can arrange your results that can come in the form of THREADS or individual POSTS and sort by relevance, last posting date, creation date....and the list goes on.
The search feature now you just begin typing and pray to god what you search for make something pop up close to what you are wanting. Good luck though because most likely the results are going to be in a terrible non chronilogical order (i have results pop up from 3 years ago....then very next result is from 2018 and all over the place!!)
How in the heck can you perform an advanced search without going down below and changing the theme to something OLD so that you can reach the "advanced search" button
The search plus feature is a piece of junk
Educate me on how the AVERAGE person is not immediately turned off and frustrated by this. If it wasn't for the old theme still avalible down below....i absolutely could not find what i am searching for on this website.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's difficult to reach the advanced search form using the XDA 2015 theme indeed (I don't know if there's a reason for this...), but you still can use it here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php
I'm still in the process to find an easy way to go to this form using the xda 2015 theme though. I can't remind where it is located besides from any user's post history (see my screenshots, click on Search Forums)...
In the 2015 theme, the "regular" advanced search is located at the top of EVRY forum index page. Just click the gear icon next to the search box.
Okay.
This needs to be available at the top of the forums home page and easily identified.
I am not dumb, I am a long time xda user and know I'm not the only one that has struggled to search these forums the last few years.
The "search plus" feature is being thrown in front of us and trying to be forced down our throats but it's awful and it's a project that needs to be abandonned or a choice given at the fourm home portal.
deskjet390 said:
Okay.
This needs to be available at the top of the forums home page and easily identified.
I am not dumb, I am a long time xda user and know I'm not the only one that has struggled to search these forums the last few years.
The "search plus" feature is being thrown in front of us and trying to be forced down our throats but it's awful and it's a project that needs to be abandonned or a choice given at the fourm home portal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternatively, you can use an older xda theme to be able to see a quick link to the advanced search feature on the top of the xda web page.

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