Goto first new post

You could just use a text link in the same place as the page numbers. I have just put a post in the test forum so you can see what I mean. Of course the page numbes and the "New" link could be styled differently to stand out from the subject.

The only problem with putting a text link before the subject line rather than a graphic is that it will al get a bit cluttered if the topic is sticky.

I don't see why using the image (which represents that there is a new post) is a bad idea?

JoeWesthead: I'm talking about viewforum.php, not index.php.

ps21: Yes, I like text links, but what should the link say and how should it look?

chacmool: Do you mean just adding a link to the image that is already there (like Frank H's mod) or do you mean using the image one more time, but this time right next to the subject? I'm not to fond of the way the mod works. Clicking that image isn't something that feels intuitive. It doesn't appear to be clickable.

Something like this:

This is a very popular topic [1 2 3 Unread]

or

This is a newish topic [Unread]

or

This is another top [1 2 3] [Unread]

or

Another new topic [1 2] [New Posts]

All you  would be doing is adding an extra link after the page number links. This seems a logical approach since all the links which allow users to jump to particular posts in the topic will be together. You could put the page numbers and link to unread posts on a new line which I have seen on other boards like this

This is yet another topic
[1 2 3 4] [Unread Posts]

As an alternative, instead of putting the link on viewforum.php why not put it on viewtopic.php. What will happen is that when users click on a topic they will go to the first topic as usual. You would then include a "GoTo First Unread" link in the topic header where you currently dispaly the page numbers links like this

http://www.post21.co.uk/psfiles/newpost.gif

A final thought. If I were modding a board to include this feature I would do one of the following

1. Scrap the new posts graphic alltogether and replace it with the number of unread posts in that topic. The number would be a link which would take you to the first unread post in that topic. The column would be headed "New". Not only does this give you the link you are looking for but it provides more information in that you also get the number of new posts. If you wanted to keep the graphic then you could align it left, align the number of new posts right and have both though you would have to widen the column to accomodate it in which case you could give it a more descriptive heading like "New Posts".

http://www.post21.co.uk/psfiles/newpost1.gif

2. Add an extra column between "Views" and "Last Post" headed "New". In that column would be the number of new unread posts. The number would be a link which could be clicked on to take you to the relevant post. In order to avoid taking too much width from other columns I would get rid of the seconds display from the time of last post so that column could be made narrower.

Maybe, but on that basis it is also irrelevant how many posts or views there are for a topic. Whilst you might click a link anyway a user might very well decide to look at the topic with most new posts first. In any case, if you are going to have a link then you might as well use it to convey information. Plus of course, the presence of a number does signify that the link does something important.

Actually, I think I agree but for some reason our host and designer in chief doesn't so I was trying to come up with an alternative.

P.S. Joe, in anticipation of you replying to this, congratulations on achieving Senior Member status

Oh

ps21: Displaying the number of new posts in each forum would involve running one extra query per forum (or maybe just one extra all together). I'm not sure such a feature warrants the performance hit it can incur.

chacmool: Maybe :)

I've been fiddling with this tonight and right now it looks like this:

I'm quite pleased. Maybe you'll also notice that I've replaced "Last page" with the actual page number. It's a bit more condensed like this and I kind of like the fact that you can see the number of pages directly.

It's kind of hard to explain how it wraps. First, "[ 1 2 3 ... 9]" jumps down to the next row. Then "[ New posts ]" jumps down and finally, the subject is wrapped. In other words, stuff in brackets is treated as one word.