More inside - could it look nicer?

February 17, 2005 3:08 PM

I like the new [more inside] feature in AskMe, but I think it looks clunky having all these big [more inside]s strewn all over the place. [more inside]
posted by grouse to Feature Requests at 3:08 PM (32 comments total)

there is currently a debate between the [+] camp and the [more inside] camp. Which should it be?

Also, enjoy this.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:10 PM on February 17, 2005

[+]
posted by Jairus at 3:11 PM on February 17, 2005

They are made to really stand out since they have extra punctuation, are bold, and a more prominent color. This makes it much harder to skim the page for questions I am interested in returning to.

On preview: My vote is for [+]. Additionally I think it should not stand out like the current links do, but be as unintrusive as the [closed] on MetaTalk threads.

Additionally on preview: Thanks for another pony, looks fantastic.
posted by grouse at 3:15 PM on February 17, 2005

My vote is for [+]. Additionally I think it should not stand out like the current links do, but be as unintrusive as the [closed] on MetaTalk threads.

Seconded.
posted by Quartermass at 3:20 PM on February 17, 2005

[+] x3
posted by Lizc at 3:22 PM on February 17, 2005

I used to be a 'more inside' guy, but it sure jumps out at you quite a bit. Perhaps the [+] would be better.
posted by Arch Stanton at 3:24 PM on February 17, 2005

[+] is better, and since the more inside is part of the posting text, and gets slightly lost when you click into the thread, a subtle visual indication to hilight where the more inside content starts would be nice too.
posted by willnot at 3:27 PM on February 17, 2005

[+]
posted by themadjuggler at 3:33 PM on February 17, 2005

[?]
posted by xmutex at 3:33 PM on February 17, 2005

Having the [more inside] be a link seems redundant to me.
posted by modofo at 3:35 PM on February 17, 2005

[MI] ?
posted by McSly at 3:37 PM on February 17, 2005

[+] ... but also make the link have a 'title' attribute with the complete more inside in the title attribute or a DHTML floatover. That way you can read the more inside without having to click into the page.
posted by SpecialK at 3:40 PM on February 17, 2005

I like words... [more inside] gets my vote.
posted by SteveInMaine at 3:41 PM on February 17, 2005

Ok, I changed it to +. People sure are using those more inside areas, and sometimes, seemingly for no good reason.

Here's the worst use and there's another recent one where the more inside is a single sentence with 7-8 words (which could have easily fit with their main post.

I thought making the extended area on the posting page a darker color and saying "optional" would lead to little use of it, but I should probably instead do a CSS div show/hide thing so people only see it if they really want it.

I believe the UI is encouraging overuse.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:42 PM on February 17, 2005

Good call on the title tag, I just added that as well.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 3:43 PM on February 17, 2005

My two cents: You should remove the underline from the [+], because it looks too busy with it. Plus the math side of my brain sees it more like a +/-.
posted by smackfu at 3:45 PM on February 17, 2005

Smackfu, does your browser underline links?
posted by Arch Stanton at 3:53 PM on February 17, 2005

I think SpecialK's suggestion was to have the actual extended copy in the floatover, not "click here." [+]

It looks a lot better now! I still think it stands out too much. It's still a big ol' white/yellow/white with lots of trapped white space inside and as big as the surrounding text. [+]

What about just making it small and grey? [+]
posted by grouse at 3:55 PM on February 17, 2005

There are just rampaging herds of new ponies these days! Thanks #1!
posted by LarryC at 3:57 PM on February 17, 2005

Out of the three versions I've seen today, [+] is the best, [more inside] as a hyper link is just too pronounced visually and I found it distracting, [more inside] was confusing - I was looking for a first post to indicate the poster had added more to the thread.
posted by squeak at 3:57 PM on February 17, 2005

It's perfect now!
posted by smackfu at 4:00 PM on February 17, 2005

except the long more inside gets cut off by default in firefox. Don't know what to do to fix that though. I suppose I could carry over those dhtml titles from mefi.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 4:06 PM on February 17, 2005

Matt, at least in Firefox 1.0/Linux, the dhtml titles are broken. When you open a titled link in a new tab, the title popup on the original page won't go away.

Hasn't bothered me since I turned them off, but if the user preferences don't extend to AskMe then it would become a problem again.
posted by Galvatron at 4:55 PM on February 17, 2005

Matt, I say go with [More Inside]. The [+]s would look just as bad, I think. And [MI] isn't an intuitive abbreviation... It'd confuse all the n00bs!
posted by Hildago at 5:14 PM on February 17, 2005

A+++[+]!!

I just fell in love with AskMefi. It's pretty and a whole lot more usable. It'll be interesting to see how it all looks with the new style implemented, because there's a whole lot more yellow than there used to be what with pluses, checkmarks, categories, and the original links.
posted by tracicle at 5:43 PM on February 17, 2005

I used to think [more inside], but I'm leaning towards [+]. That said, [more inside] doesn't leave any room for ambiguity, though, which is a good thing.

Anything to get rid of the goofy [morio insidio] type stuff is a good thing, though.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:30 PM on February 17, 2005

I'm confused. Earlier today, I saw the [more inside] tags as a link to bigger questing, but now the [more inside] tag is sill there- only now it is not a link at all.
posted by jmd82 at 10:03 PM on February 17, 2005

It seems to be a work in progress, jmd82. Feedback is good. What do you think?

It seems the small, non-link [more inside] gives information without cathing the eye too much, like the gold link.
posted by Arch Stanton at 10:17 PM on February 17, 2005

(un)like the gold link, I mean.
posted by Arch Stanton at 10:23 PM on February 17, 2005

I like the tiny, greyed-out [more inside] better. Very unobtrusive and especially helpful to new visitors.

I also like that it isn't directly hyperlinked, as that would be superfluous in combination with the comment links.
posted by Lush at 12:19 AM on February 18, 2005

I agree with Lush. If it could be better than this, I don't know how.
posted by grouse at 1:26 AM on February 18, 2005

[+] looks so clean though. I like that it sticks out some because then you can scan for the posts with more inside easily. It probably doesn't need to link anywhere, though. Thanks, Matt.
posted by lorrer at 8:09 AM on February 18, 2005