"Jump to new" or "First unread post" button needed

[jfmorris]

I manage a brewing related forum website using phpBB, and the most useful button in that site is when you click on a topic you can click "First unread post" and you skip ahead, even if it is 50 pages of posts, like in the SUWYC threads here on the Pitmaster Club. I've seen it in other forum software packages too.

Example. On this swimming pool forum I go to, every discussion thread has a "Jump to new" that will take me to the first unread post in that thread.





And this is from the brewing website I run - every thread has a "First unread post" link at the top. It will skip ahead through as many posts as it needs to to get to the first one you haven't read in that discussion thread.



If vBulletin cannot do this, then it seems like a major deficiency. I find it frustrating to open discussions I've read before, and not know how many pages in I was. The only feature in vBulletin that seems to be similar is if you get a notification and click on that, and it takes you to the post you were notified about.

I try to keep up with what is going on in the Pitmaster club using the "Recent Posts" feature, but even with that, you don't know where you left off if there is a new post in one of those threads.

Sorry to gripe - this is not directed at you guys, as you do a wonderful job. I just thought with the number of posts on this site, this a feature that would really be helpful. I imagine if this was possible in vBulletin it would already be turned on, so this just may be a feature it is lacking. But if it can do it, having that button or link up top would be awesome!

[Huskee]

jfmorris We've had this in place here for years, sounds like you never knew! Please see this article: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...-is-structured

You can find that article here on the Help page:



Basically these icons are your friends. Click on them to familiarize yourself with them.

1) This round blue icon points to the first new post (since you last opened it),
2) Clicking the post title opens it to page one, unless you change the settings, if it's red you've already opened it,
3) If the title is blue you've not visited that post yet,
4) This oblong icon takes you to the last, most recent, post as shown by the poster's avatar and username.




And as Murdy points out, you can adjust that setting to always take you to the first unread when you click the topic's title, OR, as is the current default, use those icons as shortcuts to that and leave clicking the title to simply open that topic to page 1.

[jfmorris]

Well, duh. I'm a dummy! Crawling away and hiding in shame...

Thanks though!

I guess I was looking for a button inside the topic, like I am used to on other forums. Glad to see how it done, and thanks for the "Pitmaster Club for Dummies" guide!

[Panhead John]

jfmorris You aren’t the only dummy here, I’ve always wondered what those icons meant and why some posts were blue and some were red. Thanks for clearing that up Huskee

[Huskee]

jfmorris Panhead John If you're on a desktop and you hover your mouse over the icons, or any icons for that matter, you should see a little "tool tip" popup that explains what it does. Also works with the text editor buttons above your typing box. And smilies, to see how to type out a smiley. For future reference.

[Murdy]

At the top of the page, click "My Membership" then "My Settings" then scroll to bottom of page and there's a section (under "Pitmaster Extras") where you can set you preference to jump to the first unread post. Thus, you can do it, but it's not easy to toggle back and forth between first post and first new post.

[jfmorris]

Murdy thanks - I had no clue that setting was buried there. That will do what I want for now, and if I need to go back to the top post in a thread, I'll navigate to it using the "Top" button or the page numbers I suppose. The other forums I frequent you click the discussion name, going to the first post, and then click the "First unread" if you want to jump ahead to that.

[DaveD]

Murdy thanks - I had no clue that setting was buried there.

I'll go you one better Jim - I also have no clue that setting is there. But apparently I came across it and enabled it, and THEN completely lost all clue. Hah!

[Huskee]

jfmorris We've had this in place here for years, sounds like you never knew! Please see this article: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...-is-structured

You can find that article here on the Help page:



Basically these icons are your friends. Click on them to familiarize yourself with them.

1) This round blue icon points to the first new post (since you last opened it),
2) Clicking the post title opens it to page one, unless you change the settings, if it's red you've already opened it,
3) If the title is blue you've not visited that post yet,
4) This oblong icon takes you to the last, most recent, post as shown by the poster's avatar and username.




And as Murdy points out, you can adjust that setting to always take you to the first unread when you click the topic's title, OR, as is the current default, use those icons as shortcuts to that and leave clicking the title to simply open that topic to page 1.

[jfmorris]

Well, duh. I'm a dummy! Crawling away and hiding in shame...

Thanks though!

I guess I was looking for a button inside the topic, like I am used to on other forums. Glad to see how it done, and thanks for the "Pitmaster Club for Dummies" guide!

[Panhead John]

jfmorris You aren’t the only dummy here, I’ve always wondered what those icons meant and why some posts were blue and some were red. Thanks for clearing that up Huskee

[Huskee]

jfmorris Panhead John If you're on a desktop and you hover your mouse over the icons, or any icons for that matter, you should see a little "tool tip" popup that explains what it does. Also works with the text editor buttons above your typing box. And smilies, to see how to type out a smiley. For future reference.