Preview of post-holiday DU updates
Hello everyone,
We're taking a break from development this week for Thanksgiving, but I wanted to share some items that we have in the pipeline for when we get back. I've decided to post this in DU Community Help instead of Announcements since this is where most of the DU4 chat has been taking place.
While there are still plenty of small bugs and issues to fix around the site, we feel like we're mostly past the stabilization phase of the new software, which means we can devote more time to improvements and requests. Here are three items that we've got coming after the holiday.
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1) The big one -- the return of tabbed navigation (for tablets, laptops, and desktop PCs)
The biggest change to DU in the last update was certainly the navigation system. It was my intention to create something which would work better for mobile users, and I became convinced that a "one size fits all" approach was the right way to go. However, after observing the new system in action, it's clear that while some people like it, others are less keen.
So in the spirit of "if it wasn't broke and I tried to fix it, and I broke it, then I should fix it," we're working on bringing back the original tabbed navigation system. This is still a work in progress at the moment, but here are a couple of screenshots of where we're headed (to see larger versions, right click an image and open it in a new tab):
DU4 tabbed navigation
Tabbed navigation in Skinner Mode:
This will become the new default navigation for tablet and computer users -- we're still happy with the navigation as it currently exists on phones, so for now that's not going to change. In addition, if you DO prefer the new navigation on your computer, we should be able to include it as an Account Settings option so you can choose between tabs or buttons.
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2) Sidebar collapser (Default Mode/Night Mode)
A number of people requested the ability to collapse the left sidebar in order to give a wider view of the page. We've been able to accomplish this with a new button that will appear in the top right corner of the "Signed in as" box in the sidebar.
Sidebar collapse button
Tapping that button will collapse the sidebar, but leave the button on screen so you can open it again at any time. Here's what the homepage looks like with the left sidebar collapsed (laptop sized screen resolution) and the new (er, old) tabs at the top:
Homepage with collapsed sidebar
This improvement should be particularly beneficial to users on smaller laptops and tablets who would like some extra screen real estate. However, please note that the left column is required for us to show ads, so this function will be reserved for Star Members only. Also note that this feature is not available in Skinner Mode.
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3) Share by email
People have been asking us about this one for a long time -- the ability to quickly share threads via email. We've previously had to put this idea on the backburner because there are complicated privacy and spam issues involved if we were to send emails to people on your behalf.
However, we believe we've come up with a creative solution -- essentially, we've created a helper which will allow you to send your own emails, leaving DU out of the equation. This won't work for everyone, for technical reasons, but it should work for the vast majority of people.
New email button in the Share section at the bottom of OPs
To share by email, you would first click the new Email button found in the Share section of any OP. That brings you to a new page:
Your Mailing List
On this page, you will be able to store a list of email addresses that you can then send DU threads to.
Add email addresses to your Mailing List:
When you first arrive at this page you won't have any addresses stored, but once you add an address it will be stored for your future use (for your personal use only -- you can delete addresses at any time). So the next time you want to share a thread via email, you'll already have addresses in your Mailing List. In this way you can create your own personal mailing list of friends who might want to read about something on DU.
Check the addresses that you want to send the thread to:
The email will only be sent to the senders that you check in the left column.
Automatically create an email from you to your friends:
After a quick preview, the process ends by creating an email using your default email program. The email is addressed to the email address associated with your account, so essentially you're sending it to yourself, but the addresses you selected from your mailing list will be added as Bcc's, so they will receive the email but not see the other recipients. We also prefill the subject line, and include the title of the thread and URL in the body. But you can of course add your own comments.
That's a lengthy description, but once you've added a few email addresses the process really is just as simple as:
Share > Email > Preview > Send
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So those are the items that will be arriving after the holidays -- I can't give you an exact date yet but it should all be coming pretty soon.
Thanks for your patience while we continue our work!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Thank you!
Have a happy Thanksgiving! 
That Return of the Tabbed Navigation System POSTS at the TOP Looks really Good to me! 
