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UI for opening comment threads

This is a request for a UI change for consideration if the community isn't against it.

IMO the UI for opening a thread to view comments could be better. Right now when scrolling through the feed, I have to click the tiny comments icon to open the thread, and it soft-navigates to the comments thread. Clicking back (in the browser, or using the button in the thread UI) takes me right back, which is great, however, it seems like I sometimes lose my place in the feed. The problems here are: 1. the link to open comments is tiny, and 2. the thread takes over the feed.

It would be great if the experience could be a bit more like Alexandrite, where clicking on the post opens the thread in a panel in-place, which you can click outside to close without losing your place in the feed. Just feels a bit more intuitive IMO. If this is a controversial change, it could be a configurable option.

Thanks for considering this feedback!

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3 comments
  • I am aware of the issue with losing your spot. It's been there since the start of Photon, due to a problem with SvelteKit.

    Instead of using your browser's native back-cache, SvelteKit's client router will take over and re-fetch the post feed when going back. back-cache hasn't been added yet, so I can't fix this :(

    I could do the post page option, but that would cause the bundle size to explode. I'll experiment with it.

    In terms of the small tap target issue, you can also tap the post title to go to the post.

    • Awesome, thanks for looking into the post page option, and thanks for the title click tip!

    • I just had an idea that might make the browsing experience better. Hitting Esc should take you back i.e. do the same as clicking the back arrow button in the UI. I think this would make the UI seem more responsive. I think this would work well with the other UI change you're considering with making posts look more like Alexandrite as well.