Excerpt long posts and add read more button
Tuija Maria
Long posts take up A LOT of space on threads, especially on mobile. Can we please shorten them (like on FB for example) and show only the first few sentences and then add a read more button?
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Autopilot
Merged in a post:
colored "See more" for long posts
Saif Al Rawahi
Some members don't get to read the full post due to not knowing that there is more to be read (depending on when the post cuts off) a colored "see more" to expand the post would be great.
Nick Barba
Merged in a post:
Change post overflow indicator/UI to say "Read more" or "See more" instead of "..." Users don't know they have to click on the content to see more
Sarah Parker
The post/thread content overflow indicator is not clear, since it uses ellipses (three periods, for those not familiar).
It's confusing to users, and will cause them to miss content, as it's not clear that it's a button/trigger to read more of the content.
Can we have a "Read more" or "See more" UI indicator instead, so people know they need to click on it?
Attached is a good example from Facebook (in green. This works, as it says "See more", is bold, and is spaced
away
from the content), and an example of a post from my community (in red. See how it just looks like my message is just incomplete?).It's not intuitive UI, and makes it look to the user like the message just got cut off.
The ellipsis also matches the font weight (regular, or bold) of the preceding word exactly, and there's no space, further making it look like the message is just incomplete on purpose.
They don't know that they need to click or tap on it to read the full thread, so they will be missing a ton of information!
Lissy Torres
To add some more detail:
I would really like a Read More link at the bottom of each pinned post or shortened posts. Right now, I have to resort to writing something like "Long post. Please click to read on mobile." and bolding it. This is a really small change that would add a lot more usability to the platform and save me a lot of time repeating info and tagging users.
The ellipsis (...) or word cut off is not enough to signal to the user that a. there's more content and b. they must click generally anywhere on the post to open it. Sometimes, there isn't even an ellipsis and the post cuts off at the end of a sentence, so people have no idea at all it's a longer post.
Admin HB
Nick Barba I have been following Heartbeat for a long time, and unfortunately I've been paying a competitor I consider less exciting for the same number of years because this team can't implement such a simple feature that has been upvoted 200+ times that will obviously be a game changer for hundreds of people that would probably migrate from other solutions into here just because of this. The BIG cards are ugly, a mess to scroll 10 minutes until we get our finger burning, to what? Only to read a few titles that probably are not even interesting? I don't get it. This lack of sense in prioritizing a feature so important like this concerns me a lot. Also, there's not even the need to replace one feature for another. Just add a new "List/Thread View" with titles among some simple stats such as the number of replies, date, etc (sample images attached) as an additional option in the "Settings". Whoever wants those 2010 "Card View" can leave them as is, or we can choose the "Thread View" for a more compiled format.
David Hooper
Admin HB Agree this would be EXTREMELY helpful and make the forum 10x easier to use. The current format required a TON of scrolling and brainpower to find what you're looking for. A list of thread subjects would make a huge boost for usability.
Nick Barba
Merged in a post:
Threads List View and Cards View
David Hooper
As my community gets busier, I'm finding it harder and harder to stay on top of messages. It would be great if we could have both titles for posts as well as a "list view" to stay on top of higher-volume forums.
Guy M2
This is absolutely necessary. Heartbeat right now is very unfocused when it comes to finding or engaging with topics, because it's just a scroll of posts.
There are no titles required (https://heartbeat.canny.io/feature-requests/p/adding-titles-to-threads-post), and the posts are huge with lots of padding.
I would like to see a simple discussion list, with the Title, maybe an excerpt, and a number of comments. Similar to many other forums. E.g., example screenshot that Misty Dorman posted a couple of years ago. E.g., another example screenshot from another website.
The simple list view of topics makes it so much easier to quickly find/see/digest/engage with topics as a user.
Not even as an admin - but users themselves can see all the topics in a much easier-to-see list. This encourages engagement.
And as an admin - it makes it far easier to use.
I believe Circle has this option.
I would like to see:-
- Require Titles for all posts. This will just make everything clearer across the board.
- The view type of posts as a setting for each area - Threads (like now) or List.
Some areas might benefit from a more "threads-type" view, and others might benefit more from a List-type view. Circle has this option - to set the view type per area.
- Options for what shows in List cards (so before click-through) - Title, excerpt, number of comments, number of views, profile pictures of commenters, etc.
- Users themselves can choose the view type to fit what they like.
Guy M2
Just to add - look how much cleaner and easier it is to read posts in a Circle set-up, where there are Titles for each post, comments don't show automatically, etc.
It's much easier to read, to see what a post is about, and to not get overwhelmed by all the text and other information (because it doesn't show any comments - it only shows the post title, a content excerpt, then number of comments).
The current set-up of Heartbeat "Threads" is quite difficult to read and want to engage with, because it's a bunch of text (full text of a post, a number of comments), and is unclear and unfocused what a post is about (because of no title). This makes it quite overwhelming to look at, and makes a user not want to engage with it.
I would really like to see Heartbeat have these things Circle has - forced Titles, do not display comments (only a comment count icon), excerpt length choices, etc.
This will only help to increase engagement.
Hope that makes sense!
David Hooper
Guy M2 This would be a shot in the arm to Heartbeat communities and make them so much more powerful. What's the chance of this happening, Nick Barba?
Nick Barba
Merged in a post:
Pinned posts are excerpt & not obvious that there's more to read
Misty Dorman
Pinned post in a thread get cut off as an excerpt & need a "continue" or "keep reading" or "read more" type of button, in case it's not obvious it needs to be expanded.
Joanna-Roselyn maggs
This would be so much better, definitely. hope this is done soon
Sharon Gaynor
Agree. It's confusing when the option isn't presented, so members know there is more to read. People assume they've read the full post when they haven't. Similarly, there's no "Back" button when they do discover there is more to the post, also causing confusion.
Andrea Ryan
Agreed.
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