Moving the "Post a Comment" text-area to the top of the thread
Hello, it's exciting to be here during the formation of this amazing new site! After interacting with the site for a short period of time it became increasingly apparent that the ability to comment on a thread at the highest level requires the user to scroll to the very bottom of the page.
There are benefits of this approach, to be sure, such as encouraging the user to actually read some of the existing comments before adding their own ideas to the discussion. It's possible, and ever more likely, that what they are trying to say has already been said and they would be better off joining an existing high-level thread to further the discussion rather than fragment it.
Personally, I think the placement of the comment-box feels hidden when it's so inaccessible in a large thread. This feeling would only become more prevalent as additional users join the site and fill the comments-section to the point where you aren't sure it's worth scrolling.
There are definitely pros and cons but I strongly believe users would approve of a more accessible way to submit top-level comments.
This has already been discussed quite a few times before, but the answer is here. In short, it's a deliberate design decision by Deimos, based on the same thinking you point out in this paragraph:
Well just because it's deliberate doesn't mean it's a good decision UX wise.
True, but just because something is convenient or a design standard elsewhere doesn't mean it's worth adopting or doing exactly the same here either. And conversely, just because something is inconvenient doesn't inherently make it a bad design decision either, especially if it encourages people to think a bit more before they act unlike on other sites.
Having to scroll for multiple seconds just to write a comment is bad UX. Especially people that never used the website will think there should be a reply button on the top. My first assumption if there is no reply button is that the thread is locked / archived.
What does this add to the conversation? Do you think it is a good or bad decision UX-wise, and why?
Note UX does not mean all simple all the time, that is classic UX-by-mantra and is bad in most if not all UX situations.
There are patterns in user experience design for a reason. Imagine using a browser with the adressbar on the bottom, it's going to be confusing at first and hard for users to use.
Thanks for sharing that link - Deimos alleviates my concerns well. Different threads have different use-cases and thus can be differentiated into discrete "types" that have different formatting rules such as the location of the comment-box. There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution but there doesn't have to be!
Just as long as you take note of the "maybes" in that comment.
Of course, there are a million potential ideas that won't see the light of day. This being one of the most common complaint/suggestion leads me to believe there will be a time when we can define how one group interacts differently than another and would benefit from a different format. The format can't be wildly different because users expect consistency but there's something to be said about intuitive interaction based on context.
"Discussion before statements" is a good way to begin to describe the interaction goals of the site.
I think the pain is proper only on mobile, where you have no Home or End keys due to lack of hardware keyboard, and the scroll bar is often not interactive.
In that case a simple hovering button to scroll to top (to vote) or bottom (to comment) could be a solution.
I don't think a hovering button would fit with the design model the site is going for. Keeping things as basic as possible is central to the development of Tildes.
The site already hides the sidebar in thin width browsers. So responsive design is being considered.
Although anchor links to the bottom of the page would just encourage the drive-by commenting the input box placement is designed to avoid.
Perhaps you could mirror the post, link & vote button at the bottom of the page though. So you could click into a post, read through comments first and then visit it?
I think it should be after like 3-5 parent comments
I foresee myself inadvertently scrolling past it in the more popular threads.
I foresee myself inadvertently scrolling past it in the more popular threads.
I've accidentally posted a top-level comment instead of a reply at least a few times. My only guess as to how/why, is that the comment posting is at the bottom, so I must somehow confuse it for a reply to the bottom-most comment...