No Thanks Custom user field: Default Username

So I've been seeing complaints occasionally about how difficult it is for users keep up with all the name changes. I propose an additional user field be made to display in the postbit for users to display their default usernames. It wouldn't take much to add and there's no custom coding involved, it's just adding another field.

I'd find this useful as I change my name and themes a lot. This way everyone knows it's Madame Snow Queen Nights posting and not some strange Premium member who just showed up out of the blue.

-Snow Queen

 

I think it would get very confusing if we had two username fields displaying in posts. There's already your current username and the past usernames field that displays in your profile, that seems sufficient to me.

 

How about adding a title to usernames that displays whatever's contained in a text entry field? It would take a little custom coding to get it to display properly, or not display if the field was empty. This way hovering over the username you could set a title (default name) to be displayed. It would appear as something similar to this:



It's just something for convenience that way users don't have to check profiles. If this is something you might consider I could figure out how to do this and send you the instructions, that way you don't have to waste time figuring it out. Though it should be a simple modification.

-Snow Queen

 

I'm sort of against this because I really don't change my name that often. And people would probably be able to know it was me just from the way I post.

I have to wonder how it would be an inconvenience to have to check a profile? I mean, that's how you find out information about a person on a forum. This comes off as, at least to me, lazy. As Misty pointed out, there is a field in the profile for your past usernames. If you change them that often, perhaps you should reconsider until the forum can associate you with a username.

Oh god this sounds really harsh. I'm sorry.

 

No, no. I completely understand where you guys are coming from. Sure checking profiles is easy but it's an inconvenience for members to check constantly, especially when dealing with someone who changes their name a lot (i.e. me). It's not like I'm suggesting this for myself. I was merely trying to create a suitable solution for members who lose track of who is who. Also, what about members using smartphones? Would you still say that checking profiles was easy? Sure it's a click with a computer but it's a hassle to navigate to a profile page and then back to the forums on a mobile device.

This was just a suggestion to try and help the new members who can't yet pick out a user by the style of their post.

-Snow Queen

 

Regarding mobile phones, with the responsive design, I can't imagine it's incredibly difficult.

 

Using an alt hover would be just as if not more confusing IMO. I browse on my phone a lot and I have no problem checking profiles. Your two display suggestions would still force mobile users onto profiles as well (post info doesn't display on responsive and you can't hover over usernames). Honestly I think that this is merely a consequence of changing your name too often: people will confuse you. It's something people should keep in mind; it doesn't bother most people I don't think but it shouldn't come as a surprise.

 

Well, when you put it like that ... I was just trying to think of something to help with the identify crisis. I see your point now.

This thread can be locked/denied.

-Snow Queen

 

The only other thing I can think of is to make the Information tab come first on profiles so the Past Usernames field is right there. @Misty?

 

I know how to move tabs but I don't think it's necessary. Profile comments are far more important.

 

Hm. Yeah, I agree, especially on large sites. :)

I'd still love to do that for KH-F, though. If you have a chance and are willing to, would you post the solution in my thread on XenForo (it's in Styling and Customization Questions), provided no one else gets to it first. :P

Apologies if that sounds advertise-y.

 

There's a past username section on our profiles...?

 

Yes. Go to the Information tab on my profile and take a look.

 

Code:

#profilePosts.profileContent {
    display: none !important;
}

#info.profileContent {
    display: list-item !important;
}

The above code will display Information first when profile loads. No need to move the buttons. You may also use "recentActivity" or "postings" in place of "info" to display Recent Activity or Postings respectively.

EDIT: Alternatively this can be used with Stylish so any member with the Stylish extension/add-on can choose which tab to display upon loading of the profile page.

EDIT2: This is a lie. Profile posts no longer displays when using the method above.

-Snow Queen

 

It cannot be done via CSS. I've done it before for other sites. There's no need to trouble yourself with this for KHV, especially because, frankly, I don't plan on rearranging them.

 

This.

@Snow Queen, if you're interested, though, in regards to KH-F, I've gotten support on XenForo.

 

Yeah. I saw that using the !important code to overwrite the css caused it to not work at all (though 'display: run-in !important; showed both profile posts and information at the same time >.<). I tried to be cool and show off some css magic. It didn't work >.>

-Snow Queen

 

So there's no chance of Nights' suggestion of a alt-hover being implemented? I actually liked that idea.

 

My main argument was it would make things easier for smartphone users but it won't (they can't hover >.<). Considering there's no further arguments I'd say this is probably going to be denied. Glad somebody liked the idea though ^^

-Snow Queen

 

Well, personally, I like it because I can use it on my laptop. When I browse KHV on my laptop, I'm more immersed in the entire forum whereas if I'm on my phone or tablet, I'm simply looking for content (what's being said. Who said it doesn't mean as much to me if I'm only using my phone because I'm probably only using it to kill a few minutes, an hour tops). Personally, I consider the forum more catered to computers than mobile devices, along with many other sites. If a feature doesn't work for mobile devices, should it not be allowed on a computer?
By that logic, are thread previews available via smartphones?

I'm still up for the hover idea. It looks simple enough if someone could actually do it. Using KHV on my old phone was extremely difficult; I would have avoided clicking someone's profile JUST to see their past username if I had to (not to mention a lot of people DON'T fill out that field for some reason). My current phone actually lets me use KHV easily, but I would still prefer if my computer could hover over someone's name even if my phone couldn't.