I've enjoyed seeing the various "Sticky" and "Poll" hacks come out over the past week or so.
I'll tell you what I'd really like to see; however. I'd like to see a comprehensive hack that does away with all of the post icons with the exception of 4. It would work in the following manner:
- All posts use a single standard icon such as the lightbulb (to carry the theme over from the front page). Users would not need to actually select this icon. It would be added to all posts unless the post satisfied one of the following criteria. This is how I have my board currently setup. I have removed all but three post icons that users can select. I changed the filename for the lightbulb.gif and modified it to be clear when the post/thread is old and yellow when the post/thread is new.
- Any thread that has been "pinned" has the lightbulb replaced by the "sticky" image when viewed in showflat mode.
- Any thread that has a poll has the lightbulb replaced by the "poll" image when viewed in showflat mode.
What I'm proposing is to have the Poll and Sticky icons operate in the same manner as the Locked icon (ie it replaces the post icon until unlocked, unstuck, etc.). I'd also like it to
add the words
Pinned:,
Poll: or
Closed: to the thread title. All of that would be removed if the thread was re-opened, un-pinned, etc.
If someone can explain to me how the code logic works for closed threads, I think I can workup a hack that will do this.
What I would ultimately like to get rid of is the Post Icons in their entirety. Having them replaced by a single default image which is modifed as I indicated above. Reason being is none of my users like the additional icons. They all prefer the single lightbulb since it makes it much easier to scan through a forum looking for "on" posts. Unfortunately; however, I often forget to change the post icon to the poll or stick image when I make a new post. Having it happen automatically would be a bonus for old forgetful guys like me.
Any ideas?
