button that would remember what page and what post you were last reading ?

[aegersz]

a memeber asks: I dont know if this is possible with this forum program, but on the phile (vBulletin) there was this great little button you could press that would remember what page and even what post you were at last time you were reading a thread, and would send you there so you didnt have to search for where you left off.  The only thread button I can see here takes you to the newest post (ie end of the thread).

Can we have something like that?

[KnownSyntax]

I kind of agree with this, since it would be nice to have something which would mark where you "last left off". I think it wouldn't be that hard to add in since you would just need to keep track of the last place each member was at (an extra piece of information that would be stored in SQL as an extra query per page load).

[Steve]

I'm confused. Closing my browser (or tab) and then reopening it takes me right to where I left off.

[Kindred]

that is one additional query writing to the database for every page load.   I believe that is a bad idea, myself...   what happens when you get a site with 500 users online at any one time?
You are going to hit RACE conditions in many cases...

[Jade Elizabeth]

Kindred, what if it simply changed the value for the "new" icon so that it went to the post you were last at? IE: changing the last unread ID for that topic?

That wouldn't be any extra load until it's pressed.


Note for aegersz: Tell them to scroll to the bottom of the thread and click "mark unread" and I am pretty sure that will set it back to the value it was at. If you read 5 posts it wont go 5 posts down but it will go back into your unread list at that first post which will make it easier to find where you were .

[Kindred]

Actually, that would be even worse, Jade....   now the system needs to actively track what post you are onwithin the thread....

that means thatit is going to have to be REGULARLY "pinging" the user  to find the current location and then updating the database.

Now, you have gone from getting one update to the database per page load to requiring multiple database updates AND network communication to the user's browser.

[Jade Elizabeth]

No no no no...I suck at explaining let me try again lol. It would add a button next to "quote" at the top right of the post that says "I'm up to here" or something like that, and when pressed it changes the DB value for what's been read in the topic so that when you press the new icon it goes to that post instead of the one 6 posts up lol.