I was impressed by how fast and uncluttered this site is. In case someone else is wondering: It seems to be running https://flarum.org/, a PHP forum with a Mithril JS front-end
But it's terrible for search, both internal and external(Google).
Why ?
Let's start with internal search. Ctrl-f fails in thread search. No other mechanism to search inside a thread.
And about external search:
Permalinks to individual comments - great for the search engine when you request a very specific thing - a specific niche comment from this site could get ranked highly in google.
Also, it's making it easy to link to a great comment is import. Impossible here.
Permalinks to webpages that contain full threads - lots of relevant text for the search engine to chew on. But in flarum the content lazily loads. So maybe Google wouldn't be able to chew on all the comments.
And the fact that when Google finds a thread from the site, he doesn't say how many comments per thread , indicates that he doesn't see this as a forum, which could be bad
And all this is a real shame - it's a community with really valuable content.
It's also new forum software (I'm developing it), sort of a combination of Discourse and HN and Slack. I would think it works ok with external search? Becasue, like here at HN, good comments surface to the top, + they're included in the HTMl directly on page load. So, what a search engine sees, ought to be the original post, + the best comments.
I'm wondering, what do you mean with: "Also, it's making it easy to link to a great comment is import"? (What does "import" mean, here)
Perhaps it's the subject matter that has driven the site design towards a paler pastel colour palette, but I find it quite pleasing to the eye.
Although I do wonder about accessibility. Some of the lighter colours don't pass WCAG recommendations for contrast. But it's rare to find a website outside of gov.uk that even comes close.
jeremy7600|7 years ago
Horrible UX. Whats the point of the site? What is LED Strain? where am I supposed to figure that out?
dbg31415|7 years ago
If I were going to build a forum today using an open-source platform, I'd probably go with Discourse.
* Discourse - Civilized Discussion || https://www.discourse.org/
petra|7 years ago
But it's terrible for search, both internal and external(Google).
Why ?
Let's start with internal search. Ctrl-f fails in thread search. No other mechanism to search inside a thread.
And about external search:
Permalinks to individual comments - great for the search engine when you request a very specific thing - a specific niche comment from this site could get ranked highly in google.
Also, it's making it easy to link to a great comment is import. Impossible here.
Permalinks to webpages that contain full threads - lots of relevant text for the search engine to chew on. But in flarum the content lazily loads. So maybe Google wouldn't be able to chew on all the comments.
And the fact that when Google finds a thread from the site, he doesn't say how many comments per thread , indicates that he doesn't see this as a forum, which could be bad
And all this is a real shame - it's a community with really valuable content.
KajMagnus|7 years ago
Topic list: https://www.talkyard.io/forum/latest
Example long discussion: https://insightful.demo.talkyard.io/-11/my-son-was-sent-home... (of a length that might work less well with sort-by-time + lazy-load approaches)
It's also new forum software (I'm developing it), sort of a combination of Discourse and HN and Slack. I would think it works ok with external search? Becasue, like here at HN, good comments surface to the top, + they're included in the HTMl directly on page load. So, what a search engine sees, ought to be the original post, + the best comments.
I'm wondering, what do you mean with: "Also, it's making it easy to link to a great comment is import"? (What does "import" mean, here)
jeremy7600|7 years ago
Being dumped into a forum with no context outside of the URL? thats horrible UX.
jspash|7 years ago
Although I do wonder about accessibility. Some of the lighter colours don't pass WCAG recommendations for contrast. But it's rare to find a website outside of gov.uk that even comes close.