Please make Category View the default view

100% agree that category view should be the default view. I also believe that Dark mode should be default, or at least something without a pure white background.

I have no doubt Discourse did lots of research into what the better default view was for general cases. But the important thing here is to provide some degree of familiarity to people coming from an existing platform. The categories view is already designed as a compromise for doing just that.

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another agreement

As a potential compromise if you are unwilling to budge on the default mode, maybe include details with screenshots about how to switch to it in the pm that is sent when you first join? Also I feel like while the view may be good for engagement, it is scary to look at when you are coming to a site for a first time. So maybe a different view tailored to visitors who aren’t logged in.

I think this can be done easily and no programming needed.

With all due respect, but I think that just pollute the screen with unnecessary information. But that’s me, I interact with only a handful of topics.

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Personally I’m enjoying the discovery aspect of the default view here - it’s exposing me to threads I wouldn’t normally see (and atm it is filled with user introductions for sure, but that will clear out quickly).

I’m going to have to disagree. Newer members that aren’t familiar with Discourse will see the latest posts, but may not be interested in those posts. Defaulting to the Category view will allow them to find the information they want, and latest replies are also visible on the right of that view.

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yup, agreed, It has both views on one page, so why not just default there to categorie view

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What are you losing if you switch to the category view, though? The default view is still there on right side. The view count and the participating users’ avatars are missing, but I don’t think that detracts very much from its usefulness or the discovery aspect you mentioned.

By the way, you can mute the introduction topics in your preferences, under Notifications > Categories, and they’ll stop showing up on your front page.

It’s not there on mobile so I’d swap back to the now default. Tbh. I really think this conversation is pretty fatuous given you can just change it in your preferences.

If the default is changed to categories I’ll likely just change it back and move on with my life :slight_smile:

Ah, on desktop at mobile widths it displays the “latest” list right below the category index; I assumed the same was true on actual mobile, but it looks like it’s not. I wonder why that’s the case.

I understand that sentiment. It’s a practical sentiment. But the product development response to that is simply that if everyone is asking for something or silently setting their preference it should be a default. Just cause something is available as an option does not mean it’s being utilized in the best way.

This conversation is half dead, but I’d like to say I also agree on this point.

The point that it can be changed is moot, you can’t do so until you register to the forum. I can say my initial reaction when I first opened up keebtalk was “what is this mess, I don’t understand what’s going on”. The link that Norbauer added is inside the pinned post that most visitors will likely never reach, not many people read a “Welcome” post unless they are forced to.

To summarise, you can’t expect every user to customise their layout in order to enjoy the site, the default layout should aim to suit the largest group of users, and quite frankly, most of them don’t want to read 100s of self-introductions. Please set the default view to category view.

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