Add Start at Last Unread and Maintain Scroll Position

I'm not sure an option is really needed for this. I think it should just work like the following:

1) If you've scrolled down then it should maintain that position if new tweets come in.

2) If you're positioned right at the top, it should stay positioned at the top after new tweets come in.

I can't imagine a situation/requirement for anyone wanting it behave different to this. The only room for options would be #2 really.

With the greatest respect to AntUK... this is why software development is never easy... especially in the newer web 2.0 world. Different users work so differently they can't imagine that someone else would work differently! But, they do!

Point 1)... obviously...Yes!

But Point 2)? Not for me. If I have scrolled to the top, having read all my tweets, I am still working in scrolling mode. So, it is essential that NEW tweets arrive above the scroll position... it's kind of like a book mark.

ALSO... guys... I would VERY MUCH like this functionality in GROUPS as well. Hopefully, if you implement it for the home folder, it will not be so hard to do for groups... And the only reason I can survive now, is because of the "graying" out of "read" tweets.

Anyway... I'm looking forward to the result... this is a big one for me!

Thanks for the good work, Nic.

Thanks for the reply Nic. As a software developer I can certainly identify with your general point.

It mostly makes sense to add options so the app can be tuned to how each user works. But I'm also a advocate of only having options where it makes sense so the user doesnt get overwhelmed, and to also have default options which make sense. Or more generally "A just works" philosophy - Applesque if you like. I once suggested to someone that they really need to change the default option for something because it really made no sense for the vast majority of users - and the developer got angry saying "But there's an option for it!" as if that's the part I was contending. Different way of app design I guess.

Anyhow (got side-tracked there!) for this request I was under the impression it referred to adding an *option* for #1 in my first comment. Sounds like we agreed that it should just always work this way rather than add an option for it. That correct? - Whether the request actually does refer to #1 is open to interpretation perhaps but that's how I read it.

#2 in my comment was added as an afterthought for completeness sake. And I admitted at the end that an option made sense for this at least. But you raise a good point here - this REALLY needs to be a group setting rather than a global setting. Whether you opt for this for a given group is essentially because either 1) You want to read all tweets in that group or 2) You just want to read the latest tweets in real-time. This is essential.

If you're following many users (thousands) you don't want to have to continuously interact with the app scrolling back to the top each time - you just want to glance at it. Doubly annoying if this has to be done for multiple columns, every time you look at the app. But for mentions/messages you'd probably want to see the last tweet you read since last time so you can continue reading until you reach the top.

To emphasize more that this should be a group setting, some celebs/popular users probably don't care to read every reply/mention and just have it remain at the top (especially the ones with millions of followers receiving several thousand replies per day). And for me I'd like one saved search to remain scrolled at the top (it'll have tons of hits so impractical to read all of them each day) while for a vanity saved search I'd like to maintain scroll position, with the intention of reading every message.

Actually just to chime in once more, then I'll shut up :) ... Rather than have this "Stay at top" scroll option on a group basis, it should be a per column setting instead. Assuming you implement the multiple groups per column feature (gets on bended knee). Given that columns won't be named it would be better to have this option shown above/below each column (eg in a gear menu) rather than have a general dialog for this.

I find one of the things that most bugs me with Nambu, though it's relatively minor, is the default position the scrollbar places you when moving between groups and various options.


It leaves you at the last selected tweet, rather than the first unread or most recent (either of which would seem to be more logical points). I find I'm havign to manually work around this by selecting the top tweet of each group i look at so when I come back it will position me correctly in the list.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
scroll positioning.

This is a useful discussion, methinks. How about some conveniently placed buttons at the top to "go to latest tweet" or "go to last viewed tweet"? That would solve it for me, methinks. Sometimes I want to see what people are tweeting about RIGHT NOW, sometimes I just want to make sure I'm covering everything since the last time I was on.

Today I was on for the first time in 3 days, and it took me a bit of figuring out to see where I last was reading tweets.

-T

Yea it does sound tricky. I sense ambiguity here. For example, are we talking about what happens in real-time as new tweets arrive (which was my understanding of this request) or what happens when the app is launched? Some of the suggestions given would only make sense when the app is launched, because I don't want scroll positions (where it's not currently scrolled right to the top) interfered with at all while the app is being interacted with.

Also, Eric's suggestions of using sensible defaults depending on the group shown makes sense. Just to add though that you can still set sensible defaults even if you allow multiple groups per column. You could have a simple rule for this. For example, use the default for the first group added and then don't alter this setting when a second group is added.

While allowing multiple groups per column is more difficult to implement, I don't think this makes the app noticeably more difficult to use. The UI would simply allow ticking of more than one of the groups listed instead of just one. The only reason I've been pushing for this feature at this point is because this dictates the core workings of the app (along with support for multiple accounts and groups). The myriad of other features can be bolted on with less of an impact to the core design.

When you Hide Seen, and are have the message after the new last shown message selected, select the last shown message and scroll it to the bottom.


Usage pattern: jump to the end. mouse up until you get to a stopping point, Hide Seen, repeat.


Likely related to "scrolling_position_issues".

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Read from the bottom up, hiding seen as you go.

I like simplytweet's style of opening up stream at last read item and just keep scrolling up to read unread messages, instead of starting all the way at the top with most recent item. None of the other friendfeed iphone apps do this, but most twitter iphone apps do.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Start with last unread item.

I wish there was an option to have Nambu remember where it left off as far as new tweets and automatically move the display to that. I can't tell you how many times I've missed tweets because I had to scroll down and lost track of where I left off previously. Note I said option. Some may not like it on all the time - I would.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Remember where tweets were last read..

Would like for Nambu to take me to my last read tweet when I first launch the app. Sometimes I have to scroll through several pages of tweets in order to get back to the oldest one.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
Auto-scroll to last read tweet on open.

The discussion here is kind of confused as to whether we're talking about "where the scrollbar is positioned when Nambu starts up", "where the scrollbar is positioned when you switch to a new view or select a new tree node in Sidebar View", and "where the scrollbar is positioned when new tweets arrive".

Here's my opinion, for what it's worth:
1. When Nambu starts up, all views should scroll to the last unread tweet.
2. When you switch views, the new view should show whatever you were looking at when you last used that view. (If the tweet that was at the top then is no longer available, scroll to the bottom.)
3. When new tweets come in for the current view, DON'T MOVE THE DISPLAY! No matter where the scroll bar is located, top or middle or bottom. This is one of my biggest Nambu annoyances -- I'm reading a tweet and suddenly it vanishes from the screen because some new tweets have come in at the top (above my current view), pushing everything down.

I recognize that different people use the software in different ways, so I could see user preferences to control 1. and 2. (possibly a single preference for both), but I can't imagine that anyone really wants the scrollbar to move by itself while they're reading (3.).

I concur with 'daviddlevine'

Hey guys? What's the status of this? This is really an issue for me!!!