h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Have you looked at the 'Expert' mode (which you can turn on in the preferences page)? You get a gadget which effectively shows the context of the current post within the tree structure. It's as close as we're going to get to showing the whole tree (which won't be returning because its disadvantages far outweighed its advantages).

The gadget can tell you if the current post is one of several replies (either the left or right blob will be lit). So it's almost as functional as the tree view, without the complications the tree view brought (like new posts not appearing at the end of the list of messages which sometimes made it impossible to find new messages in a forum).

Jim,

The new setup is a huge improvement, not only over the much maligned "Ripley 1.0", but over the original system too!

One minor point I noticed...

I was looking at an intriguing post in the middle of a huge thread. I clicked "in reply to _this message_", in order to see what they were commenting on. Once I'd read that, I clicked on "view _first reply to this_", and ended up with a different message. I realised it must have been the second or third reply to that particular posting, but the navigation only makes it easy to find the first. I found it (with the aid of the "Back" button on the browser), but I would suggest that for the sake of completeness that messages with multiple direct replies have "view _first reply_", view _second reply_" etc. listed below them in the next release...

There's actually an easy solution to some of this, which just involves a little forum discipline. I often notice people replying to something several posts back, and sometimes it's hard to work out who they're talking to. But if the post actually addressed the person they're replying to directly, eg: it's quite easy to spot that name by scrolling through the tree structure. Just a thought...

Using the tree view gadget is the easiest way to see multiple replies - just click on the right hand blob and you'd see all the replies one after another.

Adding 'view second, view third' links is possible, but it might end up cluttering the display, and duplicates the functionality of the gadget. Since you wouldn't know which was the reply you wanted, having direct links doesn't give you much more than you already have.

I don't see an "advanced" option. All I see is "expert", and there isn't any difference between that and "normal" as far as I can see.

Sorry, I meant 'expert', not 'advanced'. Jim, of course, got the term correct

With expert, there's a little tree in the upper right corner of the post you're reading, with led indicators to show the relationship between the post you're reading and other ones, and you can click on it to follow the thread within the thread, if that makes sense.

Oh. I meant the tree that wasn't "all one continuous simulpost".