(Read more...) functioning as the black triangle to the left of it

[toudaimori]

Title:
(Read more...) functioning as the black triangle to the left of it

Area:
Cut

Summary:
Can we please have the (Read more...) link functioning as the cut-opening arrow, not as the direct link to the entry?

Description:
Right now, when you click the (Read more...) link, you are redirected to the whole entry with the comments. If you want to simply open the cut and read what's inside, remaining on the main page of the journal, you have to click the tiny black triangle to the left of (Read more...). Can we please ditch this black triangle, which is barely visible, and have the (Read more...) link functioning as one? As for the direct link to the whole entry, it can be moved to the header, which is currently plain text without any use.

Poll #18025 (Read more...) functioning as the black triangle to the left of it

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 50

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
13 (26.0%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
4 (8.0%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
26 (52.0%)

(I have no opinion)
6 (12.0%)

(Other: please comment)
1 (2.0%)

Comments

[denise]

Background for discussion: having the target for unfolding the cut tag be only the arrow at the side of the cut tag, not the whole (Read more) link, is an accessibility compromise -- it's bad for people who have trouble with small target areas, but having the (Read more) link go to the full entry page saves time/cognitive load for people who can't do a lot of scrolling (to get back up to the title) or people who need to load long entries in a separate tab/page/window. So, it's a give-and-take. (I believe it's possible to make the arrow into a larger target by resizing it with CSS in your journal, but I'm not 100% positive.) So, the discussion is basically for "which accessibility needs are more likely to be the majority".

Also, entry titles are already clickable links to the entry!

[anaraine]

It's definitely possible to target those arrows - I use css to make them smaller. (The way they sit with the text in their normal size is jarring to me.) Obviously, you'd want to use something larger than 8px, but if anyone having this problem would like the code:

.cuttag img {width:8px !important; }
.cuttag-action-after img {width: 8px !important}

[zaluzianskya]

The subject of the entry should already serve as a link to the entry. If it doesn't, there's a problem with the style and that should be fixed.

This is a sensible suggestion for accessibility needs.

(Edit:) Maybe the "Read More" link could act like the "Expand" link in comment threads. If you regular-click it in a browser that supports Javascript (I think it's Javascript?), it expands a comment thread. If you instead open it in a new tab, or are using a browser that doesn't support the scripting, it goes to the thread starting with that comment.

[matgb]

Maybe the "Read More" link could act like the "Expand" link in comment threads. If you regular-click it in a browser that supports Javascript (I think it's Javascript?), it expands a comment thread. If you instead open it in a new tab, or are using a browser that doesn't support the scripting, it goes to the thread starting with that comment.

This, basically: sometimes I middle click a cut to open it in a new tag, other times I want to see it on reading page, I know what I'm clicking at all points (plus my reading page is a pinned tab so external links always go to a new tab).

[melannen]

I would find a larger/easier to use cut-expander very helpful for DWing on mobile.

However, we definitely also need an easy link to open the entire page, because I often frequently DW on mobile using an app where the expander arrows don't work at all.

The post title linking is not equivalent because long entries may have several cuts that go to different places in the entry (sometimes serving as spoiler cuts or trigger warnings, sometimes just reducing scroll). Being able to click through to the start of a certain cut, rather than just the start of the whole entry, is important.

So: I like the idea of improving this, but don't really know what I'd like for implementation. A much larger triangle as default? Clicking on the readmore expands on the page, and there's a different icon for "open to cut in new tab"?

[swaldman]

Is there any reason that there couldn't simply be two targets? Arrow-and-text for expanding, and separate bit of text (link) to navigate to the cut?

[azurelunatic]

That's the current case.

[swaldman]

No it isn't - at the moment it's just arrow for expanding, name-of-cut to navigate (at least, so far as I can see on the page I happen to be looking at. Is this theme-dependant?)
My suggestion was adding some additional text, so that the expand-in-place target could be bigger than just the arrow.

[jazzfish]

If this is adopted, I'd much prefer to still have the triangle, as a visual indicator that it's going to open.

Possible/workable to have the default click action be "expand" but leave the right-click menu as though one were clicking on an actual link? I believe this is the behaviour that LJ currently exhibits. Not that copying LJ's behaviour is necessarily good; just checking to see if this is an acceptable compromise for accessibility.

[anaraine]

I am very strongly against changing the "Read more..."s into expanders - it's one of the things I hated most when reading through my friends page on LJ.

But, for the sake of accessibility I'm willing to entertain other ideas that would function similarly. Perhaps an option to change the black triangles into "EXPAND" and "COLLAPSE" text in your settings? As a site-wide preference, instead of a decision made for one's journal/community? (I know, I know, options and decision fatigue are a problem.)

[kyrielle]

This. CSS changes to the size of the arrow, or allowing substitution or addition of text, could work nicely. But I don't want to lose the current functionality either - being able to expand-in-place or open-to-that-spot are both valuable things to be able to do.

[azurelunatic]

I'm for this one.

[poulpette]

+1

[alyndra]

This is the only implementation of this idea that sounds good. (I already clicked shouldn't be implemented though.)

[kerravonsen]

While I agree that the black triangle is annoyingly small, I really don't want the behaviour of the "Read more..." (or whatever cut text the poster has put there) link to be changed. It does serve a useful purpose to be able to jump directly to the cut, which can be important in long posts, or posts with spoilers that one wishes to skip, or posts that have a lot of drabbles in different fandoms and you're only interested in some of them. Cuts really have a dual purpose: the main purpose is to cut content from the reading page, but they can also be used as a table-of-contents, organising the post. So they are useful and I don't want to lose them.

Well, I don't want to lose them, unless they are replaced by something equivalent, such as an actual table-of-contents for a post.

[montuos]

+1

[cheyinka]

+1 to all of this. I don't actually like that cuts expand, so I like that the black triangle is conveniently ignorable :D