# User icon toolbar now (worse as) a sidebar **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [April 27, 2023, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263 "2023-04-27T11:42:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/1 "2023-04-27T11:42:07Z")
If you click your user icon in the top right of the screen, you get a list of threads you’re watching. There used to be a toolbar at the top of it to switch between watched threads, messages, and a couple other things I never clicked on. Apparently they’ve added a new dopey feature that I’ll never click on with a heart icon. But now there’s so many icons that apparently it no longer fits as a toolbar on the top, so they changed it to be a sidebar on the right. This leaves less room to display the thread titles, which is the meaningful information on that menu. That makes this change objectively worse. Is there a way I can customize it to put the sidebar back on top? If not, then in reddit parlance: “Thanks, I hate it.” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/2 "2023-04-27T11:58:34Z")
But in the process, they also fixed the notifications in the Vincent theme. It’s been almost unusable for the last two and a half months. So that’s a huge improvement. But, FWIW, my initial impression of the icons getting moved is ‘meh’. It’s not like I used them all that much and they’re still in essentially the same place, so I’m not going to have to go looking for them. Of course, that’s just me. If you use them enough that you can click on them just with muscle memory, I imagine it’s going to be a whole lot more annoying for the next week or so until you get used to it. (Having said that, maybe I’ll hate it too, but I’ve only interacted with it a few times so far). > [@Vincent Theme not working again?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vincent-theme-not-working-again/980298): > > This started for me yesterday afternoon I believe. I’ve only checked it on my computer, but with both Firefox and Chrome with the same results. So that should rule out fa browser issue. My issue is that in the notification box, threads I haven’t clicked on normally have a blue background to stand out against everything else, which has a black background. It should look something like this (this isn’t the area I’m currently having an issue with, it’s just an example of another ‘drop down’ type … ETA, I want to emphasize, at least for those of us on Vincent, the notification colors being fixed is such a huge improvement, it’s likely to overshadow any negative impacts from the icons getting moved. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/3 "2023-04-27T12:02:38Z")
The heart shows you which of your posts have been ‘liked’. Since that feature is disabled on our board, it’s not terribly helpful. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/4 "2023-04-27T12:12:31Z")
In mine, the windows key type button (“Other notifications”) was showing that i had 1 unread notification … but if i go to my profile page, select the notifications tab and select show unread only there’s nothing there. Clicking the “Dismiss” button cleared it… so now i’ll probably never know ! The word Verschlimmbesserung springs to mind … ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/5 "2023-04-27T12:18:00Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > ETA, I want to emphasize, at least for those of us on Vincent, the notification colors being fixed is such a huge improvement, it’s likely to overshadow any negative impacts from the icons getting moved. Are you saying that the colors could not have been fixed without moving the icons? That’s the only interpretation I can come up with that makes your post relevant. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/6 "2023-04-27T13:04:20Z")
I find it annoying as now for a flagged message I get both the little red dot in the upper right corner of the hamburger menu and the new red flag over my user icon. The prior setup was less obtrusive. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/7 "2023-04-27T17:11:18Z")
I have a cryptic symbol of four squares flagged as having 7 of something. No idea what. Pushing it doesn’t do anything. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2023, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/8 "2023-04-27T20:40:33Z")
That sounds like what i had (see post 4 above). ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/9 "2023-04-28T02:23:22Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Are you saying that the colors could not have been fixed without moving the icons? That’s the only interpretation I can come up with that makes your post relevant. Not at all. I’m just saying that IF it was a both or none thing, I’d happily go for both. Fixing the notifications is such an enormous improvement that it would have taken something big to overshadow it. For the last six weeks, the board has been genuinely difficult to use. Having said that, so far, I have no issue with the icons moving. It doesn’t look like anything I can’t get used to with a few minutes of playing with it and maybe an ATMB/Feedback thread covering any oddities. But, then, I didn’t use them all that often in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/10 "2023-04-28T02:40:17Z")
What were the original icons? I remember there being four or maybe 5. but now there are 7. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/11 "2023-04-28T02:50:00Z")
I remember the bell, the arrow, the letter, the bookmark and the person. The heart is definitely new, and I don’t recognize that four square thing so that might be new as well. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/12 "2023-04-28T10:14:42Z")
The heart has now disappeared ! ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/13 "2023-04-28T12:07:27Z")
Not for me. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/14 "2023-04-28T14:24:44Z")
Well, this is weird… I assumed it was a theme problem, so i changed mine from Discourse-classic to Straight Dope Light, and sure enough, the heart reappeared. Then i changed back to Discourse-classic ('cos i like it), and … the heart is back !! Crazy times indeed. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2023, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/15 "2023-04-28T16:38:12Z")
So, I find that blocking the buttons is pretty easy. I could put it in my extension, or you could just use your adblocker. But moving the remaining buttons back on top is more complicated. I can get them up there pretty easily, but the actual notifications don’t want to move down, and so wind up covering up the buttons. The theme uses flexbox in its CSS, and I find that makes it complicated to position things. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/16 "2023-04-30T08:19:21Z")
I just put my finger on the only thing that bugs me about the icons down the right side. The icons are directly below the button. It’s minor, but it means I often end up clicking one of them and then have to click back to bell. If it was slid over to the right, it’s possible I wouldn’t have even noticed the change right away. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/17 "2023-04-30T11:39:39Z")
There’s also now a bunch of wasted whitespace below the icons where before there was none. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/18 "2023-04-30T16:19:18Z")
I’m not sure there’s a whole lot else you could do with that space. Other than the position of them, the only thing that bothers me, and it’s really, really minor is that the highlighted icon has a bright white box around it. In Vincent (or any dark theme) it really should be considerably more muted. The unread threads in that list have a blue background that, IMO, would be more appropriate. But, again, really minor, and even if it bugged me more, I’m still thrilled I can actually read those titles again. [![](https://i.imgur.com/DbXjiNh.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/DbXjiNh.png) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/19 "2023-04-30T16:50:02Z")
It’s different. But now that I know what the little icons mean (I really prefer words) it seems fine to me. Seeing more of the complete title of each thread is a definite win. FWIW I use the “Straight Dope Light” theme and I find the highlighting very easy to see & use. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263/20 "2023-04-30T17:48:00Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Seeing more of the complete title of each thread is a definite win. My original complaint in the OP is that I see less of the complete title of each thread. It’s narrower now that it shares space with the column of icons that used to be a row across the top. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m not sure there’s a whole lot else you could do with that space. The titles could be bigger. Consider the screenshot you posted where it shows the title of this thread. The first line of this thread title in your screenshot is: EllisDee User icon toolbar now (worse as) a That would indeed be great. That would be more like how it used to be on my phone when the icons were a toolbar across the top. Now, thanks to it becoming a sidebar, on my phone the first line of this thread in my list shows only: 2 Replies User icon toolbar now In other words, it’s much shorter because of the sidebar. That’s my complaint and why I posted the OP. Let’s see if I can figure out how to post a screenshot here… [![](https://i.ibb.co/jDzn437/Screenshot-20230430-135517.png) ](https://i.ibb.co/jDzn437/Screenshot-20230430-135517.png) See how it’s all squished now? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/user-icon-toolbar-now-worse-as-a-sidebar/983263.md?page=2)