Styles Less Clicks Please
 

I posted this in Kier's First Look: The vBulletin 4.0 Style blog and I just know I'm going to be told to post it in the suggestion forum...so here it is ahead of time ;)

Less Clicks Please

I have no problems using vb forums because I'm use to them and I'm always editing mine so I already know where most things are and how to use them.

But, less savvy internet users who have never signed up for a forum before can run into problems. I believe there is an assumption out there (by some vb admins) that because there are so many vb forums out there then most people know how to use them. That is so not true. Unless I'm the only one who ever gets a ton of new forum users...which I highly doubt.

If you look at some of the more popular sites you'll notice they follow the standard of less clicks.

We've always been told that the less clicks a user has the more ampt they will stay on your website because they can find/get to things faster. Even I, myself, won't stay on a site that long if I find I have to click too much to find stuff or click around too much in order to register.

New forum users on my site find some parts of vb to be too much for what it has to do. Like the registration page. I've had to register friends, family and employees in the backend many times because they don't like the registration page...too many pages. The search is another. Currently I'm using Google search instead because the user can type directly into the box shown and it will pull up results from forums, blogs, social groups, etc. from my website..including external pages and other scripts that are not integrated into vb itself. I know the search is being improved, but can the search box atleast be more prominently shown as well?

So, I vote for the less clicks for anything. Whether it's the thread ratings, search box, one page registration, or what ever else that has been suggested in the blog comments and in the suggestion forums for less clicking around.