What are the meanings of the icons on the forum pages?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hurkyl
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AI Thread Summary
The discussion highlights confusion among users regarding the meanings of various icons on forum pages, particularly the purple closed envelope and the distinction between bold and non-bold links. Users have discovered that mousing over icons provides some information, but a comprehensive legend is lacking. There is a suggestion for a dedicated page to clarify these details for easier navigation. Additionally, the bold font indicates new unread posts, contrary to initial beliefs about it relating to the last post. A request is made to include the legend at the bottom of the search page for better accessibility.
Hurkyl
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There are lots of icons on the pages, and I can't find a legend for many of them! Some I could figure out, and it took me a while to realize I could mouseover many of the others to get info, but there are still some I'm not completely sure about (e.g. purple closed envelope). It also took me a bit to figure out what the bold vs non-bold links meant; I originally thought it was non-bold if I had the last post in it!

It would be nice to have a nice little page on all of these little details that make forum surfing more convenient; I didn't find anything obvious in the FAQ table of contents.
 
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Look to the bottom of a forum page, you'll find thread icon legend :smile:

Bold means a new unread post
 
Hurkyl said:
I originally thought it was non-bold if I had the last post in it!
haha, that could be true :-p
 
Fine. My next request is to put the legend at the bottom of the search page too. :redface:
 
I want to thank those members who interacted with me a couple of years ago in two Optics Forum threads. They were @Drakkith, @hutchphd, @Gleb1964, and @KAHR-Alpha. I had something I wanted the scientific community to know and slipped a new idea in against the rules. Thank you also to @berkeman for suggesting paths to meet with academia. Anyway, I finally got a paper on the same matter as discussed in those forum threads, the fat lens model, got it peer-reviewed, and IJRAP...
About 20 years ago, in my mid-30s (and with a BA in economics and a master's in business), I started taking night classes in physics hoping to eventually earn the science degree I'd always wanted but never pursued. I found physics forums and used it to ask questions I was unable to get answered from my textbooks or class lectures. Unfortunately, work and life got in the way and I never got further the freshman courses. Well, here it is 20 years later. I'm in my mid-50s now, and in a...

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