New version ...

Can we set focus to first unread rather than top of topic?

Are you talking about when you enter a thread with new posts?

If you click the title, you go to the first post in the thread.

If you click the little circle in front of the title, you go to the first unread post in the thread.

I apologize for springing the new version on an unsuspecting world.

The vendor of the software rolled out the new version and emphasized that it's a security patch as well as containing some new functionality. The new "look" was unfortunately not optional to me in doing the upgrade, but the vendor believes it's easier to read and to use. I hope you'll agree. I know that I, and most people, hate adjusting to changes, but here we are. And, hey kid, get offa my lawn!

I like it so far, it is "softer" on the eyes and easy to read on my laptop.  I especially like how longer quotes default to a condensed view that you can expand, this makes it a lot easier to read for those of us who like to use several quotes in one reply.  Also, if you use the @ {user} function, the inserted user name is easier to read.  I haven't tried mobile or custom stream/view functions yet

On 1/15/2021 at 9:39 AM, Bill Presson said:

Are you talking about when you enter a thread with new posts?

If you click the title, you go to the first post in the thread.

If you click the little circle in front of the title, you go to the first unread post in the thread.

When using a mouse, as when using a desktop, that works. Thanks. However when using my phone the little circle is too little. maybe my fingers are just too fat. In any event I would like the option reversed where the little circle takes you to the top anywhere you select the title takes you to the first unread message. I can dream right?

Here is a userscript that will send you straight to the first unread comment in a thread. You can add this to the Greasemonkey addon in Firefox or the Tampermonkey addon in Chrome or Safari and it should work automatically. I am not sure if there is a way to run this on mobile currently - Greasemonkey used to work on Android but I think they broke it last year. I have no idea about iOS, sorry.

// ==UserScript==
// @name     BenefitsLink Go to Unread
// @description Click on a thread title jump to the first unread post
// @version  1
// @namespace localhost
// @include https://benefitslink.com/boards/*
// ==/UserScript==
var titles = document.evaluate('//li[contains(@class,"ipsDataItem_unread")]/div[@class="ipsDataItem_main"]/h4/span/a',document,null,XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,null);
for (var i=0; i<titles.snapshotLength; i++) {
  var a = titles.snapshotItem(i).href;
  if (a.indexOf("do=getNewComment") < 0) {
      titles.snapshotItem(i).href = a + "&do=getNewComment";
  }
}
      

1 hour ago, C. B. Zeller said:

Here is a userscript that will send you straight to the first unread comment in a thread. You can add this to the Greasemonkey addon in Firefox or the Tampermonkey addon in Chrome or Safari and it should work automatically. I am not sure if there is a way to run this on mobile currently - Greasemonkey used to work on Android but I think they broke it last year. I have no idea about iOS, sorry.

// ==UserScript==
// @name     BenefitsLink Go to Unread
// @description Click on a thread title jump to the first unread post
// @version  1
// @namespace localhost
// @include https://benefitslink.com/boards/*
// ==/UserScript==
var titles = document.evaluate('//li[contains(@class,"ipsDataItem_unread")]/div[@class="ipsDataItem_main"]/h4/span/a',document,null,XPathResult.ORDERED_NODE_SNAPSHOT_TYPE,null);
for (var i=0; i<titles.snapshotLength; i++) {
  var a = titles.snapshotItem(i).href;
  if (a.indexOf("do=getNewComment") < 0) {
      titles.snapshotItem(i).href = a + "&do=getNewComment";
  }
}
      

 

I'm on Android. So if you get it to work, let me know. On my desktop as I said I can use the mouse to find the little circle without difficulty. The problem with Android is that there are so many browsers I can't imagine it working. Thanks anyway!!

I've got a better solution for this. Click on your username at the top, or on mobile, open the menu and go to Account. Then go to Account  Settings. Go to Content View Behavior and choose Take me to comments I haven't read, and Save. Seems to be working for me on both desktop and mobile.

Perfect! Thx.