Overview

Description

Stop scrolling endlessly through 60-page topics. Filter, sort, and zero in on what matters - in one click, with zero page reloads.

Topic Navigator is a per-topic toolbar for Invision Community Suite v5 that drops a fast, AJAX-powered sort/filter/search bar onto every topic page. Find the OP's posts, jump to your own contributions, pull only posts with images, hunt a username, or grep a keyword across the whole thread without ever leaving the page. Built on native IPS framework patterns - it looks like it shipped with the suite.

Live demo on Administrata

Topic Navigation, Reinvented

A compact toolbar sits beneath every topic header with four controls that work together and persist per-topic:

• Sort - Newest first, oldest first, or default

• Filter - Starter only, my posts, with links, with images, with quotes (admin-selectable defaults)

• Member lookup - Native IPS autocomplete pill; type a username, see only their posts in this thread

• Search this topic - Live-debounced keyword search with highlighted hits in the rendered post bodies

Every interaction swaps the post feed in place via AJAX - no full page reload, no scroll loss, no flicker.

Your members get a search engine for the topic they're already reading.

Smart Image Filter

The "with images" filter catches uploaded attachments, embedded media, and inline thumbnails using the same patterns IPS uses internally. Embed cards and link previews are correctly excluded so the filter actually returns what users expect.

Per-Topic Pause (Moderator Control)

Some topics don't want a navigator on top of them - announcements, polls, pinned welcome threads. Moderators get a one-click toggle to disable the toolbar on a per-topic basis.

You decide which topics get the power tools.

Search Term Highlighting

When the search filter is active, matching terms in the rendered post bodies are wrapped in themed <mark> tags using the primary colour at 35% opacity. Users see exactly why each post matched.

Admin Control Panel

Full IPS-native ACP experience:

• Master enable/disable toggle

• Enabled sort modes - check which sort options appear in the dropdown

• Enabled filters - choose which filter chips members see (starter, me, with_links, with_images, with_quotes)

• Per-feature toggles - independently enable/disable sort, filter, member lookup, and search

• Default selections - set the filters that are pre-selected on first load for new visitors

Built for Active Communities

• Threads with 50+ pages where finding the OP's latest update is a chore

• Support topics where you need to filter to "with images" to find the screenshot

• Long-running discussions where members want to re-read only one user's contributions

• Megathreads where keyword search is faster than Ctrl+F (which only sees the current page)

• Sticky FAQ topics where members need to jump straight to posts with links

• Photo-share topics where you want to skip past the chatter and just see the uploads

Perfect For

• High-volume support forums

• Long-running discussion threads

• Megathreads, AMAs, and Q&A topics

• Build logs, project diaries, and ongoing show-and-tell threads

• Tech support communities with image-heavy troubleshooting

• Any community whose topics regularly cross 10+ pages

Stop making your members scroll. Give them the toolbar topics have always needed.