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I picture a navigation bar that includes new navigation elements to jump to the next or previous answer in the current question. See mockup below:

navbar

Since devinb's comment here makes a good point, I propose making the top bar optionally floating on top, just like the notification bar. In fact, I'd like this to replace notifications by an additional Symbol, e.g. !! which could, just like the brand new StackExchange logo, popup into the unread notifications.

Once again, the floating on top should be optional

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    greasemonkey anyone?
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Aug 24, 2010 at 13:12
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    This is not the same feature-request that the possible duplicate shows. That one say "freeze the navigation bar", this one would have a bar that floats (which I think of as having two possible meanings, not sure which is intended) with some specific feature changes.
    – Lance Roberts
    Jan 2, 2013 at 3:30
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    @ChrisF What is the duplication between this question asking about DVD-player-like navigation elements and the other one asking about the navigation bar staying on top?
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Jan 2, 2013 at 7:04
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    I'm voting to reopen too. This isn't quite an exact duplicate after all. You may want to consider editing your post to focus more on the DVD buttons and not fixing the header, just so another group of confused close voters doesn't come along and close it. I still don't think we need the feature, but it's not really an exact duplicate either... :) I made some edits to hopefully help out.
    – jmort253
    Jan 2, 2013 at 9:20
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    @jmort253 Perfect, thanks for the edit, that should clarify it
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Jan 2, 2013 at 9:35

2 Answers 2

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The best way to accomplish this is to do it yourself, or convince someone else to do it, by writing a Greasemonkey Userscript.

Stack Exchange isn't a fan of implementing optional features or features that enable user preferences because it increases the maintenance overhead, which means they need to hire more developers. One way they keep costs down is by keeping things simple and focusing only on the Q&A.

What's more, if you build it yourself, you can put it on StackApps, which would be cool. My advice is to start simple by just freezing the top bar, then go from there. You could do this easily with just a little CSS and JavaScript.

UPDATE: It looks like there already exists a Userscript, Sticky Top Bars, that fixes the top navigation bar at the top of the screen. However, it doesn't have the DVD player navigation. :(

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  • Ah, your answer explains why all of a sudden this request is considered a duplicate of the freeze bar one... But you're right in both ways: a) These elements should be permanently on top, and b) That won't happen on vanilla SE. I'm not too versed in Greasemonkeying, but should that change I'll certainly put a link to the StackApps upload here
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Jan 2, 2013 at 7:14
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    Hey Tobias, I open source all of my code, and I think that, if you were to take my IHaveBadges script, you could easily modify it to add in some CSS to "fix" the header. You'd just need to use Chrome/Firebug to inspect the header and find out it's class/id, then use JavaScript or jQuery to add what I think would be position:fixed or something like that. The hardest part is the structure of the script, and that's taken care of for you if you repurpose the code. :)
    – jmort253
    Jan 2, 2013 at 8:19
  • I just tried wrapping the navbar in another div with a class and adding position:fixed. It's going to be a little tougher than I made it out to be in the last comment, but I'm sure if someone with more time than me put their mind to it, they could figure it out. If you decide to try it out, let me know how it goes. Good luck! :)
    – jmort253
    Jan 2, 2013 at 8:20
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    Tobias, good news! Looks like someone already tackled this problem: stackapps.com/q/2084/4812
    – jmort253
    Jan 2, 2013 at 9:16
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The top bar would be unable to distinguish where your focus is, that is, what exactly are you trying to get to the "next" when you click "next.

Would it be the next question? Based on what criteria.

Would it be the next answer? How do I know what my current answer is?

The navigation bar at the top would be completely unintuitive because there is no way for it to show what it applies to.

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  • D'oh! I seem to like ambiguity today... But next answer would make more sense (unless it means the next question in search results. sigh). I first thought of suggesting up and down arrows, but that would be too easily confused with voting. What else could be used?
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Aug 24, 2010 at 12:47
  • @Tobias. Your mouse wheel, the browser scroll bar? I am really struggling to understand the need for this feature :)
    – BinaryMisfit
    Aug 24, 2010 at 12:52
  • @Diago♦: One single click instead of an applied binary search
    – Tobias Kienzler
    Aug 24, 2010 at 13:03
  • @Tobias. I think you need to review your questions and be way more specific, because I think all of us are reading something completely different from what your intending to convey
    – BinaryMisfit
    Aug 24, 2010 at 13:21
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    @Diago, I understand what he is attempting to accomplish, but I think it is impossible. Basically, he wants an easy way to say "I don't want to finish reading this answer, skip to the beginning of the next" and he wants it to be a single operation, rather than a series of coordinated actions like scrolling to an unknown point. It makes sense. But this is the kind of problem that Microsoft and Apple have been struggling with for decades. Basically, how do you have what the user wants already be there.
    – devinb
    Aug 24, 2010 at 13:35

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