Adding a sorting help. Fixes #532

docs/src/about_guide.md

@@ -6,6 +6,18 @@ Start typing...
 - `#a_community` to get a list of communities.
 - `:emoji` to get a list of emojis.
 
+## Sorting
+
+*Applies to both posts and comments*
+
+Type | Description
+--- | ---
+Hot | Shows *trending* posts, based on the score, and the most recent comment time.
+New | Newest posts.
+Top | Shows the highest scoring posts in the given time frame.
+
+For more detail, check the [Post and Comment Ranking details](about_ranking.md).
+
 ## Markdown Guide
 
 Type | Or | … to Get 

docs/src/about_ranking.md

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ Score = Upvotes - Downvotes
 Time = time since submission (in hours)
 Gravity = Decay gravity, 1.8 is default
 ```
-
+- For posts, in order to bring up active posts, it uses the latest comment time (limited to a max creation age of a month ago)
 - Use Max(1, score) to make sure all comments are affected by time decay.
 - Add 3 to the score, so that everything that has less than 3 downvotes will seem new. Otherwise all new comments would stay at zero, near the bottom.
 - The sign and abs of the score are necessary for dealing with the log of negative scores.

ui/src/components/sort-select.tsx

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { Component, linkEvent } from 'inferno';
 import { SortType } from '../interfaces';
+import { sortingHelpUrl } from '../utils';
 import { i18n } from '../i18next';
 
 interface SortSelectProps {
@@ -24,23 +25,35 @@ export class SortSelect extends Component<SortSelectProps, SortSelectState> {
 
   render() {
     return (
-      <select
-        value={this.state.sort}
-        onChange={linkEvent(this, this.handleSortChange)}
-        class="custom-select custom-select-sm w-auto"
-      >
-        <option disabled>{i18n.t('sort_type')}</option>
-        {!this.props.hideHot && (
-          <option value={SortType.Hot}>{i18n.t('hot')}</option>
-        )}
-        <option value={SortType.New}>{i18n.t('new')}</option>
-        <option disabled>─────</option>
-        <option value={SortType.TopDay}>{i18n.t('top_day')}</option>
-        <option value={SortType.TopWeek}>{i18n.t('week')}</option>
-        <option value={SortType.TopMonth}>{i18n.t('month')}</option>
-        <option value={SortType.TopYear}>{i18n.t('year')}</option>
-        <option value={SortType.TopAll}>{i18n.t('all')}</option>
-      </select>
+      <>
+        <select
+          value={this.state.sort}
+          onChange={linkEvent(this, this.handleSortChange)}
+          class="custom-select custom-select-sm w-auto mr-2"
+        >
+          <option disabled>{i18n.t('sort_type')}</option>
+          {!this.props.hideHot && (
+            <option value={SortType.Hot}>{i18n.t('hot')}</option>
+          )}
+          <option value={SortType.New}>{i18n.t('new')}</option>
+          <option disabled>─────</option>
+          <option value={SortType.TopDay}>{i18n.t('top_day')}</option>
+          <option value={SortType.TopWeek}>{i18n.t('week')}</option>
+          <option value={SortType.TopMonth}>{i18n.t('month')}</option>
+          <option value={SortType.TopYear}>{i18n.t('year')}</option>
+          <option value={SortType.TopAll}>{i18n.t('all')}</option>
+        </select>
+        <a
+          className="text-muted"
+          href={sortingHelpUrl}
+          target="_blank"
+          title={i18n.t('sorting_help')}
+        >
+          <svg class={`icon icon-inline`}>
+            <use xlinkHref="#icon-help-circle"></use>
+          </svg>
+        </a>
+      </>
     );
   }
 

ui/src/utils.ts

@@ -44,7 +44,9 @@ import Toastify from 'toastify-js';
 import tippy from 'tippy.js';
 
 export const repoUrl = 'https://github.com/dessalines/lemmy';
-export const markdownHelpUrl = '/docs/about_guide.html';
+export const helpGuideUrl = '/docs/about_guide.html';
+export const markdownHelpUrl = `${helpGuideUrl}#markdown-guide`;
+export const sortingHelpUrl = `${helpGuideUrl}#sorting`;
 export const archiveUrl = 'https://archive.is';
 
 export const postRefetchSeconds: number = 60 * 1000;

ui/translations/en.json

@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
     "upload_avatar": "Upload Avatar",
     "show_avatars": "Show Avatars",
     "formatting_help": "formatting help",
+    "sorting_help": "sorting help",
     "view_source": "view source",
     "unlock": "unlock",
     "lock": "lock",