Fenêtres de notification améliorées

[alltiagocom (Tiago)]

I hope I’m not alone on this one, but when I open my notifications panel:

I like to have it “clean” without any highlighted notifications, and being able to dismiss certain notifications right away.

When it comes to replies and all that, I will obviously click the notification so I can read it, reply, etc, and that will not be highlighted when I open the panel again, but when it comes to Likes, for example, I don’t want to have to click it in order to dismiss it. At the same time, I don’t like to ignore it, because seeing an highlighted (unread) notification, messes with my brain (I truly hope others feel the same way…)

My suggestion is that each notification could be dismissed manually from that panel with a simple button. A simple Dismiss underneath, maybe? Or a simple check icon in the corner? Something.

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Another thing that always “bugs” me is the button at the bottom. Why an arrow, if an arrow suggests “expand”? When we click, we are not expanding what we are already seeing, we are opening a new window. Yes, we end up with more notifications to see, but that’s not really “expanding”. I think a simple and straight to the point View All (or Show All) would make more sense.

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In the Notifications panel, I think that the Dismiss All button should always dismiss all notifications related to the selected tab. In this case it would dismiss all notifications visible in the All tab:

In this case it would dismiss all notifications in the Likes tab, but if I still have unread Replies, for example, those should stay unread:

[chapoi (Charlie)]

I actually think a combination of both your proposals work best: if we would show the “dismiss” per tab in the notification panel, that would solve your issue too without having to clear every like manual, so:

This one will dismiss all my flags, but only the flags

[alltiagocom (Tiago)]

I still think that dismiss per notification could be useful. For example, if I read the reply on my email and I know I don’t need to reply to it, when I come to the desktop, I can still see the “unread” notification. So, I would have to click it to mark it as “Read”.

And yes, adding the same “Dismiss All” button to the main notification panel, per tab, would be ideal.

How about the “View All” button?

[chapoi (Charlie)]

@alltiagocom

How about the “View All” button?

Thats been discussed at some point internally too. It makes sense but we ended up not changing it after all; myriad of reasons no doubt. One that comes to mind is mobile + other languages having a high likelihood to leading to overflow issues. An icon doesn’t have that risk.

@alltiagocom

I still think that dismiss per notification could be useful.

Not saying it isn’t, but which apps do we know that offer such granular control? It’s always a bit of trade-off.

[alltiagocom (Tiago)]

@chapoi

One that comes to mind is mobile + other languages having a high likelihood to leading to overflow issues.

• Admins could decide if they want to use icon or text, if they see that their language affects it. They could also add their own text. Maybe “View All” in a certain language will overflow, but maybe another combination will not, for example “More”, or something else.
• On mobile, the View All and the Dismiss buttons could be stacked vertically, instead of horizontally

My issue is more related with the type of icon itself. But again, the admin could pick which one fits their forum.

@chapoi

which apps do we know that offer such granular control?

The advantage “real” apps have, and even browser versions, is that they have swipe options, which Discourse doesn’t, so that makes it more flexible.

Again, this is not a big deal, it’s just something that I see myself “battling” with quite often and I always feel the need to dismiss some notifications individually.

For example:

In this case, I don’t need to click the top notification. I already know what it is.
For the second notification, maybe I want to see what post you liked (or maybe I don’t want to), so that would give me the flexibility to dismiss certain notifications, while keeping others.

Would a swipe feature be something that could be considered in the future?
Not only for that, but for a “Mark as Unread”.
I don’t see an option for that on each reply either.

[Jagster (Jakke Lehtonen)]

@chapoi

which apps do we know that offer such granular control

AFAIK none, but I can be really wrong too.

But… could Discourse lead, not follow?

[alltiagocom (Tiago)]

@Jagster

could Discourse lead, not follow

I like this mindset, which aligns with my thoughts when it comes to most companies, and this is not an attack on Discourse at all, as it is actually involved with their community, and seems to find a good balance overall. I’m saying that in general, most companies do this: using other companies to justify not doing XYZ. We can look at companies for inspiration to what we can implement, but also look at them for things we will that they don’t.

Again, Discourse and the team has been very open to new ideas, and I love that. I want to make that very clear to avoid confusion. That said, I agree that sometimes we have to lead, not follow, so things can improve and move forward.

Facebook allows Mark as Read, Mark as Unread, and it also has a dedicated tab for Unread.
The buttons with the sub menu only shows on hover over.

Normal state, no sub menu:

Hover over, sub menu icon:

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[chapoi (Charlie)]

@Jagster

But… could Discourse lead, not follow?

Every thing we offer has a tremendous cost attached to it. We could lead, if we were doing one thing and offering a fixed solution. However, as you well know, we offer a million solutions that all somehow need to work together.

So this:

@alltiagocom

Admins could decide if they want to use icon or text, if they see that their language affects it.

Is wholesomely naïve, sorry to say. That won’t happen. Instead, we will be asked to provide a solution for ”összes megtekintése” (Hungarian) or something.

@alltiagocom

On mobile, the View All and the Dismiss buttons could be stacked vertically, instead of horizontally

Yes, that seems like a likely solution, until there is a complaint from someone who uses the biggest font-size + 400% zoom, and says they can only see 1.5 notifications and “why are these buttons not next to each other”.

@alltiagocom

it’s just something that I see myself “battling” with quite often

I’m not trying to dismiss (get it?) your point; it annoys me too often (my workaround is looking at everything I do want to look at, and then using the dismiss all), I’m just trying to illustrate that it’s often not so straightforward as it looks in one setup.

@alltiagocom

Would a swipe feature be something that could be considered in the future?

I would like that a lot. We have it in one place already (to remove chat dms).

[alltiagocom (Tiago)]

@chapoi

Is wholesomely naïve, sorry to say. That won’t happen. Instead, we will be asked to provide a solution for ”összes megtekintése” (Hungarian) or something.

But don’t you already have options for a lot of other features, or in some cases fixed solutions that admins have to work with? If they see that összes megtekintése messes with their layout, they have to work with what they have, which is icon vs finding another word or combination of words.

@chapoi

Yes, that seems like a likely solution, until there is a complaint from someone who uses the biggest font-size + 400% zoom, and says they can only see 1.5 notifications and “why are these buttons not next to each other”.

Won’t this happen with the Dismiss text as well? We can always zoom until everything is just a blob of text and then complain that it looks horrible. The same way that we no longer worry about websites that are not responsive and don’t offer support for that. Things evolve.

@chapoi

it’s often not so straightforward as it looks in one setup

I totally understand that usually a “it’s just”, becomes something way more complex. I’m not a developer myself, but I know enough about coding, from experience, that sometimes just changing a simple word from one place to another, can be a nightmare. My goal here is to just discuss the possibilities of the software, not necessarily if they will take 1 day or 1 year, and, of course, if it makes sense based on the user experience.

@chapoi

I would like that a lot. We have it in one place already (to remove chat dms).

Well, that could be a step in the right direction. Or, as seen in my screenshots, a simple hover over to show an icon that opens a menu?

To be clear, these are just “tweaks” not really things that block me from using the platform. My intent is always to provide my feedback, along with why I think it’s valuable. I know there are priorities and the platform as is, is already super powerful. I’m grateful for what I can already do with it, so everything else are just details.