Just in time user feedback for notification level adjustment when posting

Contribute UX

AI-generated summary

The discussion revolves around adjusting notification levels when posting, with the goal of making it more user-friendly. mcwumbly suggests adding a “Subscribe me to updates” checkbox, similar to Trello, to make notification settings more discoverable and clear. However, codinghorror argues that this is redundant, as the notification control already exists at the bottom of the topic.

Alternative solutions are proposed, including flashing the notification control after posting fefrei, and using a subtle CSS transition to draw attention to it Mittineague. mcwumbly also experiments with a customization to simplify the topic control buttons.

sam suggests a more drastic approach, setting the default notification level to “Watching” when posting, and forcing users to learn about the setting. mcwumbly considers this idea, but still believes that the original proposal has merit in improving the user experience.

1

I know we currently have a user preference for which notification level to set topics to when posting:

when-i-post
when-i-post494×120 6.13 KB

But I just saw the “Subscribe me to updates” checkbox when commenting on a card in trello I’m not following:

subscribe-me
subscribe-me1098×350 30.2 KB

Might be an idea worth stealing (in addition to the user preference for the default).

Why?

  • It is more discoverable (not everyone knows to dig around in their preferences).
  • It’s more clear what the effect of my action is when it’s coupled to the action
  • It allows people to choose on a case-by-case basis
7 Likes
2

Seems quite redundant since the notification control is already there at the bottom of the topic, and does the exact same thing:

image
image1133×191 22.6 KB

1 Like
3

I like the idea of making this more obvious! :slight_smile:

A (possibly stupid) alternative that’s less intrusive would be to flash the notification control after posting if the post caused a change there, just as we flash the actual post to guide the user’s eyes :thinking:

2 Likes
4

I like the idea of a subtle CSS transition but think it would be tricky to tie it to when it’s in view.

1 Like
5

Trying out this customization to reduce the noise down there and see if it helps people see more clearly what’s going on with topic level notifications (It also has some nice symmetry with the buttons under the progress bar):

simple-topic-control-buttons
simple-topic-control-buttons1566×424 21.4 KB

CSS:

#topic-footer-buttons .topic-footer-main-buttons {
    float: left;
}

#topic-footer-buttons .topic-notifications-button {
    float: left;
    margin: 0;
}

#topic-footer-buttons .bookmark {
    display: none;
}

#topic-footer-buttons .share {
    display: none;
}

#topic-footer-buttons .flag-topic {
    display: none;
}

#topic-footer-buttons .invite-topic {
    display: none;
}
10 Likes
6

Another atomic :bomb: solution here is the user setting

When I post in a topic, set that topic to: Watching

You could backfill it on for all your users, then force them to learn about the setting and how to watch topics individually. I can see that in email heavy orgs default of watching after posting making more sense.

2 Likes
7

I have considered doing that. Could be worth trying out.

I still think the original request here has merit, but falls into a class of suggestion that isn’t exactly aligned with “complaint driven development,” since there is no strong complaint here, just an idea for an improvement to the user experience.