Knowledge Explorer: Edit first post from KE view

[debryc (Deborah Chang)]

@misterjtc

I noticed that when you view a topic from the plugins page, I don’t see a way for users to edit the article. You have to scroll to the bottom and click the “view the discussion on this topic” link and go to the topic and then click edit.

I agree that being able to edit from the Knowledge Explorer and add new docs from the Knowledge Explorer would be helpful. I find myself going to the Knowledge Explorer to see if there are any document that I should be updating and/or are missing so once I figure that out, I’d love to be able to just create or edit from the Knowledge Explorer screen.

Editing, especially, seems to be in line with the intention to surface up, well, knowledge documents. As we all know, documentation is only as valuable as they are kept up to date.

[justin (Justin DiRose)]

@debryc

Editing, especially, seems to be in line with the intention to surface up, well, knowledge documents. As we all know, documentation is only as valuable as they are kept up to date.

I do agree with this sentiment. My wrestle with it is most updates happen in context of the replies to the topic at hand, hence why editing takes place in the normal topic view in this current iteration. Nevertheless, it’s something I’ll consider adding.

[debryc (Deborah Chang)]

@justin

My wrestle with it is most updates happen in context of the replies to the topic at hand, hence why editing takes place in the normal topic view in this current iteration.

Interesting! We’re the complete opposite. Most of our editing is done directly in the first post of the topic. Just riffing because I don’t know about the technical limitations… Could there be edit buttons and reply buttons that will take us to the normal view but automatically open up editing or replying? That’ll remove a lot of the friction. Let me know if that makes any sense.

Also, is there a way for the edit button at the upper right to work or at least be removed? Right now it’s very confusing to have a clickable element that doesn’t actually do anything.

@justin

Nevertheless, it’s something I’ll consider adding.

Thank you

[debryc (Deborah Chang)]

I noticed another reason for being able to move directly between knowledge explorer and the normal view. I’m using this brilliant theme component by @joffreyjaffeux.

Discourse-reply-template-component

discourse-reply-template-component This theme component will let you easily reuse part of a post in a reply or a new topic. Repository Link Usage [wrap=template key="template-name"] My reusable content - [ ] task 1 - [ ] task 2 [/wrap] Note that if user is not logged in, clicking the button will display the login modal. key is mandatory Other options action="create" this will make the button open a composer to create a new topic action="create_pm" this will make the button ope…

Unfortunately when I view a topic within Knowledge Explorer, this theme component doesn’t work. I’m super sad about that since we use this theme component basically exclusively in knowledge documents.

Maybe an incremental UX fix would be to put navigation links at the top of the topic? I put “Edit” and “View Discussion” as the navigation links, but I imagine other links could be “View First Post” or “Reply”. I’m not sure what the balance is between simplicity and efficiency. Personally what would be most valuable to me would be “View First Post” and “Edit”

[justin (Justin DiRose)]

@debryc

Maybe an incremental UX fix would be to put navigation links at the top of the topic? I put “Edit” and “View Discussion” as the navigation links, but I imagine other links could be “View First Post” or “Reply”. I’m not sure what the balance is between simplicity and efficiency. Personally what would be most valuable to me would be “View First Post” and “Edit”

I like this idea quite a lot. These would have to move into the topic view vs. stay in Knowledge Explorer, but I think we’d be able to wire something up on this.

[debryc (Deborah Chang)]

@justin

I like this idea quite a lot. These would have to move into the topic view vs. stay in Knowledge Explorer, but I think we’d be able to wire something up on this.

Brilliant! I continue to think the following navigation links would be my top choices but I’m curious what others think.

View First Post
Reply
Edit
View Discussion

And, whatever links are at the top likely should be repeated at the bottom of the post, and closer to the middle than the current “View Discussion” link is.

UPDATE December 4, 2020

I expressed in a post below an updated list of what I think should be the links. See

Knowledge Explorer: Edit first post from KE view

@justin An update is that after using the Knowledge Explorer more, my desires for the navigation links are View First Post Edit First Post View Discussion I removed “Reply” because I realized that I want everyone to view the full discussion first before replying. Maybe their question or content has already been shared in the discussion, in which case we want them to not be repetitive but instead contribute to the discussion that already exists.

[debryc (Deborah Chang)]

Hi @justin, I’m seeing if you happen to have an update on this idea! I await eagerly

[justin (Justin DiRose)]

It’s on my backlog but due to other work that’s taken priority, this has been put on hold. I’ll get to it when I can, unfortunately, but it will come! I think it’s a good idea.

[debryc (Deborah Chang)]

Thank you for the update!

[debryc (Deborah Chang)]

@justin An update is that after using the Knowledge Explorer more, my desires for the navigation links are

View First Post
Edit First Post
View Discussion

I removed “Reply” because I realized that I want everyone to view the full discussion first before replying. Maybe their question or content has already been shared in the discussion, in which case we want them to not be repetitive but instead contribute to the discussion that already exists.