QuoteSo maybe a rename to ignore or hide would help, or placing that less used option in a dropdown, could add the 'hamburger' icon in that row with print, watch, mark unread, etc in its dropdown.Calling it "Ignore" probably makes more sense, yeah. But this [New Posts/New Replies] functionality is not something that I've found much use for (yet), so I don't have a strong opinion about it.
I have to take a step back, because I was testing some more and there are actually more problems with notifications than I initially thought. Some might be bugs, but I'll list them anyway:
1. There are no notifications for topic replies equivalent to the notifications for likes or mentions [the number over the Notifications button]. You only get a "new" text/link next to a topic on that list of topics, which is difficult to access. It seems that this is by design, but it makes no sense to me. Why not have them in the same place as likes/mentions..?
2. The "Notify me of topics and boards I've requested notification on" doesn't make it clear whether this will send any emails or not. (I'm pretty sure I did receive emails on an ElkArte forum in the past, but now when testing I can't make them work - this is probably a bug, though.)
3. There should be a separate setting with checkboxes for the default notification behavior (forum, email, both or neither), like in SMF:
In addition, as I said already, I propose such checkboxes also for the list of subscribed topics, so that every topic/board would get its own notification preference. Basically, this would provide the same functionality that SMF has inside a topic, but on the list of topics instead, which IMO would look a bit nicer (but even copying the current SMF functionality would be an improvement).
In any case, I strongly recommend to place the list of those "subscribed" topics somewhere more easily accessible, which I why I suggested a "My Content" section. Because the current topic list location [Account Settings > Modify Profile > Notifications > below the settings] is quite weird, to say the least. I challenge any new ElkArte user to find it in less than one minute. ;)
It makes it more difficult to curate a list of topics and basically forces you to install something like the Bookmarks add-on, which shouldn't be necessary.
QuoteI've been working on a dark theme variant and changed those to simple highlight dots with no count. I don't think seeing the actual number brings that much to the party.I agree, although I don't really care if it's a number or a dot.
What's more crucial and I'm going to repeat it, just in case: a dedicated Notifications button IMO isn't needed, because its functionality can be replaced with a "My Content" direct access to all the subscribed topics, all the received likes, mentions etc. Old and new, read and unread, all in one place. The new/unread ones would simply jump at the top of their respective list and would stay highlighted until you interact with them by opening the associated link. And you could also mark them read with a button click, to clear these notifications faster.
I imagine it working like this: by default the "My Content" would open on the Subscriptions list, which would be separated into topic and board subscriptions, just as it's separated now. But if you receive a new like and the "My Content" button gets a dot/number, it would open on the "likes" section. If you receive notifications for multiple things, it would open in the section that has the first (oldest) notification. And some visual clue would be there to show where the unread notifications are.
It's possible that I overlooked something about this functionality, I didn't think a lot about all possible use cases. But the general idea is to reduce the amount of buttons and to make the content the user wants to follow more easily accessible.
Re: About all the buttons, and subscriptions...
Reply #5 –
show" class="quote-show-more">Quote from: Unuser - I have to take a step back, because I was testing some more and there are actually more problems with notifications than I initially thought. Some might be bugs, but I'll list them anyway:
1. There are no notifications for topic replies equivalent to the notifications for likes or mentions [the number over the Notifications button]. You only get a "new" text/link next to a topic on that list of topics, which is difficult to access. It seems that this is by design, but it makes no sense to me. Why not have them in the same place as likes/mentions..?
That is correct, there are no "site" notifications for a reply to a topic you are watching, you would have to click the new Replies button. Are you saying you would like to see an indicator or count over that button (or some consolidated button) in the top menu? e.g. a site notification/indication when a new reply is made to a watched post?
Quote from: Unuser - 2. The "Notify me of topics and boards I've requested notification on" doesn't make it clear whether this will send any emails or not. (I'm pretty sure I did receive emails on an ElkArte forum in the past, but now when testing I can't make them work - this is probably a bug, though.)
That area needs to be cleaned up so it evident that it is referring to the sending of email notifications. Some updates have been made but its still ugly at best.
Quote from: Unuser - 3. There should be a separate setting with checkboxes for the default notification behavior (forum, email, both or neither), like in SMF:
[attach type=image]9984[/attach]
In addition, as I said already, I propose such checkboxes also for the list of subscribed topics, so that every topic/board would get its own notification preference. Basically, this would provide the same functionality that SMF has inside a topic, but on the list of topics instead, which IMO would look a bit nicer (but even copying the current SMF functionality would be an improvement).
In any case, I strongly recommend to place the list of those "subscribed" topics somewhere more easily accessible, which I why I suggested a "My Content" section. Because the current topic list location [Account Settings > Modify Profile > Notifications > below the settings] is quite weird, to say the least. I challenge any new ElkArte user to find it in less than one minute. ;)
It makes it more difficult to curate a list of topics and basically forces you to install something like the Bookmarks add-on, which shouldn't be necessary.
TBH I'm not fully following all of what you are asking (with all the checkboxes). If your saying you want to be able to set individual notifications on a per board and per topic basis, then I feel thats going to lead to further UI confusion.
Hitting notify on a topic does add it to your notifications topic listing which in a way is the start of a "bookmark" list (setting aside FTM that is currently buried in the UI) I guess if you watch a topic that you don't participate in, then there is not currently any convenient way to see just those updates when you are on the site, so that could be improved. If you participate then it would be in new replies, but that does not help the lurkers.
Quote from: Unuser - What's more crucial and I'm going to repeat it, just in case: a dedicated Notifications button IMO isn't needed, because its functionality can be replaced with a "My Content" direct access to all the subscribed topics, all the received likes, mentions etc. Old and new, read and unread, all in one place. The new/unread ones would simply jump at the top of their respective list and would stay highlighted until you interact with them by opening the associated link. And you could also mark them read with a button click, to clear these notifications faster.
I imagine it working like this: by default the "My Content" would open on the Subscriptions list, which would be separated into topic and board subscriptions, just as it's separated now. But if you receive a new like and the "My Content" button gets a dot/number, it would open on the "likes" section. If you receive notifications for multiple things, it would open in the section that has the first (oldest) notification. And some visual clue would be there to show where the unread notifications are.
It's possible that I overlooked something about this functionality, I didn't think a lot about all possible use cases. But the general idea is to reduce the amount of buttons and to make the content the user wants to follow more easily accessible.
Setting aside the name of the button, we could add a watched topics tab that also indicated ones with new posts. Could also add a new posts on watched boards tab which would narrow the scope of the current New Posts button (there is already a way to do that, but its one of those find it if you can links). I'd really like to continue to cull the number of links on a page and consolidate those functions. For example I did a link count on a forum (not this one) and on the board index there were >250 click options, thats just crazy IMO, and good luck with a screen reader.
Anyway good thoughts/suggestions you have provided, I'm going to look into watched topics<=>bookmarks and adding that under Notifications (Ha) just for now and see where that may lead. That also implies a site vs current email only notification, just like mentions, likes, etc.
Re: About all the buttons, and subscriptions...
Reply #6 –
karte.net/community/index.php?msg=43579">Quote from: Spuds - Are you saying you would like to see an indicator or count over that button (or some consolidated button) in the top menu? e.g. a site notification/indication when a new reply is made to a watched post?Yep. The same kind of notifications that you get for a like/mention/quote.
Just to be sure we're talking about the same thing: I mean the "subscribed" topics or "topics for which I receive notifications" as they're currently presented in ElkArte, rather than topics affected by the Watch/Unwatch button.
(In SMF, the topics with notifications are called Watched Topics, though. And it also looks like the notifications and watch-for-new-replies settings there were kinda consolidated, as can be seen in the SMF screenshot from my first post.)
QuoteTBH I'm not fully following all of what you are asking (with all the checkboxes). If your saying you want to be able to set individual notifications on a per board and per topic basis, then I feel thats going to lead to further UI confusion.Generally speaking, I have different "tiers" of interest/urgency/notifications for a topic:
1. I don't care at all, I don't want to receive anything about a topic, no "new replies", nothing.
2. I want to put a topic on a list, because I might want to read it at some point in the future, but I don't want to receive notifications for it (a kind of a "bookmark" feature).
3. I want to receive notifications of new replies, but only on-site, when I feel like visiting the forum.
4. I want to receive notifications by email, because I might not log into the forum regularly or it's an important topic.
Frankly, I'm not sure how many people feel like this is required. But seeing how SMF has similar per-topic notifications, I'm not the only one either.
UI clutter is a very valid concern, but I don't think there would be much confusion if this is well implemented.
Here's a very rough sketch of what I had in mind, just so you get an idea:
I didn't add "site" and "email" checkboxes for the entire list ("check all"), but they
could be added, by either rearranging/renaming those column titles or by increasing the height of that area.
As a bonus I threw a "mark as read" button on there, which would kinda make sense (but it isn't urgent). The Unnotify button wouldn't be very needed either, if those new checkboxes were added... it would only serve as a "remove from list" button (one could always do that from within a topic).
That said, I completely understand if people have a different priorities or UI tastes... I'm just putting it out there.
Re: About all the buttons, and subscriptions...
Reply #7 –
Thanks ... lots to think about here.
Setting the events / notifications is actually a simple matter in the 2.0 code base, as a test I added watched topics to the ACP (where the admin can choose what methods are available) and Profile notification area (where the user can choose how to be notified) with just a couple of simple classes as well as the actual action of that, so the email / site notification is set as well.
Anyway its the various 'overlapping' options that would need consideration. Just a simple case where someone has board notifications on and a watched topic in that board, and has chosen both onsite and email as the notification type(s). So now we need to deal properly with not sending duplicate notifications. and ensuring the site "whats new" is correctly reflected.
There is also the old issue of email posts in general (nothing really to do with this suggestion) today they are sent on post, as this is really no additional overhead, but the issue is when someone posts and deletes or posts and edits, the notification does not follow the grace period. That is again IMO the edge case (meaning for the vast majority of posts, that does not happen). Again the fix is not complex but its more overhead on the site/server. Just rolling things around in my head !
Welp tornado watch tonight, got to go before the power does.
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