Notification Feedback

[Nityananda]

Def agree with this one ...... Just an x will do but would also like a delete all as well as a view all if possible

[IP.iBaLLiN]

I really like this!

[bfarber]

Def agree with this one ...... Just an x will do but would also like a delete all as well as a view all if possible

There is already a view all, fyi. It's the last line of the menu.

How would you imagine it to work? When you delete one, I assume it should be removed from the menu (and all this should happen via AJAX)? Assuming it does remove itself from the menu, should another one fill it's space, assuming you have more than 10 notifications, or should the menu just go down to 9 until you refresh?

[bfarber]

I'm mystified at the complexity of, and need for, this bloated notifications system. I sure hope all of the new features are off upon upgrade.

Essentially, we "needed" this new system because many many areas of IPB issue notifications, however the options, functionality, and code are all separate. That means if there's a minor bug in the email routines, 15 files (for example) may need to be updated, instead of 1. We issued a popup for PM notifications, but that was the only notification type that would do so. Some areas would let you send a PM or an email (or both), such as IDM, while others didn't.

Effectively, notifications as a whole felt very disjointed, had to be maintained separately, and as a result, NOT centralizing it was actually bloating the codebase more than making a central notifications area for users.

Of course if you prefer the old methods, you just don't check off any notification types to issue inline notifications (let them all send emails or PMs if you prefer). That is of course your option. :)

[Strike X]

Notification menu is great but when I click any links from the Notification menu, it will direct to Notification Page.. I really don't like this and its annoying. I would prefer it to direct to topic, reply or status.

[madLyfe]

yes

[glorify]

There is already a view all, fyi. It's the last line of the menu.

How would you imagine it to work? When you delete one, I assume it should be removed from the menu (and all this should happen via AJAX)? Assuming it does remove itself from the menu, should another one fill it's space, assuming you have more than 10 notifications, or should the menu just go down to 9 until you refresh?

Maybe delete at the end of the line on each, then at the bottom View All/Delete All

[Amy T]

I agree with you and mentioned it in another topic. Hopefully as many feel the same way it gets changed to this way. :)

[Nityananda]

There is already a view all, fyi. It's the last line of the menu.

How would you imagine it to work? When you delete one, I assume it should be removed from the menu (and all this should happen via AJAX)? Assuming it does remove itself from the menu, should another one fill it's space, assuming you have more than 10 notifications, or should the menu just go down to 9 until you refresh?

Sorry that was my wording. I meant as well as the view all that is currently there.

Yeah I think the idea of this happening via ajax and maintaining the list of 10 items is a great idea. It should be removed from the menu and from the notifications list within the users notification page also.

Gotta say however, yet again the changes that have been made so far are excellent. Loving the changes to the notifications from before as they are not as "in your face" but still clearly notify people of an event. Fantastic stuff :)

[Bartosz Misiak]

A big one: http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/308907-my-opinion-about-notifications/
A smaller one, with Matt's answer:
:shifty:

[Bartosz Misiak]

I personally don't find it necessary. The notifications will expire and disappear sooner or later I guess, so why would you care to remove them yourself? What would be the difference? You know, in the end you can always read every single one of all your notifications before they expire.

[Clickfinity]

Title stripped on merge:

Notification not expiring when I read a PM ...

For example - I had a PM this morning. After reading the PM, the notice was still there telling me about the PM I'd already read.

Hell I'm not even a customer yet, so I don't know the ins and outs of how the notices work, but just thought I'd mention it ...

Cheers,
Shaun :whistle:

[bfarber]

I've merged about 6 topics into one. Was getting too difficult tracking the notification feedback through separate topics. Just a heads up.

[Strike X]

I've merged about 6 topics into one. Was getting too difficult tracking the notification feedback through separate topics. Just a heads up.

What is your thought from my feedback? (Comment above).

Aha, I got 7 reputations :)

[dr. Jekyll]

This has been mentioned a few times. We can and most likely will improve the item in the drop down menu so it is more descriptive. Future versions will probably allow foreign IDs to be stored so we can directly link to the item.

But must really be a drop down? I like the button, and I like a number on it to informing you about new notifications, but I think the informations that can be provide on that small space are limited.

Some message of mine has been quoted? Fine, but I have to click on each notification to see what discussion refers. I think is much better to know directly on the drop down, which discussion refers, as which friend changed his/her status and so on.

Of course the system can provide too much information to avoid server usage and a balance must be done between providing informations and server query.

Can all be done on a small drop down menu? Hard to say, but in pass you surprise me quite well with you graphic solutions.

Anyway I will not shocked if instead of "drop down" you may choose to use the button to open a new page where we could read the notifications inclusive the details of each notification.

After all, when we click the messenger we don't read the PM in the "drop down" but in a new page.

[Luke]

As I said before... Please keep it simple. No more buttons, no drop downs... Just make the notifications take you to what it's talking about. We don't need anything complicated. The only good addition I've seen thus far is the ability to sift through the new notifications in the popup. The notifications should be so transparent you don't even notice they're there until it tells you about something. When you get to that "something" that should be it.

[bfarber]

We're taking a lot of the feedback in, but I think it's unlikely we'll remove the notification menu at this point. For the most part, feedback on it has been positive, outside of the links not taking you to the source that triggered the notifications.

[Luke]

To be honest I think it's a bit unnecessary. Re-using the number over the picture as a notifications number would have been enough. Linking that number to the notifications list would have been good. Having the list on the "View Notifications" page go directly to the "what" would have been good...

Right now I see it as bloat, right up there with an ajax powered fast reply.

[The Geek]

... er... yes please :)

[bfarber]

... er... yes please :)

... er... yes please ..... what?

[Brandon D]

I don't mind the menu and actually kind of like it. My biggest gripe, and one I hope will be addressed before 3.1 is released, is the content links as mentioned. I don't think it would be terribly hard to implement and if you're already willing to make such sweeping changes such as adding a menu this late in the BETA...

[bfarber]

Guys, I've been working on this a little to try to incorporate some of the feedback. Naturally we're not going to be able to incorporate everything, but we do want to get this working well for the initial release. :)

Some screenshots:



This is the popup. Some things to note:

• Styling has been brought more in line with the other modal boxes with a titlebar and close button.
• "Ignore" button has been removed (as there is an actual "close" button now)
• Text on button shortened to "View" and will take you directly to the item issuing the notification now (this is not retroactive, but won't matter for you guys since you don't have 3.1 yet anyways).
• You will notice also that the title has been updated to better link to the content, and to better identify what the notification is about (i.e. "test has reported something" with "test" linked to his profile, "reported" linking to the report, and "something" linking to what was reported). This is context sensitive, so different areas will have differently linked titles. Some notifications, such as daily/weekly digest, can't link to a source content, and thus the "View" link will link to the notification as you would expect.

This is the updated menu.

• Again, you'll notice context sensitive titles with appropriately linked strings.
• While you can't see it in the screenshot, the topic title is now shown in new reply and new topic notifications (it is truncated if over 50 characters)
• Some minor bugs fixed, such as dual numbers on the menu overlapping the down arrow, etc.

This is the usercp notifications log.

• Again, the titles better link to the important content you want to view.
• If a title does not have a source content link, it will link to the notification detail page
• There is a "view" icon at the beginning of the line allowing you to view the notification (since the title does not link to the notification in most cases)
• If the notification has source content (as most do), the icon used in the menu is displayed as well, linking you to the source content. In the screenshot you only see two (the most recent two) - this is simply because I just got done adding the feature, so the information needed wasn't stored for the previous notifications.

I think these changes, and a few other tweaks we're working on, should hopefully help deliver a more useful feature and experience.

We welcome your feedback on the existing and upcoming changes. :) We want to be sure the system is useful for you, and works in an efficient manner for you and your users.

[Brandon D]

Definitely improved :D Thanks.

By chance, is the notification marked read if you click the content link?

[Ryan H.]

Mr. Burns is pleased.

[bfarber]

Definitely improved :D Thanks.

By chance, is the notification marked read if you click the content link?

No. That's something I may explore in the future, but it's rather difficult in reality. There's not a "trigger" that allows you to necessarily know if there's a notification when you view a page. i.e. if someone quoted your post, and you go view the topic, it's hard to go through any outstanding notifications for the user and know which are from that topic specifically, if you get what I mean.

Something to chew on moving forward though. :)