Notifications - Can't they be marked one at a time?

[Robert Angle]

... like Facebook and other social platforms do.

On my Invision installation, let's presume I visit my board and I have 15 notifications. I scroll down to #15 and click on it and read that post. Then when I return to the Bell icon at the top of the page to open my notifications again, they are all marked read. Couldn't just #15 be marked read and the remaining unread notifications still be in bold type and very clear that they are notifications that have yet to be clicked on?

[Marc Stridgen]

You are mixing reading of notifications with reading of topics there. If you click on the notification icon, you have indeed seen the notification. The read markers for the items themselves are not set. Facebook and other social media platforms dont really have a concept of reading items other than the notifications themselves, whereas we do. You would be best to use unread content streams for this purpose, which shows you things you havent yet read

[Robert Angle]

3 minutes ago, Marc Stridgen said:

You are mixing reading of notifications with reading of topics there. If you click on the notification icon, you have indeed seen the notification.... You would be best to use unread content streams for this purpose, which shows you things you havent yet read

 

Okay, I guess I get it. Other social platforms, such as Facebook, Mighty Networks, Kajabi, and many many more just do it differently. The notifications remain bold until you have physically clicked on them and read the content. When you return to the notifications, the unread ones are still bold. Most have a "Mark all notifications read" button if you want to clear them so they aren't in bold anymore.

Unread Content does work, albeit a bit differently, because Notifications actually show you what you have specifically asked to be notified about, such as followed topic, replies, reactions, etc.

What I usually have to do, is click through to the main notification screen and open each notification in a new tab so that I don't accidently miss/skip a notification - something that would not be a concern if they remained bold until read.

It's a very convenient feature and something many of us get used to, so I offered it up as Feedback because I think it would be a nice enhancement to the product.

 

[AlexJ]

I agree with Robert here. I always click on Notificaiton on our forum and all is marked as read. It works fine when you have 5 things to catch up but doesn't help really, when I am logging in after few days and i have 30 notifications to catch up on. 

[Como]

I have to agree - it would be better if they were marked off individually. Them all being immediately marked as read in the notifications dropdown is unexpected behavior and certainly inconvenient.

[Como]

Just to add: I note that 'reported content' (which presents information very similarly) only marks as read those items actually read. Is the behaviour in the notifications list an oversight or bug?

[Matt]

We’ve gone back and forth on it but I’m leaning towards the suggestion here to mark as read when read. 

[marklcfc]

22 minutes ago, Matt said:

We’ve gone back and forth on it but I’m leaning towards the suggestion here to mark as read when read. 

If 15+ people have quoted you that will very quickly become annoying though.

Currently say I've had members quote 3, the bubble says 3 and I can see clearly the 3 quoted posts as it has a different background colour. I click it, and click the first quoted post, the bubble goes BUT, when I click that dropdown again, the backgrounds have all been marked as read despite only reading one post.

The two remaining quoted posts should still show as unread. (but the bubble should not appear, as there are none new since last clicking it.)

Hope that makes sense

Basically keep it as it is, but keep the background colour noticeably unread on the dropdown list for those I've not checked.

Edited August 20, 2023 by marklcfc

[Como]

1 hour ago, marklcfc said:

If 15+ people have quoted you that will very quickly become annoying though.

Currently say I've had members quote 3, the bubble says 3 and I can see clearly the 3 quoted posts as it has a different background colour. I click it, and click the first quoted post, the bubble goes BUT, when I click that dropdown again, the backgrounds have all been marked as read despite only reading one post.

The two remaining quoted posts should still show as unread. (but the bubble should not appear, as there are none new since last clicking it.)

Hope that makes sense

Basically keep it as it is, but keep the background colour noticeably unread on the dropdown list for those I've not checked.

So, you are making a distinction between 'unread' and 'new unread'. And the bubble will show 'new unread'. I think that's probably an unnecessary complication. And there is some utility in knowing the number of actual unread notifications; a bubble indicating '0' when there are unread notifications has a downside too.

I understand your reasoning, but in the round, I do not agree.

[marklcfc]

3 hours ago, Como said:

So, you are making a distinction between 'unread' and 'new unread'. And the bubble will show 'new unread'. I think that's probably an unnecessary complication. And there is some utility in knowing the number of actual unread notifications; a bubble indicating '0' when there are unread notifications has a downside too.

I understand your reasoning, but in the round, I do not agree.

The only thing I'm changing is keeping that different background colour (or some new unread notification on the opened dropdown) instead of marking all as read immediately after the notification icon is clicked.

The alternative that @Matt appeared to be considering would bring no end of complaints, no one wants 15+ notifcations that you have to click through each just to get rid of that bubble. Active users will end up building up and up ending up on 99+ as seen in the early years of social media. Members will just stop checking their notifications as it's too much effort to look at each one individually.

Basically it works fine as it is, the only adjustment needed is once the dropdown is open so you can see which notifications you've clicked.

Edited August 20, 2023 by marklcfc

[Como]

I am not sure I entirely follow, @marklcfc. But would not a 'mark all as read' button get you there?

[Matt]

If it was to change, I'd change it so the red bubble goes the second you click on the icon to see the notifications, but they would stay bold until you read the source item. However, we'd need to make a decision about what to do with pure notifications like "Rank X achieved!" which has no linked item.

[Como]

3 hours ago, Matt said:

If it was to change, I'd change it so the red bubble goes the second you click on the icon to see the notifications, but they would stay bold until you read the source item. However, we'd need to make a decision about what to do with pure notifications like "Rank X achieved!" which has no linked item.

Perhaps they just need an 'x' to remove them. And, a mark all as read option too.

[Robert Angle]

9 hours ago, Matt said:

If it was to change, I'd change it so the red bubble goes the second you click on the icon to see the notifications, but they would stay bold until you read the source item. However, we'd need to make a decision about what to do with pure notifications like "Rank X achieved!" which has no linked item.

This is brilliant, and I hope it gets implemented.

Currently clicking on an achievement takes you to your profile page. That would be sufficient to mark it read.

OR, it could take you to a page that lists the various types of achievements and what is required to obtain them.

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Robert Angle

[Day_]

On 8/21/2023 at 11:40 AM, Matt said:

If it was to change, I'd change it so the red bubble goes the second you click on the icon to see the notifications, but they would stay bold until you read the source item. However, we'd need to make a decision about what to do with pure notifications like "Rank X achieved!" which has no linked item.

[David N.]

On 8/21/2023 at 12:40 PM, Matt said:

If it was to change, I'd change it so the red bubble goes the second you click on the icon to see the notifications, but they would stay bold until you read the source item. However, we'd need to make a decision about what to do with pure notifications like "Rank X achieved!" which has no linked item.

I agree with most others here, that's the way I'm hoping it will work in a future version. 

Pure notifications like "Rank X achieved" could be marked as read the instant they are displayed on screen. A typical user will have only one at a time in their Notification menu, maybe two. 

But power users may have 30 notifications on any single day, and most expect to use that Notification menu as their to do list. IMO, the notification should change color when the item is read, whether you've clicked it in the Notification menu, or read it some other way. So if I go back to my notification menu and see only 14 bright notification, I know that I've already read the 16 other items. 

[Como]

43 minutes ago, David N. said:

IMO, the notification should change color when the item is read, whether you've clicked it in the Notification menu, or read it some other way. So if I go back to my notification menu and see only 14 bright notification, I know that I've already read the 16 other items.

Yes!

[jesuralem]

I already said that but notification management is maybe the only aspect where vbulletin is better than ips.

If you have a notification regarding a content, and you read said content directly without clicking the notification, it should be marked as read.

Even worse on IPS, if you clic the floating pop up about a notification, said notification is not marked as read.

The idea of treating differently the red dot and the bold text is interesting but simply treat notifications independently is enough for me.

[David N.]

1 hour ago, jesuralem said:

If you have a notification regarding a content, and you read said content directly without clicking the notification, it should be marked as read.

I agree. I've suggested that before: 

 

1 hour ago, jesuralem said:

The idea of treating differently the red dot and the bold text is interesting but simply treat notifications independently is enough for me.

IMO they should be the same. I've posted about that before too: