Hello, Usability folks.
I'm the maintainer of the comment notify module and I'm about to add two new features that I thought could use your guidance.
Comment notify currently adds a single checkbox to the comment form that allows both authenticated and anonymous commenters to subscribe to future comments on a node.
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Send notification only for responses to a user's comment
This would make the module send e-mails only for responses to the specific comment you've subscribed to, not the entire node thread. This is more useful on sites that use "threaded" comments, but would still work as long as it's possible to respond to a specific comment even if the display is not threaded. My debate about this is whether it should be optional for admins, optional for users, or optional for admins and one of the admin options is to let users choose. -
Allow users to subscribe without commenting hopefully doesn't need an explanation ;)
Currently this module is fairly simple (at least for site visitors) because it just has one checkbox.
What I'm looking for this group to help with is:
* General feedback on the UI for the above issues
* Wireframes/mockups for how to alter the comment form to handle both of them
Current public UI:
Proposed public UI:
The dropdown options are:
* 'No notifications'
* 'For all comments on this post'
* 'Just for replies to my comment'
Comments
(im)patiently waiting ;)
Is there any way I can make it easier for people to contribute ideas here? Any way to make this more enticing? Am I asking the wrong questions?
If you've ever said "man, Drupal's modules are ugly and difficult to work with, I wish the maintainers would ask for advice before implementing those ugly features" now is your chance to get your ideas implemented.
The statistics about this module indicate it is installed on a few thousand sites around the world, so hopefully that is a worthwhile cause.
knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
(im)patiently waiting ;)
I don't recall seeing this one come through in my e-mail. There's a lot of traffic on the usability group, so I miss a lot of stuff.
If you want to add specific usability task/issues to the project (post the issue links in this thread), I'll assign them to myself and hopefully take a look at them in the next few days.
screenshots?
I reckon you'd get a bit more feedback if you posted screenshots of the current UI, and it looks like one of those issues has a patch on it too that may or may not be screenshotable.
good call
The current UI is in the image at http://drupal.org/project/comment_notify
The future UI...is determined here, hopefully.
I will post screenshots of the UI of what I'm creating later today.
Also, I realize that I didn't give a whole lot of time here which is why I said that I'm impatiently waiting. But, the door is never closed - I'll be happy to take advice at any point in the future of course.
knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
Demo links as well
Apart from screen shots, demo links (http://www.marketingfan.com/ ?) to the interface screen would help (although I don't think its always feasible) in general
OT: I don't seem to have received any email updates related to topics in the UX/Usability group since the last few days
Defining the problem
Some brief thoughts to define the problem...
My initial thought concerns the second feature (receiving notifications without leaving a comment). In many cases users who want this feature will never have commented on the site before, or perhaps never been to the site at all (unless I'm wrong and this is only for logged in users? If so, this will be easier because we've already got their email address). If they are indeed new, they will have no idea the feature exists and will probably not look for it. That being the case, they will see that they have come to the bottom of the comments and totally ignore the comment form because they are not making a comment. That means you really need to display the feature right after the comments, and before the comment form itself. I think right after the last comment is a good place, because if they don't read that far they're probably not interested in subscribing. Perhaps there will be an RSS link there too.
For the first feature I'd question the need to let them set a default option for the subscription form element. It's something extra for them to think about when making a comment and unnecessary thinking will only slow them down. Another problem with this is that you provide a link to the settings page before the 'Post comment' button. If they go ahead and click on the settings page, they risk losing the comment they've just written. If you think it is needed, perhaps some kind of 'always assume this answer' type link so that we can keep it contextual rather than needing to display it on a settings page at all. It may also make sense to provide this subscription option after they've posted, using a link in the status message... maybe (would need to think about that more).
I suppose the other scenario is someone posts a message and then comes back later and decides to subscribe. They have that option, of course (by using the second feature), but the experienced commenter will likely look for a way to subscribe using the option they saw earlier. So a way to combine the UI for both features may be desirable.
Hopefully that gets the ball rolling.
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www.alanpritt.com
very useful help
Yes, it is important that it works for anonymous users. The module is for both authenticated and anonymous users (anonymous users were the original motivation behind it, in fact).
Thanks very much, alpritt. This is all very useful stuff that I will consider. I like the idea of showing a message to authenticated users after they have posted that says "You subscribed to comment notifications on this page. Make that your default by editing your account." That message would only show if they don't have a default set. If they have a default set...they know what they are doing and it seems like something that's not worth alerting them to.
knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
A key is making use of
A key is making use of horizontal space. I imagine the ideal solution using 2 radios, and 1 check box:
Send me an email when someone replies to this:
[ radios blank by default] -comment -page
[checkbox] remember this setting
"I'm not concerned about all hell breaking loose, but that a PART of hell will break loose... it'll be much harder to detect." - George Carlin
blog: http://www.nicklewis.org
"We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm." - Winston Churchill
work: http://www.chapterthree.com
blog: http://www.nicklewis.org
split it up
First, don't use a drop-down in cases like this. The user would need to click to see which options are available.
"Notify me of replies to my comment"
- don't show this unless the user made a comment; otherwise it's useless.
- phpBB has an option like this on the comment form, just above the "Post comment" button. In my experience this is in the natural flow of commenting.
"Notify me of all comments"
- this is both for commenters and non-commenters. I'd put it below the last comment, like alpritt suggested, and like phpBB has.
The module would need the logic to process a combination of both options into a reasonable result:
- "Notify me of replies to my comment" checked + "Notify me of all comments" checked = "Notify me of all comments" checked
- "Notify me of all comments" checked => don't show "Notify me of replies to my comment" (or show it checked, non-editable)
thanks
Are you suggesting that the UI for comment notify should be hidden until they make a comment using some jquery or something?
Can you post a screenshot?
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knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
phpBB
Sorry, I was unclear. I meant show it in the comment form:
This is Dutch. The three check boxes below are: Disable BBCode in this comment, Disable smileys in this comment, Notify me of replies to my comment. Then Preview and OK.