Hi Gang,
There is a small but nasty UI bug in the comment module, that's been around forever:
When you click on the link below a node that says, "Add new comment", the form label presented is, "Reply." It should say, "Add new comment." This labeling bug works against the otherwise awesome threading built into the comment module.
It is a common problem on discussions that follow nodes that users may click "reply" just below someone's comment when they were intending to respond to the node content. So their response gets threaded under a comment instead of flush left as a new comment would. And it also happens that someone clicks "add new comment" when they meant to reply to someone's response, which makes the comment less coherent because it doesn't get threaded.
Getting the form labels correct will reinforce for users that they are submitting the correct form. Clicking on "add new comment"would bring a form titled "Add new comment", clicking on "reply" would bring a form titled "reply".
Is there any logic at all that could assert this isn't a bug?
I've added an issue on this to: http://drupal.org/project/issues/drupal
specifically: http://drupal.org/node/189659
Because of the intense testing of the Drupal 6 beta, that queue is very busy. I posted the issue about 10 hours ago and there are more than 20 issues ahead of it now. It hasn't gotten any attention so far.
Do you agree that this is a serious UI bug? If so, go over to the issue I've started and let folks know. With all the pressure on Drupal coders to clean up Drupal 6, I think their natural inclination would be to blow off this issue because it doesn't "break" the code from a coder's perspective.
I think this could be a good opportunity to challenge the community on whether it is really serious about UI issues.
All the best,
Shai
content2zero
Comments
screenshots/mockups
I think that the issue is a big one - nice catch.
Perhaps you could provide some screenshots and mockups of you'd like to see?
That would make the need for this more obvious.
--
Knaddisons Denver Life | mmm Chipotle Log | The Big Spanish Tour
knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
Thanks for verifying my sanity...
I'll try to work on some mock-ups.
Shai
Shai Gluskin
Content2zero
Discovery of another bug -- fine tuning the complaint
I think that one reason this problem is off of people's radar is that when you set the new comment form to show up below the node (as opposed to its own page), then the form label appears correctly "add new comment." No problem. Those settings are at:
/admin/content/comment/settings
That is the way it is set up here on groups.drupal.org, and so you can't see the problem here. On d.o. however, "add new comment" takes you to a new page where the form label is mislabeled "Reply."
Interestingly, in Drupal 6, the comment settings page is completely missing, oops!
So I'll add that to the queue, probably as a different issue.
If people think this is an issue, please leave a comment on the issue queue so that it gets attention:
http://drupal.org/node/189659
Shai
Shai Gluskin
Content2zero
not missing - moved
It's not missing - just moved. Comment settings are now per content type so they are at admin/content/types/page for example.
Also, it looks like you've posted a second problem into the same issue. That's a fast road to getting one or the other ignored.
--
Knaddisons Denver Life | mmm Chipotle Log | The Big Spanish Tour
knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
Overall guideline
Would this be a good overall guideline-
Form button labels should match the task they perform. Avoid 'Submit' and other generic titles. Reuse language from the page title or link to the form if applicable.
Yes
I think that is a great generic application across the board for the concern I'm raising.
Shai
content2zero
Shai Gluskin
Content2zero
Alternative suggestion
In thinking this through, I've come up with a different answer: name all comments as "comments", whether or not they have a parent. In other words, ditch the label "reply" for simplicity's sake.
I've laid out the idea in detail and created a conceptual background and provided to graphics! Oh boy.
Check it out and pipe in at: http://drupal.org/node/189659#comment-623463
best,
Shai
content2zero
Shai Gluskin
Content2zero