Quality-of-life Suggestions for the New Notification System

[NeoNudel]

I've had some time now to get acquainted with the notification system, now that tracked comments are working again. Generally I like the new system, though I do feel in some ways it could be made more convenient. I started compiling a mental wishlist of changes and thought I may as well share it. So here goes...

 

1) The 'x' to close a notification is too small and at times unresponsive. I like that the notices remain until I remove them. However, removing them has proven rather troublesome at times. The marker is really tiny and at times I've accidentally clicked on the notice again (refreshing the page) rather than the 'x'. Also, I've noticed that sometimes the 'x' refuses to function. This may have to do with when it changes places in the list (new comment that hasn't refreshed the list yet). I'm not sure, but it gets a little frustrating having to refresh the page just to remove some notices.

 

2) Move/ resize the notification drop down as it currently overlaps other buttons. Quite simply, when expanded, the notification tab overlaps the Nexus Network button. In combination with #1, this means in trying to remove a notice, I often end up with Homepage, Games List, etc. covering up the 'x' completely. It's a minor inconvenience exacerbated by the frequency with which I use the notification system.

 

3) Opening a notice in another tab should darken the notification, marking it as read. I like the visual indication that a notice has been read. However, I find that it doesn't take into account tabbed browsing. When I used the old notification system, I'd often open my notices and then right click the ones that interested me and open them in new tabs. In doing that with the new system, I find that the new tabs don't trigger the "mark as read" functionality built into the new notification system. This is unfortunate because a lot of time is lost opening the notices, clicking "more..." to expand older notices, waiting for it to populate, selecting the notice I want, waiting for the page to load, opening the notices, clicking "more..." again to find the notice I previously clicked on, waiting for it to populate, clicking the 'x' to delete it. This gets even more tedious if the 'x' for that particular notice does not respond after all that loading. I would much prefer being able to keep the notices open on one tab and simply load the actual comments in other tabs. I can still do that of course, but the notification tab will be completely unaware of my actions and treat all the notices as unread.

 

4) Remove the images to allow more notices in one pane. I track a lot of files. At times, I have to expand the notices 12 times to see 10 hours worth of notifications. This isn't merely because a lot of activity took place, but also because the notification pane only displays 10 results by default. That's a lot of wasted space in my opinion.

 

5) Notification sidebar please. In contemplating solutions to point 1 and 2, I kept coming back to the idea of an entire sidebar to house the notifications. This could be optional, much like bookmarks or history sidebars are optional for many web browsers. The user could toggle it on and off with ease. I envision it remaining populated and current between pages. Ideally, a user could scroll to a particular comment made 17 hours ago in the notification sidebar, click to load it in the current tab, and still see that notification in the sidebar ready for easy deletion. This would probably be the most time-consuming to implement, but if it were, I would probably have that sidebar up at all times. That's how invaluable such an option would be.

 

6) Mod specific tracking options. As I said previously, I track a lot of files. Some of these files are essential mods for all my playthroughs. It's crucial that I keep tabs on their comments for new bugs or compatibility concerns that may affect me. Other mods I bookmarked for a certain playthrough. I still want to see if the author updates the file, but I don't need day-to-day remarks from its users.

 

Currently, the system only supports all or nothing. I can either be notified of comments on tracked files--ALL my tracked files-- or not be notified at all. Neither situation is ideal and I end up doing a lot of micromanaging trying to make it work for me. Under the previous system, I'd simply open the popup, select the ones I wanted to look at, and then close the popup, clearing all notifications. Now I have to clear all notifications by hand, which can get a bit tedious if a mod I'm tracking for file updates is quite popular and gets a lot of comments. I tried setting Feeds preferences to only show uploads and notifications to show comments, but I still get a ton of notices for comments I have no interest in reading. I would love to be able to individually set mods to track only file updates or track comments or both.

 

 

That's my list. Thank you to anyone who read all the way to the end. Hopefully some of the feedback was useful.

[gokuGX]

Also the grouping system would be better like the old one. New file uploads on tracking mods in ONE group and comments in another group, and new file upload of "Freinds" in another group. File uploading groups should be at top and comments group at below.

[Mattiewagg]

I agree with most of these points. Good thoughts.

[Deleted31005User]

Tbh I preferred the old system where if you read the notification it got removed automatically, it was easy and user friendly.

Now its like, "lets press that x-button over and over again" :blush:

Edited March 10, 2015 by Guest