Clicking Portal's page `notification` goes to pages menu

AresMUSH
1

Terms
notifications = game/portal notifications
web notifications = browser notifications

When I click on a notification on the web portal, I expect it to take me directly to the activity it is reporting, regardless of the item.

Currently, page notifications take someone to the pages menu instead of directly to the convo the activity is for.

If this isn’t a bug, I’d like for this to be a suggestion, as sometimes notifications can be the quickest way to hop around regardless of resolution.

FYI, I’m likely to put the below issues on my backlog and submit a PR at some point, if you’re cool with my ideas and concerns.

The examples below generally illustrate a cluster of usability issues that prevent me from adopting the Portal:

  • I’m in a scene, there’s some activity in another scene, but I don’t see it because A) I have to scroll up to see the indication/scenes on the sidebar, B) I don’t notice the web notification and when I do, clicking it won’t take me anywhere.
  • Depending on what I need to switch to, I could have to use a navbar menu>drop-down menu item>landing page for (pages, scenes, etc)>individual item

That’s a lot of clicking when you need to switch back and forth between things.

The above problems are also hitting me with page convo menus of course.

Solution ideas below:

  • rich web notification - there’s a kind more meant to be card style, but it can display rich output. It’s a good opportunity to store explicit links if this is enabled for various parts of the website. I’d need to check browser compatibility. It’d be nice to know which ones you target for compat.
    • sticky sidebar menu - sticky to top when scrolling, but I haven’t tested whether that can make some buttons inaccessible when scrolled all the way down.
    • sticky notifications/account menu - Ideally, the notification bar in the top right would stick with the page scrolling as well so that it keeps the alert icon within reach and feels more like a platform-esque web app.

I think notifications, with a touch more consistency and UI clarity (around inconsistencies in the meantime) could ease the UX problems and really unlock notifications as the optimal (and I totally assume the cheapest at this point) switcher between activity, though I’m probably not the person to take on anything beyond my ideas above anytime soon (trying to not fall into a black hole of learning Ruby).

1 Like
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Thanks for the suggestions. Improving notifications is certainly a possibility for a potential future version, but not any time soon.

The notifications framework is shared between the web side and the MU client side. When you see “New mail from Bob” in the green web portal box, it’s because you’re also seeing “New mail from Bob” in the MUSH. Rich output on the MUSH side would be spammy, and separating all notifications for the game side vs. the web portal would require a significant overhaul that I’m not willing to take on at this point. There are also some limitations on the web portal side that make it problematic to open up a specific conversation on the chat screen (because it’s one screen, not separate links).

So in short - not a bad idea, but not practical right now.

Making the top account navbar sticky at the top is something I can do though.