Flow/Release planning

The first release of Flow targets mostly experienced users on WikiProject talk pages. After this first release, we have a lot of potential directions to go. This doc is meant to capture thinking on personas, target namespaces, and feature buckets for post-MVP.

Article talk

 * New users


 * Reader/potential editor who wants to comment on an article.
 * New article creator who has had their article nominated for deletion and is being asked to contest deletion.
 * New editor interested in improving an article or suggesting improvements.


 * Existing users


 * Existing editor interested in improving an article or suggesting improvements.

User talk

 * New users


 * New editor/article creator who has gotten feedback on their contribution from another user.
 * Bots leaving messages for new users.
 * Experienced users leaving barnstars and/or wikilove for new users.


 * Existing users


 * Existing editor/article creator receiving messages from/discussing content with other users.
 * New page & recent changes patroller delivering welcomes/warnings to new users.
 * Admin blocking new users or answering unblock requests.
 * Bots leaving messages for experienced users.
 * Users leaving barnstars and/or wikilove for other experienced users.

Search/browse/filter

 * in-board search
 * search old page archives from pre-Flow transition, as part of Flow in-board search
 * browse by date range
 * filter by new/popular/me participating in/unanswered
 * interactive and/or timeline view of board history (see how boards/topics evolved step by step)
 * per-topic subscriptions
 * search Flow posts from the wiki search box
 * search syntax to search only within Flow posts from the search box

Smart Flow

 * content updates in real time (no need to refresh the page to see new topics/posts)
 * edit conflict avoidance (“user x is editing this post”)
 * remembers my viewing history – shows read/unread state, sticky collapse

Widgets and workflows

 * widgets for topics/posts, including:
 * scratchpads
 * to-do lists
 * thank user
 * warn user
 * splitting/merging topics and posts
 * closing and summarizing topics and posts
 * polling and !voting support
 * unblock request workflow

Mobile and tablet

 * mobile reading, replying, and curating discussions
 * (pilot) mobile subscription feed for all topics I’m part of?

Other

 * VE integration
 * viewing prefs (change density, display order, etc.)
 * nesting changes (deeper threading/different visual representations of comment/reply hierarchy)
 * visual design iterations (ongoing tweaks to icons, assets, size and color)
 * … other things?