Help:Notifications/Glossary

Elements in italics in the following definitions are entries of this glossary.

Structure and types
Notification

A notification is a short message informing you about an event. There are types>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications/Notifications_types|different types of notifications.

Badge

The notification "badges" are the icons at the top of all wiki pages that inform users about new or unread notifications.

When users have unread notifications, the badges display the number of unread messages, up to a maximum of 99. When a user has messages that are "unseen" (meaning a notification arrived since the last time the user checked his or her notifications), the badge changes color: red for unseen Alerts, blue for unseen Notices.

Badges are grey when you have zero unread notifications, or you have unread but not new notifications. Alert

Alert notifications are the most important notifications you need to know about, more important than notices. They are concerning you directly and most of them will need an action from you. There are types>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications/Notifications_types|different types of alerts.

Notice

Notices notifications are less important notifications than alerts. They concern you, but probably don't require an immediate action. There are types>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications/Notifications_types|different types of notices. In some languages, "Notice" is translated by "Notification".

Panel  , Flyout , Dropdown

The panel is displayed when you click on a badge. That panel contains alerts or notices depending on which badge you have clicked.

Notification header

The bold title that tells you the main information about the notification. E.g., "Your post in 'Topicname' was edited." (types>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications/Notifications_types|more information)

Notification body

The gray text beneath the Notification header providing details that help users better understand the message. Frequently an excerpt—e.g., from a post or topic summary. This element is optional. (types>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications/Notifications_types|more information)

Collapsed notifications  , Bundled notifications

When multiple actions or events affect the same item, such as a single post or a page, the system may generate a "bundled notification." This is a single notification that informs the user about multiple events. E.g., "Your post in 'Topicname' was edited multiple times." (See Expandable bundle, below.)

Expandable bundle

An alternative form of Collapsed notification. When multiple actions or events affect the same item, such as a single post or page, the system may generate an "expandable bundle" of notifications: in this case, one main notification explains that multiple events have occurred (e.g., "5 new topics created on Pagename".) An arrow allows the user to expand that group and see the individual notifications pertaining to each event, or to "Collapse" and hide the bundle again.

Cross-wiki notifications

Cross-wiki notifications are displayed on both panels, and regroup the notifications from other Wikimedia Foundation hosted wikis. This enables you to receive notifications about Commons when you are on Wikisource, for example. (xwn>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications/Cross-wiki|Learn more)

Three-dots menu

The three dots menu hides more information, and other items that can be useful to take action.

The three dots menu is optional and is sometimes not displayed.

Notifications status
Unread , Read

Unread notifications are highlighted by a different background and a blue dot.

Read notifications have a lighter grey background and a grey circle.

Blue dot , Grey circle

A blue dot allows you to mark notifications as read by clicking on it.

When a notification is marked as read, the blue dot change to be a grey circle. You can click on the blue dot to mark that notification as unread.

Other
Highlight

When a notification is not read, it is highlighted by a pale blue background. The blue dot is also highlighting that notification.

Mention

Mentions are a type of notifications. It is possible to mention people and to be mentioned. (details>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications/Notifications_types#Mentions|details)

Primary link

The "primary link" is the destination judged to be the most relevant and informative for users following up on a notification. It's where a user will go to if he or she simply clicks on the notification—on the header, body or primary icon. There is no visible label in the notification itself, though a label is displayed in the email version (and on the no-JavaScript version of the special page).

Secondary links

Beneath the main header and body of most notification, one or two small icons may appear, accompanied by labels. These are the "secondary links." In addition to linking to relevant destinations, these links are also useful for displaying important information, such as the username of the person who performed the action that triggered a notification. (It's good style to avoid repeating such information in both the header and the links.)

Special:Notifications

This personal special page collects all your retained local notifications (up to a limit of 2,000), and provides access to any unread cross-wiki notifications. (knowmore>Special:MyLanguage/Help:Notifications/Special:Notifications|learn more). Two versions of this page exist: the standard page and a no-JavaScript page.

Trigger

A trigger is one or many conditions which will ask the system to deliver the notification