Topic on Talk:Structured Discussions

I think Flow has possibilities but it doesn't seem to be ready for mass deployment yet.

Things I don't like:

• it doesn't warn you that you will lose your text when clicking a link, and if you come back, the title is preserved, but not the comment (it happened to me right now, this is the second time I type this comment)
• Ugly huge headers, too huge, they could be reduced 50% (size when the topic is hidden) and they would still be too big
• It doesn't take the whole page width
• No table of content
• I hate infinite scrolling
• Only 3 sub-comments allowed, I expect at least a thread depth of at least 7
• I find the text box "Comment on..." superfluous, taking too much space when there is already a link "Reply"

Micru: Thanks for the detailed feedback! Notes, in order:

• This is bugzilla:58402 - sorry you had to deal with it :(
• There's a front-end overhaul coming soon, based on the last few months of feedback, and with the benefit of a new dedicated front-end developer. Many aesthetic changes will be included in that, and it will start another round of feedback and iterations.
• This aspect is still under extensive internal discussion (because it is objectively easier to read a fixed width column (less eye-movement and line-length to track, on eg. a widescreen monitor with maximized window), but many editors (including me) are frustrated by it). There are a few possibilities, incl. A) Putting a floating Table of Contents in that area, which is one experimental feature of the upcoming front-end overhaul. B) including some other type of useful information in that currently-empty space. Possibly some sort of power-user tool, so the interface is uncluttered for newcomers, but dense-with-tools for those who want it? Suggestions would be appreciated! or C) a user-preference.
• ToC: See above for one option. But some form of ToC is definitely needed/coming.
• Infinite scrolling is currently being re-examined. It does seem to be more troublesome than pagination, in many ways. (See also this thread below.) More news, when I hear it.
• Threading levels are also being re-examined, with all options on the table. There's definitely going to be a "quote another person's comment" feature (like bugzilla, gmail, forums, etc), which might mean that a flat plain-chronological layout could be used. I'm currently looking around for examples of long discussions where threading is/was crucial (and where "split topic" wouldn't be a good alternative/option). Please send me examples, if you find anything pertinent.
• The comment box at the bottom of each topic is indeed quite confusing, and gets used regularly when the respondent should instead have clicked "Reply". I believe alternatives are being considered - will check.

HTH.

Quiddity (WMF): btw with regard to width: what about making the width 'draggable' and save the value to localStorage ? (I've been thinking about adding that to wikieditor).

TheDJ: I'll ping User:SG (WMF) and User:MGalloway (WMF) for their input. (Shahyar and May: See the bullet-point above that begins, "This aspect is still under extensive internal discussion ..." for what I've said on the issue)