Topic on Talk:Talk pages project/Replying/Flow

T301750: Reassure people comment drafts will be saved

T300215: Improve experience for locating changes to a discussion

1. What did you find unexpected about the prototype?

   The reload was a bit surprising.

2. What do you appreciate about the prototype?

   It works well! It notifies you of new comments and presents them when requested.

3. What do you wish was different about the prototype?

   I would like if it highlighted the new comments (like it highlights comments you've just made), and if there wasn't the "changes recovered" dialogue (it makes it feel like an accidental reload).

4. What concerns you about the prototype?

   Probably the "changes recovered" dialogue, like I said above.

Thanks for the feature; it looks promising!

hi @Tol! We appreciate you taking the time to review the prototype and share what you think about it. A couple of comments and clarifying questions for you below...

The reload was a bit surprising.

Can you say a bit more about this...? What did you expect to happen when you clicked the ⚠️ # new comments have been added in this section. Click to reload. bar?

I would like if it highlighted the new comments (like it highlights comments you've just made)...

+1! The work to make it easier to locate/see the changes in the discussion will happen in T300215.

...if there wasn't the "changes recovered" dialogue (it makes it feel like an accidental reload).

Good spot. We're going to address this issue in T301750.

If you can you think of a comparable experience on-wiki or off- where you are NOT worried that the changes you've made will be lost if/when you leave/reload the page, we'd be keen to know.

Reason being: I wonder whether there are design patterns we could borrow to improve the current implementation to provide the assurance you, and others, are seeking.

Sure, @PPelberg (WMF)! I think I should have clarified the "surprising" comment; sorry! I was referring to how it jumped around a bit when it loaded the new comments, so it was a bit abrupt and hard to see which comments were new. On second thought, I think that this would probably be resolved by highlighting new comments.

As for saving changes in general, I like the text editor approach (where Ctrl+S saves the file, and it warns you before closing if you have unsaved changes) and the Google Docs approach (where it automatically saves and lets you know with a small indicator). For this specific application, I think that this isn't needed; I think that removing the "changes recovered" dialogue will be fine. Perhaps also changing the wording of "click to reload" (maybe "load new comments"?), as (for me) "reload" implies the Ctrl+R type, in which changes are usually lost.

I was referring to how it jumped around a bit when it loaded the new comments, so it was a bit abrupt and hard to see which comments were new. On second thought, I think that this would probably be resolved by highlighting new comments.

Ah, I see; I appreciate you clarifying! If this issue persists after T300215 is resolved, please let me know.

I think that removing the "changes recovered" dialogue will be fine. Perhaps also changing the wording of "click to reload" (maybe "load new comments"?), as (for me) "reload" implies the Ctrl+R type, in which changes are usually lost.

The two suggestions you offered above are helpful...I've noted them in Phabricator here. Thank you!

No problem, @PPelberg (WMF)!