Notifications Feedback

[TJ09]

This is a temporary thread that will eventually be closed around the new Notifications feature. Individual, well-scoped suggestions can always be their own thread. Please post bugs/anything broken in help.

 

• I focused primarily on getting the basics out there. As mentioned elsewhere, there's a lot of ways this can be extended (more aggressive ways of firing notifications, like SMS. e-mail, or push, or new types of notifications). I want the base functionality to work and be useful first.
• As the system expands, it'll probably be necessary to offer more granular settings for notifications (similar to what the forum provides: turn individual notifications on/off for each possible medium).

[DigitalGarden]

Does the notification bell next to my username go away once there are no new notifications to read? It's really confusing, I would rather have a link that is permanent.

[purpledragonclaw]

The bell should remain, but it should be clear of notifications once you read them. That's how it is for me (though my settings might be different since I'm a mod).

[TJ09]

13 minutes ago, Orchi'dea said:

Does the notification bell next to my username go away once there are no new notifications to read? It's really confusing, I would rather have a link that is permanent.

 

If you have absolutely zero notifications, there is no bell. If you have unread notifications, it should be highlighted. Otherwise (if you have notifications, but you've seen them), it'll be just an outline.

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I’m on mobile and half asleep, but is this something you have to opt in to? I’d like notifications but don’t see anywhere in account settings to make sure they’re on. Do they send to email or just pop up in cave?

[HeatherMarie]

The whole Notifications thing is very confusing, the News thread doesn't give any specifics about what exactly it does (notifications where? Are they pop-ups or little text notes on top of the page or bold messages or what?? What exactly should I be looking for?). And I really think it's confusing that there is no bell at all if you have no notifications... That makes it feel like something is wrong. Why do other people see a bell but I don't? That *feels* like a bug, even if it's actually intended behavior. I don't see anything about Notifications in Account Settings so is it mandatory? That sort of sucks, does that mean we'll be seeing notifications constantly even if we don't want to? Will the bell be permanently highlighted if we don't actually click on the bell when we have a notification? So many questions!

[TJ09]

12 minutes ago, HeatherMarie said:

The whole Notifications thing is very confusing, the News thread doesn't give any specifics about what exactly it does (notifications where? Are they pop-ups or little text notes on top of the page or bold messages or what?? What exactly should I be looking for?). And I really think it's confusing that there is no bell at all if you have no notifications... That makes it feel like something is wrong. Why do other people see a bell but I don't? That *feels* like a bug, even if it's actually intended behavior. I don't see anything about Notifications in Account Settings so is it mandatory? That sort of sucks, does that mean we'll be seeing notifications constantly even if we don't want to? Will the bell be permanently highlighted if we don't actually click on the bell when we have a notification? So many questions!

I can make the notification badge always visible, but it felt odd to have an icon/link show up when the site knows there's nothing to see after clicking it.

 

The first post mentions that more control over notifications will eventually happen, though. At the moment it's the same for everyone with no settings.

[Moonwick]

I'm sorry, I'm a little out of it so I am dumb and also lost!

Are these new notifications accessed on the forum, like that bell next to the Inbox icon?  Or are they on the Cave in the settings or something? Where are they? 😅

[purplehaze]

14 minutes ago, Valtrois said:

I'm sorry, I'm a little out of it so I am dumb and also lost!

Are these new notifications accessed on the forum, like that bell next to the Inbox icon?  Or are they on the Cave in the settings or something? Where are they? 😅

They are on the cave page. If you have a notification you will see a bell up at the top near your name.

[Fuzzbucket]

8 hours ago, TJ09 said:

 

If you have absolutely zero notifications, there is no bell. If you have unread notifications, it should be highlighted. Otherwise (if you have notifications, but you've seen them), it'll be just an outline.

 

Whew that's a relief. I thought maybe it didn't show on St Pat's ! Excellent news - thanks TJ. This is exactly all I ever wanted - I don't want anything more aggressive so I hope if push and the rest are implemented, they will be opt-out !

[Moranna]

I think having the outline there all the time would be less confusing.  Actually, I think the whole thing is confusing.  The sentence or two in the original announcement is really vague, and I really don't want to have to weed through the announcement thread if more information is there.  I think it would be helpful to have more information on how they work on the /notifications page.

 

I would like to have the option in my Account settings to turn them off completely first, but especially if more aggressive methods are implemented.

[Shokomon]

Maybe if you are going to keep the bell present all the time, you can have it change color or shake when you have a notification?

 

Also, put a notification section under accounts. That way people can have a physical link to it, and makes a place for a short explanation on the notifications.

[Imzadi]

What sort of things are considered notifications that make the bell appear?  I've had some on the forum, but nothing on my scroll page yet.

[Fuzzbucket]

It's only scroll stuff. Trade activity, for one.

[Imzadi]

Just now, Fuzzbucket said:

It's only scroll stuff. Trade activity, for one.

Thanks!

[TJ09]

14 hours ago, Shokomon said:

Maybe if you are going to keep the bell present all the time, you can have it change color or shake when you have a notification?

Given how un-optional it is, being aggressive with the unread state is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Maybe when there's more functionality (i.e. can be turned off) it can be highlighted or show a colored numer badge like many other places, but for now, it's there when relevant but not in your face.

[TJ09]

12 hours ago, Imzadi said:

What sort of things are considered notifications that make the bell appear?  I've had some on the forum, but nothing on my scroll page yet.

Right now: just trade offer and eligible for the raffle, which are things that people often forget to check on.

[MessengerDragon]

Is 'eggs/hatchlings are sick' a notification? I think there are people who might like that.

[TJ09]

4 minutes ago, MessengerDragon said:

Is 'eggs/hatchlings are sick' a notification? I think there are people who might like that.

Not at the moment. It's the most likely candidate for future expansion, though.

[Fjord]

Would it be possible to add an option for breeding cooldown alerts? Where you could go to a dragon's page and tick a box, so the next time it comes off breeding cooldown you'd get a notification about it. Completely optional and something you could toggle on and off per dragon.

 

I would find it useful since I'm completely scatterbrained and work on multiple lineages, so sometimes certain dragons go forgotten when I work on other things.

[Sunfeathers]

I'd like it if the notification page displayed recent notifications, maybe grayed out or something. I've had it happen to me a couple times already where the bell says I have notifications but when I click it it says I don't have any new notifications. I'm guessing it was trade offers that I had already dealt with, but I'd appreciate being able to see a brief history on the notifications page just to make sure.

[Fuzzbucket]

9 hours ago, TJ09 said:

Given how un-optional it is, being aggressive with the unread state is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Maybe when there's more functionality (i.e. can be turned off) it can be highlighted or show a colored numer badge like many other places, but for now, it's there when relevant but not in your face.

 

Which is just the way I like it.

 

I think the sickness warning we have now is brilliant, by the way - it shows you EXACTLY what you need to know, and for new players, links to what to do about it. Please don't degrade it to a notification !

[MessengerDragon]

8 hours ago, Fuzzbucket said:

I think the sickness warning we have now is brilliant, by the way - it shows you EXACTLY what you need to know, and for new players, links to what to do about it. Please don't degrade it to a notification !

Oh, I wouldn't want it to replace the current sickness warning at all! I meant as an addition, not as a replacement! I agree that what we have now is a very good system! I just thought that a small note to warn you of sickness regardless of which page you were on, to direct you to the /dragons page where the detailed warning is, would be useful if you were for example hunting in the cave for a while and not looking at your scroll all that often. By no means do I want the current warning removed!

~~

 

 

I had my trade offer accepted, but got no notification. Is this how it's supposed to work?

[TJ09]

10 hours ago, Sunfeathers said:

I'd like it if the notification page displayed recent notifications, maybe grayed out or something. I've had it happen to me a couple times already where the bell says I have notifications but when I click it it says I don't have any new notifications. I'm guessing it was trade offers that I had already dealt with, but I'd appreciate being able to see a brief history on the notifications page just to make sure.

Notifications should be "immutable"--they shouldn't ever go away (except after a set period of time). If you're seeing anything to a contrary, that's a bug, so please report it in the Help section.

[The Dragoness]

1 hour ago, Cinspawn said:

Right now, the notification bell is just a big capital "D" for me on mobile. It looks out of place. I have no idea what it looks like (or if it even changes) when I actually get a notification   this is on Chrome, Android. 

I had this issue for a while too. Clearing my cache fixed it. Here's what it should look like (with no notifications).