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Christina Gorton for Forem Core Team

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Changelog: Updates to Settings, Improvements to Feeds and Error Messages!

Here is a round up of the latest highlights from our repository that add improvements to Forem.

Improvements to /settings

Improve information architecture of Settings

This PR improves the information architecture of Settings by:

  • Renaming categories
  • Moving sections around so it better fits user expectations. new categories with icons

Improve information architecture of Settings #11347

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

  • [ ] Refactor
  • [ ] Feature
  • [ ] Bug Fix
  • [x] Optimization
  • [ ] Documentation Update

Description

Improve the information architecture of Settings by:

  • Renaming categories
  • Moving sections around so it better fits user expectations. Design

Note: There are small tweaks that could be made, but I'm holding them off in this PR. That includes: adding icons to the navigation links, updating the content so that it's clearer, updating Organization view, and improving UX for some of the content cards.

After this PR, some of the possible follow-up optimizations we could make might be:

  • Improve the overall UX of cards for features that people need to "turn on" so we don't show everything up front (e.g. Comments template)
  • Improve the Organizations section & UX

QA Instructions, Screenshots, Recordings

Screen Shot 2020-11-11 at 3 34 36 PM

Screen Shot 2020-11-11 at 6 02 30 PM

Added tests?

  • [ ] Yes
  • [x] No, and this is why: I didn't add anything new, but I may need to update tests based on the changes that I made.
  • [ ] I need help with writing tests

Added to documentation?

  • [ ] Docs.forem.com
  • [ ] README
  • [x] No documentation needed

Restore fieldsets in Settings/Customization

This PR created a fix from a previous PR and restores fieldsets in the new settings area.

Restore fieldsets in Settings/Customization #11617

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

  • [ ] Refactor
  • [ ] Feature
  • [x] Bug Fix
  • [ ] Optimization
  • [ ] Documentation Update

Description

In the hotfix https://github.com/forem/forem/pull/11615 we left out the grid gap-4 containers while removing nested forms. This puts them back as <fieldset>.

Thanks to @nickytonline for the help: https://github.com/forem/forem/pull/11615/files#r530371789

Related Tickets & Documents

#11615

Added tests?

  • [ ] Yes
  • [x] No, and this is why: visual aids, leftovers
  • [ ] I need help with writing tests

Update URLs settings/ux to settings/customization

With new changes to the settings area, the Forem team felt it made sense to change the urls from settings/ux to settings/customization

Edited URLs settings/ux to settings/customization #11618

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

  • [x] Refactor
  • [ ] Feature
  • [ ] Bug Fix
  • [ ] Optimization
  • [ ] Documentation Update

Description

Change all settings/ux to settings/customization url's accross the platform.

Related Tickets & Documents

Added tests?

  • [ ] Yes
  • [x] No, and this is why: Text replacing, no CSS or JS modified.
  • [ ] I need help with writing tests

Added to documentation?

Improvements to feeds for moderators and users

Show latest posts for Tag Mods.

This PR improves the article view for moderators. It makes it easier for tag moderators to view posts by removing an articles score filter and showing the latest post first.

Bug Fix:Remove Score Filter From Tag Mod Index #11599

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

  • [x] Bug Fix

Description

Remove score filter for articles for the moderator's article index so they can view all articles.

Related Tickets & Documents

Closes https://github.com/forem/tech-private/issues/420

Added tests?

  • [x] No, they already exist

alt_text

Improvement to user feeds

This PR creates the opportunity to use explicit points set by users alongside implicit calculations as determined by what they are reacting positively to and what content they are more engaged with as a matter of page views over a certain duration

Add implicit points to follows to improve feed relevancy (in all algorithms) #11513

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

  • [ ] Refactor
  • [x] Feature
  • [ ] Bug Fix
  • [ ] Optimization
  • [ ] Documentation Update

Description

Alongside overall quality of posts in feeds, we need to do our best to understand the tags users want to engage with the most and offer that as an indicator in the feed.

We already use points in the algorithm and allow users to modify their own points, but this change creates the opportunity to use the explicit points set by users alongside implicit calculations as determined by what they are reacting positively to and what content they are more engaged with as a matter of page views over a certain duration (clickbait wouldn't trigger a longer than 45 second stay). Because it's hard to nudge people to get it just right with the explicit adjustments, this helps close the gap automatically, while still giving folks optionality to make their own adjustments.

I believe the explicit points adjustment is a really empowering feature but needs to be paired with something that also helps from behind the scenes. It uses a logarithmic scale to help ensure no interest can be dramatically overweighted.

Since we always calculate from scratch, it should be straightforward to subtly adjust how we are doing this in the future without having to accumulate old records or anything like that. This is a tool we can use as a reference for any algorithm that might rely on it. Perhaps we can recommend users and other tags based on what we know the user has been implicitly demonstrating interest in.

This will likely only have a small change in the experience, but I suspect it will almost certainly be for the better.

QA Instructions, Screenshots, Recordings

This change isn't something you'd see so as long as the logic works, we could ship it.

Please replace this line with instructions on how to test your changes, as well as any relevant images for UI changes.

Added tests?

  • [x] Yes
  • [ ] No, and this is why: please replace this line with details on why tests have not been included
  • [ ] I need help with writing tests

Added to documentation?

Added developer docs to update the concept. Will also address admin docs if this is accepted.

[optional] Are there any post deployment tasks we need to perform?

[optional] What gif best describes this PR or how it makes you feel?

malfoy

Error message improvements

Unclear error messages are a common issue in our Forem repo from community members. This PR is one step toward creating clearer error messaging for users. It improves the error message for the user subscription feature.

Improve error message of User Subscriptions #11689

What type of PR is this? (check all applicable)

  • [ ] Refactor
  • [ ] Feature
  • [ ] Bug Fix
  • [x] Optimization
  • [ ] Documentation Update

Description

Currently, you can only use the user subscription feature on an "active" source, aka a published article or a comment that hasn't been deleted. If you try to test out this feature on a source that isn't active, then you'll get an error message about "the Source not being found": image

While a user might be able to guess what this means, we could be a little more clear in this message I think! I've updated the message to be a bit more specific :)

Related Tickets & Documents

Inspired by this Slack thread.

QA Instructions, Screenshots, Recordings

To QA this feature, pull down this branch locally, and make sure the user you are logged in as has the :restricted_liquid_tag role. Once you have the role, create a new article that includes the user subscription liquid tag in the markdown (see the relevant docs here):

{% user_subscription I love llamas, click here to subscribe to top-notch llama content!! %}

You should see an error message that reads: Source not found. Please make sure your Article is active!

UI accessibility concerns?

Since this just changes the content of an error message, it should be a copy change only and not affect accessibility at all :)

Added tests?

  • [x] Yes Updated pre-existing tests! πŸ˜‰
  • [ ] No, and this is why: please replace this line with details on why tests have not been included
  • [ ] I need help with writing tests

Added to documentation?

Are there any post deployment tasks we need to perform?

Nope!

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Top comments (1)

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thomasbnt profile image
Thomas Bnt

Super cool new settings panel :D