Flow/Release planning: Difference between revisions

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The first release of Flow targets mostly experienced users on WikiProject talk pages. After this first release, we have a lot of potential directions to go. This doc is meant to capture thinking on personas, target namespaces, and feature buckets for post-MVP.

Personas

Article talk

New users

Reader/potential editor who wants to comment on an article.
New article creator who has had their article nominated for deletion and is being asked to contest deletion.
New editor interested in improving an article or suggesting improvements.

Existing users

Existing editor interested in improving an article or suggesting improvements.
Existing editor wants to get consensus for major changes to an article.

User talk

New users

New editor/article creator who has gotten feedback on their contribution from another user.
New editor who wants to ask for help and mentoring from experienced editors.
New editor wants to request unblock after being blocked.
Bots leaving messages for new users.
Experienced users leaving barnstars and/or wikilove for new users.

Existing users

Existing editor/article creator receiving messages from/discussing content with other users.
New page & recent changes patroller delivering welcomes/warnings to new users.
Admin blocking disruptive new users or answering unblock requests.
Bots leaving messages for experienced users (newsletters, notices, and other workflow messages)
Users leaving barnstars and/or wikilove for other experienced users.

Feature buckets

Search/browse/filter

Granular ways to navigate discussions.

In-board search: I want to search through current and old topics on the board.
- Search old page archives from pre-Flow transition, as part of Flow in-board search. I want to hunt for old discussions about the idea/problem that I have, to avoid WP:PEREN (perennial ideas).
I can search from the MW search box and get matches for Flow topics, so I can find a Flow board I came across.
I want to filter or re-order Flow topics by various criteria, including: "most recently active", "most active", "unsummarized/unresolved", "topics I've participated in", etc
Allow topics to categorize a board (as existing templates do)
Search/Browse by date range
Interactive and/or timeline view of board history (to see how boards/topics evolved step by step)
I want to add #tags to topics, so that they can be seen in context with related topics from other Boards.
As a user interested in learning about other users, I want to search for topics and or responses by a user, so that I can see their contributions in one place.

Smart Flow

More intuitive, responsive, customized for my preferences, beyond what talk pages can currently support.

content updates in real time (no need to refresh the page to see new topics/posts)
remembers my viewing history – shows read/unread state, sticky collapse. As an editor, I want to be able to see which posts I've already (probably) read, so that I can easily see new content without having to scan through the entire thread checking every post. This could involve remembering every topic's collapsed-state.
per-topic subscriptions. As an editor, I want to subscribe to individual topics, so that I can keep track of single discussions in very active pages, without being overwhelmed by everything else.
edit conflict avoidance (“user x is editing this post”). As an editor, I want to be able to see that someone else is editing/typing into a topic, so that I can wait until they finish to reply.
As a user who participated in a conversation which I am no longer interested in, I should be able to "mute" a conversation so that I will no longer get notifications which i don't care about. (Without un-watching it entirely)
Draft function: As an editor, if I'm interrupted while responding and must leave the conversation, I want to be able to save my partial response, so that I can come back and finish it later.
I want to keep myself updated on the activities on a particular board so that I don't miss something important, without following every topic's updates in-depth.
Easier permalinking (copy to clipboard, one click to share link in new post).
As someone who is confused by usernames like WOSHFKH89, I want to see those around me with more human-readable names so that I can easily recognize those I interact with most often, and be reminded they are people.
As an experienced patroller, I would like to be able to "template" users without relying on exactly the default text of the template (I want to be able to customize a use of a template, at time of use).
As an article writer, I want maintenance tags (eg. {{Clarify }}) to link directly to the topic that discusses the issue. (Ie. utilize the ambox "|discuss=" parameter better)
Transclude a topic across multiple boards
Sticky topics that always stay at the top of the board
Show my posts, or topics where I've been mentioned, differently, to enable easier scanning of long pages.
As an experienced user using the wikitext interface, I want to use the edit-toolbar, to add markup (bold, strikeout, etc) and complex templates (eg properly formatting a citation template).

Widgets and workflows

widgets for topics/posts, including:
- scratchpads. (perhaps in realtime, like etherpad? Main problem to avoid is them turning into "chatrooms")
- to-do lists. As a new editor who is passionate about hurricane articles, I want to be able to know what other collaborators are currently working to improving hurricane articles so I can take part even though I came in late and feel connected with the editor community within this topic too.
- thank user.
- warn user.
Summarize. As an experienced user, I want to close and summarize topics and posts, so I can make a decision, or end long, heated debates
Topic/Header undo. As an experienced user (or admin), I want to be able to undo the most recent change to the content of the header/topic title so when there is vandalism, I don't have to copy/paste the old content.
widget interface or workflow toolbar. As a user of Flow, I want to understand that I have more options than just posting, so I can make use of workflows and widgets.
splitting/merging. As an experienced user, I want to split off tangents into separate discussion, so I can keep the focus on one discussion.
quoting. As an experienced user, I want to be able to easily quote parts of earlier discussions in my posts, so I can refer to them in my new post
polling and !voting support. As an experienced user, I want to engage in existing polling and !voting processes with greater ease, but retaining the flexibility that we currently have.
As an Oversighter, I need to have access to suppressing topics and individual elements (comments, usernames) within topics, as well as entire topics, and I need to be able to nuke all instances of those things with as few actions as possible. Oversighters work from page history to make operations.
As a new user, I want to be able to ask for unblock, so I can continue editing productively (and I am more comfortable filling in a form than being asked to generate this request myself).
Reminders. As an editor who has promised "to get back to this in a week", I'd like an easy way to set myself a reminder notification. (orig. request)

Mobile and tablet

Making Flow truly cross-platform (Flow on the Go).

Alternatives for rollover-heavy design
As a new (mobile) user, I want to be able to read and reply to discussions, so I can stay in the loop across platforms
As a user who has received notifications on desktop and read them I want to see them marked as such no matter the platform, so that I don't have to clear read states per platform, and only see whats new
As an existing (mobile) user, I want to see all Flow topics I'm part of on mobile, so I don't have to load each whole page individually (mobile feed)
As a user who moves between desktop and mobile, I want my comment drafts sync'd between platforms so I can participate without wasting time. (difficult, we can't have user-specific content storage per legal. At best maybe stuffing them into User:Foo/some/subpage).

Other

Infrastructure and design

As a non-English user, I still want all of the Flow magic work fine in my own language (RTL support, non-latin characters).
As a user with accessibility requirements (bad eyesight, colorblind, unable to use mouse, etc), I still want to be able to view (visually or with the use of a screenreader) and use (both by mouse or keyboard) all of Flow so that I can partake in discussions & their moderation.
As a user with limited eyesight I want to be able to greatly magnify the interface in my browser without elements overlapping, covering each other, or being pushed off the screen because of fixed widths.
As a blind user, I want to be able to read (listen to) and contribute to Flow, with minimal problems.
As a user, I want to use the standard keyboard shortcuts (Wikipedia:Keyboard shortcuts).
As an inexperienced editor, I want to be able to use Visual Editor so that I can make complex changes without having to learn wiki syntax.
As a user who has disabled javascript, or has no access to javascript (old browser, corporate restrictions, etc), I still want (all|most) of Flow to work.
As a user who moves between desktop/laptop/mobile, I want to see things like read and collapse states sync'd between platforms so I can participate without wasting time.
As an experienced editor, I want to be able to switch between wikitext and Visual Editor, so that I can post in wiki syntax if (I'm more comfortable with that syntax|Visual Editor does not yet support what I plan to do|etc) at will.
As an experienced editor, I want to change the default settings for how various things are displayed. (visual-density, display order, exact vs elapsed timestamps, mouseover effects vs static, etc.)
As an experienced user (or admin), I want to be able to configure threading differently on different kinds of pages, so I can adapt the page for different kinds of discussions.
As an experienced user (or admin), I want to be able to configure nesting changes (deeper threading/different visual representations of comment/reply hierarchy) on different kinds of pages, so I can adapt the page for different kinds of discussions.
rename/move boards.
As a multi-project user, I want to be able to keep track of, and contribute to, discussions on various wikis. (cross-wiki user feed)
As a multi-project user I want to see Echo notification get to me no matter what project I'm currently looking at so that I can respond quickly. (Blocked on SUL finalization)

@@ Line 79: / Line 79: @@
 * As an Oversighter, I need to have access to suppressing topics and individual elements (comments, usernames) within topics, as well as entire topics, and I need to be able to nuke all instances of those things with as few actions as possible. Oversighters work from page history to make operations.
 * As a new user, I want to be able to ask for unblock, so I can continue editing productively (and I am more comfortable filling in a form than being asked to generate this request myself).
+* Reminders. As an editor who has promised "to get back to this in a week", I'd like an easy way to set myself a reminder notification. ([//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AVillage_pump_%28miscellaneous%29&diff=588789972&oldid=588767750 orig. request])
 === Mobile and tablet ===