Usability suggestion for version 2.2

Created on 29 May 2025, 9 days ago

Problem/Motivation

Usability testing of the 2.2.x upgrade by users who are using 2.1.18 showed some confusion with the flag icon on the hovering component that appears in the lower right of all pages. It was not immediately clear what the flag did. Users expected it might turn on and off alerts. Hovering does change the flag to a right-facing arrow, which seems to be more helpful.

A few comments from testers:

  • "Previously, clicking the number took me to an issue. Now, it toggles alerts on and off. This isn’t super obvious at first, especially since it’s a change from the existing interaction. However, it didn’t take that long to realize that the flag button starts your tour through the report. (I wish they had switched these—the flag turns them on/off, the number starts the tour.)"
  • "Count of errors - I expected this to take me through them, not open and close the interface. Doesn’t ruin my day. Flag - Takes me through errors. Not what I expected but easy to learn"

Proposed resolution

A minor UX change that might help is changing the flag icon to be a right-facing arrow all the time, not just on hover.

Feature request
Status

Active

Version

2.2

Component

Feature and test requests

Created by

🇺🇸United States joeg8612

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Comments & Activities

  • Issue created by @joeg8612
  • 🇺🇸United States itmaybejj

    Good feedback.

    The proposed change is almost sounds awfully like something I iterated through during development. I went rooting around and found these early screenshots:

    I thought the arrows were ambiguous -- they seemed unclear as to whether they would "dock/close the interface" or "go to next issue." I myself switched what they did a few times in those iterations. It also wasn't clear that the number was a count of "problems on the page" rather than, say, message notifications -- it seemed too easy to ignore. I gravitated towards having the number and the alert flag visible because I thought it was more eye-catching to have the flag come and go.

    Another consideration...you can open and shut the checker even when there is no flag, so it seemed natural to use main toggle as the "next" rather than the number; otherwise I would need a third "power" icon.

    Although in looking through old screenshots...I do not know if I explored another direction -- switching the position of the number and the flag. That would let the number increment to the next issue. Roughly mocking that up now, it could look something like:

    ...thoughts?

  • 🇺🇸United States joeg8612

    I think that seems better. It may be good to get more community input on this before making a change, given the large number of sites/authors already using 2.2.x. Thanks!

  • 🇺🇸United States itmaybejj

    Yeah I'll work on this in the 3.x branch. That will have a beta period that will be good for feedback.

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