Re: Does anybody think feedback saying "nothing changed" is useful?

Hi Thomas:

In message <[email protected]>,
Thomas Arendsen Hein writes:
>* John P. Rouillard <[email protected]> [20170421 03:22]:
>> If all the changes are to quiet properties you see a message like:
>> 
>>   issue24 - nothing changed
>>   user2 - nothing changed
>> 
>> Does anybody think these types of messages are useful?
>> 
>> They are actually misleading. Things were changed. They just aren't
>> being shown to the user because the tracker designer said they
>> shouldn't be shown.
>> 
>> I am planning on changing to code to eliminate the "nothing changed"
>> notification. As a result when a user submits a form where all the
>> properties are quiet, the form is redisplayed with no banner. Just as
>> though the form had been submitted with no changes.
>
>What about "issue 1234 updated ok" or something similar, i.e. just
>not displaying which properties have been saved, but confirming that
>something happened?

Sorry, I think I need to provide a little more explanation. Here is
the use case I am fighting.

In my tracker web interface the user can collapse panels by clicking
on an [x] at the top right of the panel. That hides the fields in the
panel leaving just the panel's title bar. Clicking on a [+] in the
title bar expands the panel again.

The current collapsed panel names are saved in a hidden field in the
form. When the user submits the form to make a change, this hidden
field updates a quiet property in the user's object. The property is
quiet because the mechanism should be hidden and the details (updating
issue_collapsed_fieldsets and even updating the user's object) will
just confuse the user.

With the current code I get:

   user2 - nothing changed
   issue23 - some property updated

To the user, they have no idea that anything in their user entry is
being changed. They are directly manipulating the form to
expand/collapse panes. The updating of the "issue_collapsed_fieldsets"
property is magic as far as they are concerned.  This bit of magic
(which you have been concerned about in the past IIRC) was chosen
rather than the following primary alternatives:

  * Edit the collapsed fields from the user.item.html form. This
    doesn't let the user interact with the issue.item form. They can't
    see the effect of their choices until they load an issue.item
    page.

  * Have a separate page used for direct manipulation of a dummy form
    that sets the user's preferences. Considered a fair amount of work
    for little benefit.

  * Manipulating the panels from the issue.item form and adding a
    submit button "save layout". However the "save layout" is
    basically a second form that clutters the interface and confuses
    the user.

  * Manipulating the panels from the issue.item form and adding a
    checkbox "save layout". There was confusion about the purpose of
    the checkbox. It was considered distracting. It was shifting focus
    from editing the issue.

  * Manipulating the panels from the issue.item form using JavaScript
    but not saving the state. So after submitting the form, all panels
    were once again expanded.

  * Manipulating the panels from the issue.item form using JavaScript
    and storing it in a cookie. The people I asked really thought it
    should be a user preference that was available on every display,
    tablet, desktop, conference room computer, internet toaster
    etc. etc.

So even your "issue 1234 updated ok" or more correctly "user 3 updated
ok" is kind of jarring since the user is just manipulating the
interface directly and not making a explicit decision to modify their
user record.

Does this clarify my use case and give you some other ideas?

--
				-- rouilj
John Rouillard
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My employers don't acknowledge my existence much less my opinions.

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