Timeline Module - Enhancement Request
I would like to make a suggestion for the Timeline module. When members post to the Timeline module, it gets displayed in the Outline/Timeline feed. Since most of my members come from Twitter, I would like to request the following:
1. To make the "cards" that hold these post in the Outline/Timeline a little bit smaller. I think they are a little too big right now. This may already be possible and if so, where can I change them at?
2. Have a way to "click/tap" the posts in the Outline/Timeline feeds to open up so that it is easier to see the post and all comments in a single page. You can either have them open in the same page so that the members can just hit the back button to return to the Timeline or have it "pop-up" so that the post and comments are viewable that way and maybe put an X in the top right corner so you can close it and return to where you were. We need to have the ability to Like/Comment on the post from this area as well.
Currently right now, the only way to open a post in a full page from the Outline/Timeline is to click the "date stamp" of when it was posted (see below). Most people don't even know you can do that.
If you would like more of how it works for #2, you can go to Twitter and see how it works there. Tapping the tweet will open it up where you can view and see all the likes, comments, AND have the ability to post your own comment there as well.
-
You item number 1. - is what I was wanting also. Check out this screenshot and see all the wasted space.
-
-
good point!
-
-
#2 is something we discussed quite a bit - it’d be easier and cleaner for us to open q preview popup with comments or just link to the post instead of opening comments inline, but some seem to prefer the current approac. Facebook opens comments inline on desktop and in popup in mobile apps. Twitter redirects to the page. 🤷♂️
With #2, seconds part the issue is with HTML content inside the card. Since we allow links, images, embeds, etc to be part of the preview they need to be individually clickable. We can take similar approach to twitter and make the whole card clickable but keep individual links also clickable with own URLs.
-
Mark and Andrew, I fully believe the in-line for desktop and pop up for mobile and mobile app will be the best choice!! This is coming from the previous social media’s I’ve constructed with previous companies.
-
I believe I had mentioned this awhile ago especially for the editing/adding comments etc part. That way the block doesn't shift or jump around due to accidental touching screens on mobile. I love the pop up idea for mobile to view and edit add comments. I know it's hard to change coding in mobile/apps without it affecting websites. In the trend of things Mobile view replaced PC view and now APPS will eventually replace mobile website view. UNA needs to decide where its coding prioritization is and I believe APPS is where it needs to be focused on since UNA was specifically meant for mobile
-
Let’s discuss it a bit more detail. We have a task for timeline improvements for v11, but details are not settled yet... so this discussion is very timely. Considerations....
- Timeline card can include interactive content - links, embeds, etc. Those elements need to be individually clickable. On desktop it also means cursor change on-hover for clickable elements.. We can make whole card clickable too, but cursor would be an arrow anyway, which makes it less intuitive.
- ‘Updates‘ don’t have titles, so no obvious click target to open the individual update page. Again, either we’d have to make whole thing a target, or add some kind of “open page“ link.
- Interestingly, the above conundrum is more manageable on touch screens, because there’s no need for onhover cursor change and whole card can be a tap-target.
- Comments opening in-line can be an issue when there’re too many of them, especially on mobile devices. Twitter handles it by simply always redirecting to the tweet page when the tweet or comments counter is clicked/tapped. Facebook, always a master of complicated solutions, shows comments in-line on desktop, in pop up on iPad (comments-only pop up, without the main post), and redirects to the page with prescrolling to comments on mobile (like Twitter). Though if the post is not fully fitting (‘show more’ overflow is used), then Facebook won’t open the page on-tap in mobile apps, but will open the overflow on-tap, and you’d have to tamp the date to see the the post page, or tap on comments if there’re any.
- Timeline also features FB-like comments pre-load, which shows a few latest comments in the feed, even if comments link is not triggered. Each of the preloaded comments had action objects - reactions, inline links, embeds, etc. These Interactions are available even in the pre-loaded view, so if someone clicks “like” to a preloaded comment we have to execute ‘like’ and not just open pop up with all comments, or redirect to the page. Facebook handles this on mobiles by removing any interactive objects from -reloaded comments previews, redirecting to page or pop up and pre-scrolling to tapped comment. Twitter simply doesn’t preload comments/reply-tweets in feed.
- Now, we have two options - simple way, always redirecting to page, no preloads; or complicated way - preload on desktop, pop up on tablet, redirect on mobile, preload comments as stripped previews, BUT 🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁 .... UNA is responsive, remember? So, we have to readjust on the fly as the viewport is changing - make cards work in one way while it’s wide, another way as it’s being changed. We can’t do it by simply manipulating the styles and hiding elements, or using different JS rules tied to viewport - because we also have to adhere to settings set in Navigation builder, where users may choose to show some elements (action links) on desktop, hide on mobile or apps, show again on tablet, etc. So, we could handle comemnts actions by pre-configuring menus in Navigation builder (show all on desktop, hide all on mobile), switching between in-line and redirect for the post/comment click for different viewports, perhaps even add pop up configuration to Pages builder, since some will want the pop up to include main post or main media and with comments on the side, some will only want comments in it. All of that will once again complexity to Timeline and may make it slower and buggier for a while, as well as more difficult to understand and re-configure. Decisions, decisions...
Sorry for being the ‘it’s complicated’ guy again. Very often things that seem to be very simple and seamless are in fact the result of very sophisticated process at work, and it’s very important to get it right before making changes..
-
Good request Chris . Didn't observe that.
-
Made me dizzy too Gritly, though there are some valid points.
-
Just updating some things here for Timeline enhancements.
- Not sure any of these requests above made it into UNA 11-B1 that I can tell
Additions:
3. Can we please get Giphy integration into Posts and Comments? You would think that since Giphy is already integrated into the Messenger, that you could somehow just add the same button style, use the existing Giphy API key, etc.. of course it's probably not that simple. But come on man.. everyone else has it 😂
4. For most all "social media" platforms, when a member comments on a post, that post goes back up to the very top of the Timeline. Just like this comment in this discussion post. Is there any way to have Timeline posts go back to the very top when a user comments on it? I do not think it should go back to the top if all they do is just "react" to it..
-
Just bringing this back to life. I will take #3 and #4 over the others. Just saying 😎
-
Can we get #3 if nothing else? haha. Giphy integration to the Timeline Posts and comments? Also, would it be possible to add the reactions to the comments in the timelines instead of just "Like"?
-
-
I still would like the editing part to pop out when you start writing a post. The mobile screen jumps around when doing certain things to the post. As you can see the keyboard blocks buttons and the more you write you have less access to the editing tools as you can also see in another screenshot. Full Window mode should always happen when creating a post or editing one. Remember UNA is mobile and it should always look better and be easier on Mobile phones first before PC
-
Thank you Mark P 👍
-
Sounds like some great ideas. To open post on new page on computers and pop ups on mobiles at a minimum..
wastedspace.png