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Redesign for comments, annotations and tags

1 Description

One part of ELBA2 is the improvement of the document-handling (Dokumentenablage). Additional, a part of the project is called: usability-improvements. The place where users tag objects is not ideal. Users often misunderstand this concept. On the other hand, we think also the usability of the comments- and notes-concept could be improved.

Therefore the ELBA2-team discussed with the usability-team of Bern different improvements: "How ILIAS should give the users the possibility for adding tags, comments or notes to objects."

Thanks for discussing the final-paper of the usability-team (see attachment) in JF. If appreciated, a costs estimate would be welcome.

2 Status

• Scheduled for: Release 4.2
• Funding: Funded by ELBA2
• Involved institutions: Universität Bern, ETH Zürich : LET
• Development: Feature is to be developed by Leifos

3 Additional Information

• If you want to know more about this feature, its implementation or funding, please contact: Julia Kehl

4 Discussion

JF 6 Sep 2010: We currently refuse the whole proposal. Reasons:

• It breaks with the way the actions menu currently is used: Mainly for repository related functionalities and for navigation into different parts of the object (viewing/editing).
• It adds more clutter to the repository (bad usability, we are happy that we got rid of clutter with 4.0)
• It makes the actions menu more complex (bad usability)
• It will definitely reduce performance in the repository (more information needs to be read from the database, slower performance also reduces usability)
• Features cannot be offered "consistently", e.g. comments of subcomponents (like pages in learning modules/wikis) are not shown. Users may expect that. (may also have a negative influence on usability)
• Embedding these features "into" the repository screen is very unusual and adds complexity (visbility of "Add new item" while editing comments).

Das ELBA2-Team ist der Ansicht, dass ein Redesign der "comments, annotations und tags" wichtig wäre.

Bei uns sehen wir die Anwendung des Kommentierens allem innerhalb von Dateiablagen. Es soll möglich sein einzelne Dateien mit Kommentaren zu versehen und so über Inhalte/Versionen von Dateien zu diskutieren. Damit diese Kommentare ihren Zweck erfüllen, sollen diese von anderen Benutzern direkt ersichtlich sein.

Beim obigen Lösungvorschlag sehen wir nicht wie die Benutzer sehen - ohne dass Sie bewusst nachschauen gehen - dass bei der einzelnen Datei Kommentare vorliegen.

Aufnahme der Diskussion am ELBA2-Treffen am 21./22. Dezember in Köln:

• Die gewünschte Funktion muß global aktivier/deaktivierbar sein (Performance)
• Annotationen werden nicht innerhalb der Kategorienseite dargestellt, sondern mittels Ajax als Overlay. (Aufwandschätzung).
• Problem: Viele Menüpunkte, wenn zusätzlich Notizen, Tags, Kommentare aufgenommen werden sollen

» Auftrag an ELBA2-Team / Usability-Gruppe: Ausarbeitung des Konzept und Ausarbeitung der Zwischenüberschriften, um die vielen Menüpunkte zu reduzieren.

ELBA2-Sitzung vom 21.01.10: Zur Kritik „Viele Menüpunkte“: Usability-Gruppe hat ein Vorschlag dazu ausgearbeitet. Dieser liegt vor (vgl. Usability-Report ganz unten). Das ELBA2-Team sieht folgende zwei Vorschläge als sinnvoll an:

Variante 1

Herunterladen
Bearbeiten
Löschen
Verknüpfen
Verschieben
Kopieren
Verfügbarkeit
Auf den Schreibtisch legen
Metainformationen

• Versionen
• Info

Anmerkungen anfügen

• Öffentlich kommentieren
• Privat annotieren
• Tag setzen

oder Variante 2


Herunterladen
Organisieren

• Bearbeiten
• Löschen
• Verknüpfen
• Verschieben
• Kopieren
• Verfügbarkeit
• Auf den Schreibtisch legen

Metainformationen

• Versionen
• Info

Anmerkungen anfügen

• Öffentlich kommentieren
• Privat annotieren
• Tag setzen

Ausführlicher Bericht vgl. unten ab Seite 14

M. Kunkel, A. Killing, 1 Apr 2011: We confirm the first stage of this feature for 4.2. It should be optionally activated in the administration and:

• List the number of comments/notes under each entry in the repository
• Add the actions links to the action drop-down and link them to the info page (where comments/notes/tags are edited)

Matthias Kunkel, 04 July 2011: I see some usability problems with the current presentation of notes and comments, esp. on learning module pages and other content pages (see screenshot).

Suggestions (for 4.2 and 4.3):

• How about merging notes and comments? There would only be one form which makes the page less heavy.
• Notes can be made "public" - which would be a "comment".
• Only one textfield and no additional subject or label
• Smaller fonts for headlines
• No icons for the functions itself but only for the single notes.

HL (4.7.11): I agree with you Matthias, that personal notes and comments could be merged together. Also your other suggestions sound good.

HL: Additional: We (ELBA2-Team) said at the last skype-meeting: When users use the action menu for adding a comment, it is necessary that ILIAS 4.2 shows the Info-page with a open form, so that users can write their notes or comments.

But when users open directly the info-page of a tool or of a document (e.g. Learning-module, test, survey, ...), then the form-fields in ILIAS should be closed (same user interaction as in 4.1). Only if a users click the button "Add comment", then ILIAS opens this form-field

JF 5 Jul 2011: We had a longer discussion on the topic. We like the current Elba implementation (Ajax). We would like to "separate" the notes from the comments. Notes are not displayed at the end of pages anymore. We discussed this topic together with the issues

• Notification Settings and
• Add to Desktop

We currently prefer solution "Option 5" as sketched in the following photo made by Matthias:

ELBA-Team [14.7]: Our comments to the Ajax-solution

• In general, we like the suggested solution of this overlay!!
• We suggest also to reduce the complexity:
  • In the actions-menu, users can choose the action "Add comments" / "Kommentieren"
  • In the following Ajax-overlay, they can add (only) comments
  • Users can change between private and public
  • We suggest some improvements of the GUI (see Attachment 1)
  • Subjects and Labels are not needed in comments: KISS
  • private notes and public comments are shown in one column: first the own comment(s), then the public comments of all users
• If you save, the notification that there are comments must be shown without reload
• The user must have the possibility to click the "(4)" - then the comments-overlay opens
• If a user clicks outside of the overlay (in white space), then the overlay should close

ELBA-Team [14.7]: Our comments to comments e.g. for the Wiki-pages

• We suggest
  • The comments are shown under the wiki-content
  • Same GUI as in the Ajax-solution
  • All comments are in one column: private notes first, then all public comments (see Attachment 2)

• Discussion (not in the mockup). We suggest:
  • User must still click "Add comment", then the form-field occurs
  • User still have the possibility to Hide comments / Add comments

ELBA-Team [14.7]: Our comments to option 5

• It is too confusing for the user to have 2 action-menus, (and too much - we must reduce the complexity)
• We suggest one Actions-menu
• And we suggest to work with headings (see Attachment 3) - see also: http://ufive.unibe.ch/?c=u5custilias&l=d&q=ILIAS (ILIAS Wiki-Gui, lange Lsiten in Ausklappmenüs und Designperspektiven für ILIAS)

AT: I would like to have the Permanent Link at the Bottom, above the the entry field for a new comment and above it the actual comments.
A lot of convenience would be lost if the comments could only be made to a full object and not to its parts. I would pity that loss.

Comment from ELBA-Team (Clarification) - our suggestions:

• If you add comments to an object, then these are shown in the Ajax-overlay
• It is still necessary that we can add comments to parts of the objects (eg. for Wikis, ILIAS LM, ""Blogs"", ...)
• If personal notes and public comments are shown in 1 column, then these comments don`t destroy the layout anymore.
• We (actually) think it is still the best (a good) way to displayed all comments for parts of a objects at the end of each page.

JF 18 Jul 2011:

• We agree that the subject input field should be removed if possible.
• We also prefer to drop the labels (important, questions, ...).
• We would not like to put notes and comments together in this way as suggested by Matthias and the Elba team. Reasons:
  • Having first a long list of notes and then a list of comments makes the comments not very accessible.
  • "Private Comment" is not a usual term for the private notes concept. It will be hard for users to find the notes feature under a "Comments" link. For us these are two separate feature with different use cases, so their separation would make this clearer. We may develop these features in different directions in the future, e.g. add comments into the news feature and make this an "activity stream".
• Elba comments to "Option 5"
  • It is unclear how your suggestion should exactly work in the different scenarios. E.g. the repository screens where it should be able to add comments for the CURRENT category that is displayed, or how to add it to the desktop. In many cases you only will have the action menu on the title level. This will always enable the user to add notes, regardless of the screen that is currently shown. The interesting scenarios are still: the repository, the wiki and the forum (see also the notification discussion).

Comments from ELBA2-Team:

JF: We agree that the subject input field should be removed if possible., We also prefer to drop the labels (important, questions, ...).

• ELBA-Team: Thanks. Do you also agree with the small design-suggestions? (overlay)
• Do you agree with our suggestions, that with one click outside - the overlay close?
• Do you agree that comments will have "links", and by clicking this links, the overlay open.?

JF: Having first a long list of notes and then a list of comments makes the comments not very accessible.

• We think that users in general do not make more than one personal note, so this should not be a problem.

JF: "Private Comment" is not a usual term for the private notes concept.

• You can rename this: "Add comments/notes" - Comments/Notes (4) ?

JF: For us these are two separate feature with different use cases, so their separation would make this clearer. We may develop these features in different directions in the future, e.g. add comments into the news feature and make this an "activity stream".

• OK.

JF: Elba comments to "Option 5": It is unclear how your suggestion should exactly work in the different scenarios. E.g. the repository screens where it should be able to add comments for the CURRENT category that is displayed, or how to add it to the desktop. In many cases you only will have the action menu on the title level. This will always enable the user to add notes, regardless of the screen that is currently shown. The interesting scenarios are still: the repository, the wiki and the forum (see also the notification discussion).

• Our argument is: When you implement 2 action menu (title level and object level), then we`ll have more clutter!? So our suggestion is: We have to find a place where you can put this action menu, so that it is useful for both levels.

AK, 27 Jul 2011: I updated the versions in the ELBA branch and in the trunk. Here my current remarks and open issues:

• I simplified the layout of the list and the input as far as possible. "Hide comments" is currently removed, we may add it later (e.g. by making the header clickable incl. arrows in front)
• Comments and notes are separated (and I guess we will keep it that way)
• To Do: If you add/delete comments/notes the numbers on the left are not updated yet. I will fix this later.
• To Do: Clicking outside of the overlay should close it, as suggested by the ELBA team.
• The "Action Menu" on the title level: Currently this only works for container objects. After using it for some time, I am pretty sure that this is a very good solution. It adds more clutter but a lot of functionality and information. The tags are not listed yet.
• Open Issue: The envisaged "Page Action" Menu in Wikis (Option 5 and the corr. ELBA comments). If we want to prevent two action menus, than the only position for a "merged" menu that makes sense is the position of the new container action menu on the title level. This would currently be my #1 preference. I would also move the rating feature on this level (And call it "Rate Page" in the overlay - see next screenshot). Working with sub headerings/seciont ("This Page" / "Wiki") in the action menu could be the final solution. For now we have a simple list, but the actions can make clear what happens ("Add Wiki to Desktop", ..., "Block Page", ...).

ELBA-Team: We agree with (most) of your suggestions. Thanks Alex!

One small suggestion: Some small layout-comments/wishes: left-aligned would be fine, and implement the ILIAS-Nuvola-Icons (is helpful, so users immediately know: "OK, i really do make my comments to the right object")

And another Problem problem: Overlays with Androids/iPADS/Lions

• • Alex you wrote in Google-Plus: Scrollbare Bereiche (DIVs) auf Webseiten sind aber nicht einfach zu identifizieren, wenn keine Scrollbalken mehr angezeigt werden. #iPad #Lion => Aber innerhalb von Webseiten? Z.B. Xing, linke Navigation, Gruppen/Gruppennewsletter Icon: Es geht ein "Overlay Div" auf, welches in normalen Browsern aufgrund des Scrollbalkens als scrollbar erkannt werden kann. Auf dem iPad ist das fast unbenutzbar.
  • And Jan wrote: Ich mag das Scrollen von DIVs eigentlich sehr für Webanwendungen, da viele Informationen übersichtlich zusammengefasst angezeigt werden können. Allerdings habe ich mit meinen Androids das Problem, dass das Scrollen einfach garnicht geht. Scrollleisten werden für innere Elemente nicht angezeigt/unterstützt. Bin schon auf gänzlich unbenutzbare Seiten gestoßen. Overflow auto/scroll also (leider) nur für Spezialanwendungen wirklich praktikabel.
• Question: Is the chosen solution of the Overlay a "good" solution - Does it will work fine with Androids, Lions and iPad/Phones? I just tested with iPads, Scrolling in the Comment-Overlay works when you use two fingers for scrolling. Does it work with Androids? I can`t test - sorry.

Comments and private notes in lm-pages or wiki-pages
We think privat notes are actually not very widely used on ILIAS, and maybe this may not increase in future. And we think in Wikis-pages and LearningModules-pages, we should reduce the clutter. What do you think about the following suggestion:

• In Learning-modules and wiki, if you create a new page, you don`t see any comments or notes
• You can move the comment-functions (comments and notes on each lm- or wiki-page) to the new action-menu "at the title-level"
• If you choose the "add a comment" or "add a note", then ILIAS scrolls to the bottom of the page, opens the comments-field, and then user can write a comment or a note (and click "Add comment")
• Now these comments or notes appear at the bottom of the page

Open issue: "Page Action" Menu in Wikis

• We support all your comments: "If we want to prevent two action menus, than the only position for a "merged" menu that makes sense is the position of the new container action menu on the title level. This would currently be my #1 preference. I would also move the rating feature on this level (And call it "Rate Page" in the overlay - see next screenshot). Working with sub headerings/seciont ("This Page" / "Wiki") in the action menu could be the final solution. For now we have a simple list, but the actions can make clear what happens ("Add Wiki to Desktop", ..., "Block Page", ...)."

5 Follow-up