Non-invasive but more visually noticable PM notification

[boxerfan]

In v4, we had a plug-in that flashed the "n New Messages" text up at the top of the screen in multiple colors for several seconds when you loaded the forum. It was hard to miss, but it didn't pop up an obnoxious modal window you had to click on to close. Life was good.

It would be Real Nice to have an equivalent plug-in for v5: something that you notice, but not something that you have to click on to make go away.

Thanks!

[Pebble]

I'll take a look at this...

[Pebble]

Try this out for me and let me know if this is what you're after: www.dropbox.com/s/b338adjrn521aa7/Message%20Alert.pbp
It's a long way from finished but wanted to know if it's heading in the right direction.
At the moment it's just download and activate.

I'll add preferences in later.
It should just appear once when the forum is loaded and disappear after 5 seconds. (I'll make that adjustable as well as if you want it once, or a nag on every new page load)

EDIT: Updated to allow you to set preferences: www.dropbox.com/s/b338adjrn521aa7/Message%20Alert.pbp

It should be good to go as I've set some preferences as default.
No keys are used with this plugin.

[boxerfan]

Why thank you! I've downloaded the PBP file; does it go into the main header or something? I haven't done much with the CSS customization yet, aside from hacking it so the "Legend" disappears...

EDIT: Never mind, figured out it's a "plug-in" and I've imported and installed it. That went smoothly. I'm excited to see what it looks like when someone sends me a PM!

[boxerfan]

OK, so in the prefs I don't see the new options you mentioned, which sounds like I want them: the timeout, and the choice between "just once" or "until you read the message".

Thanks!

[boxerfan]

Well, there seems to be a problem...I only saw the pop-up the first time I had a new message. After that, it has not re-appeared (even for subsequent new messages.) My co-admin is experiencing the same behavior.

[Pebble]

Aug 2, 2013 13:45:02 GMT -8 boxerfan said:

OK, so in the prefs I don't see the new options you mentioned, which sounds like I want them: the timeout, and the choice between "just once" or "until you read the message".

Thanks!

Did you download and install from the second link above?
If not, delete the plugin you have installed and re-install from the plugin above.

Once you've installed it, from the manage page, there is a tab to click on called 'Message alert options'. click on that and the preferences are there.

Here's the link again: www.dropbox.com/s/b338adjrn521aa7/Message%20Alert.pbp

(I just tested the download and it works fine, with the options there)

[Pebble]

Aug 2, 2013 14:18:49 GMT -8 boxerfan said:

Well, there seems to be a problem...I only saw the pop-up the first time I had a new message. After that, it has not re-appeared (even for subsequent new messages.) My co-admin is experiencing the same behavior.

What browser are you using?
 Can you give me your forum URL so I can have a look.


If you want the message nag on every page load then you need to change that in the setting preferences. I just tested this for new messages and after reading messages and it seems to be working fine in IE10 an FF21.

[boxerfan]

OK, one problem solved. I was clicking on "Edit" and I thought that was prefs, but that was perms control. I got to the prefs by clicking on "Message Alert", and THEN choosing the Message Alert Options tab (which I never saw the first time I was there.) Seems a direct "preferences" link on the main page, next to the perms "Edit" button, would be more obvious. But I digress.

So only issue remaining is that the alert never happens after the first time. Still seems to be true.

My board is gmcr.proboards.com

I'm using FF 22.0

Thanks.

[Pebble]

Aug 2, 2013 14:55:25 GMT -8 boxerfan said:

OK, one problem solved. I was clicking on "Edit" and I thought that was prefs, but that was perms control. I got to the prefs by clicking on "Message Alert", and THEN choosing the Message Alert Options tab (which I never saw the first time I was there.) Seems a direct "preferences" link on the main page, next to the perms "Edit" button, would be more obvious. But I digress.

So only issue remaining is that the alert never happens after the first time. Still seems to be true.

My board is gmcr.proboards.com

I'm using FF 22.0

Thanks.

Hi,
I joined your forum and sent you a few messages. Can you reply to them please so I can see what is happening.
Also, can you go to the plugin settings and change the 'nag on every page' to yes. That maybe what you are looking for.

[boxerfan]

Hi,
OK, both replied to.
And I changed to "nag on every page". Perhaps I do not understand your intentions on that one; even if it is set to "no", shouldn't I expect to see the nag window at least once no matter where I land on the forum? My bookmark is set to the home page. If I have a message or two waiting, and I browse to the home page, shouldn't I see the notification window immediately?

The behavior I just observed (with nag every page set to no) was that I had the usual "2" bubble up near "Messages", but no window; I went to my messages and began reading your two messages. I had already read the first and was getting ready to read the second before the notification window appeared for the first time. That doesn't seem right. So please explain what you expect the window to do, and when...depending on your "nag" setting.

Thanks.

[Pebble]

Hi BD,
I just went to your site and the pop-up is working for me showing two messages.
I'm going to add pagination into the code as soon as I get time (maybe tomorrow or Monday) which should mean the message showing up on each page change, even when going through pages of a thread.

[boxerfan]

Hey Pebble,
Yeah, I just sent myself a PM from the testuser account and it seems to be working the way it's supposed to. This is good, I like the fact that you can either click OK to close the window or just use the board with the window there and it still lets you do other things.

If you're going to be messing with this some more, just a thought: instead of just an "OK" button on the notification dialog, how about two buttons, one labeled "See Messages" and one just "Close", or something to that effect. That way, in one click a user can close the dialog and also be in the message viewing screen... or, if they aren't in a rush to see the messages, can still just close the notification window.

One more small suggestion: right now, if you click on "Messages" to go to your inbox, the notification window pops up there along with everywhere else. I don't think it's needed on THAT particular page; can it detect that you're now in your inbox and suppress display of the notification in that case?

Then, when you click on the new message to read, the notification comes up as you're displaying the new message text. Again, it probably shouldn't there! So maybe there's a way to set a flag that you've entered into reading messages, and then suppressing the notification as you browse through messages that you're reading (whether new ones OR old ones.)

Just some thoughts. The current functionality is definitely the sort of thing I was looking for, so thanks for throwing it together for me!
-BD

[boxerfan]

Update: It seems that it's "feast or famine". I've turned off "nag every page", and my co-admin reported not getting a notification at all for the new message awaiting her. On the other hand, when I just checked the board, it did notify me of her reply. So there's something that keeps it from issuing the notification under *some* circumstances, we just can't nail down exactly what those are.

In general, if I close the tab where the board is, then open a new tab and browse to the board, I'll see a notification. Under other circumstances, perhaps just navigating from one page to another on the board, it may not appear, even though a "1" appears up next to "Messages" at the top of the page.

[Pebble]

Yep, that's what I'm going to add, the alert when using pagination(I've actually already added it) but I'm going to look at adding some of the other things you mentioned as well. I'll post a link here for you to test out when I've finished it.

With the 'nag on every page' option turned off, it won't continue to 'nag' you once you've had one notification, unless you open the forum in another window (or a new session) , or have read all your messages and then get a new one. That's an intentional part of the plugin.