What I want for the commenting experience to be
The commenting system in Seed is very important and it needs to be perfect. here are the list I believe would help to make it happen.
There are some things that I miss right now in the commenting experience:
- I want to open or expand the discussions panel to the whole window: This way I can really focus on the discussions and the replies and not get distracted by the document.
- I want the comment blocks to behave the same way as in the document: This way I can copy links to block comments and even create comment block ranges. This way I can also reply to comments with more context.
- I want the mobile comment experience to be as smooth as possible: The current drawer does not work properly. It is very Janky. The mobile commenting experience should work perfect.
- I want the comment box on mobile to work properly: Right now the comment box is laggy. Specially when dealing with links, embeds, inline embeds (mentions) and media. The current experience makes users not trust the editor.
- I want the web commenting to not require a redirect: but I understand this is a technical limitation that we cannot resolve right now.
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Related:
- Notes about how the document machine should work — the document editor lifecycle that the commenting interface depends on
- Product Backlog — product opportunities derived from these UX pain points (Commenting UX Suite)
- Slite inline comment UX — external inspiration for inline comment patterns
- Coda inline comment UX — external inspiration for comment threading UX
- Linear Inline Comments UX — external inspiration for contextual annotation patterns
- Google Docs inline comment UX — external inspiration for margin-based annotation threads
- Discussions Panel Is Confusing — existing UX pain point with the discussions panel thread tree, directly related to the "expand to full window" request
- Killing the Web Redirect for Commenting — completed project that addresses point #5: enables on-the-fly key creation so users can comment on any Seed web site without leaving the page, eliminating the redirect
- Mobile formatting toolbar — project directly addressing mobile editor pain points (#3 and #4): floating toolbar, janky drawer, broken slash menu, and keyboard handling issues
- Remodeling the web — the broader thesis on why the web needs remodeling; the redirect-based commenting limitation (point #5 above) is a specific instance of the broken web patterns this post critiques