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Clicking this adds the thread to the Global threads as a followed thread
Toggles between ‘Follow/Following’ states
Timestamp of the most recent reply
Displays on hovering over the message area only
Follows a friendly timestamp format:
“Last reply just now”, for less than 1 minute
“Last reply N minute(s) ago”, if >= 1 minute and < 60 minutes
“Last reply N hour(s) ago”, if >= 1 hour and < 24 hrs
“Last reply yesterday”, if >= 24 hrs and < 48 hrs“Last reply on Friday”, if >=48 hrs and < 7 days
“Last reply August 10”, if >= 7 days
Parent posts with no replies
If a parent post does not have any replies yet, it is not considered a ‘thread’, but just a 'message'.
Don’t Doesn’t show the thread footer for single parent messages
Only show the ‘following’ indicator if the solo message is being followed.
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Tapping on a user from this bottom sheet opens up the profile modal for that user
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Long press menu for threads:
Updated items in the
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menu:
Add ‘Follow/Unfollow thread’
If the parent post does not yet have replies, update language to “Follow/Unfollow message” since it’s not really a thread yet
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The mention badge on the channel in the sidebar should only reflect the number of unread mentions in parent posts in the channel (not child posts)
The count in the unread messages toast banner should only reflect parent posts showing the center channel and not include child messages
Unreads within threads (child posts)
In the Center Channel, when a thread has unread messages in it, an unread indicator dot is added to the reply metadata as noted above
When viewing a full thread (in the RHS or in the Global Threads View), the New Messages separator line display above the oldest unread message in the thread
Threads in the RHS
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Single Thread View
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Opening up a thread in the
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Single Thread View
Land the user at the oldest unread point in the thread (marked by New Messages separator line). If the entire thread is unread, open up the thread at the very top of it (showing the parent post).
Once a thread has been viewed and then navigated away from, the new message line is removed and the unread status is cleared in the center channel
Following/Follow button in
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the header
If a thread is not yet followed, a ‘Follow’ button appears in the RHS header. Clicking this will follow the thread and add it to the Global Threads view.
If a thread is already followed, a ‘Following’ indicator appears in the RHS header. Clicking this will unfollow the thread
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Don’t use date separators within threads. Instead, modify the time stamp on posts to show the date in a friendly format (e.g. 2 days ago, 5 months ago, etc)
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Long-press menu items
Add in ‘Follow/Unfollow thread’ to the '•••’ more actions menu for any post within a thread.
‘Mark as unread’ will behave differently in that it will mark the post as unread within the thread and move the ‘New Messages’ separator above the post that is being marked as unread
Marking as unread on a post within a thread will automatically follow that thread if it’s not already followed
‘Pin to channel’ will add the child post to the ‘Pinned Posts’ section, but will not visually show the pin icon on the post in the main center channel if it’s a child postAll other actions will have the same behaviour and actions as current experience.
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Threads in search results
When a thread is displayed in search results in the RHS, the title ‘Thread in {Channel Name}’ displays above the result (as in current experience). If a user clicks on a search result to a child post it would open the thread in the RHS scrolled to the message you clicked (and highlighted)Single Thread View. As in the current experience, a ‘back’ chevron is added to in the RHS header returns to return to search results.
Permalink to child posts
If a post contains a permalink to another child post, clicking on the permalink would load the linked-to thread in the RHS Single Thread view with the linked post highlighted. As in the current experience, a the ‘back’ chevron is added to in the RHS header to return the user to the previous child post/thread.
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When a thread is ‘Followed’ it is added to the global ‘Threads’ view
When a thread is ‘Unfollowed’ it is removed from the global ‘Threads’ view (with ability to undo the unfollow action)
How threads are followed:
If the original parent post was created by you, the thread is automatically followed
If you reply to a thread, it is automatically followed
If you are mentioned in a thread, that thread is automatically followed
If you Unfollow a thread, but then are mentioned, the thread is now automatically followed again
Marking as unread on a post within a thread will automatically follow that thread if it’s not already followed
If I explicitly click ‘Follow’ on a thread/message
Followed threads do not appear in Global Threads until there has been a reply
Each thread should also have an ‘Unfollow thread’ button in the ‘more actions’ menu that Clicking the ‘Following’ button or ‘Unfollow’ menu item will remove the thread from the global ‘Threads’ view
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Global Threads
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Global threads Threads is a view of conversations that the user has been involved in across all their channels, group messages and direct messagesGroup Messages and Direct Messages. The spirit of Global Threads is to offer a more personalized experience, to ensure replies to threads don’t get missed and to facilitate faster processing of messages by taking them from the many venues (channels, DM, GM) where they canonically reside and consolidating them in one place (less channel switching).
How to access Global Threads
This view is accessible viea view a new ‘Threads’ section that appears at the top of the Channel Sidebar above all of the categories
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Contributed to (parent or child)
Been mentioned in
Followed
Marked as unread
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Viewing ‘All your threads’ or ‘Unreads’
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Tapping this banner will scroll to the top of the list and hide the banner.
Thread List Items
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Thread list items display the following
Display name of the user who created the parent post
Most recent reply timestamp in shortform, friendly format (e.g. 5 mins ago)
Post excerpt: originating parent post truncated to two lines
Mentions do not get the highlight colour here to avoid too much visual noise in this area
Avatar of each person who has contributed to the thread (truncated as appropriate)
Always show the original author first
Sorting by order of reply (first reply in position 1, and so-on)
show a max of 3 avatars total with a +N after that
Number of replies in the thread
If there are no unreads, this displays the total number of replies in the thread (e.g. '9 replies')
If there are unreads, this changes to the number of new unread replies (e.g. ‘3 new replies’)
Originating venue tag - i.e. the Channel, DM or GM that it’s from
Unread dot to indicate the thread has unread messages
Mention badge (if the thread has an unread mention in it) - shows in place of the unread dot
Clicking this will jump down to the oldest unread mention in the thread
More actions button (•••) - on hover only - triggers a menu withThe long press menu on Thread List Items:
‘Unfollow/Follow thread’
‘Open in channel' - Opens the parent post in the channel it was posted in
‘Mark as unread’ - This option from the list item here, will mark the entire thread as unread
Save (formerly flagFlag)
Copy link
Don’t include ‘Pin to channel’ in this context
Clicking on a Thread List Item
loads the full thread in the Full Single Thread Panel View (see details about this panel below) on the right
Full Thread Panel
Works like the RHS, showing all parent and child posts of a thread with a post draft area at the bottom for entering a reply.
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Thread Header
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Displays “Thread in {Channel Name}” - clicking {Channel Name} links users to the channel and location in the channel where the thread originated
NOTE: this would take users out of the context of the global threads view and in to the context of the channel
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Follow/Following button indicator
A toggle to follow or unfollow the thread
Actions menu - a ‘•••’ icon displays in the header which triggers a ‘more actions’ menu - standard thread post actions appear here
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‘Follow/Unfollow thread’
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‘Open in Channel'
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Opens the parent post in the channel it was posted in
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‘Mark as unread’
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This option from the parent post or from the thread header, will mark the entire thread as unread
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Copy link
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Don’t include ‘Pin to channel’ in this context
Scroll position
When opening up a thread, land the user at the oldest unread point in the thread (marked by New Messages separator line). If the entire thread is unread, open up the thread at the very top of it (showing the parent post).
Once a thread has been viewed and then navigated away from, the new message line is removed and the unread status is cleared in the center channel
New Messages line
Leveraging the ‘New Messages’ separator line pattern, place this above the oldest unread message within the thread
Date separators
Don’t use date separators within threads
Instead, modify the time stamp on posts to show the date in a friendly format (e.g. 2 days ago, 5 months ago, etc)
Defaults
When as user clicks on the ‘Threads’ item in the Channel Sidebar (LHS), the default view will be whatever view you may previously have viewed. If you’ve never visited the threads view before, then “All your threads” is the default, which shows all threads you follow sorted by most recent reply at the top
Empty States
An empty state shows in the Full Thread Pane until a thread is clicked
If there are no followed threads or no threads that the user has participated in yet, the inbox list is hidden and the entire main content area is replaced with the empty state describing how threads appear in this view
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Search
Parent posts behave as-is. The ‘Jump’ action in the hover menu opens the parent post in the channel context
Child posts display similarly, but the ‘Jump’ action in the hover menu opens the thread in the RHS scrolled to the child post
Pinned and Flagged posts RHS
Parent posts behave as-is. The ‘Jump’ action in the hover menu opens the parent post in the channel context
Child posts display similarly, but the ‘Jump’ action in the hover menu opens the thread in the RHS scrolled to the child post
Compact Mode
Displays as-is, but shows the new Thread Footer below the post content
Future Proposed Features
Thread names
Threads can be given optional names
Threads displayed in the center channel:
If a thread has been given a name, the thread name displays above the avatar/username
If the thread doesn’t have a name, the fallback name is ‘Thread started by {Display Name}’
If a parent post does not have a name AND it doesn not yet have any replies, don’t show the thread name element at all
Within the “•••” menu of the post hover actions menu on a thread, add in a ‘Name this thread’ (or “Edit thread name” if already named).
Thread viewed in the RHS
Displays the threads name in the new thread header bar and the channel name next to the thread title
If no title is set, displays as ‘‘Thread started by {Display Name}’ in {Channel}’
Add a ‘more actions’ icon in the new thread title bar
Follow thread
Edit thread name
Thread names should be searchable
Thread names should display in search results
Thread names should display in pinned or flagged posts
Contextual search on global threads list
To aid users in finding specific threads, show a search function in the header of the threads list that is scoped to the list only
Global Drafts
Since drafts are difficult to find—even more so within threads—it has been proposed that we explore a global drafts view that collects any posts that have been started and not sent
Channel-Specific Threads
While viewing a channel, open the RHS to a threads view that shows only threads for that channel
Collapsed Post-Draft
As a way to encourage replies vs. ad-hoc posts in the channel, conceal the post draft behind a button to start a new thread. Adds an extra click intentionly.
Will need a keyboard shortcut to trigger this button as well
Maybe configurable by channel
Drag and Drop to re-organize Posts
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Some way to fix the error of posting a new parent post vs. posting a reply
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