Links in profile activity stream are confusing

[siobhan]

I've been using the activity stream a lot to browse through contributors' activity. What I want to do is see a contributor's activity and then click on it to find out more.

The problem that I experience is that I invariably end up clicking on the link to the top level site rather than the specific user activity.

Here's an example:

In the example, both the "comment" and #24497 links, have less prominent links than the links to the site that the activity has taken place on. I want to see the specific activity, but I find myself automatically clicking on the link to the site. This is frustrating.

I suggest removing the link to the site where the activity takes place and retaining only the link to the activity. The context of someone viewing an activity is to learn about specific activities, therefore the link to the website feels redundant. Besides, if they go to the activity they're taken to the parent site anyway.

[iandunn]

+1. Any objections?

[samuelsidler]

Sounds good to me.

[iandunn]

In 713:

Profiles Activity Handler: Remove site links from activity messages.

See #485

[SergeyBiryukov]

Would it make sense to turn the activity item excerpt (currently displayed in bold font) into a link?

[iandunn]

r713 fixed post and comment notifications, but topic/reply's are still using the old format for some reason. I'll have to look into the forum notifier when I have some more time.

It looks like the Trac notifiers send the complete message (as opposed to sending the raw data and letting the handler craft the message), so those will also need to be updated.

[coffee2code]

Forum and trac activity messages now no longer link the site name.

Replying to SergeyBiryukov:

Would it make sense to turn the activity item excerpt (currently displayed in bold font) into a link?

Not all activity items will have an excerpt, so I prefer the consistency of linking to the activity source in a similar manner (as part of the main activity message).

That is, assuming you meant instead of the existing way it is linked. If you meant in addition to the existing way it is linked, then don't we run into the same issue (two links to the same place) that prompted this ticket? We should start another ticket if you'd like that change discussed.

Something to bear in mind is that in the future the excerpt may actually be longer than it is now. The activity stream appearance has only gotten minimal love in the profiles refresh (as evidenced by the old, non-dashicon icons), so the excerpts may also end up in blockquotes or some other different display.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Replying to coffee2code:

If you meant in addition to the existing way it is linked, then don't we run into the same issue (two links to the same place) that prompted this ticket?

I meant in addition, yes. I don't think we would run into the same issue, because it would be a link to the specific activity, not the top level site. However, this seems good enough as it is for now.