Display State Topics On Sidebar: Web Enhancements

by Natalie Brooks 50 views

Hey everyone! Let's dive into an exciting discussion about enhancing our web platform by automatically displaying state topics on the sidebar and making them searchable. This improvement will make it easier for users to find and engage with state-specific issues, ultimately boosting user experience and engagement.

The Goal: Surfacing State Topics

Currently, our platform supports publishing state topics. The primary goal is to ensure these topics are prominently displayed on the sidebar and easily discoverable through search. This means users interested in local issues can quickly find what they’re looking for.

To achieve this, we need a streamlined approach. Surfacing state topics involves making them more visible and accessible, ensuring that users can easily find and engage with the issues that matter most to them locally. By automatically displaying state topics, we can enhance user engagement and provide a more tailored experience, making it easier for individuals to connect with issues relevant to their specific location. This proactive approach ensures that users don’t have to dig deep to find local content, improving the overall usability of the platform.

We're aiming to leverage our existing infrastructure to minimize the effort required. By integrating state topics seamlessly into the sidebar and search functionality, we're enhancing user engagement and making it easier for individuals to connect with issues relevant to their specific location. This streamlined approach ensures that users don’t have to dig deep to find local content, significantly improving the overall usability of the platform. Surfacing these topics effectively involves making them visible and easily accessible, thereby improving user experience and encouraging more active participation.

Leveraging Existing Infrastructure

We already utilize the /v1/issuesForPublishing endpoint to fetch issues for search functionality. We should extend this approach to include fetching all issues, including state-specific ones, and then rebuild the sidebar accordingly. This method ensures consistency and leverages our existing codebase, making the implementation more efficient. By expanding the use of the /v1/issuesForPublishing endpoint, we can consolidate our data retrieval processes and maintain a unified approach across the platform.

By using the /v1/issuesForPublishing endpoint, we ensure a cohesive experience for the user, whether they are searching for general issues or state-specific topics. This also helps in reducing the complexity of our codebase, as we are not introducing new methods for fetching data. Instead, we are enhancing the functionality of an existing tool, making the development process smoother and more manageable. This approach also aligns with best practices in software engineering, promoting code reusability and reducing the risk of introducing bugs or inconsistencies.

This strategy not only simplifies the development process but also ensures that updates and maintenance are easier to manage in the future. By relying on a single, robust endpoint for issue retrieval, we can easily adapt to future changes and improvements in the platform’s functionality. This streamlined architecture provides a solid foundation for future growth and enhancements, allowing us to focus on delivering value to our users without being bogged down by technical complexities.

Proposed Steps

Here's a breakdown of the steps we can take to achieve this:

  1. Modify Issue Search Component:
    • Change the issue search component to immediately load issues from the /v1/issuesForPublishing endpoint, rather than only on focus. This change should be conditional, occurring only if a location is set. This ensures that the system efficiently retrieves the necessary data without unnecessary overhead.
  2. Prioritize State Issues:
    • Display state issues at the top of the list. This can be achieved by sorting state issues separately and then combining them with regular issues. Prioritizing state issues will make them immediately visible to users, enhancing engagement with local topics.
  3. Design Differentiation:
    • Implement a design that visually distinguishes state issues from regular ones. This could involve using different icons, colors, or labels to help users quickly identify state-specific content. A clear visual distinction improves user experience by making it easier to navigate and find relevant information.
  4. Search Prioritization:
    • When searching, avoid always placing state issues at the top. Instead, use our regular prioritization algorithm to ensure a fair ranking of all issues. This prevents state issues from overshadowing other relevant content and maintains the integrity of the search results.

Detailed Action Items

Let’s break down each action item to understand the implementation details and ensure we're all on the same page. Each step is crucial for the successful integration of state topics into our platform.

1. Modify Issue Search Component

The first step involves tweaking the issue search component. Currently, it loads issues only when the user focuses on the search bar. We need to change this behavior to load issues immediately from the /v1/issuesForPublishing endpoint, but only when a location is set.

This ensures that we're not fetching data unnecessarily, which could impact performance. By loading issues immediately when a location is set, we provide a more responsive user experience. Users will see relevant issues as soon as they specify their location, making the search process smoother and more efficient. The conditional loading also ensures that the system is optimized for performance, fetching data only when it is needed.

This modification enhances the user experience by reducing the time it takes to display relevant issues. Instead of waiting for the user to focus on the search bar, the system proactively fetches and displays issues, making the interaction feel more seamless and intuitive. The change also ensures that users are presented with the most relevant issues based on their location, which increases the likelihood of engagement and participation. This proactive approach aligns with our goal of making the platform as user-friendly and efficient as possible.

2. Prioritize State Issues

Next, we need to ensure that state issues are prominently displayed. To achieve this, we’ll sort state issues separately and place them at the top of the list. This will make them immediately visible to users, increasing the likelihood of engagement. Prioritizing state issues ensures that users interested in local topics can easily find them, improving the overall usability of the platform. This approach also highlights the importance of state-specific issues, encouraging more users to participate in local discussions and campaigns.

The key here is the sorting mechanism. We'll implement a sort function that identifies state issues and places them at the beginning of the list. This ensures that when a user views the issue list, state issues are the first ones they see. This prioritization is crucial for drawing attention to local topics and facilitating more focused engagement. By making state issues more visible, we can encourage users to get involved in their local communities and address issues that directly impact their lives.

This approach also aligns with our goal of providing a personalized and relevant user experience. By prioritizing state issues, we cater to users who are specifically interested in local topics, making it easier for them to find and engage with the content that matters most to them. This personalization enhances user satisfaction and encourages more active participation in the platform.

3. Design Differentiation

To further enhance the user experience, we need to visually distinguish state issues from regular ones. This can be done by using different icons, colors, or labels. The goal is to make it easy for users to quickly identify state-specific content at a glance. A clear visual distinction will help users navigate the platform more efficiently and find the issues they are most interested in.

Consider using a distinct icon for state issues, such as a state flag or a specific symbol related to local governance. Color-coding can also be effective, using a particular color to highlight state issues within the list. Labels, such as “State Issue” or the name of the state, can provide additional clarity. The key is to choose a design that is both visually appealing and informative, ensuring that users can easily differentiate between state and regular issues.

The implementation of this design should be consistent across the platform, ensuring a uniform user experience. Whether users are browsing the sidebar or searching for issues, the visual cues should be clear and consistent. This consistency is crucial for building trust and familiarity with the platform, making it easier for users to navigate and find the information they need.

4. Search Prioritization

While we want to prioritize state issues on the sidebar, it’s important to maintain fairness in search results. Therefore, when a user searches for issues, we shouldn’t always place state issues at the top. Instead, we’ll use our regular prioritization algorithm to ensure that all relevant issues are displayed based on their overall relevance to the search query. This approach prevents state issues from overshadowing other important content and ensures that users see a comprehensive and balanced set of results.

Our regular prioritization algorithm likely takes into account factors such as the relevance of the issue title and description to the search query, the number of interactions the issue has received, and the recency of the issue. By applying this algorithm to all issues, including state issues, we ensure that the search results are fair and unbiased. This is crucial for maintaining user trust and ensuring that all issues have an equal opportunity to be seen.

The goal here is to strike a balance between highlighting state issues and providing a comprehensive search experience. While we want to make state issues easily discoverable, we also want to ensure that users can find all relevant issues, regardless of whether they are state-specific. This approach ensures that the platform remains fair and informative, providing users with the best possible search experience.

Alternative Solution: Smaller JSON Files

Now, let’s consider an alternative, potentially more optimized solution. Instead of loading the entire issue object for search, we could publish smaller JSON files when doing build-content. These files would contain only basic post metadata, such as the issue name, description, and script.

This approach could reduce the amount of data transferred over the network, potentially improving performance. However, we need to weigh the benefits against the complexity of implementing this solution. By creating smaller, more focused JSON files, we can streamline the search process and reduce the bandwidth required to load issue data. This could be particularly beneficial for users with slower internet connections or those accessing the platform on mobile devices.

The key question is whether the savings in over-the-wire bytes would be significant enough to justify the effort. Posts already consist mostly of name, description, and script, which are all things we want to search. Therefore, the reduction in data size may not be substantial enough to warrant the additional complexity. Before moving forward with this approach, we should conduct a thorough analysis to determine whether the performance gains would outweigh the implementation costs.

Conclusion

Guys, enhancing our platform to automatically display state topics on the sidebar and in search is a crucial step towards improving user engagement and making local issues more accessible. By leveraging our existing infrastructure and implementing the proposed steps, we can achieve this efficiently and effectively. Whether we opt for the initial approach or explore the alternative solution of smaller JSON files, our focus should remain on providing the best possible experience for our users. Let’s work together to make this happen!

Display State Topics on Sidebar: Web Enhancements