Cht-core: Remove unread notification bubbles

[garethbowen]

What feature do you want to improve?
The Reports and Messages tabs have red bubbles to track how many docs you have access to but haven't yet opened. Initially this was added for facility based users who could follow along in real-time and respond quickly when a new message was received. In reality I think:

• the facility use case isn't commonly deployed,
• the number usually has a number so high as to be useless (eg: "99+"),
• is implementation technically challenging and hurts performance, and
• it's buggy so the number is likely to be inaccurate anyway

As a result I assume the number is completely ignored.

Describe the improvement you'd like
Remove the bubbles altogether. Keep the bold for unread docs.

Describe alternatives you've considered
We could ensure the number is accurate by testing and fixing any bugs, and add improvements such as "mark all read" to clear the number if it gets out of date.

Additionally we could investigate whether we should add a permission so it only shows for particular users.

Additional context
This is based on my conjecture - it might be essential for some use case, or it may be working better than I think it is.

[garethbowen]

@michaelkohn Do you have any idea if this feature is used, or how to find out if it's used?

[MaxDiz]

related issues:
https://github.com/medic/cht-core/issues/5985
https://github.com/medic/cht-core/issues/3943

[abbyad]

This is a good feature to reconsider, and you've brought up good ideas like a permission for particular user roles.

Amanda's comment in #3943 has very relevant notes:

Talked through these bubbles with Dianna last night and we had some thoughts:

In summary, bubbles should be there to direct our attention to things. After thinking on it some more we decided we might actually like to remove the bubble on the Reports page as there’s nothing there that requires attention. You can log into your newsfeed to see what’s up on Facebook as easily as you can open your Reports tab to see what’s recently happened there. There’s no bubble on Facebook saying, “You have 25 unread newsfeed posts.” We also don’t want users to have to click through and “read” every single report in the list in order to get rid of the bubble, as that list can get long very quickly. One alternative to completely removing the bubble would be if it was just a red dot (no number) that went away once you visited the page. But we may or may not want the other pages to function in this way...

Messages feels like an important place for a bubble so we'd like to keep it on Messages.

Tasks seems like a useful place for the bubble too, with the caveat that we only include "Overdue" and due "Today" tasks in the bubble. Dianna: "I want the tasks dot to tell me what things I need to do today, regardless of whether they are late or on-time. But not things that are due tomorrow." If I have three tasks in my list, one was due yesterday, one is due today, and one is due in two days, we'd like the bubble number to be "2". If I have no overdue tasks or tasks due today (only future tasks in my list) then the bubble should not appear, as there is nothing requiring my attention today.

The idea of a red dot on specific tabs without a count seems like it would still be useful, while perhaps less of a performance hit.

@garethbowen do you think this issue is covered sufficiently by #5985 and #3943 to close this as a duplicate?

[garethbowen]

@abbyad The other one was closed as a dupe (thanks Nicole!).

I don't really want to reopen the discussion internally because I think that's been covered elsewhere. What I'm after is how to find out if it's relevant or useful to our users at all. We have no telemetry on it because it's not a feature the user interacts with. One solution would be to add a permission and default it to off, and then check back in a year and see if anyone has turned it on.

The other option is to assume it's wanted by someone and put in the effort to make it correct, reliable, and useful.

[abbyad]

I think it's a good idea to have a permission for it to determine use before removing it altogether.

As additional context, there have been ongoing requests to use the Messages tab for messaging between health workers. We should consider that before removing the notification bubble from the Messages tab. If it is buggy or terrible for performance though we should see how it can be simplified/redone while keeping the desired effect.

[garethbowen]

@abbyad Ok. Should I close this and raise a new issue for adding permissions for can_see_unread_reports_count and can_see_unread_messages_count (or similar)?

[abbyad]

It could be done as part of this issue if you want, but fine as a new issue as well if you think that will be clearer.

[binokaryg]

Yesterday, there was a request from a new partner to remove the notification bubble in the reports tab:

We don’t want this/notification to be turned on. This highlights the reports rather than the tasks, which is their main focus.