Feature #3759
openReview Interface for Adding Users to Blogs
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Description
A user had trouble adding users to a Commons blog. Here is the advice I gave him:
The easiest way to add people to a blog is actually to create a group and associate it with a blog. When that is done, membership is automatically synced between group and blog. You can find out more about how to do that here - http://help.commons.gc.cuny.edu/faq/#How_can_groups_create_group_blogs_that_automatically_makes_members_of_the_groups_authors_on_the_blog.3F.C2.A0 . What makes this easier is that users can add themselves to groups pretty easily (by clicking "Join Group" if it's a public group, or "Request Membership" if it is a private group).
If you prefer only to use the blog, you might try adding Commons usernames rather than emails. There is an auto-complete function there that should make this easier -- so, go to the text box, start typing Marilyn, and wait a minute as the site brings back possible people with that name. Select the one you want and click the "Add User" button.
Also, please make sure that you are using the Add Existing User interface rather than the Add new user interface
Is there anything we can do to make this more clear from the WP Dashboard? Does it ever make sense, in the context of the Commons, for people to be able to add non-existing users, since they'd have to register for the Commons -- a different site than the one they'd been invited to -- before being added to the blog?
Also, should we allow people only to search for existing members by username rather than by username AND email? The ticket associated with the above support request seemed to suggest that the email address wasn't working properly ("The students I'm adding are GC students, in the MALS program. When I add them, the screen just goes back to the original one. I think I remember that normally you get a message that says an invitation has been sent, but I'm a little hazy on that.)
Assigning to Samantha for a UX review, then let's have Daniel and Ray (or Boone, when he is back) take a look at this.
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Updated by Matt Gold almost 10 years ago
Added a few team members as watchers after creating this.
Updated by Samantha Raddatz almost 10 years ago
- File WP_Add New.png WP_Add New.png added
If I understand correctly, we're talking about the Add New page within the Users area of the WP dashboard (see screenshot attached for reference).
I imagine there are use cases where people would like to invite CUNY students/staff who have not yet signed up for the Commons, and there are also cases where CUNY users would like to invite non-CUNY people to contribute to public sites -- that seems like a much larger mission/permissions decision.
In the meantime, it should probably first be made clear that the 'network' being referred to is 'CUNY Academic Commons', so changing that language in the first sentence would help. All Commons users also automatically exist in the WP 'network', right?
The ideal would be able to search for a user by their name, username, OR email, which it seems is already possible in the auto-complete functionality. Though the current auto-complete is really helpful, the label 'E-mail' is deceiving. What about if it instructed you instead to 'Search existing Commons users by name, username, or email:'?
It also looks like you can add multiple users at a time on this page -- should we highlight that functionality too, while we're at it?
Updated by Matt Gold almost 10 years ago
- Assignee changed from Samantha Raddatz to Boone Gorges
Thanks, Samantha. Yes, this should all be much clearer. We dealt with a similar issue with groups, and Boone created the Invite Anyone plugin, which both invites people to the Commons and to specific groups. I guess I'm wondering whether we need something like that for blogs, since people can't become members of specific blogs without joining the Commons first. You are right that it needs to be made more clear that the network here is the Commons.
Passing to Boone for his thoughts
Updated by Boone Gorges almost 10 years ago
- Assignee changed from Boone Gorges to Samantha Raddatz
- Target version set to Future release
A few thoughts, in no particular order:
- wp-admin/user-new.php is not a very easy page to modify, from a technical point of view. We can change strings/labels easily enough (I like Samantha's suggestion of "Search..." instead of "Email), though other significant changes are not easy.
- The "Email" field reads "Email or Username" for super admins. The idea here is that allowing non-admin users to search against usernames and/or display names is a potential privacy issue. That's not necessarily an issue for the Commons, but it's an explanation for why the labels work the way that they do. The plugin that we're using to power the autocomplete feature (add-user-autocomplete) bypasses this restriction, and matches against user_login and display_name in addition to user_email.
- For people who are not super admins on the network, wp-admin/user-new.php contains only a single section: "Add Existing User". Super admins see another section: "Add New User". Adding a new user in this fashion requires declaring in advance a username and email address.
- It would be possible to integrate in some way into Invite Anyone, such that it would be possible to invite users to join the site directly from this interface. However, we'd need a whole new interface for this, which seems to me a lot of work for something that would be fairly infrequently used.
- I think we can probably go a long way with improved text. Relabel the search box as Samantha suggests. Maybe add a message that clarifies that you're searching existing members only, with a note along the lines of "To invite new users to the Commons, go to <your invitation page>"
Updated by Samantha Raddatz almost 10 years ago
- Assignee changed from Samantha Raddatz to Boone Gorges
It seems like we're in agreement that the following changes will be helpful enough to avoid having to adapt the layout or functionality in any way:
- Change the descriptive text to "Enter the email address of an existing Commons user to invite them to this site. To invite new users to the Commons, go to <your invitation page>."
- Change "E-mail" to "Search existing Commons users by name, username, or email:"
Assigning to Boone for implementation.