[Discussions] - Unread - Viewing a Reply - Functionality & Aesthetic

[constructive_iq]

Process:

Click Dashboard > Click Courses > Click "Course" > Click Discussions > Click "Discussion" > Scroll-down > Click Unread > View unread replies > Click View in Discussion in "Reply" 

What happens then is that it takes you out of the unread replies mode and takes you back to the main branch of replies in the message branch. This is annoying and counter-intuitive. It would make more sense to let you read the unread message right there, yet still show you ONLY the other unread messages in the background so you can click them one by one to get caught up and interact. 

Instead, what you have to do is:

Scroll-up several times > Click Unread (again) > Click link "View in Discussion"

This jolts you away from the content your focusing on and it also shows a lot of extraneous content you don't want/need to see, like other replies and subreplies in the hierarchy. Where you only really need to see the subreplies to the reply your viewing at that time.

Also, I think it would be a good visual marker to highlight the Unread Reply with a temporary colored border of some kind after clicking "View in Discussion" so your eyes don't get lost in the content and you have to look for the content. Then maybe after mousing-over the reply or some duration of time the border disappears.

[ModeratorPanda]

Thank you for sharing this idea with the Instructure Community!

With the release of the Announcements/Discussions Redesign, the Product Team reviewed some related feature proposals, and unfortunately, this request was identified as one that they would not be able to include in their current or future plans. While we appreciate your proposal, we also want to be transparent about the likelihood of something like this making it to production.

Thank you for collaborating, and we hope that you submit another idea in the future!