What is meta? ×

There has been a recent design change that places indicators of current and former post issues in the left margin of posts. Unfortunately on my system I now see this:

clipped object

I cannot expand the window, and I am unwilling to make text smaller to fit the entire object on screen. Please provide a way to hide these objects, position them elsewhere, or simply remove them.

share|improve this question
Do you have a suggestion for an alternative position? And no, not the mod menu, that's where it was :P –  Manishearth Feb 12 '13 at 17:11
Could just stuff it in the top of the right sidebar –  Ben Brocka Feb 12 '13 at 17:12
@BenBrocka There are multiple posts on a page, it has to be attached to the post somehow –  Michael Mrozek Feb 12 '13 at 17:13
Status-by-design? Oh no. D: –  Alenanno Feb 12 '13 at 17:19
It still is in the mod menu, @Manish - the marginal indicator just offers slightly faster access to a couple of things already available elsewhere. This has proved itself extremely useful for those of us on the Comm team, and the SO mods found it valuable as well; I can imagine that mods on smaller sites may not have as much need though. –  Shogging through the snow Feb 12 '13 at 17:19
@Shog9: Ah. Yep, it would be sort of useful on Physics, but not so much on Chem (where it isn't enabled anyway). –  Manishearth Feb 12 '13 at 17:24
If the issue is the length of the text, a small icon indicating "hey, there's something worth looking at in the mod menu" would do the trick -- flag icon for flags and, I dunno, trash can for deleted comments? –  Monica Cellio Feb 17 '13 at 1:38

4 Answers 4

up vote 9 down vote accepted

I have committed a compromise change. If you have a wide window, it looks unchanged. If you have a narrower window, you get a small indicator in the margin that expands inwards to show the isssue details when you hover over it. If you have a very narrow window, you get nothing. This is in the next build.

share|improve this answer
Also, I've used media queries for this, so I can now claim "skilled in responsive web design" in my resume. –  balpha Feb 12 '13 at 19:31
That sounds great. Thank you. –  Mr.Wizard Feb 12 '13 at 23:59
@balpha The main culprit here is "deleted comment", which is too long. Why not simply show it as "comment"? Mods will know it refers to deleted comments... (or maybe give the box a "mod only" title, if you want to make it clear) –  Lorem Ipsum Feb 13 '13 at 22:11
Apparently 1050px (full-screen on a portrait 1050x1680 monitor) is "very narrow", as I get nothing. is that expected behavior? –  Monica Cellio Jul 12 '13 at 17:04
@MonicaCellio Yes, the cut-off is at 1070. –  balpha Jul 12 '13 at 17:10

I would suggest simply displaying a minimal indicator instead of the full thing if the margin is too small. This would still show the moderator that there is something there, and it would not require any per-user settings.

Or it could just be hidden completely if the screen is not wide enough, it is a completely optional and pretty new feature after all. I don't think it should be repositioned, as it is not important enough to warrant using space in the main content area for it.

share|improve this answer
A minimal-width indicator icon would solve the problem in my case. I think any moderator would quickly learn what the icon means without having the full text beside it. –  Mr.Wizard Feb 12 '13 at 17:21

The margin indicator is intended to be a convenience feature - it provides an at-a-glance indication of information already accessible from each post's moderator menu. Placing it in the margin ensures that it doesn't interfere with anything else on the page, because nothing important goes in the margin.

Of course, if the browser window is narrow enough that margins aren't displayed, then there's no room for it. No matter; the mod menu retains this same information.

I suppose it could be hidden entirely when the margins don't allow room, but I would rather see it even partially clipped than risk missing it if I happen to use an insufficiently-wide window. This is a fairly utilitarian feature - retaining full utility even at the expense of appearance is important, else it might as well not exist at all.

share|improve this answer
There's got to be a better way. –  Mr.Wizard Feb 12 '13 at 17:20
Sure - we can disable it again. There was no intention to expand availability beyond the SO mods until folks saw screenshots with it and started asking for it. –  Shogging through the snow Feb 12 '13 at 17:21
PLEASE NO. I LOVE IT. I will pet it, and hug it, and love it, and call it charlie, and ... –  jcolebrand Feb 12 '13 at 18:34

The existing design uses colored circles to indicate new notices of different types (replies, edits, badges, etc.):

Mathematica graphics

I propose adding a similar indicator to the "mod" menu link to indicate additional content such as deleted comments

enter image description here

share|improve this answer
This is worse than both the marginal info and the display you get when you click the mod menu: it gives you a number without telling you what it means. If I'm checking up on a derailed comment thread, I want to know if there are deleted comments (and quick access to them); if I'm checking up on a deleted answer, I want to know that flags preceded that deletion. If I'm just scanning a page looking for anything untoward, a single number would be moderately useful - but even then it fails to give me one-click' access to anything. –  Shogging through the snow Feb 12 '13 at 17:39
Perhaps have two numbers of different known colors to indicate comments vs flags? –  Double AA Feb 12 '13 at 17:45
Yeah, Stack Exchange, especially the meta sites, needs more color. –  BoltClock's a Unicorn Feb 12 '13 at 18:33

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .