Edit Idea Conversation UI - Star rating interface problematic

[callinger]

The recent update to the overall UI of the Canvas community has resulted in changing the "Vote up" and "Vote down" options into a star rating. I'm not opposed to this star rating, but it is really difficult to tell from looking at it whether or not you've already rated this idea.

For example, most ideas that I want to vote on already have an average 5 star rating, shown visually as 5 black stars. It looks exactly like that whether I'm one of those averaged votes or I'm not one of them. Then when I try voting, but clicking on the fifth black star, it sometimes works the first time, but often I need to click it twice (maybe the first click enters the editing stage??). I can only tell if my vote was counted if I see the number in parentheses beside the rating go up by one.

It makes this process, honestly, ridiculously complicated for what it is. I think we should either switch back to "Vote up"/"Vote down," OR change the star interface to be easier to use and easier to identify. Perhaps a different color if I've already voted? Perhaps have the average star rating as is, but then add below it a set of empty stars where the user can post a rating?

I'm not a programmer, so I don't know how complicated it is to set this up, but we've got to be able to come up with something better than this. I'm embarrassed when I ask colleagues new to participating in the community --"OK, after you've logged in, you've got to hit the star to show how high you rate it, but it might not take the first time, you can tell it worked if that number beside the rating goes up by one..."

[Stef_retired]

@callinger 

Thanks for sharing this feedback; we appreciate it, and our team will bring it to the attention of the software developer for the platform.

The Idea Conversations forum is dedicated to requests for enhancements to Canvas. The Community Users Group is where our members discuss all-things-community, so we've moved it here on your behalf.

[nathanatkinson]

@callinger 

While we wait for a reply from the community platform software developer to get back to us, we implemented a small change that will hopefully make the experience a bit more user-friendly. Now, when you hover over the star ratings the stars turn gold(ish) to help more easily identify that you are about to give your rating. After you click the number of stars for your rating/vote, the stars will remain gold until you view another page or refresh the page. Unfortunately, the current system doesn't allow us to "remember" which ideas you've voted for to retain the gold star color. We do hope this small change will improve the experience of voting for ideas.

As far as needing to click multiple times or experiencing slowness, I did find that when you click the stars to vote there is about a 3 second delay before it changes to show that your vote has been counted. I believe this is due to several things happening in the background (updating some styling, recording your vote, etc.) that again, unfortunately, we don't have any control over. So when you're showing your colleagues how to vote, just know that there's a small delay between clicking the stars and having your vote counted. Let us know if you have any other questions!

[callinger]

That is already a big help. Thank you!

[Stef_retired]

@callinger 

We've received an update from the platform provider: they are aware that the star rating modal is slippery (my term, not theirs), have completed initial triage and analysis of the code, and have the bug fix in the development phase.

[mwolfenstein]

From what I can tell there is still a major bug with the star rating. I click it, nothing happens. I click it again, it usually turns gold. I refresh the page, and it's frequently (but not always) back to black and the counter hasn't incremented to indicate another vote. This is on current Firefox (89) for Mac, but this problem has been in place pretty much from the outset. I've done a fair amount of promoting features for votes to my campus community and the number of votes don't change. It's possible my faculty aren't actually voting, but I have a strong suspicion that the issue is a bug and not a lack of participation. I also want to note that from my perspective as a user, I'm just giving things 5 star ratings if I want to see them implemented. It really is a binary for me personally, something is either worth it or it isn't.

[ogranat]

I agree, this system feels like I have to "train" staff how to use the Idea Conversation system, when I am not really sure it worked for me. Thanks!