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Should we change the behavior of the avatar link in the top bar?
I've been thinking about part of our top bar recently, specifically the link to your profile. We got some helpful feedback on a community Meta about the way some top-bar elements behave and also that the "sign out" button we added recently is really pretty huge.
I've also been thinking about the amount of stuff we're now packing behind that profile link.
On some sites, your avatar in a top bar opens a menu. For example, here's what GitHub does when I click on my avatar:
Notice, by the way, the "sign out" entry at the bottom of that menu.
What if we did something similar to that menu? Instead of your avatar being a link to the main page of your profile, it could show a menu like this (but with better graphical layout and stuff):
The menu has direct links for the tabs on your profile, including email subscriptions which are on a sub-page. Possibly we don't need the notifications entry because that's your global inbox, which is also linked from the inbox to the left of the avatar.
Because it's a vertical layout now, we can use vertical spacing to convey themes -- public stuff first, then all the stuff only you see, and for now "all communities" is at the end even though it's public because that matches the tabs.
Also because it's a vertical layout, we could add other entries here that would add too much width to horizontal tabs on the profile layout itself. I don't have specific suggestions, but this opens the possibility.
I've included a speculative future idea to make vote changes more visible. Tracking and reporting that information on every page load would be expensive (I believe), but showing a little indicator for "new stuff here" when you open the menu seems more practical.
While doing this mockup I had to figure out where to put the communities drop-down, that little down-arrow that's currently between your reputation and the "sign out" button. I put it next to the dashboard, because both of these controls are about the other communities, but I have doubts. I don't know where the best place for this is; it seems like user-avatar-as-a-menu controls are usually at the end of the row (or sometimes column, like Twitter and Patreon).
Would this change be helpful? Would it move cheese you've come to rely on? Is the idea good but there are issues with this mockup? What else should we be considering?
2 answers
Signing out for users without JavaScript
I like the avatar drop down idea, with the Sign Out button inside it at the bottom. The avatar being at the top right means that signing out will be consistent with many other sites. My only concern is that users with JavaScript disabled still be able to sign out.
Currently some of our drop down panels rely on JavaScript, with a fallback behaviour when JavaScript is disabled. For example, the notifications drop down at the top right of the page just to the left of the avatar opens a list of recent notifications as a drop down panel when clicked on. For a user without JavaScript, this instead is a link to a separate notifications page. If the avatar has a similar fallback, linking directly to the user profile page when there is no JavaScript, then a user without JavaScript will never see the drop down panel, so will never be able to reach the Sign Out button.
I recommend keeping the Sign Out button where it is (top right corner of the page) for users without JavaScript. For everyone else, the button can be immediately removed by JavaScript at the same time that it creates the drop down functionality with the Sign Out button in the drop down panel.
Let's not add another layer of clicking.
If you want signing out to be easy, then add it prominently to profile page. A whole page has plenty of room.
Personally, I dislike dropdowns except in cases when they are quick context-sensitive actions. However, I expect those to be from right-clicking, not outright real "I want to do THIS" clicking. Otherwise, dropdowns require the mouse to hover correctly, all too easily poof away when the mouse goes astray, too easily cause clicking the adjacent entry from the intended one, etc.
The profile page should show your basic info, and be the center for everything else you want to do that is specifically related to your user account. Most everything that isn't already on your profile page directly should as few clicks away as possible away.
Personally I don't see the priority to making signing out easier than other actions. At most you're going to sign out once per session. I suspect signing out is something most users do rarely because there is very little reason for it. I don't think I've ever deliberately signed out except when trying to work around a bug or test something. Someone not using their own computer, like in a public library, should sign out when done. But, that's rare nowadays with most people having their own computer or phone. I'm not trying to hide signout, but there are more useful things to make easier and more prominent.
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