Before this change, two important things depend on the format of each key,
where to render it in the administration panel and which kind of interface
to use for each setting. Following this strategy led us to a very complex
code, very difficult to maintain or modify. So, we do not want to depend
on the setting key structure anymore to decide how or where to render each
setting.
With this commit, we get rid of the key format-based rules. Now we render
each setting explicitly passing to it the type and the tab where it belongs.
Instead of using a setting nested param `setting[:tab]`. We only need
the tab param when rendering settings in the administration section.
This change will make it easier rendering the correct tab after
updating settings.
This way only verified users will be able to access this page, which
shows the username of the receiver of the direct message. With this,
it's no longer possible for unverified users to browse direct message
URLs in order to collect usernames from every user.
We were doing it this way because managers usually have the management
section open at all times. However, this might not always be the case,
and by opening links in a new tab, we're taking control away from them.
If managers would like to keep the management section open, they can
open the link in a new tab, and if they open it in the same tab, they
can go back to the management section by either clicking the browser's
back button or clicking on the navigation link to the management
section.
Note that, unlike what we did in the admin section we're opening links
to budget investments on the same tab. There are two reasons for it; the
first one is that, in this case, there are no filters in the moderation
section that are lost after editing an investment, and the second one is
that, in this context, administrators usually don't go to the investment
in order to edit it, so they can just check something and use the
browser's back button to go back.
In the admin section, when clicking on a link that leads to a page in
the public area, sometimes the page was opened in the same window and
sometimes it would open in a new window, with no clear criteria
regarding when either scenario would take place.
This was really confusing, so now we're more consistent and open
(almost) every link in the same window. The main reason behind it is
simple: if we add `target: _blank`, people who want to open those links
in the same window can no longer do so, so we're taking control away
from them. However, if we don't add this attribute, people can choose
whether to open the link on the same tab or to open it on a new one,
since all browsers implement a method to do so.
More reasons behind this decision can be found in "Opening Links in New
Browser Windows and Tabs" [1].
We're keeping some exceptions, though:
* Opening the link to edit an investment on the same tab would result in
losing all the investment filters already applied when searching for
investments, so until we implement a way to keep these filters, we're
also opening the link to edit an investment in a new tab
* For now, we're also opening links to download files in a new window;
we'll deal with this case in the future
[1] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/new-browser-windows-and-tabs/
We were opening these links in a new tab/window because we assume they
were external links.
But, on the one hand, we don't even know whether these links are
external, since they could also point to URLs from our site. And, on the
other hand, opening external links in new windows results in usability
issues as well [1, 2].
On top of that, old browsers have security issues when opening links in
new tabs unless we add `rel="noopener"` [3], and we aren't doing so.
[1] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/new-browser-windows-and-tabs
[2] https://css-tricks.com/use-target_blank
[3] https://mathiasbynens.github.io/rel-noopener/
Out of the usability issues I've experienced when using Consul
Democracy, the biggest one has arguably been the fact that the link to
edit a proposal opens in a new tab. I guess the reasoning behind it is
that the page to edit a proposal is not part of the proposals dashboard,
but what the hell! Imagine if every link to edit something opened in a
new tab...
So we're reducing the impact of this nonsense by opening most dashboard
links in the same window; for now, we're still opening in a new window
links to download files and links that might point to external websites.
We'll address those ones in the future.
IMHO the best solution would be to completely remove this checkbox on
forms that require registration. Other than the fact that people have
already agreed with these terms when registering (although I guess these
terms might have changed since then) and that approximately 0% of the
population will read the conditions every time they agree with them,
there's the fact that these links are inside a label and people might
accidentally click on them while trying to click on the label in order
to check the checkbox.
I guess the idea is that these conditions might have changed since the
moment people registered. In a fair world, checking "I agree" would have
no legal meaning because it's unreasonable to expect that people will
read these conditions every time they fill in a form, so whatever we're
trying to do here would be pointless.
But, since I'm not sure about the legal implications of removing this
field in a world where you have to inform people that websites requiring
identification use cookies, for now the field will stay where it is.
In some places, we were using `blank` instead of `_blank`. Most browsers
treat `blank` like `_blank`, though, so most people didn't experience
any difference.
In another place, we were incorrectly passing the `target` option inside
an `options:` hash, resulting in invalid HTML.
Quoting usability experts Jakob Nielsen and Anna Kaley [1]:
> [Opening PDF files in new tabs] is problematic, because it assumes
> users will always do the exact same things with certain file formats,
> which isn’t always the case.
There are many examples of this situation. For example, some people
(myself included) configure their browser so it downloads PDF files
instead of opening them in the browser. In this situation, a new tab is
opened, a blank page is displayed, the file is downloaded, and then
either the tab is closed or the blank page needs to be manually closed.
The end result is really annoying.
Other situations include people who use a mobile phone browser, where
navigating through tabs is generally much harder than doing so on a
desktop browser.
But IMHO the most important point is: every browser already provides a
way to open "regular" links in a new tab, so people can choose what to
do, but if we decide to open the link in a new tab, we take control away
from them, and people who'd like to open the link in the same tab might
feel frustrated.
In these cases, the links either say "download" or include the word
"PDF", so people know in advance that they're going to download/open a
PDF file, and so we're giving them information and, by removing the
`target` attribute, we're giving them control over their browser so they
can choose what's convenient for them.
[1] https://www.nngroup.com/articles/new-browser-windows-and-tabs
We were displaying documents in five places, and in five different ways.
Sometimes with the metadata in parenthesis after the title, sometimes
with the metadata below the title, sometimes without metadata, sometimes
with an icon in front of the document, and sometimes with a separate
link to download the file.
So we're now displaying the same thing everywhere. Not sure whether this
is the best solution, but at least it's consistent.
We aren't unifying the way we display a list of documents, though, since
different sections look pretty different and I'm not sure whether the
same style would look well everywhere.
Note that we're renaming the `document` HTML class in the documents
table to `document-row` so the styles for the `document` class don't
apply here.
This way it'll be easier to change them.
Note that there were two `.document-link` elements which aren't part of
a `.documents` element. We're renaming the HTML class of the link in
investments because it didn't contain links to download documents and
are slightly duplicating the CSS in the poll answer documents in order
to keep the `word-wrap` property.
We were adding <div> tags with the `images` or `documents` HTML class
prettly much every time we rendered a NestedComponent. We're now
including the HTML class inside the component, as we usually do.
We're also rendering the nested components directly, since it's been a
while since the partials were changed to simply render the components.
We aren't using <hr> tags on any forms containing fields to add/edit
documents, so using this in the dashboard actions form and the
legislation process form was inconsistent.
We were using a "Download file" link in one place, while in another
place we had an additional column where the name of the document was a
link to download it.
In order to comply with the security measure for the
ENS: "[op.acc.5.r5.2] The user shall be informed of
the last access made with his identity".
We have added a new secret to display the last
access made to the user on the "My account" page.
This way we make it easier to modify.
Note that, since the title of the page is "Administration" and it's in
the "Admin" section, we're adding an option to the `header` method in
order to avoid having a confusing title like "Administration - Admin".
Also note that, by removing the `title` HTML class, we avoid inheriting
styles from the `dashboard.scss` stylesheet, and now the heading is
displayed in the position it was meant to.
Finally, the concept of using a `main-class` for the current page comes
from a branch (currently in development) which will replace the <div>
tag with the `admin-content` class with a `main` tag.
The outline was invisible when we had the link containing block
elements, and I didn't manage to fix it, so the easiest solution is to
use an inline link and style the card with CSS.
