nextcloud / nextcloud/text

Collaborative document focus indicator

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enhancement
Dominant language
JavaScript
Stars
659
Forks
133
Avg merge
1d 20h
Merged PRs (30d)
110

Description

During a collaborative session, it would be helpful to have a way to indicate to all participants which section of the document that we're currently focusing on / discussing / collaboratively editing.

For example, if we're taking notes during a meeting, and someone has to step away for a few minutes then rejoins the meeting, they could look for the focus indicator to quickly find where we are now.

The existing behavior — showing cursor positions — is not ideal, since people may casually click in other areas of the document, or may just leave their cursor in the position they last typed text, which doesn't necessarily indicate where the discussion currently is happening. Having a loud, intentional position indicator, which anyone (or only someone with a "moderator"-type role) can modify (drag upward/downward), could help better convey discussion status.

A couple quick mockups:

existing behavior mockup: dim other areas mockup: big arrow
Image Image Image

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No file, entry point, or test is named. Start by locating the existing collaborative cursor-position behavior described in the issue and compare it with the attached mockups. The scope and completion criteria would need to be defined for a focus indicator that communicates the current discussion area and can be moved by permitted participants.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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