Last modified: 2014-04-09 20:36:12 UTC
Topic and post permalinks have a 'This topic was started on <Board name>' line; opic history has an 'Appears on "<Board name>" board' line. These link back to the board the topic appears on. But they don't ensure the topic is visible, and it won't be if the user loaded more topics. The fix is to include the topic in the link to encourage the board to paginate to the right topic. Using Flow with JavaScript disabled suggests there's already a parameter for this, topic_list[offset-id], e.g.: http://ee-flow.wmflabs.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Flow_bugs&topic_list[offset-id]=050adf7af4bff00fc8b1fa163e68c4ac This works with and without JavaScript enabled. It means a _More recent topics_ link appears at the top, which could use some improved styling ( https://mingle.corp.wikimedia.org/projects/flow/cards/497 ). There's a separate enhancement which is to record interactions (such as clicking permalink and history links, and even the current scroll position and pagination) in the URL fragment, so that if you click to one of these detail pages from a Flow board and then click the back button, the browser returns to the state of the Flow board.
The WMF core features team tracks this bug on Mingle card https://mingle.corp.wikimedia.org/projects/flow/cards/601, but people from the community are welcome to contribute here and in Gerrit.
(The pagination URL is now https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Sandbox?topiclist_offset-id=rq2m5ez8jmv6kmgt ) We can't use this in links back to the board because it shows 10 topics *after* the topic named in topiclist_offset-id; upon return to the page you want to see 10 topics *starting* at the named topic. I probably shouldn't confuse the permalink to show a post in context on its board with pagination. Maybe we've got it backward: the current permalink URL Talk:Sandbox?workflow=rpjeobchlzbmpch2#flow-post-rpjkbery5353veo5 should show you the board starting at the topic rpjeobchlzbmpch2, and to see the post in isolation you would use a URL like Special:Flow/post/rpjkbery5353veo5 (which works as a wiki link), with the "This topic was started on Talk:Sandbox" link going to the former URL.
(In reply to spage from comment #2) > Maybe we've got it backward: the current permalink URL > Talk:Sandbox?workflow=rpjeobchlzbmpch2#flow-post-rpjkbery5353veo5 should > show you the board starting at the topic rpjeobchlzbmpch2, and to see the > post in isolation you would use a URL like > Special:Flow/post/rpjkbery5353veo5 (which works as a wiki link), with the > "This topic was started on Talk:Sandbox" link going to the former URL. I like this suggestion, though I'm not sure which way around would be best. (There was discussion along these lines at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Flow/Archive_7#Feature_request:_show_.22Older_topics.22_on_permalinks ) I think we might need a "table/matrix of possible options", so that we can see everything that is 'technically possible' at once, and thereby decide what will be most useful. (Also, both of the "?workflow=..." and "special:flow/..." link-types, would benefit from having the actual current topic name appended somehow, to make their targets "human readable". That part would be a purely non-functional/"decorative-informative" suffix, as topic-titles can change at any time; as previously discussed.)
There's also a request[1] that the link to View board in a notification of Flow activity on a user's Notifications page, should also take you to the board starting at that topic. First we need the capability to show the board starting at a certain (post's) topic, then decide where to apply it. [1] https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Flow&topic_postId=rs71fkxymzohj56p&workflow=rs4hea4wh1zykdrb#flow-post-rs71fkxymzohj56p
