Automatic time-out for StoryMaps in editor mode after a certain amount of inactivity

[SaraJL]

Hello!

For StoryMaps that are left in editor mode for an extended amount of time with inactivity, it would be nice to have it automatically time out or have some type of log-out in the browser window.

We're running into an issue where users are leaving StoryMaps open in browser tabs for extended periods of time (days, even weeks) and it freezes in the browser. Especially Safari really struggles with the apps being left open. 

This would be specifically for edit mode only - not in view mode for StoryMaps

Thank you!

[PeterKnoop]

Another scenario in which this functionality would be helpful is when a group of users have shared editing access to a StoryMap, and the last user to have it open for editing doesn't close it. Perhaps they  simply forget or they become otherwise engaged, and it sits open unnecessarily, and their collaborators who try to edit it are presented with the warning about someone else is already editing the story. Perhaps the trigger would be 8 hours of inactivity?

[OwenGeo]

Hi @SaraJL and @PeterKnoop!

Thanks for this feedback. We will take a look at this workflow to see if there are some improvements we can make.

Just for your understanding, the mechanism of this warning is a bit different than the way you've interpreted it. It's not triggered because others have open browser sessions. Open, idle builder sessions do not affect or lock a story. The browser only communicates with the back-end if/when a change is made.

This warning is triggered for the person who has not closed their builder session IF someone else has edited the story after them AND the person who had their browser open for a long time also tries to make another new edit. This situation could lead the person who left their browser open to edit an older version of the story than what is on the server and then overwrite the server with their version, which would wipe out anyone else's more recent changes.

The warning screen shows how long ago the edit was made by the other person, so you have an idea whether someone is actively editing or not. If their edit was hours or days ago it's not likely someone is currently making changes, so you should exit the builder and re-open the story again in builder to restart with the latest version.

I believe we were intentionally a bit alarmist with this messaging because of the limitations of the system, but I can see that it would be helpful if we at least provide more clarity and detail.

[SaraJL]

@OwenGeo That makes sense!

Mainly, we are seeing the problem with individual projects - it will seem to trigger if the user is trying to have the same StoryMap open in editor mode in multiple tabs. I worked with someone a few days ago that had 40+ tabs open in their browser and about 4-5 of them were the same StoryMap project.

Part of it is a teachable user scenario - people really shouldn't leave that many tabs open (they don't need that many, no matter what they say 😂 and it just slows their computer down and work harder).

But if there was a way to make it time people out of the editor mode after 24 hours of inactivty (for example) I think it would help. 

[OwenGeo]

Thanks for the additional detail, @SaraJL.

There is a different, specific message that is shown if the same person has the story open in multiple tabs (see screenshots below), so you will know if it's you or someone else who is creating the conflict. However, as long as you are not making changes across multiple tabs that message won't appear.

Unfortunately we can't automatically close someone's browser tab if they choose to leave it open and don't go back to it. But if they aren't making changes in those other tabs, they won't affect anything but their browser's current memory consumption. As I mentioned above, open tabs don't affect the back-end system unless changes are being made, so there's really no active connection for us to "time out."

We already communicate to the author if they try to make edits in across different tabs, but if they are running into browser memory issues because they have too many tabs open, I'm not sure we can do much more on our end to help with that. 😕

We recognize that providing the ability for concurrent users edit the same item would alleviate all this. Unfortunately we are not in a position where we can add that feature at this time due to technical limitations, but we do hope to in the future at some point.

We may be able to update the experience to require the author to refresh the builder if other changes are detected (rather than give them a choice about what to do), so that could at least eliminate the need to close the builder and come back and may reduce some of the confusion. Do you think that would be helpful?

[PeterKnoop]

@OwenGeo thanks for the detailed explanations! I think the documentation would be improved by adding such a level of information (e.g., Collaborate on a story, collection, or a theme.)