The Number on the Bell Is Now the Number of Things Waiting
Counters in the admin disagreed with each other. The bell said three, the menu said one, and the tab said nothing. All three are now computed from one place and they agree.
What was actually broken
Three separate pieces of code counted three slightly different things. The bell counted unread notifications. The menu badge counted unread messages. The tab counted whatever it had cached when the page loaded.
Worse, one screen marked everything as seen simply by being opened, including things you had not looked at. So the reliable way to make the bell go quiet was to visit the messages page, whether or not you read anything on it, which is precisely the opposite of what a notification system should do.
Why a wrong counter is worse than none
Because it trains you to ignore it. A badge that shows a number you cannot account for becomes visual noise within about a week, and then it is not doing its job on the day something important arrives.
This is the same reasoning behind letting people switch categories off entirely in notification preferences. A quiet, accurate signal is worth more than a loud, unreliable one.
What changed
- One count, computed once, shared by the bell, the menu and the tab.
- Marked as seen only when the item is actually opened.
- The count updates as things arrive, without a refresh. See real-time alerts.
- The tab title shows the same number, so a background tab is still honest.
What counts toward it
Unread visitor messages, unreviewed press mentions, and anything needing your attention on your account. Product announcements do not, because a badge that goes up because we published something is a badge about us rather than about you.
The general principle
If a number is displayed, it should be correct, and if it cannot be made correct it should not be displayed. That sounds like a small commitment. It removed three counters from the interface during this work, and the interface is better for it.
Create your free actor website and see a dashboard that means what it says.
