Thoughts on folder permissions behavior?

[Wilma Hodges]

Hello all,

A question came up in regard to a recent pull request SAK-51375 Content fix Edit Folder Permissions in sub-folder and I thought I'd pose a question to the list to see if others have thoughts on the ideal/expected behavior for folder permissions. (I've already added my comments below to the issue, but I'd welcome feedback from others if you have other thoughts.)

Should role permission removal be "locked" by the parent folder, or should instructors be able to both add and remove permissions for roles on subfolders? 

In my opinion, the expected behavior for Resources permissions is as follows: 1) When a new folder is created, it inherits the permissions of the parent folder by default. 2) However, if you go to the child folder and select Actions > Edit Folder Permissions, you should be able to remove or add permissions which override the inherited default for that folder and any subfolders within it. Each subfolder can likewise restrict/add permissions as needed if set individually.

This sort of behavior is consistent with what users expect in modern file management/sharing applications. For example, in Google Drive, you can share folders with different people at any level of the folder hierarchy. Subfolders inherit the sharing rules from the parent folder, but the sharing can be modified for any subfolder individually. (You get a message about it being easier to remove sharing on the parent folder, but it still lets you remove permissions from just the subfolder if you choose.)

 

That being said, in order to facilitate scenarios such as allowing folders to only be seen by certain groups, or hiding a folder from students so they don't see answer keys or test images, a better way to manage these use cases is by going to Actions > Edit Details for the resources folder (or file) and changing the Availability and Access settings to control whether or not students can view an item. Since Availability and Access handles the removal of permissions for most use cases, really the main reason to go to Edit Folder Permissions is to add permissions, such as allowing students to edit or delete files within a folder. I suspect this is where the idea of locking permissions at the parent folder came about.  However, it is a bit confusing to have two different places where an instructor goes to manage folder and file permissions and access. Perhaps people are going to the wrong place to set up the sort of access restriction they want?

Please reply to this thread if you have thoughts on the preferred behavior for resource permission removal.

Wilma

Wilma Hodges, Ed.D., UXC

Director of Training & eLearning Initiatives

Longsight, Inc.

wi...@longsight.com 

www.longsight.com

[alan.regan]

Thanks, Wilma.

This sounds like a redesign of the "Edit Folder Permissions" feature so that the interface displays the two common reasons to modify a folder -- to change the "access and availability" (pulling up the same items in the Edit Details) or change the read/write/edit/delete permissions (usually to ADD permissions rather than remove them). I'm not suggesting removing the access/availability from Edit Details, but adding those existing options to the "Edit Folder Permissions" to make it clear/easy to manage availability + functionality.

Would this resolve most of the issues?

-- Alan

[Wilma Hodges]

Thanks, Alan. That is an excellent idea! However, we may need to put some thought into the best way to combine the Role-based Permissions and the Availability and Settings into a single screen. Currently, the Edit Folder Permissions UI follows the same grid layout as other Permissions tabs throughout Sakai. If we introduce changes to that screen, we may also introduce some inconsistency across Sakai. Perhaps the Availability and Settings area could include a subset of the Role-based Permissions, since it doesn't really follow a standard format across tools? I will put it on the T&L/UX agenda to discuss at an upcoming call. 

Wilma 

Wilma Hodges, Ed.D., UXC

Director of Training & eLearning Initiatives

Longsight, Inc.

wi...@longsight.com 

www.longsight.com