[Redesigned Workflow] | Participants list manager, add a logout option to the three dots menu

[Tribunal33]

UPDATE March 24th, 2025. Had a meeting with Blessie about potential solution she was working on in anticipation of the help link being reloctaed to top navigation. This would present the best opportunity for universal location of logout as functionality. There were 2 things to consider as requirements.

1. What to do about accessibilty for accessing this top navigation space.
2. When on any submission and the logout functionality is used while logged in as somebody else please make sure to return the primary user back to this submission.
   a. If the logout as button is selected outside of a submission then return back to default submission area.

Description:
This was found when testing #10742 . In 3.5 the submission pane covers the top navigation making it difficult for the user to flip back and forth between users while maintaining the opened submission. In 3.5 they have to close the tab to use the top navigation user account menu to logout as a person. In 3.4 there is a button to logout within the participants list and the submission view does not block the top navigation user account menu. The enhancement to 3.5 is to create the logout button feature similar to 3.4. Here is the button for 3.4:

Steps to test the changes:
These steps can include user interactions, database queries and API requests

1. AC1: Test that the logout option is displayed specific to the logged in user.
2. AC 2: Test that the logout option
3. AC3: Test that the participants list displays the user in the list and no three dots menu is displayed.

Solution: What the proposed solutions are and additional affected areas
The scenarios below are for editors who can login as various users
Scenario 1: Editor logs in as another editor from the participants list
AC1 : The participants list will have the option to logout as this user without having to close the submission window (aka using 3 dots options)

Scenario 2: Editor logs in as an author or reviewer from the participants list
AC1 : The participants list is normally hidden but will now be displayed showing only this author user with three dots menu option with logout as functionality

Scenario 3: Author or Reviewer logs in and views a submission
AC1: The participants list is normally hidden but will now be displayed showing only this author and since they have no options from the three dots menu it will also be hidden.

Note Login in as from the Users & Roles settings will see the same options as if they logged in as from the participants list

What application is this feature for?
Version 3.5. OJS, OMP and OPS

Additional information
Figma Design links

[asmecher]

@Tribunal33, logging out and in between different user accounts will be a common scenario during testing, but not during production use. Is there a production case that we should be considering that this makes difficult?

[Tribunal33]

@asmecher the main issue to focus on is the difference between 3.4 and 3.5. 3.4 has a button and 3.5 is missing this button. Was there a reason that this button was removed for 3.5? If so, then I can remove it as a test. The problem, I forsee, will be people expecting this button and it not being there. In terms of usability the current way, in 3.5 to log out, would be to close the pane and use the Top Nav User Account menu. This takes the user away from the submission which could be annoying for whoever is used to using this feature from 3.4.

From a conversation with @Devika008 she created a new figma design to handle these scenarios. My main request, since this ended up being a larger issue than a bug, is for the missing button to be added back. Devika came up with a great consistent way to put this old feature back into the new 3 dots area. I was trying to capture these ideas that we discussed.

[Devika008]

Hi @asmecher and @Tribunal33

In OJS 3.4, users who logged in as another user (e.g., an editor logging in as a section editor) could easily log out using a button displayed right below the participant’s name.

In OJS 3.5, this button is missing from the additional options menu, creating inconsistent behavior. Instead of expecting users to return to the submission dashboard to log out, we should simply restore the button from 3.4 and place it within additional options, aligning with UX best practices.