Notifications panel: make empty-state copy tab-specific so switching tabs gives visible feedback

[amnausman2002]

Type of Request

Fast Track Change (small, low-risk improvements)

Feature Description

TL;DR

In the Notifications panel, all three tabs (Discussion, Updates, Grading) show the same empty-state message: "No notifications yet." When every tab is empty, switching between them changes nothing in the content area, so the user gets no confirmation the tab switch registered. Proposal: make the empty-state heading tab-specific so the message itself reflects the active tab.

Current behavior

• The Notifications panel has three tabs: Discussion, Updates, Grading.
• When a tab has no notifications, all three show the identical empty state: heading "No notifications yet", subtext "When you receive notifications they'll show up here."
• Because the content is identical across tabs, switching tabs produces no visible change in the panel body. The only thing that moves is the active-tab underline - a small, peripheral signal that's easy to miss.

Expected behavior

Make the empty-state heading name the active tab, so the primary focal area confirms which tab is selected:

• Discussion tab → No notifications on discussion yet
• Updates tab → No notifications on updates yet
• Grading tab → No notifications on grading yet

Subtext ("When you receive notifications they'll show up here") can stay shared across all three.

Scope

Small, low-risk, front-end only. No backend or data-model changes.

Designs / references

• Screenshot: current - generic "No notifications yet" shown regardless of active tab
• Screenshot: proposed - "No notifications on discussion yet" on the Discussion tab
• Screenshot: proposed - "No notifications on grading yet" on the Grading tab

Link to Product Proposal

No response

Status

New

Proposed By

Nurture at Arbisoft

[github-actions]

Thanks for your submission, @openedx/openedx-product-managers will review shortly.

[sdaitzman]

This sounds good to me! I might recommend slightly different copy, maybe instead of:

Discussion tab → No notifications on discussion yet
Updates tab → No notifications on updates yet
Grading tab → No notifications on grading yet

Something more like:

Discussion tab → No discussion notifications
Updates tab → No updates
Grading tab → No grade notifications

...or something along those lines. We could also optionally include a CTA for some notification types to redirect possible engagement, but I think that might be beyond a UX fast-track quick-fix.