/onp

💪 Let's free email and communication channels from notifications, with interoperable notifications

Apache License 2.0Apache-2.0

Open notification protocol

💪 Let's free email and communication channels from notifications, with interoperable notifications

Watch ONP video for a non technical explanation https://youtu.be/dnvcxz2KsgU




Why a notification protocol?

😠 Abuse of email and other communication channels for notifications. Email is meant for communication, not to deliver notifications. Email overload is worsened by notifications piggybacking email.

😞 Lack of interoperable notification delivery mechanism. There is no foolproof way for services to deliver notifications to a user, when the user is off their app/website/platform. Communication channels like email/SMS are abused as fallback.

🤩 Make notifications useful again. Synchronise on platform and off platform notifications, reducing notification overload. Both users and notification publishers benefit from using a better channel optimised for notifications.

Examples of notifications overloading work email

Service Category Services
Workplace Collaboration Tools Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom
Project Management Tools Asana, Trello, Jira
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Salesforce, HubSpot
Email Marketing Platforms Mailchimp, Constant Contact
Issue Tracking and Helpdesk Systems Zendesk, Freshdesk
Human Resources Software BambooHR, Workday
Calendars and Scheduling Tools Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook

Examples of notifications overloading personal email

Service Category Services
Social Media Networks Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube
E-commerce and Shopping Amazon, eBay, Etsy
Online Banking Banks, Financial Institutions
Travel and Booking Services Airlines, Hotels, Travel Agencies
News and Content Subscriptions News Websites, Blogs
Fitness and Health Apps Fitbit, MyFitnessPal
Gaming Platforms Steam, Xbox Live



Notification v/s communication

Notification is also a form of communication. So how should one decide when to treat something as either communication or a notification?

If something is treated as notification on your app/website/platform, treat it as a notification off your platform as well. Don't offload it on to a communication channel.




A real life notification delivery example

image




A real life user on boarding example

  1. Anjali signs up on Medium
  2. During on boarding/sign up, Medium asks Anjali to choose a notification delivery channel. The options could be
    1. Piggyback my email
    2. Google notifications(let's assume Anjali's email provider is Google and Google has implemented ONP)
      1. This option cannot be shown if Google has not implemented ONP
    3. Enter notification address

1.1 Anjali selects Google notifications

  1. Since the email provider, Google, has implemented ONP, the notification address is set equal to the email address.
  2. A test notification(could be packaged as a welcome notification) is sent to the notification address, by Medium. The notification has a button that allows Anjali to confirm that she has seen the test notification. If the notification address works well, then Anjali should see this on her Google notifications app/web app etc.
    1. Why this test notification?
      1. To educate Anjali about the new concept of dedicated notification channel
      2. To ensure that the email provider has indeed implemented ONP and notifications can be positively delivered
  3. If the notification was successfully received, then Anjali sees the the notification and clicks the confirmation button.
  4. Medium on boarding flow continues. Medium sends off platform notifications to Anjali via Google notifications, instead of email. These off platform notifications will work in tandem with Medium on platform notifications(in app, website) to prevent duplicate notifications for Anjali.

Anjali selects Enter notification address

  1. Anjali has to input her notification address.
  2. If she has already registered with a notification service provider (notification receiving part of ONP), then she should have her notification address set up. She can input that.
  3. A test notification and OTP flow like above has to be completed.
  4. If not, then she has to create a notification address, by registering with a notification service provider of her choice and complete the process.



Architecture [WIP]

  • User identification with notification address
  • If email provider has implemented ONP, set notification address = email address for best user experience.

Notification publishers

To create or update notifications, notification publishers call the receiver's domain at https://onp.receiver-domain.com. Domain will be deduced from the notification address of the receiver(user).

Field Description Default value assumed Cached? Can be updated
Notification UUID Unique identifier for the notification - No No
Sender notification address of the sender - - No
Receiver notification address of the receiver - No
Read status To signify the read/unread status of the notification unread - Yes
Update type create when the notification is created for the first time,
update when the notification has to be updated,
delete when the notification has to be deleted		 create - Yes
Title Notification title - - Yes
Message Notification message - - Yes
Small icon URI URI or filename of image for small icon (status bar), monochrome cached value, if present Yes Yes
Large icon URI URI or filename of image for large icon, may not show if a picture is used, default is none cached value, if present Yes Yes
Accent color Accent colour for the notification, system may adjust, default is system default system default Yes Yes
Picture URI URI or filename of image for "big picture style" notification, may hide large icon, default is none none Yes Yes
Person URI Contact, mailto:, tel: or name: URI of person relevant to this notification. - No Yes
Confidential Whether to only show the notification on secure screens no - Yes
Category Notification category - - Yes
Created at Unix timestamp when the notification was created - - No
Updated at Unix timestamp when the notification was last updated - - Yes
Importance To determine the priority with respect to other notifications user receives Low - Yes
Action buttons Array of action buttons. Each button is primary, secondary or tertiary. Buttons must have default URI and optionally platform specific URIs. A click on any action button should trigger a read feedback to the subscriber. Low - Yes

Notification receiver

Notification receivers can provide feedback to the publisher about a notification, based on user actions, by calling the publisher's domain at https://onp.publisher-domain.com. Domain will be deduced from the notification address of the sender(publisher).

Field Description
Notification UUID Unique identifier for the notification
Read status To signify the read/unread status of the notification
Action button clicked Details of the action button clicked

Based on the feedback, if the notification needs to updated, the subscriber can respond with updated notification parameters.

Peripheral APIs

ONP support check API

User notification address check API