Introducing a new notification system in Galaxy

We are excited to introduce a new notification system for Galaxy that provides users with increased awareness about things happening in Galaxy. This system includes several features, such as notification scheduling, notification expiration, notification broadcasting, and structured notifications. Notifications can be created manually by administrator users or automatically by Galaxy, for example when a user shares a history or other shareable resources (like workflows) with another user. With notification scheduling, administrators can specify a publication time for notifications to be displayed to users on a future date. Notifications will also have a default expiration date and will be removed permanently from the database to avoid bloating. The notification broadcasting feature supports server-wide announcements displayed as banners or alerts for every user. The structured notifications feature allows for different notification categories and variants, making them flexible. Users can opt out of specific notification categories and decide on the channels for notification delivery, for example, a pop-up inside Galaxy, an email, etc. In addition, users can mark some notifications as favorites to prevent them from automatically expiring and have more filtering options. Users can also manually delete notifications without waiting for the expiration date. In summary, this new notification system enhances the overall Galaxy experience by giving users control and flexibility in managing their notifications. With the addition of automated notifications, users can stay informed about important events and activities in Galaxy, while Galaxy administrators can reach their users directly through the interface or provide information about current events in the instance. This feature-rich notification system ensures that users never miss out on important information and enables a more streamlined experience in Galaxy. Overall, this new notification system gives users more control and flexibility in managing their notifications and enhances their overall Galaxy experience. With the addition of automated notifications, users can stay informed about important events and activities in Galaxy. It also enables Galaxy administrators to reach their users directly through the Galaxy interface or provide information about current events in the Galaxy instance.