Signatories Refresh / Card Flip Analysis

Created: February 10, 2026 Status: On hold — Eric wants to think on this before responding to client

Client's Proposal

The client suggested changes to how featured signers display on the Break Ground page:

1. Two-tier featured system: - "Top featured" (order < 10) — always show first - "Featured" (order >= 10) — secondary tier - Show 8 top featured + 8 featured + 104 normal per load

2. Auto-refresh every 20-30 seconds — new random signers rotate in without page reload

3. Card flip animation — cards flip to reveal new signers periodically

Current Algorithm

File: inc/post-types/pledge-signers.php:1083-1238

1. Featured signers first (sorted by _pledge_featured_order ASC)
2. Non-featured split into Solano County vs other
3. Both pools shuffled with daily seed (date('Ymd')) — same shuffle all day
4. Weighted merge: 65% Solano, 35% other
5. Paginated at 120 per load
6. AJAX "Load More" for additional pages

Concerns

Performance

• The current query already runs a full WP_Query on all approved signers, splits them into pools, shuffles, and merges. Running this every 20-30 seconds per visitor would be a significant load increase.
• Flywheel shared hosting has resource limits — periodic AJAX polling from every visitor adds up fast.
• The daily seed means the shuffle produces the same result all day. Auto-refresh every 30 seconds would show the same cards unless we change the randomization approach, which defeats the "daily consistency" design choice.

UX

• Card flip animations feel gimmicky for a civic pledge page. The tone is serious — people are signing a political petition, not browsing a novelty feed.
• Auto-refreshing content while someone is reading/scrolling can be disorienting, especially on mobile.
• The current system already shuffles daily, so repeat visitors see different signers each day.

Complexity vs. Value

• Two-tier featured adds admin complexity for marginal user benefit. The current single featured tier with numeric ordering already handles prioritization.
• The 8/8/104 split is arbitrary — what problem does it solve that the current "featured first, then weighted random" doesn't?

Alternative Suggestions

If the goal is to make the signers section feel more dynamic:

1. Diversity banner with live stats — "Supporters from 42 cities across 12 states" using actual data from the signers. More impressive than animated cards.

2. Better curation of existing featured slots — Review who's currently featured and ensure the most compelling/recognizable names are in the top slots. This is a content task, not a dev task.

3. Category filters — Let visitors filter by "Solano County residents," "Organizations," "Out of state" etc. Interactive without being gimmicky.

4. Reduce refresh to page-load only — Instead of auto-refresh, just ensure each page load shows a fresh set (already happening with daily seed). Could increase seed frequency to hourly if more variety is desired.

Eric's Take

Eric doesn't think this is a good idea. Wants to think about it before responding to the client. The performance concerns on Flywheel hosting are real, and the card flip animation doesn't match the site's tone.