Experimental support of dashboard details list view

[ilabutin]

Fixes #8561

Proposed changes

• Dashboard uses details view instead of Large Icons view

Screenshots

Before

After

Test methodology

Test environment(s)

• GIT
• Windows

Merge strategy

I agree that the maintainer squash merge this PR (if the commit message is clear).

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✒️ I contribute this code under The Developer Certificate of Origin.

[pmiossec]

Because I'm the kind of person that find painful to search something in a grid, I like your proposition (even if I don't use a lot the dashboard)

Even if I know that it is still in development, I have some remarks (that maybe you are already aware of but it's better to be sure...):

• you could remove the column "Category" because a repository could only have one category and it is already display in it's category section
• the 'branch' icon you use for each line should be replace by a better one. Maybe this one of 'repository'
  The branch name is in the 2nd column, so you could add the icon you already use to this column if you want.

Image illustrating this 3 points:

• I agree that an application setting could be put in the menu to keep the user preference but if you find 2 good icons for "grid" and "list" display, it could be great to have it displayed in the top right of the form:

[gerhardol]

I also prefer lists. Do we need to support both views?

[RussKie]

In general I am supporting of an idea updating and making the dashboard more usable. But if we're changing it I'd like us to make it usable across a wide spectrum of setups. Looking at the screenshot I think that allowing this mode would be an improvement in some scenarios but not others. E.g. how does it look on a 4K monitor? Also some of our users have reported to have 250+ repos in their dashboards, what would be the experience in such (extreme) cases?

I'd like to push you a little further an entertain an idea of having two listviews - one for recent items, and one for favourites. I showed a mock here: #8561 (comment). This way I think we can increase the usability without taking anything away.

[ilabutin]

I'm happy to work on this PR to make the dashboard as useful as we can make it.
Let me reiterate all the -requirements- wishes to ensure I correctly understand them:

• make two list views
  • "recent repositories" view is shown on the left
  • "full list of repositories" view is shown on the right
  • @RussKie Does it also apply to the current way of displaying repositories (the grid view with large icons)?
  • How to distribute the space? I assume that it is better to autosize the width of the "recent" list and then use the rest of the space to the right for the "full list of repositories". Do you agree?
• Use proper icon for the repository (in the list view)
• [optional] Use branch icon next to the branch name (in the list view)
• Remove "category" column from the list view
• Find good icons for list/grid switch and place them in the header space.

[RussKie]

Below are personal thoughts and views (thank you for asking). Others may have there own views and wishes.

• make two list views

  • "recent repositories" view is shown on the left

Yes.
(Stretch goal) I'd think it could valuable to add grouping by date, e.g. "Today", "This week", "Older".
Similar to how VS has it:

• "full list of repositories" view is shown on the right

Yes

• @RussKie Does it also apply to the current way of displaying repositories (the grid view with large icons)?

I think the layout should apply to all views. This will make it easier to implement and maintain in my view.

• How to distribute the space? I assume that it is better to autosize the width of the "recent" list and then use the rest of the space to the right for the "full list of repositories". Do you agree?

Sizing is difficult to determine up front, as there are a number of scenarios and possibilities to address those. E.g., here's a telemetry data from 4K users in the last 90 days:

The majority of our users work on 1920x1080 monitors (they may have other monitors too). So we must optimise the dashboard to look good on this resolution. We also should strive to make it usable at 1366x768. And on 4K as well, though this is the opposite problem - the dashboard shouldn't have too much of empty or "wasted" space.
And we can't assume that users always use the app maximised to the full screen, e.g.: I never do even if I work on a laptop with a 1920x1080 screen.

I think we may need to experiment, but have some sort of semi-fluid sizing, e.g. (the numbers are arbitrary):

1. The recents listview would take no more than 30% but no less than 500px.
2. If a path is long and requires more horizontal space than is available the listview should show scrollbars.
3. We also need to handle situations where the available size is too small to render. E.g. like this:
   

In the tiles view the recents listview should contain a single column, whilst the favourites listview can contain multiple columns (to make use of the available space).
In the detailed view both listview to contain two colimns - path and branch.

I've noticed that in your screenshots you have short paths, which isn't necessary what others use or prefer. So we'll need to cater for everyone. E.g. here's my dashboard (on my personal computer):

• Use proper icon for the repository (in the list view)

Yes

• [optional] Use branch icon next to the branch name (in the list view)

Yes

• Remove "category" column from the list view

Yes, in the detailed view. Use ListViewGroup functionality instead.

• Find good icons for list/grid switch and place them in the header space.

Yes. We use icons from http://p.yusukekamiyamane.com/, I'm sure you can find good icons for this.