gitpod-io / gitpod-io/gitpod

Consider differentiating external links from internal links in the dashboard

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#7,232 2 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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component: dashboard meta: never-stale needs visual design team: webapp type: feature request
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Problem to solve

By default, any (internal) links that keep the user within Gitpod open in the same page rather than in a new tab or window. Currently, the dashboard includes internal links but also external links to repositories, branches, etc and this can sometime become confusing as 🅰️ there's no clear differentiation of those links and the expected interaction as well as 🅱️ the design of those links can sometimes be inconsistently the same as internal links which could surprise users. 🎁

@AlexTugarev recently mentioned this during a deployment, see relevant discussion (internal).

Proposal

We could consider:

  1. Limiting the amount of external links as much as possible, or especially avoid using the same design with internal links
  2. Introducing an external links icon that can be shown at the end of the link text
  3. Consolidating the design of the links so that it's a bit more clear when a link is an external link across the product

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No files, tests, or dashboard entry points are named. Start by reviewing the dashboard's internal and external link usages and the proposal's three options; done means an agreed, consistent visual distinction and expected interaction for external links across the product.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
typescript
Domain
design, frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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