italia / italia/publiccode-editor

Potential UX issues with always-visible YAML panel vs generate-on-demand

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#451 2 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
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TypeScript
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Description

We had previously removed the live side panel and replaced it with a modal that shows up only after clicking "Generate". In this current UX the side panel is back.

Just leaving this here in case it helps clarify the reasoning behind a previous decision.

The idea was to improve UX, based on a few things we had observed:

* During first-time form filling, the side panel takes up a lot of space but isn't useful until the very end. It ends up occupying half the screen with something empty or irrelevant.
* More critically, the panel creates uncertainty: after loading or validating a file and then editing, it's not clear whether the YAML is still in sync. If the user forgets to click "Generate" again, or if there are errors in the form, the YAML can be outdated, and there’s no clear indication of that. The side panel doesn't do a live refresh

The modal only approach avoided both problems: it kept the UI clean during editing, and made sure the YAML shown was always generated on purpose and known to be current.

Maybe worth reconsidering?

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