Undo commit functionality can be hard to find

[outofambit]

Please describe the problem you think should be solved

Users can miss that there is a way to undo their last (unpushed) commit, which lead them to use the Edit -> Undo menu item, which doesn't undo their last commit.

Example Issues:

• Undo doesn't undo #5716
• Edit->Undo does not work, only Undo quick button works #1541
• Map undo of commit to control-Z #7905

Current UI:

[Optional] Do you have any potential solutions in mind?

A couple potential directions:

• make Undo (commit) button more prominent in the "last commit" UI
• add Undo (commit) to the App Menu (perhaps under Repository?)

cc @desktop/design

[tierninho]

Maybe we can just change the button to say "Undo Commit" to clarify it is a separate and distinct action outside of the Edit > Undo? This is take up more real estate, however...

[andybak]

I think it's just as important to remove the default undo if it's behaviour can't be changed. Probably the main reason I didn't spot this was because I made the reasonable assumption that Ctrl+Z would do what I would normally expect.

[billygriffin]

The biggest question mark for me here is overriding or eliminating the system default as discussed here: #1392 (comment)

I think I lean toward the idea that the presence of "Edit > Undo" causes more confusion than benefit, but I'm not positive about that.

[ampinsk]

I agree that the area itself is easy to miss, and adding it to the file menu would either way help discoverability and help clarify the different Undos.

I'm also thinking maybe the root of this could have to do with the language "Undo". "Undo" is language that only we use for this behavior (if I remember correctly?) so would a potential solution be to refine the language to clarify what that action really means? Either something simple like "Undo Commit" as @tierninho suggested, or something new.

The biggest question mark for me here is overriding or eliminating the system default as discussed here: #1392 (comment)

I agree with this 👍

[billygriffin]

@ampinsk I'm understanding your last comment to say:

1. You think we should leave the "Edit > Undo" as is as opposed to disabling system-level behavior.

2. You think we should add a new "Undo commit" to the file menu.

In which menu?

3. We should make the regular in-app experience more obvious by updating the language.

Question: Is there enough screen real estate for "Undo commit"?

Did I get that correct on what you're suggesting?

[ampinsk]

You think we should leave the "Edit > Undo" as is as opposed to disabling system-level behavior.

Yep!

You think we should add a new "Undo commit" to the file menu.

Now that I'm looking at the file menu more closely it doesn't look like we have other commit actions available, and I'm not so sure. I think having both in the file menu would help clear things up, but it's not the only way to clear things up.

Or this could maybe mean we should add commit actions to the file menu...? That's a bigger conversation though. 😬

We should make the regular in-app experience more obvious by updating the language.

I'm not sure this would be the solution, but it's something to explore. We could also play with the design of the button/undo commit area to make it stand out more, but I don't think that solves all of the confusion.

Question: Is there enough screen real estate for "Undo commit"?

Probably not in the current design, but it's possible if we change the design in some way 🤷‍♀️

[StefKors]

I would like to suggest to add a slightly bigger overview of the commit history. This will help the user to create a visual history of their commits and thus making the "undo" button a more prominent part of the mental model.

Take for example the mini list view inside atom showing 3 commits instead of just 1:

[billygriffin]

@StefKors Thanks for the suggestion! Desktop uses a bit different model with commit history in that all of it lives in the "History" tab at present, so introducing an additional place where there's more than just the latest commit may cause confusion. If the primary purpose is to make the "Undo" more prominent, we may explore different ways of achieving that goal.

[Daniel-McCarthy]

Question: Is there enough screen real estate for "Undo commit"?

I have been peeking at this Issue and thought I would find this out.

Here is what it would look like, at least on Linux:

It is certainly more clear, though does leave less room for longer commit description names. Hope this helps!

[osianSmith]

I think for macOS it would also be good to put it in the system status bar under one of the settings! I spend a few minutes looking for the command there without looking at the bottom of the screen as that’s where I expected it to be (i ended up going to terminal as I couldn’t find it)