[Internal]: New left-side solution navigation for 9.2

[alexmarhaba]

Description

We're introducing an updated left-navigation component in Kibana for 9.2.
User value:

• It makes secondary navigation persist, users can complete their Stack management workflows without re-clicking on the menu item
• It's modern
• It allows rapid access to menu items with on-hover interact
• It allows more room for applications (unless secondary nav is opened)
• It works in collapsed mode

Key differences:

• It's visually different from the existing solution navigation so we will need to update screenshots within Documentation.
• It brings one structural change to the IA where Data Management will have its own section in the footer.

Resources

PR
Another PR

Product review

Slack

Which documentation set does this change impact?

Elastic On-Prem and Cloud (all)

Feature differences

The visual design will be the same across all deployment methods.
The items in the menu hierarchy will be different across ECH and Serverless (it will mostly replicate the existing structure)

What release is this request related to?

9.2

Serverless release

Mid-October

Collaboration model

Tasks for docs teams (edited by @florent-leborgne) :

• Check the doc sets you own for possible updates to make. Main updates to look out for are
  • Ingest and Data management pages in "Stack Management" are moving to a new "Data management" menu, just next to Stack management. In our docs, pay attention to occurrences of "Data Management", "Data management", and "{{stack-manage-app}}" most particularly.
  • Screenshots shouldn't show the navigation unless they are about navigating and actually bring some added value
• Follow the guidance in sub-issues

Point of contact.

Main contact: @alexmarhaba

Stakeholders:

[florent-leborgne]

@elastic/admin-docs @elastic/ingest-docs @elastic/developer-docs @elastic/experience-docs

Tagging you all for visibility of this item in particular:

It brings one structural change to the IA where Data Management will have its own section in the footer.

Some pages will move out of Stack Management and be instead placed in a new Data Management menu.

I'll take a closer look at the upcoming changes when I'm back, but I expect some impacts in multiple places.

[florent-leborgne]

We need to come up with guidance for writers to make these changes as consistent as possible between doc sets.

Screenshot guidance

• General guidelines https://stunning-adventure-qrvr1k2.pages.github.io/style-guide/ui-writing/#screenshots
• Specific for this issue:
  • Show the latest only, no need to version/applies_to screenshots showing the nav.
  • Update screenshots with the following priorities in all doc sets:
    1. For 9.2: Refresh screenshots in getting started docs and docs around how to navigate in Kibana (when they exist)
    2. If time, after 9.2 is fine if other priorities: Any other screenshot shouldn't show the navigation. Either remove the screenshot, or edit/retake it to only show the feature / area of focus

Versioning guidance for pre&post 9.2 navs

It's important to stay correct regardless of the version that users are on. In this case, pages aren't changing name, but are moving to a different parent menu:

• Main features accessible in the navigation menu are still going to remain the same, so no update to plan there. Still, each solution handled their nav changes, so a quick double check might be necessary.
• Some management features (ingest and data management) are moving away from Stack management and moving into a new Data management menu in 9.2 and serverless.

We must avoid adding too many versioning notes, especially in what is generally the 1st step of a procedure. For that reason, we'll simplify menu cascades to omit the "Stack management" part, still mention that the page is a "management" page to hint on the fact that the page is found in the settings/management part of the UI, and advise users to find the page using the global search field if needed.

Example:

1. Go to Stack Management > Index Lifecycle Policies, and select Create policy.

should become

1. Go to the **Index Lifecycles Policies** management page using the navigation menu or the [global search field](/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects.md).
2. Select **Create policy**.

Where the note is a single snippet that we can include wherever needed.

[florent-leborgne]

cc @colleenmcginnis @shainaraskas what do you think of the above as main guidance for this issue

[leemthompo]

Have we considered removing navs from screenshots as a rule? That might simplify the guidance.

We already have multiple levels of nav inconsistencies across deployment types and versions, so one way or another, a decent chunk of our users will continue to see navs in screenshots that don't mirror their UI experience.

Personally, I think the formula we introduced that emphasizes the (criminally underused) global search bar 🔎 is a cleaner, faster experience for the user and infinitely more maintainable for writers. This should obviate the need for screenshots containing navs:

To go to FOO, find FOO in the navigation menu or use the global search bar.

[florent-leborgne]

@leemthompo That's pretty much what the guidance proposed above says

[leemthompo]

Haha OK sorry, maybe it wasn't explicit enough for my simple brain

Example:

Go to Stack Management > Index Lifecycle Policies, and select Create policy.
should become

Go to Data management > Index Lifecycle Policies, and select Create policy.
:::{note}
In versions 9.1 and earlier, you can find this feature in the Stack Management menu.
:::

I worry about clutter here, and the clutter is only increasing in the cumulative docs era.

Maybe I'd double down to not screenshotting navs and not hardcoding breadcrumbs in the docs instructions at all and just say find it in the nav and if you can't find it in the nav, use the global search bar 😄.

Sorry for the noise, I'll be quiet now :homer_disappearing: