discussion: test matrix markdown appearance

[ckerr]

When the probot client is waiting on a test matrix and gets new information from the broker, it should update its comment with an updated matrix.

This is a smaller piece of the test matrix feature but it smells like a feature that might get some bikeshedding, so I thought I'd preemptively add an issue for it. 🙂

In previous discussions, we agreed that plaintext tables would be both duller and harder to read than something styled, e.g. background colors in table cells. Unfortunately It's not possible to add html style in GitHub issue comments and there are limited options for adding visual cues. One option is to use emojis. Here are some mockups of possible versions:

Mockup 1

	macOS 11	Ubuntu 21.04	Windows 10
Electron 8	✔️ Passed	✔️ Passed	💥 Runner Error
Electron 9	✔️ Passed	✔️ Passed	💥 Runner Error
Electron 10.0.0	✔️ Passed	✔️ Passed	💥 Runner Error
Electron 10.x.y	❌ Failed	❌ Failed	💥 Runner Error
Electron 11.0.0	❌ Failed	❌ Failed	💥 Runner Error
Electron 11.x.y	❌ Failed	⏳ Waiting	💥 Runner Error
Electron 12.0.0	❌ Failed	❌ Failed	💥 Runner Error
Electron 12.x.y	❌ Failed	🐢 Timed Out	❌ Failed
Electron 13 Beta	❌ Failed	❌ Failed	💥 Runner Error

Thoughts: this is the one we worked on in the hackmd so I've listed it first, but after viewing it on GitHub... this feels very busy and also cartoonish. I don't think this one will age very well.

Mockup 2

	macOS 11	Ubuntu 21.04	Windows 10
Electron 8	✔️ Passed	✔️ Passed	🔸 Error
Electron 9	✔️ Passed	✔️ Passed	🔸 Error
Electron 10.0.0	✔️ Passed	✔️ Passed	🔸 Error
Electron 10.x.y	🔻 Failed	🔻 Failed	🔸 Error
Electron 11.0.0	🔻 Failed	🔻 Failed	🔸 Error
Electron 11.x.y	🔻 Failed	⚪ Waiting	🔸 Error
Electron 12.0.0	🔻 Failed	🔻 Failed	🔸 Error
Electron 12.x.y	🔻 Failed	🐢 Timed Out	🔻 Failed
Electron 13 Beta	🔻 Failed	🔻 Failed	🔸 Error

Thoughts: using abstract diamonds / circles is less intuitive but the single-color symbols are less "noisy" than a table full of more complex emoji graphics as in Mockup 1. I think this could be revised but the simple emojis are an improvement. Unfortunately there is a limited palette of them on GitHub.

Mockup 3

	macOS 11	Ubuntu 21.04	Windows 10
Electron 8	🟢 Passed	🟢 Passed	🟠 Error
Electron 9	🟢 Passed	🟢 Passed	🟠 Error
Electron 10.0.0	🟢 Passed	🟢 Passed	🟠 Error
Electron 10.x.y	🔴 Failed	🔴 Failed	🟠 Error
Electron 11.0.0	🔴 Failed	🔴 Failed	🟠 Error
Electron 11.x.y	🔴 Failed	🟡 Pending	🟠 Error
Electron 12.0.0	🔴 Failed	🔴 Failed	🟠 Error
Electron 12.x.y	🔴 Failed	🔵 Timeout	🔴 Failed
Electron 13 Beta	🔴 Failed	🔴 Failed	🟠 Error

This one feels like the winner to me, or at least the best one of these three. Simple, easy to read, and not noisy.

I knock a couple of points off it for being maybe too dull but what it lacks in flair now will be made up for by not driving us nuts the 100th time we read a bugbot table. Maybe the colors could be tweaked, but IMO this one is pretty close.

[ckerr]

right-justified just for fun

	macOS 11	Ubuntu 21.04	Windows 10
Electron 8	Passed 🟢	Passed 🟢	Error 🟠
Electron 9	Passed 🟢	Passed 🟢	Error 🟠
Electron 10.0.0	Passed 🟢	Passed 🟢	Error 🟠
Electron 10.x.y	Failed 🔴	Failed 🔴	Error 🟠
Electron 11.0.0	Failed 🔴	Failed 🔴	Error 🟠
Electron 11.x.y	Failed 🔴	Pending 🟡	Error 🟠
Electron 12.0.0	Failed 🔴	Failed 🔴	Error 🟠
Electron 12.x.y	Failed 🔴	Timeout 🔵	Failed 🔴
Electron 13 Beta	Failed 🔴	Failed 🔴	Error 🟠