dist version dropdown went AWOL

[wchristian]

See: https://metacpan.org/release/PDL

I'm not sure what happened to it, but it seems you removed it in the past few days and i don't see a replacement. To be honest if it was moved, i'm less interested in an answer, and more interested in a change to make the new location more obvious to everyone, since i will not be the only one confused by this.

As a meta note: I see a lot of other stuff changed, which might be very cool! (Haven't looked in detail yet.) But if you do such drastic changes, please at least leave some cookied link to point people to an explanation for a while? Many people will be using metacpan on muscle memory by now and it's kinda cruel to just drop such a bomb.

[oalders]

[oalders]

It's subtle, but it's there. It was a big enough struggle just to get this update out, so we haven't blogged about UI changes etc yet.

[wchristian]

Ah, just moved then. :)

Short of, well, putting it back, a few suggestions on that:

• Blue arrow would make it clearer that it's clickable and easier to find visually.
• Since it's not used on the dist page anyhow, the entire dist name and version would be great as a click target for that, since trying to hit that small arrow is pretty fiddly.

[oalders]

I think we'd accept a patch for one or both of those.

[ribasushi]

Aesthetic aside... was there an actual reason to reduce usability this way? For instance imagine explaining to a client over the phone "click the dropdown" as opposed to "that little... arrow... thingy... yes... yes that's an arrow... yes it is actually cli... yes, thanks!".

The old design had plenty of real estate unoccupied, and the site did not look cluttered at all . What are we trying to achieve by saving pixels with indecipherable cryptic icons?

[monken]

• the left sidebar was overcrowded, we made room for additions there
• we got plenty of positive feedback about the location and aesthetics of the drop down (which is something very unusual in our community...)
• the symbol for the dropdown is UI standard, your browser uses something similar for select boxes
• the drop down stretches across the full length of the release name on the /release page
• tell your client on the phone to use bootstrap.metacpan.org which has still the old layout

[oalders]

So, it takes some getting used to and I've seen positive feedback for sure. I think one confusing thing about it is that the behaviour on the module page is different from the release page and that it does force you to click on the tiny symbol while on the module page. You do have to be much more exact in that case.

For me, I find myself on a module page more often than a release page, so I'm more likely to be trying to click on the triangle than on the release name. We could probably think about the UI a bit. To me it would make sense to leave this ticket open for another week or so to see what kind of feedback we can collect.

[ribasushi]

To make sure we are on the same page - the main problem for me (and likely others who view the web as a medium to deliver textual info as opposed to an art museum): The issue is that an icon without a label (as in actual english text) is confusing. Many UI elements seem to have went this direction (losing their descriptive actual english text property). The trend is diconcerting. The dropdown is just the last casualty.

[wchristian]

the left sidebar was overcrowded, we made room for additions there

That's fine, but the real question here is: Do you have any specific reasons why the version dropdown may not be there above the version diff dropdown?

we got plenty of positive feedback about the location and aesthetics of the drop down (which is something very unusual in our community...)

That's cool and i appreciate it is slick. I also honestly think it'd be good to have it in both places.

the symbol for the dropdown is UI standard, your browser uses something similar for select boxes

The universal symbol for that is an outlined box with a triangle and the same string shown as in the item selected in the dropdown when you open it. A single triangle doesn't make that cut.

the drop down stretches across the full length of the release name on the /release page

After having played with it more since i made the ticket, i have to say that i dislike two things:

• i need to move my mouse more from the center of the screen to get to the version dropdown, as it's now in the far corner and requires more vertical movement, instead of the left side
• on module pages the accuracy it now asks from me is very annoying and fiddly, maybe i'm getting too old

tell your client on the phone to use bootstrap.metacpan.org which has still the old layout

That is rather insensitive advice.

---

In summary: My personal optimum solution would be to have both.

[ribasushi]

@oalders Anything can be "got used to". What I see as problematic is - a user from outside the echo chamber comes to the site. Will hey be able to navigate on their own profficiently (that is - without guidance / previous know-how)? In the current instance I posit they would have no idea we do offer earlier versions of modules on the same page (with the last clue "diff with version" scrolled off on 1200x800).

[monken]

@oalders the ideal solution is to have the dropdown on the module name, since you want to go to a different version of the module and not the release (past releases might not even have the module yet or in a different place causing a 404). So once we implement that, the dropdown will move to the module name and we make it more obvious (i.e. look more like an actual drop down box).

[oalders]

@ribasushi You're right -- the cue is very subtle. I'm not sure that I would have found it if I hadn't been looking for it. Visually, there's maybe something more we can do here.

@monken That sounds like a good idea. Making it look more like a dropdown would be very helpful.