Skip to content

Improve commit flow from unstaged to staged to commit

The flow from edit to commit has been improved as of 10.8, but once you reach the commit interface it isn't clear what to do next.

Problems trying to stage changes:

  • the stage file button is only shown on hover and very small
  • the discard changes button is small and right next to the stage changes button - it is too easy to mis-click and lose changes
  • the stage all button is only shown on roll-over
Normal Stage all Discard file
20180604_screenshot_1 20180604_screenshot_3 20180604_screenshot_2

Problems reviewing staged/unstaged changes in the commit interface:

  • the tab at the top only shows the filename (e.g. unhelpful when you're reviewing changes to view/merge_request.js and model/merge_request.js)
  • no active style in file list to see which file is open

Problems trying to commit changes:

  • tip in commit message makes it easy to forget to write a commit message
  • disable commit button doesn't help me make progress
  • incorrect tooltip about unstaged changes if you stage changes, then make more changes, and then stage the new changes. All changes are staged but the tooltip is still shown.
Normal Branch name Wrong feedback
20180604_screenshot_4 20180604_screenshot_5 20180604_screenshot_7

Proposal

Design

  • Stages/unstaged counts, get an icon button to go along with it similar to issue board lists. (Tooltips: Stage all changes and Unstage all changes)
  • The actions to stage/unstage dissappear if there are no changes to batch stage/unstage
  • Actions on files are visible by default
  • Delete changes button, gets changed to the more icon and creates a little dropdown with the option to delete the changes`
  • On hover of the files in commit mode, it should show the project file path in a tooltip

Artboard

Only unstaged changes:

Artboard

Only staged changes:

Artboard_2

Edited by Dimitrie Hoekstra