Reduce WebIDE Upload file icon user confusion
Problem to solve
When using the WebIDE to "Upload file", if the user has navigated to a specific folder via the tree browser, there is a potential for user confusion as to where the file will be uploaded. In many systems navigating to a folder would cause the upload to occur in that folder. Here using the icon at the top of the tree would result in a file being uploaded to the root level. This can be especially problematic if the list is sufficiently long that the resulting uploaded file is out of view. The upload for a specific folder under the dropdown may not be discoverable.
Further details
Insights from User Research https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ux-research/issues/220
Users did have a lot of trouble uploading files into a separate directory. The majority clicked on a the directory and then selected Upload file to upload it into the selected repository. Several interviewees also did not notice that the file did not go into the correct directory. When trying to repair that error, they all started off with dragging and dropping the file, before either doing a right click on the file, opening the file dropdown or deleting and reuploading it, before finally discovering the correct action in the folder dropdown.
Proposal
When a user clicks the new file button while a file inside of a folder is highlighted, prepopulate the path with the associated folder.
| Description | Screenshot |
|---|---|
| Folder is highlighted |  |
| Prepopulate the path |  |
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
User confusion is reduced when uploading files via the WebIDE