Improve the location of review apps in an MR so they are more noticeable

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Release notes

Problem to solve

Based on the JTBD validation research completed in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ux-research/-/issues/1557, we were able to obtain additional feedback around the usability testing category as a whole, including review apps and visual review tools.

A common learning that came out of the sessions was that the review apps are inconsistent in when they will appear in a given MR and where.

After further research and related issues (related issues widget below), we found that users cannot always find the MR widget because it is not obvious enough. In order to figure out the reasons attributing to this, we investigated further in https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ux-research/-/issues/1884+. We found that review apps are not located in the ideal spot for developer workflows when reviewing MRs. Other insights can be found in the research issue.

Intended users

• Presley (Product Designer)
• Sasha (Software Developer)

User experience goal

The user should be able to easily view a review app when reviewing an MR.

JTBD

When I review a user interface change before it goes live, I want to test various flows of where the change appears, so I can evaluate how it performs in different circumstances.

User story

As a review app user, I want to view the changes in a review app, so I can quickly evaluate the impact and accuracy of the change.

Proposal

• Add a Open in review app item to the Code menu in the MR header only if the project has a review app enabled.
• Add tracking to the menu item 👆
• Open in review app should be disabled in the menu when:
  • The review app is deploying
  • The review app needs to be manually deployed
• Update View app button on the MR widget to be View review app.

👉 Designs in design management

✨ Figma design specs

Further details

Permissions and Security

Documentation

Availability & Testing

Available Tier

Feature Usage Metrics

What does success look like, and how can we measure that?

We should see more review apps used to review MRs. We can measure this by tracking the number of clicks this menu item gets overtime. We'd compare the previous number of clicks (just from review app widget) to the new combined number of the review app widget and this menu item.

What is the type of buyer?

Is this a cross-stage feature?

Yes, with groupcode review

Links / references

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