Add context switcher items to global search modal default view

Background

During our dogfooding and initial release, several people expressed confusion around switching contexts between dissimilar objects (profile → project).

Problem to solve

Provide clearer affordance for switching contexts in GitLab to reduce navigation effort and discovery time.

Proposal

Merge the context switcher into the global search modal. This has several benefits:

• Reduces the number of options to check
• Creates a unified launching point
• Increases affordance for search
• Prevents needing to open the navigation sidebar to go somewhere

Project page	Merged content in modal

Implementation

• Move context switcher items into the global search / command palette modal
  • Switch context
    • Your work
    • Explore
    • Admin Area
  • Frequently visited projects
  • Frequently visited
  • Filters (All GitLab / {Group or Project Name}

Note: Other iterations are listed in these issues:

• Replace the tertiary 🔎 button in the navigatio... (#415809 - closed)
• Replace the context switcher toggle with contex... (#415811 - closed)
• Tidy up the context switcher changes (#415812 - closed)

Open Figma →

Supporting research

An A/B test using the RITE methodology was conducted with 18 participants in total (9 for each). Read more of the report in Dovetail. Subsequent 8 additional sessions were ran testing visual differences and included testing a path to the Admin Area with similar results.