Keep the Keep sidebar visible and Hide sidebar buttons in the same place
Everyone can contribute. Help move this issue forward while earning points, leveling up and collecting rewards.
Release notes
When the option to use the previous navigation was taken away, and I was forced to use the new navigation, I was left with nothing but breadcrumb navigation at the top of the page (took way too long to figure out that it was because my browser windows tend to be just narrower than the cutoff to always show the persistent sidebar); and there is zero indication that there's a hotspot along the left edge of the page to open the sidebar.
The next thing I noticed was the icon for 'Keep sidebar visible'; but, since it was just the icon, and it's located at the very top-left of the page, and the auto-hide nature of the sidebar wasn't (and still isn't) obvious, I assumed it functioned like a hamburger menu, to toggle the sidebar open and closed.
Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work like one. When you click that button, the sidebar overlays the page content, including the breadcrumb navigation bar, where that button sits. If you instinctually click that button to close the sidebar, thinking that it functions like a hamburger menu, and you don't miss that the corresponding toggle to close the sidebar is now 4 icon-widths to the right, your cursor won't be over the Hide sidebar button, it'll be over the instance logo, which will navigate you away to the instance's home page.
Problem to solve
Keep sidebar open button is located/positioned like a hamburger menu button, but the sidebar doesn't act like one.
Proposal
I think a relatively simple solution would be:
- Don't have the persistent sidebar take up the full height of the page; have it open just below the breadcrumb bar, just like it does when you open it by hovering; and
- Remove the Hide sidebar button from the sidebar and have the Keep sidebar open button act as an open/hide toggle.
Intended users
- Anyone who cannot or does not like to use mouse acrobatics to open the sidebar; and/or
- Anyone whose browser windows are typically sized somewhere between mobile and the current, what, 900px[?] threshold for the persistent sidebar.
Does this feature require an audit event?
No.