Iterate on new Admin Mode navigation location
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As a long-time user of GitLab, I find the recent relocation of the 'Enter/Leave Admin Mode' function from 'Search and go to' to the user dropdown confusing. I mentioned this in a comment on the other issue but was asked to transform this into a feature enhancement. #431434 (comment 1714721400)
I agree with the original issues that the location in 'Search and go to' was probably not the most intuitive for users, and hence understand the need for change. The user dropdown probably makes more sense.
However, to have 'Admin area' link remain in 'Search and go to', and now also to appear in the bottom of the sidebar, is confusing because it's been decoupled from the act of entering or leaving admin mode. Similarly, these links/buttons don't even appear if the user isn't in admin mode. This caused a cognitive problem for me. I finally found the function to enter admin mode in the user dropdown and was now looking for the link to admin area in the same menu. It wasn't there. My next thought was not to look back in 'Search and go to' because I already remembered not seeing it there previously.
There was also nothing to draw my eye down to the bottom of the sidebar. I didn't even notice the button until it was pointed out to me by a colleague.
As I mentioned in my comment, I understand and appreciate that sometimes when we improve the UX for newer users we disrupt existing users' muscle memory and sometimes that's just a necessary adjustment. But I think we can make some slight improvements here to improve the situation not only for existing users, but newer users, too.
Possible improvements
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Allow the 'Admin area' link in 'Search and go to' and the button in the bottom of the sidebar to remain visible at all times, regardless of admin mode state.
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If a user that has not entered admin mode clicks to enter the admin area, require re-authentication to enable admin mode, and redirect them to the admin area afterward. Reducing the number of steps for admins to get to the admin area will improve UX.