Design: Changes to organization navigation

Proposal

In #417778 (closed) we made an initial proposal to introduce navigation elements for the Organization entity.

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This proposal was approved and has been used in the Organization prototype, and after some initial testing we would like to suggest some changes:

  • The instance logo in the top left corner should be repurposed to display the Organization avatar instead.
    • The instance logo leads to the Organization front page.
  • The current Organization navigation element will merge into the Organization avatar so that:
    • Users that are only part of one Organization will not see an option to switch Organizations (Cells 1.0). They will only see the Organization avatar.
    • Users that are part of multiple Organization will see an option to switch Organizations (Cells 1.5). They will see the Organization avatar of the Organization they have currently selected.

This change would allow us to slowly roll out the Organization frontend without being too disruptive to existing users. It would also allow us to have the Admin Area and the Organization coexist during a transitionary period.

Design changes

Settings changes

Remove the Navigation bar setting from the admin (Multi organization instance) Add a section to manage the organization avatar to admin > settings > appearance (Single organization instance) Add a section to manage the organization avatar to admin > settings > appearance Organization avatar can also be managed from the organization settings
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Avatar click goes to user selected Homepage

Organization avatar displayed in the nav bar Organization added to the global search pallet Homepage setting
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Important context

  • Organizations are isolated from each other by default meaning content available will be scoped to a single organization at a time. This includes issue counts, merge requests, todo's, and available groups/projects.
  • User exists across organizations and can be a "user" in one or many organizations
  • Additional details available https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/architecture/blueprints/organization/

Business drivers

https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/architecture/blueprints/organization/#motivation\\ The Organization focuses on creating a better experience for Organizations to manage their GitLab experience. By introducing Organizations and Cells we can improve the reliability, performance and availability of our SaaS Platforms.

Supporting research/data

Other locations that were considered

Checklist

  • Review the handbook page for navigation.
  • Add relevant information to the issue description detailing your proposal, including usage and business drivers.
  • List at least two other places you considered to introduce your feature.
  • Add relevant designs to the Design Management area of the issue.
  • Ensure your UI suggestion align with the Documentation Style Guide.
  • Engage Technical Writing. They can help craft a term that best describes the feature(s) you’re proposing.
  • Follow the product development workflow validation process to ensure you are solving a well understood problem and that the proposed change is understandable and non-disruptive to users. Navigation-specific research is mandatory for additions or when restructuring.
  • Engage the Foundations Product Manager for approval. The Foundations DRI (@jtucker_gl) will work with UX partners in product design, research, and technical writing, as applicable.
  • Consider whether you need to communicate the change somehow, or if you will have an interim period in the UI where your item will live in more than one place.
  • Ensure engineers are familiar with the implementation steps for navigation.
Edited by Jeff Tucker