Pilot: Lightweight Internal UX/UI Evaluation and Action Workflow

[cmbz]

Overview

• In the past, the Dataverse development team has encountered blockers to implementing feature requests and improvements with UX/UI implications.
• The Community UX Working Group is a valuable source for input on UX/UI design and decisions. However, due to resource constraints, the group can't address all UX/UI needs.
• The workflow proposed below offers a solution for seeking UX Working Group input where possible while also moving development work forwards on a urgent basis when needed.

Approach

• The next time the Dataverse team encounters an issue needing UX/UI input, we will use that issue as input the test and evaluate this lightweight workflow.

Proposed Workflow

• Label the blocked issues
  • UX/UI Input Needed (if needed, create label in the relevant GitHub repo where the issue arose)
• Implement fix in JSF if:
  • Priority issue for an important stakeholder, example:
    • Feature is tied to a funded deliverable and the deadline is before the SPA will be delivered
  • There is an existing Community PR that provides the fix (and it is small enough)
  • There is a security issue (e.g., authentication via UI)
• Implement fix in SPA if:
  • Issue analysis indicates the pattern replicated in other places in the application
  • Consult/collaborate with UX Working Group if:
    • The internal Dataverse team feels the implications of the UX change will be significant, ex:
    • The pattern shows up in multiple places in the app
    • UX guidelines don't cover the issue
    • UX working group is already working on the same topic
  • Design and implement internally if:
    • The internal Dataverse team feels the implications of the UX change are small enough
    • The UX Working group doesn't have the capacity for a consultation in the time needed for a response
    • Priority issue for an important stakeholder
    • There is a security issue
• Track and monitor the process
  • Assess process performance and impact to ensure that we receive maximum benefit from Community input and UX research

Additional Tasks

• Consider how to amend the process to address new SPA features that require on-the-fly decisions regarding UX/UI, such as the infinite scrolling feature:
  • Support dynamic scrolling in addition to table view pagination dataverse-frontend#322
  • Feature/322 support infinite scrolling dataverse-frontend#342

Current Issues

• Feature Request/Idea: Review UI/UX for attempting to download inaccessible files dataverse#10537
• Linking Dataverse makes user scroll through list of all Dataverse collections in repository  dataverse#9092
• Typeahead widget on Link Dataset popup is slow and doesn't display all options as expected dataverse#6772

Resources

• Dataverse UX/UI Internal Process Meeting Notes (meeting where the workflow was developed)