The new DoneDone: the project landing page

The new DoneDone release is right around the corner on October 1st. Between now and then, we'll be sharing some newness here starting with what we call the big three: the dashboard, the project landing page, and the issue detail.

Out with the old

In the old DoneDone, the project landing page is the first screen in the app where the user gets to manipulate data. They can sort their issues by assignment (you vs. them), perform a custom search, click through to administrative pages, and so on. It's an important page, and is a gateway to a lot of functionality in DoneDone. You can tell how busy things are just by looking at it, right?

A look at the current project landing pageThe current custom search component also serves a broad purpose, but suffers from some usability issues. It's too difficult to tell what your search results might be based on the selections you made, and erroneous 'saved searches' couldn't be deleted.

The half-empty-half-full custom search panel

In with the new

In the DoneDone, we took a long, hard look at making the project landing page simple and legible. We want the user to be in charge, not the UI.

Less UI, more legibilityWe created the right-hand column to house all secondary features of a project, such as search, project settings, adding an issue, etc. We improved readability by removing graphical noise. Now, the eyes focus on the content, it's priority, and so on.The custom search component, you'll notice, has become much more integrated into the UI too.

Better messaging for issue listing

The new custom search component

Bulk Edit

It's an ugly name for a beautiful, long-anticipated feature, but alas, you can now select multiple issues and apply a single action to them. Move issues between projects? Reassign 23 critical issues to the guy in your office who left early yesterday to watch football? Let your client know that the world isn't ending by changing the priority of 18 issues from critical to normal? Yep. All in one, swift, action. This feature needs a better name, admittedly, so if you have any ideas, please share.

Bulk edit multiple issues at once

Once you've selected some issues, move 'em or change 'em

Wrap up

A well-designed project landing page will support users by getting them to issues which need their attention the most. With the focus on content and legibility, secondary features play a subdued role, putting the user in control of the UI, not the other way around. Hopefully that means better productivity.