932992 - If tags are the only thing in the right sidebar, move them elsewhere

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 914682

(developer.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Design, defect)

Description

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

Attachment: Example screenshot

Frequently we have pages that have no content in the right sidebar except tags (this most commonly happens on landing pages). This can leave the user with cramped article body content and a huge expanse of empty space next to it.

In this situation, we should move the tags elsewhere, such as above the content (or, more likely, below it). The tags are not as important on these landing pages as they are elsewhere on the site, so having them less visible isn't a problem.

Attached is a screenshot showing what I mean.

Comment 1

[Jean-Yves Perrier [:teoli]]

I'm not happy with this one, either. I know it is not an easy one to solve.

Maybe we should start a thread on dev-mdc to specifically launch discussion about it.

habber, sheppy: what do you think about launching a more thorough discussion (and more asynchronous than IRC discussion)?

Comment 2

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

(In reply to Jean-Yves Perrier [:teoli] from comment #1)
> I'm not happy with this one, either. I know it is not an easy one to solve.
> 
> Maybe we should start a thread on dev-mdc to specifically launch discussion
> about it.
> 
> habber, sheppy: what do you think about launching a more thorough discussion
> (and more asynchronous than IRC discussion)?

That works for me.

Comment 3

[Holly Habstritt Gaal [:Habber]]

Hey there guys, I know this is a very important for Landing Pages. Would we be able to table this until we get through the list of things that aren't designed yet or are blockers so that we can focus all of our attention on it and address all concerns? This template needs to account for a lot of logic given that not all articles have each of the elements displayed at all times. It also needs to work well on mobile. We've come to a good spot for this page for the launch and should get through tasks that aren't done yet and are blockers before we prioritize this. We still might have time to address it before the launch, but should get through blockers first.

Comment 4

[David Walsh :davidwalsh]

This shouldn't be a launch blocker.  Should we add a "Contributors" link and icon to the sidebar?  Can we add anything else over there?  I like the right sidebar and moving tags for just this case would be yet another layout change.

What about just moving tags down to the bottom permanently?

Comment 5

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

I personally favor moving tags down to the bottom permanently, at least temporarily until we decide how to keep that right sidebar from being crazy if tags are all that appear there.

Comment 6

[Holly Habstritt Gaal [:Habber]]

If we move tags, can we do this for landing pages only, where tags are the only element that have the possibility of displaying int he 3rd column?

If we do this for all article pages, then we will get the same argument about attachments, then about the TOC and before we know it we'll just have a 2 column page that doesn't use the TOC in as convenient of a way as the 3 column layout. 

Concerns about just moving them to the bottom are that users may actually like to see an overview of tags because it tells them what is contained in the page. We are then introducing a 3rd placement for tags to be displayed, which if we only do this for the Landing Pages, it shouldn't be a problem. 

I'd like to think through it further if this is still considered an issue for other Article (non-Landing) pages, but for Landing Pages only, it makes sense to move them to allow for more valuable use of the 3rd column.

Comment 7

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

(In reply to Holly Habstritt [:Habber] from comment #6)
> If we move tags, can we do this for landing pages only, where tags are the
> only element that have the possibility of displaying int he 3rd column?

I would be okay with this, except...

> I'd like to think through it further if this is still considered an issue
> for other Article (non-Landing) pages, but for Landing Pages only, it makes
> sense to move them to allow for more valuable use of the 3rd column.

This does happen on non-landing pages. Not often, but occasionally. Now and then you have regular articles that are short and have no headings in them, or are made up almost entirely of sample code and for that reason don't have headings. The latter, in particular, would really benefit from not having the right column.

Comment 8

[ali spivak]

Decision made to move to the bottom on all pages.

Comment 9

[Holly Habstritt Gaal [:Habber]]

To clarify, this will only happen when tags are showing up by themselves only, correct? (as the bug title states)

Comment 10

[David Walsh :davidwalsh]

Tags will always display at the bottom, is the solution we decided on.

Comment 12

[Holly Habstritt Gaal [:Habber]]

(In reply to David Walsh :davidwalsh from comment #10)
> Tags will always display at the bottom, is the solution we decided on.

If this is the case for all articles, and not just for Landing Pages, then we need to do this for Attachments as well, correct? Users will ask why Attachments are hanging out by themselves in the 3rd column when there is no TOC on article pages. 

If we move attachments to the bottom as well, then I would want to keep some indication higher up in the article template that attachments exist for the article. See the can of worms this change opens up if we do it for all article pages?

Easy solution, but not the friendly one for users, is to just put Articles and Tags at the bottom for all pages with no indication at the top of the article that they exist. We could do this now, but need to address this placement again after launch.

Comment 13

[Holly Habstritt Gaal [:Habber]]

If tags are now always at the bottom, what will we do if attachments are the only thing that appear in the right column?

Comment 14

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

(In reply to Holly Habstritt [:Habber] from comment #13)
> If tags are now always at the bottom, what will we do if attachments are the
> only thing that appear in the right column?

Attachments are always at the bottom now too.

Obviously, this is going to be revisited later; this is just a tweak to get things more usable for launch, so we can take time to sort things out better later.

Comment 15

[Holly Habstritt Gaal [:Habber]]

Ok, makes sense to me. I didn't see any mention of attachment placement anywhere in the bug, so I was curious. Thanks!