Nextcloud Workspace Design proposal

[Clementine46]

Workspace is based on the current Group Folders app on Nextcloud that manages workspace for joint work

Those workspaces are created by general managers. Simple users only have access to the files. General managers can assign Workspace managers to handle the workspaces.

In these mockups, the user is a general manager.

Workspace Homepage

The Workspace app's ergonomic design is pretty similar to the Deck app (when using the "All boards" option). There is a collapsible side menu on the left that lists all the workspaces and their number of users. The "all workspaces" option shows the same list on the main page with more information : the quota and the managers.

Creating a new Workspace

The creation button at the top of the side menu allows to quickly create a new workspace with a default unlimited quota.

Workspace

Once the manager clicks on a workspace, they get access to the list of members with their names and emails. The roles of each member is specified in the middle column, workspace managers are fixed to the top of the list. The right column indicates the workspace's groups that each member is a part of.

Workspace Settings

Workspace settings allow the manager to rename and delete the workspace, member settings allow to remove a member from the workspace or assign them as workspace manager.

Add members to a workspace

The + button on the top right corner allows the manager to add members or create a new group. The "add members" option opens a modal with a search bar for users. Once the users are selected, they can be assigned as workspace managers by checking the checkbox.

Create a group

Since a workspace can get crowded, there is a possibility of creating groups within it. The creating process is the same as creating a workspace.

Groups appear on the side menu on the left, below the workspace they're a part of.

Add members to a group

Adding members to a group is exactly the same as adding members to a workspace, apart from the fact that group members cannot be assigned as workspace managers.

We added blue stickers to differentiate workspace's members from generic nextcloud users. If the manager selects someone who isn't already a member of the workspace, a message will appear, warning that the user will automatically be added to the corresponding workspace.

Group Settings

The group settings are very similar to the workspace's, the only difference is that the manager cannot assign a group member as a workspace manager (they need to be assigned directly in the workspace).

@jancborchardt @juliushaertl What do you think ?

[jancborchardt]

Nice work @Clementine46! :) Some design feedback:

• The collapsibility of the "All workspaces" entry in the navigation is not really needed. We can just list the workspaces directly below it. For that we can use the AppNavigationCaption component: https://github.com/nextcloud/nextcloud-vue/issues/1751
• Do we need the overview list of groups? In Deck, this view is being phased out in favor of a more useful "Upcoming" as we specced. If you would like the overview, then a grid view would look much nicer than the list. Just like you did for the "Projects" mockup :)
• The "Add" action in the top right is not so visible, I’d recommend to make it primary and also give it the text label "Add"
• The quota selector is super present now. I’d put it into the 3-dot menu instead.
  • Then possibly move the "New" button incl 3-dot-menu where the quota selector was, so that the actions are super near the group name
• [642] is a nonstandard way of displaying info – I assume it refers to members? Would look nicer to just write 642 members, or possibly with a group icon next to it if the text is too long.
• For adding members to a group, we have a component which is e.g. being used in Talk:

[zak39]

Hi @jancborchardt :)

For your sixth point. What is the component you use for talk app ?

I find it very interesting !

We can search users only and not groups ?

What do you think @StCyr ? :)

[jancborchardt]

@zak39 actually found out it’s not a component yet but it’s being made into one. I would cc our component experts @skjnldsv @ma12-co on that but I see the repo is private at the moment. :)

[Clementine46]

Thank you @jancborchardt for all your feedback!

* The collapsibility of the "All workspaces" entry in the navigation is not really needed. We can just list the workspaces directly below it.

Sorry for the confusion, I meant that the left panel can be hidden, just how it is currently in the deck app. The "All workspaces" entry is not collapsible. However, the workspaces with groups in them will be collapsible in order to save space (you will only see the groups in the navigation once you click on a workspace)

* Do we need the overview list of groups? In Deck, this view is being phased out in favor of a more useful "Upcoming" as we specced. If you would like the overview, then a grid view would look much nicer than the list. Just like you did for the "Projects" mockup :)

Are you talking about the workspace overview (first screen) or the right column that lists the groups for each user (third screen) ?

I understand that the workspace overview is a bit repetitive with the left panel but we need a general overview since there's a bit more info to it (quota and managers). We believe it allows an easier navigation.

The reason why we keep it as a list is because workspaces and groups have quite a lot of information in them so we find the list more practical. Therefore we leave the overview as a list too for consistency.

* The "Add" action in the top right is not so visible, I’d recommend to make it primary and also give it the text label "Add"

I was trying to stay as consistent as possible with what already exists in Nexctloud and, for now, our client has positive feedback about it.

* The quota selector is super present now. I’d put it into the 3-dot menu instead.

I agree with this but it's actually our client's demand. We'll try suggesting it to them.

* `[642]` is a nonstandard way of displaying info – I assume it refers to members? Would look nicer to just write `642 members`, or possibly with a group icon next to it if the text is too long.

The number actually represents the workspace ID but I agree it's unclear so I was already planning on adding "ID" to it. The number of members is shown in the navigation (to the right of each workspace).

* For adding members to a group, we have a component which is e.g. being used in Talk

Thank you!

Thank you for all your feedback, we have already delivered this first version to our client but we will use all of this for our next version later on :)

[delacosta456]

hi thank you all for this ongoing issue and works being done on it.

I would like to suggest more options if they make sense because i am not an expert developer to say or not if this is more related to the GroupFolder app . (sorry for my English if it is not clear, i always speak french).

When i started configuring Workspace, after creating a workspace and added users to it, things started getting a little bit confuse to me because i was expecting to see those spaces like menu link on which a user will click and see all different files and folders related to that space he is member of

This make ask if the design can be something like:

1. A general manager create for example Space1 and Sapce2, etc. and add users and spaces-managers to each of them.

2. Each user, after clicking on "Files", shouldn't see there any workspace folder ( :confused: :question: WHAT !! is what you may be saying because even GroupFolders is not behaving this way and Workspace depend on it ...That's true, which is why i introduce with not knowing if i am at the right place to talk about this )

3. Continuing with my logic, there could be either:

• a top menu "My-Spaces" on which the user can click to see the list of workspace folders that was supposed to be present in Files and from there started working

• or (may be this time after clicking on Files ) on the Left Sidebar (where we always see All files, Recent, etc..) a Collapsible menu which if expanded list all spaces user is member of . And from there he can navigate to each space by click to see space folders and work inside

That is it . And as i said those suggestions are just if there a possible.

Thanks gin for the Nice Workspace App..

[delacosta456]

Regarding the way new added user's permission behaves by having all permission (Create, delete, upload, etc.) is possible to make/have being only"Read" by default ? because if you added user without using the SpaceGroupUsers method .. it's easy to forget to change permission

[dorianne-arawa]

Hi @delacosta456

Regarding your design proposals, I understand the need to separate the view of personal files from that of Workspaces and/or Group folders. Since Nextcloud 27, the ability to filter on Group folders and/or Workspaces has been added, in the left side panel. Does this answer your question?

In the Workspace team, we are not able to modify the Nextcloud Files section for information purposes. In addition, Workspace is a "management" application, like "settings", which is why no files or folders are displayed in the application. It's the equivalent of the group folder management interface.

We'd like to add the ability to have read-only rights by default (the ability to choose read-only, write, share and delete rights in workspace). It exists in group folders, but not yet in workspace. If, by default, workspaces are created with read-only rights, as the parameter doesn't exist in the workspace application, then even advanced permissions won't be able to restore write rights, and so on.