Enhance Link Lists: Icon-Only Mode For Better UX

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Enhance Link Lists: Icon-Only Mode for Better UX

Hey everyone! 👋 Today, we're diving into a cool feature that'll seriously level up how we handle link lists in our API reference. The core idea? Making link lists smarter by switching them to an icon-only mode when things get cramped for space. This means a better user experience, especially when dealing with those long lists of links. Let's dig in and see what's what!

The Why: Why Icon-Only Mode Rocks

So, why should we even bother with this icon-only mode? Well, think about those API reference pages packed with links. Sometimes, there are just too many links to fit comfortably on the screen, right? What happens? Horizontal scrolling, which is a total pain in the neck. No one likes scrolling sideways to find what they need. It's clunky, it's annoying, and it hides content. Our goal is to make things as smooth as possible, and that's where the icon-only mode comes in.

By automatically detecting when our link list is about to overflow and switching to icons only, we instantly gain more space. We can cram more links onto the screen without forcing users to scroll. Plus, it keeps everything visually clean and easy to scan. It's all about providing a seamless experience, and this feature goes a long way towards that.

Current Annoyance: The Horizontal Scroll Blues

Right now, things aren't always perfect. The link list components we use show both icons and text labels, all laid out horizontally. If there's a ton of links or the screen is narrow, bam – the container overflows. Cue the horizontal scrollbar. It's not ideal, is it?

Because of the current design, the component doesn’t adapt. It doesn’t shrink. It just…overflows. This means important information gets hidden, and users have to work harder to find what they're looking for. It's like having a messy desk; you can't find anything quickly. This new feature aims to solve this.

Anticipated Win: A Smoother, Smarter Link List

Imagine the future! The link list component intelligently recognizes when it's about to overflow. It then instantly switches to an icon-only display, allowing more items to fit without any scrolling. The component will be dynamic, responding to changes in content, window size, and even changes to the structure of the page. This ensures the best possible display.

Diving into the Details: How This Works

So, what's involved in making this magic happen? Here’s a breakdown of the key steps:

Sneak Peek: How It's Going to Work

The core of this feature is pretty straightforward. The component will constantly check if the content scrollWidth exceeds the container's clientWidth. If it does, we know we've got an overflow issue. That's when we kick in the icon-only mode. It’s a simple check that yields powerful results.

We'll use CSS to hide the text labels when the icon-only mode is active, showing just the icons. This makes everything compact and easy to scan. It's a clean, efficient solution.

This intelligent approach ensures the link list looks good on any screen size and with any amount of content. It’s adaptable and user-friendly, which is exactly what we’re aiming for.

Event Listener and Observer

To make this dynamic, we need to be smart about detecting changes. The component will have a MutationObserver set up to watch for changes to the child elements. This means any time links are added, removed, or modified, the component will know instantly. The MutationObserver is going to be our watchman, always keeping an eye on the page structure.

We’ll also have event listeners hooked up to the window to detect resize events. When the browser window changes size, the component will re-evaluate everything and adjust the display mode accordingly. This ensures things always look great, no matter the screen size.

Testing and Making Sure It Works

Here's how we'll make sure this works flawlessly:

Testing Steps

To really put this to the test, we'll create a link list component packed with enough links to cause overflow. Then, we'll follow these steps:

  1. Overflow Check: First, we'll make sure that when the container’s scrollWidth exceeds its clientWidth, the icons-only class is applied correctly.
  2. Resize Test: We'll resize the browser window to see how well the component recalculates and updates the display mode. Does it adapt smoothly?
  3. Dynamic Content: We'll add and remove child elements to verify how the component responds to changes.
  4. Visual Check: We'll confirm that text labels are hidden when the icons-only class is present.
  5. Unit Tests: We’ll run unit tests to ensure our scrollability detection logic and class application are rock solid.
  6. Memory Leak Check: Finally, we’ll make sure there are no memory leaks by confirming observers and event listeners are properly disconnected on unmount. This ensures the component cleans up after itself.

Acceptance Criteria: The Checklist

Here’s a checklist to make sure we've covered all our bases:

  • Detection: The component successfully detects when scrollWidth exceeds clientWidth and applies icon-only mode.
  • Responsiveness: The detection works perfectly on the initial mount, window resize events, and when child elements change. It needs to be dynamic.
  • CSS Magic: Text labels are hidden via CSS when icon-only mode is active, only the icons are shown. This is the visual change.
  • Cleanup: The component properly cleans up event listeners and observers when unmounted. It’s about keeping things tidy.
  • Unit Tests: The unit tests verify the scrollability detection logic and class application behavior, confirming everything is working under the hood.

Submission and Next Steps

Show Us What You Got! (Submission)

To submit your awesome work, record your screen using https://cap.so/ (Studio mode recommended). Export it as an MP4 and then simply drag and drop it into an issue comment below. This helps us see how it functions.

If you want a step-by-step guide to submitting pull requests, check out https://hackmd.io/@timothy1ee/Hky8kV3hlx. It has all the details you need to get your code into the project.

What's Next?

Once this feature is implemented, we’ll see some real benefits. Our API reference will be easier to navigate, especially on smaller screens. Users will have a much smoother experience when exploring link lists. We're creating a better user experience!

This improvement will streamline the user experience, providing a cleaner, more efficient way to interact with API references. It's a win-win: more content in less space and a happier user base. Let's make it happen!