New quick issue

Description

• We want to move away from web forms in GitLab because they are slow and clunky.
• The issue page is becoming increasingly inline / AJAX-friendly and modern. That is good.
• The new issue web form is an old paradigm. We want to help people get to the issue page as quickly as possible, and then make their edits there right away. This also helps with collaboration. We don't want people stuck on the new issue web form for a long time. Just start the issue with minimal content and then collaborate.
• The ideas here (https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/34258) are good, but they are too radical right now.
• We need a bridge step.
• Let's use the idea of quick adding issues in the issue board, where you can add an issue with an inline dropdown form:

Proposed design

• Replace the New issue button on the issue page and the project issues list page with a combo box.
• The default option is New quick issue. The secondary option is the regular New issue option that goes to the existing New issue web form.
• When you click New quick issue, there is an inline dropdown form. The title field is already filled with Issue title. And the keyboard focus is on the words Issue title, so you can quickly write something else.
• You click Create issue, and the issue is created and persisted to the database.
• You are then navigated to the issue itself. The issue title has the title specified in the previous step. Everything else in the issue is blank or in default state.

marked this issue as related to #34258 (moved)

@sarrahvesselov @smcgivern : As discussed in #34258 (moved), creating issues (as in persisting to the database) with almost zero friction seems too radical. We don't want garbage issues. So we want to introduce a little more friction. What do you think about the concept above?

To re-iterate, the broader picture is to move away from web forms. Or more accurately, to get people to stop thinking about web forms when they collaborate.

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A couple things jump out at me here @victorwu . I have never created an issue from this screen, I would be curious to know how many people actually do. I typically go to the plus sign in the header or, as I am usually already on an issue to start with, simply click new issue there. Would we implement this in every place we have a Create Issue cta?

Regardless of how many people create an issue from this screen, I am not seeing how this is very different from the other issue https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/34258 in terms of the creation of abandoned issues. It seems about the same in terms of creating issues you don't end up using.

Having said that, I do really like the concept here!

@sarrahvesselov : I think there's a few places this can be experimented with. It's easiest with regard to a project context, since you don't need to specify a project. You already have it. So any of those places I think would be a good place.

I think the issue page itself would be a nice place to try it on.

#34258 (moved) creates an issue with one click. The concept here is similar to the UI in issue boards. (See the description image). This would be the same minimal amount of friction as creating an issue in a Slack slash command, where you have to specify at least a title. So I think that minimal amount of friction would be very helpful.

I'm not sure I particularly want issues to be created without descriptions, but that might be a minority opinion

I'm not sure I particularly want issues to be created without descriptions, but that might be a minority opinion

I agree with you here @smcgivern. I anticipate having lots of abandoned issues with no descriptions.

Don't get me wrong @victorwu, I like the idea! I absolutely see the value in being able to quickly create an issue. Maybe the problem of abandoned issues and ways to combat/tackle them can be handled in a separate issue so that we can move forward on this one

I don't anticipate having many abandoned issues and/or issues without descriptions as a result of this change.

The UI is similar to what's already existing in issue boards. In that scenario, the UI implies it is okay and expected to create description-less issues. Because the title is the description for that use case of a digital version of a whiteboard with sticky notes.

So along with slash commands, we already have 2 UI paradigms where we encourage people to create description less issues. I think that should be encouraged, albeit in a responsible manner. The idea is that we want people creating issues quickly and having a space to collaborate on them right away. Presenting people with a web form up front is too frictionful (is that word?) imo.

My thoughts are that people will use this feature responsibly and see the power + benefit of creating issues quickly. And then they will also see the benefit of not having to stare at a web form when they want to quickly create an issue. I think this is a bold design that we should try. So my suggestion would be picking one place. The new issue button on the issue page I think is a good start.

Another reason I think this is a good feature to try is that it is low risk from a development perspective. Hopefully it is a smallish effort to implement, and would not be a terrible wasted effort if it truly fails. If it succeeds and people learn + catch on to the new paradigm, it would really be transformative. So the risk-reward ratio is certainly attractive!

We don't have to agree right now at all. Feel free to dis-regard for now and I can definitely continue to try to get more support for my concepts from others, or eventually enough people will convince me it's not a good idea. (Right now I think it's a good idea.)

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mentioned in issue #36230

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