"What's new" for GitLab page/notification

Description

• Promote our release post or something similar cc: @tauriedavis
• Make sure people actually update the instance whenever a new release is out
• Better place to show version info than on the help page
• Notify of new version

Proposal

Links / references

https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/24479 https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/23598 gitlab-foss#14381 (moved)

@JobV @balameb @markglenfletcher @Alli

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#14381 (moved)

Awesome, thanks for the separate issue @dimitrieh !

I'd like something like this.

Related: Highlight recent blog posts in-product.
Related: Highlight new features directly in the interface. e.g. not just a What's new link, but a visual pointer to a new section in the UI.

This is how GitHub does it.

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#25982 (closed)

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#22233 (closed)

@JobV per my comment here: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/22233#note_21431671

we could implement this, with a simple link to the release post of the version the user is currently running... or with an update notice perhaps if a newer version is available (perhaps only for administrators)

@dimitrieh I think a link to the latest release post would be great.

I'm sure @mydigitalself has thoughts about this.

I think Discord does a really good job at this. Every month every end user will effectively see a modal showing what the new features are. Some might argue it's a little in your face, but I think it's a great way not only to inform users of new capabilities, but also as a reminder that the product is continually evolving.

As you can see in the screenshot, they are also able to bring through the brand tone of voice into the messaging, which I like a lot.

@mydigitalself i dislike that way of showing things.. steam does this as well.. also some android apps

I rather go for subtle, then in your face :)

slack does this really well imo

it shows a little present from the submenu:

and puts it next to the main menu.. which is destroyed after you look at it.

Although i do think the modal could add valua after you click on the "what's new"

tl:dr

I think it's more important to let people do their job, than to inform them of new functionality.. they should do that when they have time for that imo

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#28839 (closed)

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#29573 (closed)

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#30296 (moved)

@marcia can we link this with the new release post?

@dimitrieh I'm not sure what you mean link this with the new release post

How is this gonna work for CE and EE behind firewalls?

This is awesome, btw

perhaps only for administrators

I think there are tons of awesomenesses for users, so I would rather not restrict it to admins

it seems slack has an extended version of this as well.. if it long since you checked it out

@marcia in my mind this would show up for users when there is a new release (9.0 => 9.1) so we should link to it from it.. that way people get a notification and a improved reason to update

How is this gonna work for CE and EE behind firewalls?

We are quite strict on our release schedule, so we could fake this and build in a trigger with predetermined urls.. however there may be a smarter way of course.

@jschatz1 @JobV what do you think?

@dimitrieh what if we take a step ahead and make it a notification symbol (as you suggested above), instead of a gift symbol? We could create some sort of "notifications" settings from the admin side, displaying notes like reminders or news, for example:

• when we deprecate CI variables
• when we changed Pages IP (could have used this)
• when we have something important to say

We could create 3 types of fields, each with a different symbol:

• (exclamation) reminder
• (triangle) breaking/important change
• (gift) new release

Then we could display it as google does:

I think it's a little beyond this issue, we can create a new one if you think it's worth it. ;)

as for design, what about:

i do have to say, we may want a different "present/gift" icon.. there is something off about it

I personally appreciate the new design.

@regisF what do you think about this for scheduling? seems a small thing right? and increases our awareness of EES and EEP

@dimitrieh would this icon point to the release blog post? Looks like the simplest option.

Is it a Platform in GitLab FOSS task, @mydigitalself ?

@regisF we would certainly have to be involved, yes

I think there are a few things to consider here.

1. GitLab.com use case where it's more of a case of INFORMING users what's new
2. For self-hosted versions, there are also two considerations. First first is informing the instance owner that there is new stuff in the next release and encouraging them to upgrade. The next is information instance users that there is new stuff in the current release (after it's been updated). I'm not sure how instance owners/admin will react to us pushing information about new releases that haven't been installed yet to their users, it will create confusion about what is and isn't actually available.

@mydigitalself

Indeed there are two use cases here: regular users and instance administrators.

I'm not sure how instance owners/admin will react to us pushing information about new releases that haven't been installed yet to their users

This will not happen if the gift badge only appears when a new version has been actually installed. This badge would get reset every time a new release introduces changes that are worthy to be mentioned.

The case of the instance administrators is different - they should be warned of a new release before they actually upgrade the instance, to make them aware of any manipulations they should do before upgrading. I've documented this in an another issue https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/30296 - this is related to this issue, but independent, as it serves two different purposes.

I think we need to be careful about putting another icon with a colored badge number in the header. Any additional UI element will detract from the issue/mr/todo badges and those are most important for an every day workflow.

Just an idea, but we could make the profile avatar glow or have a colored border to indicate that there is something new, and then the profile dropdown contains that information.

I agree with @tauriedavis. Adding the current icons up there was a huge deal to begin with. We should remember that every new icon adds a layer of complexity. I like the idea of changing the profile avatar change in some way.

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#33071 (closed)

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#33073 (closed)

mentioned in issue gitlab-foss#33612 (moved)

@joe.s this issue may be of importance/relavance to you for marketing purposes and more clearly communicating new releases and features.

also see https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/33099

Also to quote @sarrahvesselov from https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/33612#note_32211299

A dismissible on-boarding experience for each new release is something we will be focusing on in the next 2-3 months.

@dimitrieh Thanks for the heads up. What is the latest status on this issue?

ping @mydigitalself

Thanks for reviving this @dimitrieh, we definitely need to put effort into making this a reality over the next 2-3 months.

changed milestone to %Next 3-6 months in gitlab-foss

We don't have any capacity over the next few releases with all of the work we have going on related to our ~OKRs, so will have to look at this next Q.

I understand not having capacity but this issue is a good first step to the following OKRs:

• CEO: Increased usage of idea to production. 100% growth
• VP Eng: Make sure existing features are used by GitLab.com. Cycle time analytics working.
• UX: Make it easier to find and use advanced GitLab features

@victorwu in light of https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ee/issues/3054 i think this would be a great idea to implement soon as well.

moved from gitlab-foss#25341 (moved)