Allow Mention Links to display Database Name

Ideas & Features
1

Currently a Mention Link does not have the option to display the Database Name.
This option is available in field views but not in Mention Links. In my experience this is such a limitation that it comes close to being a issue/bug.

What I like to see is:

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Motivation

  • The Abbreviation of a Database is only useful in a list/table view where it is obvious (because of the view title) that all items are of the same database.

  • With Mention Links, which appear random in rich text fields, this obviousness is not present, thus the reader must associate the Abbreviation with a database. That is often as good as impossible, especially if the workspace has more than a handful of databases. Users simply do not remember the color and one-or to letters of the database.

Proof

Please try to ‘guess’ what the database names are in the following example:

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2

As an alternative to showing the database name, have you considered using icons (which can be set with a formula, so that all entities of a given type have the same icon)?

3

Yes I am aware of that option, but I already have specific icons per entity in use, given that is the purpose of that feature. I would need to stop using the current icons feature per entity, to solve the issue of this post, and that is not a great workaround.

I think the easiest to implement is actually what I suggest in this topic, since the feature is already present in list views.

Alternatively, permanent database icons would be a great solution, as requested before:

4

What is the difference between ‘permanent database icons’ and icons which can be set with a formula (and thus apply to all entities in the database)?

5

  • Permanent database icons would be the upgrade of the current color picker per database, as mentioned above in the older feature request.

  • Entity Icons, currently available, are icons that can be set with a formula, being another feature altogether that is useful to show show either a unique icon per entity or with a formula for all entities.

The problem with setting Entity Icons with a formula is that it causes confusion for the users and causes loss of its primary purpose.
If users apply for some databases a formula for the entity icon and for another database they use it for custom per-entity icons, then you get mix of two meanings:
is the icon related to the database, or related to the entity?
Consistency of the meaning is lost.

So I’m not in favor of using Enity Icons using a formula for that reason.

1 Like
6

Functionally though, they are equivalent, as far as I see it.
If a database has an icon, then any per-entity icon setting will override it.

So overall, this is equivalent to an if... then... formula where the default value is whatever you want to be the ‘database icon’.

7

Thats why the database icon must always be visually separated from the entity icon. They have totally different functions.

Users want:

  1. to know what database it is,
  2. and want to be able to give an entity a nice icon.

In an Entity View:

  • The Database icon would be at the left of the database name at the very top
  • The Entity icon is in front of the Entity Name.

In a list view,

  • either one or the other or both can be included as field.

In a Mention Link,

  • again either one or the other or both can be included as field.

But in any case, I would for now start with enabling the Database Name in mention links, which is the current feature request.

8

OK, I think we were missing each other’s point :slight_smile:

I agree with your observations, but I was merely speaking in terms of solving the issue in this topic - having a means to identify the database from which an entity came from. My point was that the icon formula solution works well enough to achieve both goals (of a db icon and/or a per-entity icon).

At the moment, I think it is one or the other, but not both.

9

I understood your point but my arguments against that, are:

  1. I do not want to sacrifice the per-entity icon fuctionality by hijacking the per-entity icon feature for the purpose of identifying the database.

  2. I do not want to train users to recognize icons that correspond to databases. I simply want them to read the database name in the Mention Link.

I got the impression that your (counter) arguments are maybe motivated by an efficiency standpoint, likely the reason why currently Database Name field cannot be chosen in Mention Links.

However, I think especially for Mention Links, I think clarity of information is more important than your suggested workaround. For the essential need like recognizing the database in a mention link, I think the most straightforward solution is just allowing the Database Name to be displayable.

2 Likes
10

I agree with @Yuri_BC on this point. Making the name visible is highly beneficial—not just for context but also for enhancing the user experience. Showing the name helps users unfamiliar with Fibery better understand how databases and entities can be interconnected within documents and rich text fields; since they are visually seeing the database name. Personally, I often forget that this feature is missing in Mention Links and instinctively try to enable it, especially since it’s already available in other areas like Board, List, and Whiteboard views.

2 Likes
11

Same here :slight_smile:

12

My comments regarding the use of icons were merely intended to offer a suggestion until the ability to see the whole database name was available… and our discussion went off on a tangent.
I didn’t mean to imply that the original request wasn’t a good idea :slight_smile:

2 Likes