June 13, 2024 / Automatic access for assignees, return to expanded panel

[antoniokov]

We hope that you’ve just attended our founder’s webinar on how to integrate feedback into feature prioritization. Now let’s put our approach to the test

Automatically provide access to assignees

Instead of doing two things: assigning a person and then providing them access manually, configure automatic access for assignees, owners, reviewers, etc.

This will save you and your teammates hundreds of clicks in the future and prevent awkward situations when an assignee cannot see a card because someone forgot to share it.

Here are the key points:

• Automatic access works via any to-User relation except for Created By (coming later).
• You can extend access to linked Entities and even use custom access templates — although only on the Pro plan.

This access works independently of Space access: even with automatic access to assignees disabled, Space Contributors will still be able to edit Entities they are assigned to.

A detailed user guide is coming tomorrow. Meanwhile, please ping us in case you have any question — either here or via human support chat.

Return to expanded panel

Now:

Previously:

If you haven’t caught it, here is a text version:

0. Check you have One Panel Navigation turned off

1. AA Navigate to a View or an Entity

2. AB Open another card in a panel on the right

3. aBB Expand the panel on the right

4. aBC Open any other related Entity in a right panel

5. Close this related Entity panel

Now it’s aBB (the state after #3: collapsed panel + expanded panel).
Before it was AB (the state after #2: two open panels).

This has been the all-time most reported navigation issue so we hope that your day has gotten just a tiny bit brighter .

Move more Fields between Entity View sections

Previously, it was impossible to drag’n’drop, say, a to-many relation Field (e.g. Segments) to Entity View’s compact section. It failed because relation Views, the default visualization, are too large to fit there.

Now we automatically switch the visualization to a supported one if there is any — thus, making more Entity View layouts possible and discoverable. Notably, if you don’t use any filters, fields, or sorting for a to-many relation (e.g. Tags), consider transforming it into a simple list — it will declutter the UI and speed up loading.

Upgrade to Pro to share via custom access templates

As we announced last week, custom access templates are now exclusive to the Pro plan. This unique and complex functionality has been intended as a Pro feature from the start, but then we forgot to put the gating in place after it had graduated from beta . We hope you didn’t mind the extended “trial” .

If you are on the Standard plan, your existing shares will continue to work and no one will lose access, although you won’t be able to share more Entities with more people using custom access templates. You can still use the default access templates and even inherit access via the Extend button.

Fixed Bugs

• Entity view unexpectedly returns from expanded to standard panel when opening "edit fields’ and close it by clicking out
• Annoying mention/relation pop-up re-positioning
• Group toggle placement is wrong in to-User relation config
• Up/down arrows are missed in numeric units
• Additional text appears near field title in compact section if ‘Progress bar’ or ‘Snippet’ visualization is selected
• Browser extension: deleted spaces as well as ‘highlights’ space should not be displayed in databases list
• Rich-text snippets are not generated when entity was created from Form
• Form description gets cleared after form opened in view for adding new entity and then opened separately in edit mode
• Avatar units are not merged
• Whiteboard
  • Control spots inherits Shape border style but shouldn’t
  • Duplicate whiteboard view is broken
  • It’s impossible to apply When filter in search popup
  • Can’t apply dash style to the line drawn by pen
  • Error on drawing specific type of line
  • Toolbar disappears after drawing a line and selecting ‘Change line shape’ option. Second click is required

[Oshyan]

@antoniokov

This has been the all-time most reported navigation issue so we hope that your day has gotten just a tiny bit brighter .

Hooray! It definitely has.

@antoniokov

This unique and complex functionality has been intended as a Pro feature from the start, but then we forgot to put the gating in place after it had graduated from beta . We hope you didn’t mind the extended “trial” .

Hmm… I wouldn’t normally comment on this, but I’ve noticed more than just 1 or 2 of these things happening in the past year or more… In one sense it’s nice that some users get to enjoy some feature they may later have to pay more for, but I think the general current user experience is that they are going to feel angry and somewhat betrayed by this kind of thing ultimately. If it really is a “mistake”, I would kind of suggest you try to get better internally about deciding which features you want in which tiers ahead of rollout, then implementing that restriction from the beginning, and being clear about what users will get access to it from the start, even if you allow unlimited access for some period of broader testing. This would help avoid the “whiplash”/“having the rug pulled out from under you” feeling some people can get. In this community it hasn’t yet been a widespread issue, but you can look in the comments of many other company’s updates to see similar changes having a large negative impact on user sentiment.

That said it’s nice that you at least allowed existing Shares made with this feature to continue working. Well, maybe it’s really just necessary to avoid a mutiny.

[antoniokov]

@Oshyan

If it really is a “mistake”

Here is what we wrote in November 2023 in the first Entity permissions release:

@antoniokov

Pricing

While in beta, all the new functionality is available for everyone, regardless of the pricing plan.

As we figure things out, some functionality (notably, extending access) most likely will become exclusive to the Pro plan. If you are on a Standard plan, don’t worry: we won’t revoke existing access, you just won’t be able to extend access for more Entities and users.

I should’ve set the expectations more clearly in the later releases, that’s on me.

@Oshyan

I would kind of suggest you try to get better internally about deciding which features you want in which tiers ahead of rollout, then implementing that restriction from the beginning, and being clear about what users will get access to it from the start, even if you allow unlimited access for some period of broader testing.

Absolutely! That’s why automatic access for assignees has gotten a Pro badge in its first release today:

[ccollins]

What an amazing release!! I am so excited for all of this.

[interr0bangr]

Was excited to see that you decided to improve the way panels expanding/collapsing worked, until I realized that it still pretty works exactly as it did before and creates yet another UX inconsistency.

@antoniokov

0. Check you have One Panel Navigation turned off
1. AA Navigate to a View or an Entity
2. AB Open another card in a panel on the right
3. aBB Expand the panel on the right
4. aBC Open any other related Entity in a right panel
5. Close this related Entity panel

Now it’s aBB (the state after #3: collapsed panel + expanded panel).
Before it was AB (the state after #2: two open panels).

In my opinion, Step 3 should not be a requirement.

The aBB → aBC → aBB behaviour should apply in all cases since the user did not explicitly indicate they wanted to un-collapse something that was collapsed.

At least before it was consistently awkward, now it’s inconsistently awkward which is arguably worse.

[antoniokov]

My position hasn’t changed since this summary:

@antoniokov

• There are two (largely mutually exclusive) mental models of panel navigation.
• Fibery currently leans towards the model that places more value on preserving context when browsing.
• We are not looking to overhaul the navigational model any time soon as we are focusing on other things and don’t have enough evidence to justify the effort.
• There are cases like aBB → aBC → AB that are annoying no matter the model. We’ll try to fix those and see if the number of complaints goes down significantly.

We’ll see how many complaints and awkward UX session moments we’ll get after today’s update. If the issue still pops up regularly, we’ll have another go.

[ebell]

@antoniokov

This will save you and your teammates hundreds of clicks in the future and prevent awkward situations when an assignee cannot see a card because someone forgot to share it.

How will the Assignee be able to see the entity? If they are not part of the Space, but are an Assignee of the entity, they will have access, but will not be able to see it unless they create a view.

Is there a way to extend Tables/Board/Folders to everyone assigned?

[Oshyan]

Ah yes, so you did provide some appropriate context in the original beta feature announcement. It was just the length of time that it remained free that was a mistake. Understood, thanks! That said it does seem like there have been other situations where similar-ish things happened, which is why I mentioned it. Anyway, it’s something you’re aware of and you deal with it the best way you can, I’m sure.

[antoniokov]

@ebell

How will the Assignee be able to see the entity? If they are not part of the Space, but are an Assignee of the entity, they will have access, but will not be able to see it unless they create a view.

Good question!

First of all, the current approach where any access to a Space also means access to all the Entities inside has to go. We’ll likely make it possible to invite someone into a Space so they can access all the Views but not all the data.

However, since this is months away here are a couple of options available right now:

1. Two Spaces: one with Views and no DBs shared with everyone, and the second with DBs for you only.
2. Smart Section (experimental) for Users + mirrored context Views.

Please reach out to us via Intercom if you’d like a helping hand.