Include more robust package data in the title section of the package detail user interface
Problem to solve
The Package stage allows you to publish, consume and discover packages, all in one place. Users publish and pull packages using GitLab CI/CD, the command line or the GitLab API.
The problem is that we currently do not expose most of the useful metadata to our users. Users who come to the UI are often attempting to troubleshoot a problem related to a package. We can better enable them by providing this data at the top of the detail page.
Intended users
- Delaney (Development Team Lead)
- Sasha (Software Developer)
- Devon (DevOps Engineer)
- Sidney (Systems Administrator)
Further details
Currently, our user interface is showing only the version number in the title section. This doesn't match the user's mental model of the page as well as not providing useful information.
Proposal
Update the package detail header interface to enable our users with more relevant and robust data in the package detail view. The metadata to be included is:
- package name
- package visibility (represented via the eye icon)
- version
- published data (written in relative time)
- package type
- the branch associated with the build of the package
- the package size
- tags associated with this specific package.
Permissions and Security
- There are no permissions changes required for this change.
Documentation
Screenshots associated with the package detail view should be updated in the documentation. Descriptions of the provided data should be added to the documentation.
Availability & Testing
n/a
What does success look like, and how can we measure that?
Implementing the new design inclusive of additional metadata should improve our users' experience by enabling them to troubleshoot issues with relevant data.
Open Questions
If the data is not available (a package is uploaded directly to the registry and not via CI), no reference to it should be displayed in the UI. There is the possibility of cross-selling in this use case to encourage users to use Ci/CD to provide more robust data, but I'd suggest that move to a new issue.