treehouse/content/treehouse/design.tree

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%% title = "notes on design of the treehouse"
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- notes on design of the treehouse
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+ adding dates next to branches
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- where the heck to put branch dates??
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- I've designed the tree to preserve creation dates of most branches.
branches which do not have explicit names use ULIDs, which encode a Unix timestamp in the lower 40 bits.
therefore I know the dates of when most branches were created, and would in fact like to display them somewhere on the page
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- problem is that it's not at all obvious where this info should live on the page.
stuffing dates into the existing design is surprisingly hard, and this branch is supposed to illustrate that.
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- **requirement:** dates should not detract from main content
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- **idea:** dates are invisible until you hover over a branch
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- **requirement:** as all content in the treehouse, dates have to be visible on mobile
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+ **idea:** put dates after the branch's content
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- **problem:** this does not interact well with the hover idea in case the date overflows the last line of the branch.
in that case, if the date is invisible, it will occupy unnecessary empty space
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+ **idea:** put dates to the left of the _permalink_/_linked tree_ buttons (aka the button bar)
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+ **variant:** we make the date take up more space in the button bar
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- how much? different locales render dates with differing lengths, I wouldn't want to assume how much space is needed…
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- besides, horizontal space on mobile is very limited
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+ **variant:** we make the date _not_ take up more space, but rather make it have a background
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+ **problem:** main content is then obscured by the date
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+ **solution:** make the date invisible until you hover over it
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- **problem:** how do we communicate this behavior to users? invisible elements are horrible UX