New Repository Overview Public Beta Feedback

[jdrush89]

Thanks for trying GitHub's new repository overview page. This preview brings some of the new code navigation features to the overview page such as the find file input and shows key repository files such as the 'code of conduct' and 'license' files in tabs alongside he Readme. This preview can be enabled through the feature preview pane.

We are dedicated to making GitHub the best code navigation experience on the web. If you encounter any issues or have suggestions on how we can improve the experience, please share below. We will review all feedback!

[uneknown]

Even though I haven't enabled it, it remains active! How can I deactivate it??? [FIXED]

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Edit:
I have some feedback to share regarding the layout:

• The Code button (the green button) is positioned too high up on the page. Since I use it frequently, could it be placed lower for easier access?
• Additionally, I suggest swapping the placement of these two elements. It would feel more natural if they were arranged differently.

• Furthermore, the font size within this dropdown menu appears to be excessively small, set at just 12 pixels.

• The folder view's width has increased, making it somewhat uncomfortable to look at!

• Where did that information go?

In general, the new layout of the repository overview page is 👎 !

[ghost]

Same here, maybe try enabling then disabling?

[rigor789]

The Code button (the green button) is positioned too high up on the page.

I second that, frequently use it myself, I'd prefer it where it used to be - next to "Add File".

--
The Readme/License/CoC etc tabs are nice 👍

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback. Sorry about the feature preview state not being respected, there was an issue during the release that was fixed shortly afterwards. The branch and tag counts were removed because they are actually expensive calls that slow down the page load. We can investigate adding these back as async calls. I will pass the other feedback along to our designers.

[chriswblake]

The branch count is very important in my experience. Many younger teams will use branching wrong and this is quick indicator. As for tags, I have no comment.

[kyoyacchi]

I didnt like how it looks on mobile version.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback, is there something specific about the mobile design that you think could be improved?

[UlinoyaPed]

The view on the phone is too narrow and requires a longer space to display the same amount of text

[jdrush89]

Thanks for reporting this, we have an issue filed and are working on a fix.

[SunPodder]

The navigation in the repository (links to issues, pull requests, discussions etc.) also feels so bad. The tabs are much more better on mobile in terms of both UI and UX

[ghost]

I don't like how the "checks" (actions run on the latest commit) are shown. Feels very off in the rest of the modern GUI. Way too small of a box. Too dark of a background blur/dim.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback, I will pass this along to our designers.

[AuraHerreroRuiz]

Adding to this comment, I much prefer the old version, as it was much less intrusive, and could be dismissed by clicking anywhere in this page, and now I have to click on the "X" button for that.

[aradalvand]

Looks terrible IMO, why are you trying so hard to ruin the UI every few weeks?! Just leave it as it is, no one is complaining... FFS...

[uneknown]

So true! The new navigation is quite dreadful. I sincerely hope they consider retaining the option to stick with the old navigation for at least three more years!

[aradalvand]

@uneknown Whoever their new UI/UX team is should seriously all be fired, the new changes are absolute abominations.
The old interface was perfectly fine, and they keep screwing it up because rEaSoNs!

[bastik-1001]

The old UI is working fine for me. This preview allows filtering for a file right on the repository index, has tabs for the license and security pages, above the readme, which are a positive aspect, but certainly something that I can live without.

[AprilSylph]

I like how at the bottom of repositories' home view, you can now tab between the README and the other important MD files. Nice to see.

However, I notice that that section no longer has an anchor target. Currently, I can link to e.g. https://github.com/AprilSylph/XKit-Rewritten#readme and have the README shown to end users immediately. This allows the repository to double as a project homepage without setting up GitHub Pages, which I find especially valuable when the project has a separate wiki.

I hope to see this feature return, as this new view looks like a great opportunity to actually expand upon it, e.g. linking to https://github.com/AprilSylph/XKit-Rewritten#license instead of https://github.com/AprilSylph/XKit-Rewritten/blob/master/LICENSE.

Thanks for the consideration!

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the for the feedback. This is a feature we have on our backlog and will be adding support for soon.

[hacknug]

I would also love to see a Changelog tab for repos with a file for it

[pcjmfranken]

First thing I noticed is that the toolbar above the readme no longer sticks to the top of the page as you scroll past it. Having easy access to the ToC menu that it houses is quite essential for navigating long readme files.

Also that ToC dropdown menu button seems broken - clicking it doesn't show the menu.

The main site footer has also disappeared from the page.

If this isn't already the case, repository owners should have control over which files that toolbar shows besides the readme.

The glance-able total number of branches and tags that used to show above the list of files seems to be gone. Since links to these pages are still listed in the repo sidebar, perhaps the counts could be added back there just like how its done for the stars, forks, and watchers sidebar links.

Clicking the green "code" button in the top right now always opens on a new codespaces tab. At least save the tab the user selected last (globally, not per repo - please). Advertising GitHubs paid products is fine, but don't let it get in my way of getting shit done.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback. The sticky README, broken ToC, and Code button not remembering the last picked tab are all bugs I have filed issues for. Removing the site footer was a design decision, I will pass this feedback along to the designers. Admin's can't currently configure the files shown alongside the readme, but we don't want to allow more customization of this page so that is a feature request I will note. The branch and tags counts were removed for performance reasons, but we will look at adding them back in through async calls.

[pcjmfranken]

Admin's can't currently configure the files shown alongside the readme, but we don't want to allow more customization of this page

Limiting the selection to (a subset of) GitHub repo "special" files would be perfectly fine. Several examples of such files (notably missing CITATIONS, CONTRIBUTORS, AUTHORS, etc.) are documented here: https://docs.github.com/en/communities/setting-up-your-project-for-healthy-contributions/creating-a-default-community-health-file#supported-file-types

[jfrost-mo]

I think a sensible compromise is to only show those special file tabs if the file actually exists. Currently it presumes that every project is a fairly large open source software project that does regular releases.

For example, do I really need a security policy if it a collection of open source icons? Do I need a code of conduct if it is an internal repository where all the developers are already bound by a company CoC?

[yaSebastian]

I second that, except for the README.md. Making it very prominent that the README.md is missing is a good thing and should motivate more developers to add one to their repositories.
Maybe consider treating a missing LICENSE file the same way.

[ricewind012]

it's ugly, so why don't you let me customise it ? it's also slower, like everything else you have rewritten in react so far

[PadowYT2]

When you have absolutely no margin on both sides of the buttons and repo name is so much ugly and you will have to reach a long way. When you have a large margin on both sides, but then the navbar is full width, just bad

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback, can you provide screenshots to demonstrate where you are seeing issues?

[uneknown]

The max width of the page has changed, making it harder to reach stuff.

[Neodevils]

Here goes the stucking on the screen

[jdrush89]

Thanks for reporting, I have filed an issue for this and we will have a fix out shortly.

[sbatial]

I like the new overview.
Especially the much earlier breakpoint to go full-width. Makes it easier when using multiple windows side by side.

The tabs of important files (readme, license) is very nice as well.

As others have stated: Having the toolbar sticky again would be an improvement.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback, we will have a fix for the sticky toolbar soon.

[mahdyar]

There is no way to go to Readme for large repos.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback. Do you mean there is no way to link to the Readme with '#readme'? We will be adding this feature soon.

[mahdyar]

That and the readme button to prevent scrolling to get to there. There used to be a button that was linked to readme section.

[jdrush89]

The button should be added back to the sidebar now.

[CyberFlameGO]

The Code of Conduct and Security tabs should use the organizational community health files where they aren't present in the repository, before suggesting that the files be added to the repo, in my opinion

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback, this is a good suggestion. I have filed an issue to add this behavior.

[lurkydismal]

The worst thing i ever saw

[HotCakeX]

It isn't detecting my Code of Conduct and Security Policy located in the special .github repository that is for community health files

https://github.com/HotCakeX/Harden-Windows-Security
https://github.com/HotCakeX/.github

Also add a Back to Top button

Currently I'm doing this

Which works but an official Back to Top button would be much better, specially one that uses smooth scrolling instead of teleporting to the top of the page.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback. I've filed an issue for detecting the community health files in the .github directory and am passing along the suggestion for a 'back to top button'.

[git-user-cpp]

Same problem I also use .github repo for such files as code of conduct and security

[reeveng]

stop pushing new ui changes please

[alrz]

I absolutely prefer command palette and loved it so far. This is too much in your face.

[Wulfheart]

I like it.

[lazka]

On https://github.com/msys2/MINGW-packages it doesn't list all directories. There is also a cut off with the old view, but there was a message that not all files were shown at least. Now it just randomly is missing files.

[jdrush89]

Both versions should be truncating to 1000 files/folders. I filed a bug for the missing message, we will get a fix out soon. Thanks for reporting!

[DerZade]

I spent quite some time trying to find the button that allows me to see all the branches.

I feel like it should be somewhere more obvious than at the bottom of a popup, but tbh I don't have a concrete suggestion.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for the feedback. You can also see all branches by clicking the link in the sidebar (the '60 Branches' one)

[DerZade]

Yes, I saw that in hindsight. 😅 Most of the time I just forget about the sidebar completely. It might be something I (and other people) just have to get used to. 🙈

[StaticPH]

Sidebar? What sidebar? 😜

[BellCubeDev]

Co-authored commits have very little (if any) spacing between the "and" between names and the word wrap appears unintentional.

Testable commit: https://github.com/Starfield-Community-Patch/Website/tree/19d451c/

[jdrush89]

Thanks for reporting this, we have a fix that should go out this week.

[Minion3665]

Love the tabs generally, it's very nice for quickly getting to all the common places I want to go on repos that I'm new to...

one issue I found is that on archived repositories etc. the "add a readme" button is still there... but it leads to a blank page. It might be nice to hide it in cases like that where you can't edit

(readme button on an archived repo)

(what happens when you press the button)

the URL it takes me to is https://github.com/Minion3665/com.collabora.productivity.skyler.sidecar/new/production?filename=README.md

[frog-o]

I think 🤔 that we should have a way to create

• use themes. I would put a customize button in with the developer feature preview next to enable disable button.
• pin my repository that I want.
• I want to see and show the one that have been recently work on by me. recent activity seem broken I just wrote this and it did not show up and editing it now to say so. you might need filters.
• It would of been nice if the top post highlighted and showed you new features as well as a summary of what people said good and bad it hard to look through and read all these.
• if people don't mind deleting their old post not relevant I would appreciate it thanks.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for reporting the Readme problem, I've filed a bug for this. We do want to make the overview more customizable in the future. For the dashboard page suggestions and discussion suggestions, I can pass those on to those teams.

[shaedrich]

Is it just me, or are the down-facing triangles of "Contribute" and "Sync fork" further bottom-aligned than the one of "Add file"?

That might be because for the former, vertical-align is applied but for the latter, it's ignored.

[jdrush89]

Thanks for reporting this. I've filed a bug and we'll get a fix out soon.

[thewisenerd]

big files are failing to render sporadically: https://github.com/influxdata/telegraf/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md

(failing with the "page is taking too long to load" unicorn)

[jdrush89]

The blob viewing experience is separate from this feature preview, I can let my team know you are seeing issues though. There is a 10 second timeout on loading files so it is possible for large files to hit this from time to time. You should be able to access the contents still using the raw url (https://raw.githubusercontent.com/influxdata/telegraf/master/CHANGELOG.md) if need be.

[jda0]

Yeah, I see some big issues with the organisation of the new page in addition to a couple of design nits. Overall, it's a downgrade.

• Why is the author of the latest commit given the most prominence? To me, it's not the most important information.
• Why is the author allowed to break lines (also leaving a massive white gap between that and the commit message) but the commit message isn't? (I see this is now filed as a bug)
• What is the context for the latest commit - it's above the branch label, which looks wrong (to me).
• The tab isn't the incorrect color on light mode, but there is weird spacing above the scroll bar in the branch list.
• Can I customise the sidebar? I don't know if the old layout had this flexibility or I imagined it, but I don't care about description (1st) or packages (3rd), but I do care about deployment status (bottom)

One positive is I do think file search is a big plus, and raising the Code button next to Star/Watch makes more sense.

I think there's a lot you could do to actually improve the UX for new users / repo discovery, which makes this a tame, disappointing update.

• Why not have the README + sidebar (as maybe a dashboard instead?), and Files, as separate tabs? Then you don't really have to compromise too much on either experience.

[dzienisz]

Please add some space (padding, etc.) at the end of the file tree. I always feel like there is something more to see, but this list just came out suddenly.

[jdrush89]

It looks like you are looking the pull request experience which is owned by a different team. I can pass this feedback on to them.

[dzienisz]

Yes, please. I thought this was the right place to post this bug.

[shaedrich]

Nice idea, moving the branches next to the branch select. However, the three of them now look homoheneous—which they are not, as the former two belong to the same entity. It would be nice if that could be emphasized with either spacing or border—or something equivalent.

But spacing probably wouldn't work that good.

[dzienisz]

I like this new design. Tags are also important when you use semantic versioning.

[shaedrich]

I do, too. However, I think, tags and releases shouldn't be that far apart.

[jdrush89]

The change we made was to put the branches and tags links back to where they were before the preview. This was to reduce the amount of UI churn on this page. The ref selector allows for the selection of tags as well as branches, so I don't think we would want to group just branches into that control.

[shaedrich]

Oh, you're right. Sorry, I missed that. Thanks for the clarification.

[shaedrich]

There's a bug in the right-hand sidebar: It shows the number of forks from the base repository, since the fork itself doesn't have any own forks:

[jdrush89]

Thanks for reporting this, I've filed a bug and we'll get a fix out soon.

[jsoref]

Should this be unpinned? The feature preview does not appear to be available: