yaze/docs/internal/archive/completed_features/sidebar-ux-improvements.md

# Sidebar UX Improvements - Phase 2 Implementation

**Date:** 2025-11-27  
**Status:** ✅ Complete  
**Build Status:** ✅ Compiles successfully

## Overview

Phase 2 improves sidebar UX based on user feedback:
- Sidebar state now persists across sessions
- Enhanced tooltips with better color coordination
- Improved category switching visual feedback
- Responsive menu bar that auto-hides elements when space is tight
- View mode switching properly saves state

## Changes Implemented

### 1. Sidebar State Persistence

**Files Modified:**
- `src/app/editor/system/user_settings.h`
- `src/app/editor/system/user_settings.cc`
- `src/app/editor/editor_manager.cc`

**Added to UserSettings::Preferences:**
```cpp
// Sidebar State
bool sidebar_collapsed = false;      // Start expanded by default
bool sidebar_tree_view_mode = true;  // Start in tree view mode
std::string sidebar_active_category; // Last active category
```

**Persistence Flow:**
1. Settings loaded on startup → Applied to `card_registry_`
2. User toggles sidebar/mode → Callback triggers → Settings saved
3. Next launch → Sidebar restores previous state

**Implementation:**
- `EditorManager::Initialize()` applies saved state after loading settings
- Callbacks registered for state changes:
  - `SetSidebarStateChangedCallback` - Saves on collapse/mode toggle
  - `SetCategoryChangedCallback` - Saves on category switch

### 2. Enhanced Visual Feedback

**File:** `src/app/editor/system/editor_card_registry.cc`

**Category Buttons (lines 604-672):**
- **Active category:** Wider indicator bar (4px vs 2px), brighter accent color
- **Inactive categories:** Subtle background with clear hover state
- **Tooltips:** Rich formatting with icon, editor name, status, instructions

**Before:**
```
[Icon] → Tooltip: "Overworld Editor\nClick to switch"
```

**After:**
```
[Icon with glow] → Enhanced Tooltip:
  🗺 Overworld Editor
  ────────────────
  Click to switch to Overworld view
  ✓ Currently Active
```

**Card Buttons (lines 786-848):**
- **Active cards:** Accent color with "Visible" indicator in tooltip
- **Disabled cards:** Warning color with clear disabled reason
- **Tooltips:** Icon + name + shortcut + visibility status

### 3. Category Switching Improvements

**File:** `src/app/editor/system/editor_card_registry.cc`

**Visual Enhancements:**
- Active indicator bar: 4px width (was 2px) with no rounding for crisp edge
- Active button: 90% opacity accent color with 100% on hover
- Inactive button: 50% opacity with 1.3x brightness on hover
- Clear visual hierarchy between active and inactive states

**Callback System:**
```cpp
SetCategoryChangedCallback([this](const std::string& category) {
  user_settings_.prefs().sidebar_active_category = category;
  user_settings_.Save();
});
```

### 4. View Mode Toggle Enhancements

**File:** `src/app/editor/system/editor_card_registry.h` + `.cc`

**Added Callbacks:**
- `SetSidebarStateChangedCallback(std::function<void(bool, bool)>)` 
- Triggered on collapse toggle, tree/icon mode switch
- Passes (collapsed, tree_mode) to callback

**Icon View Additions:**
- Added "Tree View" button (ICON_MD_VIEW_LIST) above collapse button
- Triggers state change callback for persistence
- Symmetric with tree view's "Icon Mode" button

**Tree View Additions:**
- Enhanced "Icon Mode" button with state change callback
- Tooltip shows "Switch to compact icon sidebar"

### 5. Responsive Menu Bar

**File:** `src/app/editor/ui/ui_coordinator.cc`

**Progressive Hiding Strategy:**
```
Priority (highest to lowest):
1. Panel Toggles (always visible, fixed position)
2. Notification Bell (always visible)
3. Dirty Indicator (hide only if extremely tight)
4. Session Button (hide if medium tight)
5. Version Text (hide first when tight)
```

**Enhanced Tooltip:**
When menu bar items are hidden, the notification bell tooltip shows:
- Notifications (always)
- Hidden dirty status (if applicable): "● Unsaved changes: zelda3.sfc"
- Hidden session count (if applicable): "📋 3 sessions active"

**Space Calculation:**
```cpp
// Calculate available width between menu items and panel toggles
float available_width = panel_region_start - menu_items_end - padding;

// Progressive fitting (highest to lowest priority)
bool show_version = (width needed) <= available_width;
bool show_session = has_sessions && (width needed) <= available_width;
bool show_dirty = has_dirty && (width needed) <= available_width;
```

## User Experience Improvements

### Before Phase 2
- ❌ Sidebar forgot state on restart (always started collapsed)
- ❌ Category tooltips were basic ("Overworld Editor\nClick to switch")
- ❌ Active category not visually obvious
- ❌ Switching between tree/icon mode didn't save preference
- ❌ Menu bar could overflow with no indication of hidden elements

### After Phase 2
- ✅ Sidebar remembers collapse/expand state
- ✅ Sidebar remembers tree vs icon view mode
- ✅ Sidebar remembers last active category
- ✅ Rich tooltips with icons, status, and instructions
- ✅ Clear visual distinction between active/inactive categories (4px bar, brighter colors)
- ✅ Menu bar auto-hides elements gracefully when space is tight
- ✅ Hidden menu bar items shown in notification bell tooltip

## Technical Details

### Callback Architecture

**State Change Flow:**
```
User Action → UI Component → Callback → EditorManager → UserSettings.Save()
```

**Example: Toggle Sidebar**
```
1. User clicks collapse button in sidebar
2. EditorCardRegistry::ToggleSidebarCollapsed()
   → sidebar_collapsed_ = !sidebar_collapsed_
   → on_sidebar_state_changed_(collapsed, tree_mode)
3. EditorManager callback executes:
   → user_settings_.prefs().sidebar_collapsed = collapsed
   → user_settings_.prefs().sidebar_tree_view_mode = tree_mode
   → user_settings_.Save()
```

### Session Coordination

The sidebar state is **global** (not per-session) because:
- UI preference should persist across all work
- Switching sessions shouldn't change sidebar layout
- User expects consistent UI regardless of active session

Categories shown **are session-aware:**
- Active editors determine available categories
- Emulator adds "Emulator" category when visible
- Multiple sessions can contribute different categories

### Menu Bar Responsive Behavior

**Breakpoints:**
- **Wide (>800px):** All elements visible
- **Medium (600-800px):** Version hidden
- **Narrow (400-600px):** Version + Session hidden
- **Tight (<400px):** Version + Session + Dirty hidden

**Always Visible:**
- Panel toggle buttons (fixed screen position)
- Notification bell (last status element)

## Verification

✅ **Compilation:** Builds successfully with no errors  
✅ **State Persistence:** Sidebar state saved to `yaze_settings.ini`  
✅ **Visual Consistency:** Tooltips match welcome screen / editor selection styling  
✅ **Responsive Layout:** Menu bar gracefully hides elements when tight  
✅ **Callback Integration:** All state changes trigger saves automatically

## Example: Settings File

```ini
# Sidebar State (new in Phase 2)
sidebar_collapsed=0
sidebar_tree_view_mode=1
sidebar_active_category=Overworld
```

## Known Limitations

- No animation for sidebar expand/collapse (deferred to future)
- Category priority system not yet implemented (categories shown in registration order)
- Collapsed sidebar strip UI not yet implemented (would show vertical category icons)

## Next Steps (Phase 3 - Agent/Panel Integration)

As outlined in the plan:
1. Unified panel toggle behavior across keyboard/menu/buttons
2. Agent chat widget integration improvements
3. Proposals panel update notifications

## Summary

✅ All Phase 2 objectives completed:
- Sidebar state persists across sessions
- Enhanced tooltips with rich formatting and color coordination
- Improved category switching with clearer visual feedback
- Responsive menu bar with progressive hiding
- View mode toggle with proper callbacks and state saving

The sidebar now provides a consistent, VSCode-like experience with state persistence and clear visual feedback.