Update design guidelines and add new screenshots by nimishavijay · Pull Request #15002 · nextcloud/documentation

nimishavijay · 2026-05-21T20:25:09Z

(AI-assisted by Claude for first-draft and converting to .rst)

☑️ Resolves

Update design guidelines and make them more easily accessible for devs #14660

🖼️ Screenshots

✅ Checklist

I have built the documentation locally and reviewed the output
Screenshots are included for visual changes
I have not moved or renamed pages (or added a redirect if I did)
I have run codespell or similar and addressed any spelling issues

AI-assisted by Claude Opus 4.7 for first-draft and converting to .rst Signed-off-by: Nimisha Vijay <nimisha.k.vijay@gmail.com>

Signed-off-by: Nimisha Vijay <nimisha.k.vijay@gmail.com>

github-actions · 2026-05-22T08:19:53Z

📖 Documentation Preview

🔍 Open preview →

📄 8 changed documentation pages

Last updated: Fri, 22 May 2026 09:16:19 GMT

nimishavijay · 2026-05-22T08:22:54Z

developer_manual/design/foundations.rst:192: No newline at end of file. (missing-final-newline)

oops, copy-paste oversight

/home/runner/work/documentation/documentation/developer_manual/html_css_design/icons.rst:7: WARNING: duplicate label icons, other instance in /home/runner/work/documentation/documentation/developer_manual/design/foundations.rst

Could we consider removing the html css design section? I has been outdated for almost 10 releases now. or we set up a redirect to the new guidelines 🤔

skjnldsv · 2026-05-22T08:25:08Z

Could we consider removing the html css design section? I has been outdated for almost 10 releases now. or we set up a redirect to the new guidelines 🤔

Sure, why not ?

skjnldsv · 2026-05-22T08:25:40Z

Please also use conventional commits :)

… description. Signed-off-by: Nimisha Vijay <nimisha.k.vijay@gmail.com>

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:22:15Z


-Nextcloud design and brand standards are used to maintain the identity of Nextcloud apps.
-If you're a developer who wants to create or contribute to a Nextcloud app, following this guide will make sure your app looks like it belongs to the Nextcloud family.
+Nextcloud design and brand standards are used to maintain the identity of Nextcloud apps. If you’re a developer who wants to create or contribute to a Nextcloud app, following this guide will make


Will this line break be fine?

Theoritecally, our design rst guidelines ask devs to split all lines after 120 characters.

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:23:57Z

+   limits <https://www.nngroup.com/articles/response-times-3-important-limits/>`__.
+-  The state of the application should be clear. If something loads, provide feedback.
+-  Regularly reset your installation to see what the first-run experience is like, and improve it.
+-  Ideally do `usability testing <http://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software>`__ to know how people use the software. Testing with 5 users is enough to identify most of your problems.


Minor, but this can be https now: https://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software :)

Suggested change

- Ideally do `usability testing <http://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software>`__ to know how people use the software. Testing with 5 users is enough to identify most of your problems.

- Ideally do `usability testing <https://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software>`__ to know how people use the software. Testing with 5 users is enough to identify most of your problems.

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:24:40Z

+   the `W3 website <https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/glance/>`__
+-  Software should work. Only put features into main branch when they are complete. It is better to not have a feature instead of having one that works poorly.
+-  Software should get out of the way. Do things automatically instead of offering configuration options. When people ask for a setting, find out what the root of the problem is and fix that instead.
+   Also read `Choosing our Preferences <http://ometer.com/preferences.html>`__.


Same here, can be https: https://ometer.com/preferences.html

Suggested change

Also read `Choosing our Preferences <http://ometer.com/preferences.html>`__.

Also read `Choosing our Preferences <https://ometer.com/preferences.html>`__.

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:25:37Z

+-  Software should get out of the way. Do things automatically instead of offering configuration options. When people ask for a setting, find out what the root of the problem is and fix that instead.
+   Also read `Choosing our Preferences <http://ometer.com/preferences.html>`__.
+-  People’s data is sacred. Provide undo for most operations and optionally a confirmation for bigger more complex operations, but be careful about confirmations `as they might be
+   dismissed <http://www.alistapart.com/articles/neveruseawarning/>`__.


https and link slightly changed

Suggested change

dismissed <http://www.alistapart.com/articles/neveruseawarning/>`__.

dismissed <https://alistapart.com/article/neveruseawarning/>`__.

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:26:20Z

-* The state of the application should be clear. If something loads, provide feedback.
-* Regularly reset your installation to see what the first-run experience is like, and improve it.
-* Ideally do `usability testing <http://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software>`_ to know how people use the software. Testing with 5 users is enough to identify most of your problems.
+For further UX principles, read `Alex Faaborg from Mozilla <http://uxmag.com/articles/quantifying-usability>`__, and the `GNOME Human Interface Guidelines <https://developer.gnome.org/hig/principles.html>`__


https

Suggested change

For further UX principles, read `Alex Faaborg from Mozilla <http://uxmag.com/articles/quantifying-usability>`__, and the `GNOME Human Interface Guidelines <https://developer.gnome.org/hig/principles.html>`__

For further UX principles, read `Alex Faaborg from Mozilla <https://uxmag.com/articles/quantifying-usability>`__, and the `GNOME Human Interface Guidelines <https://developer.gnome.org/hig/principles.html>`__

jancborchardt

Looks very nice! Just some details on the links (being not https) and on screenshots (like left nav not appearing blurry).

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:27:28Z

Would be good to have 1 or 2 of them checked, no?

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:28:06Z

This looks a bit wrong or too little contrast. Is it correct @marcoambrosini @nimishavijay?

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:28:52Z

This doesn’t have the new left nav changes yet, and the left nav is also not blurred.

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:29:22Z

Might be nice to have one of the entries hovered/focused to show it?

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:29:44Z

Also here, background of nav is not blurred

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:30:50Z

Left nav not blurry

jancborchardt · 2026-05-28T11:31:11Z

Left nav not blurry

update design guidelines and add new screenshots

19babb5

AI-assisted by Claude Opus 4.7 for first-draft and converting to .rst Signed-off-by: Nimisha Vijay <nimisha.k.vijay@gmail.com>

nimishavijay requested review from jancborchardt, kra-mo and skjnldsv May 21, 2026 20:25

github-actions Bot added manual: developer 3. to review labels May 21, 2026

This comment was marked as resolved.

Sign in to view

completed icons section in foundations and fixed duplicate link

fdc6155

Signed-off-by: Nimisha Vijay <nimisha.k.vijay@gmail.com>

kra-mo requested changes May 22, 2026

View reviewed changes

Comment thread developer_manual/images/radio-group.png

Comment thread developer_manual/design/introduction.rst Outdated

docs(design): adjust gnome link and update radio group screenshot and…

34ca28c

… description. Signed-off-by: Nimisha Vijay <nimisha.k.vijay@gmail.com>

nimishavijay requested a review from kra-mo May 22, 2026 09:39

jancborchardt requested review from marcoambrosini and susnux May 28, 2026 11:19

jancborchardt added this to 🖍 Design team May 28, 2026

jancborchardt assigned nimishavijay May 28, 2026

jancborchardt moved this to 🏗️ At engineering in 🖍 Design team May 28, 2026

jancborchardt reviewed May 28, 2026

View reviewed changes

jancborchardt requested changes May 28, 2026

View reviewed changes

	- Ideally do `usability testing <http://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software>`__ to know how people use the software. Testing with 5 users is enough to identify most of your problems.
	- Ideally do `usability testing <https://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software>`__ to know how people use the software. Testing with 5 users is enough to identify most of your problems.

	Also read `Choosing our Preferences <http://ometer.com/preferences.html>`__.
	Also read `Choosing our Preferences <https://ometer.com/preferences.html>`__.

	dismissed <http://www.alistapart.com/articles/neveruseawarning/>`__.
	dismissed <https://alistapart.com/article/neveruseawarning/>`__.

	For further UX principles, read `Alex Faaborg from Mozilla <http://uxmag.com/articles/quantifying-usability>`__, and the `GNOME Human Interface Guidelines <https://developer.gnome.org/hig/principles.html>`__
	For further UX principles, read `Alex Faaborg from Mozilla <https://uxmag.com/articles/quantifying-usability>`__, and the `GNOME Human Interface Guidelines <https://developer.gnome.org/hig/principles.html>`__

Conversation

nimishavijay commented May 21, 2026

☑️ Resolves

🖼️ Screenshots

✅ Checklist

Uh oh!

This comment was marked as resolved.

github-actions Bot commented May 22, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

📖 Documentation Preview

Uh oh!

nimishavijay commented May 22, 2026

Uh oh!

skjnldsv commented May 22, 2026

Uh oh!

skjnldsv commented May 22, 2026

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

jancborchardt left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

4 participants

github-actions Bot commented May 22, 2026 •

edited

Loading