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Title
j
Jason Chan
03/21/2023, 12:19 AMWorking on connectors for our our table blocks! But question for you all…do you think we should auto-generate the connectors as soon as blocks reference one another? Or should we let the user decide which blocks should have connectors? Here’s an example:
m
Mattia Fregola
03/21/2023, 3:42 AMnot sure what your product is but it looks very clean! a couple of qualifying questions :D
1. is there a functional difference between a block that only references a another, and a block that both references another but is also connected?
2. when a connection is created, what happens next
j
Jason Chan
03/21/2023, 4:32 AMThank you appreciate it!
1. there would be no functional difference
2. Nothing happens when a connection is created--currently it’s just a visual cue because folks have said they wanted to see the relationship between blocks and how they’re connected
m
Mattia Fregola
03/21/2023, 9:55 PMcool! then i'd probably test the following with the same users:
• automatically add the connection when a relation is created
• remove the ability to add connections manually
i also imagine there being some more explorations about the behaviour of connectors (and relationships) with tables with formulas with multiple inputs, e.g.
◦ from multiple columns
◦ from different tables
◦ from multiple columns from the same table
i see a high spaghetti-clutter risk there 😄
(if it's a difficult build and you are able to mock it up, you could even test just the final state screens and ask users what they think each variations means)
a
Arvind Thyagarajan
03/22/2023, 11:21 PMthough the risk of a noodl-y mess is very very real, I'd say that the node/wire handshake is direct perception of data & action flow
the connectors remove the cognitive load of keeping track of what effects what in 2D space -- so my inclination would be to draw them always
also, if a user draws some but not others, that inconsistency is even more cognitive load, where the legibility of the graph now depends on a previous builder (or even yourself 2 months ago!) making the right choices in terms of which connector to manifest
j
Jason Chan
03/22/2023, 11:52 PMohhhhh the point that some blocks have connector and others not adding cognitive load is a good point that I didn’t even consider…
j
Joakim Ahnfelt-Rønne
03/29/2023, 5:23 PMAnother idea: Automatically add the connectors, but only show the connectors when hovering over a table, and only to/from that table.