[Dashboard] Warn on entering Edit Mode when State has Changed

[ThomThomson]

Problem
Sometimes a user will add a filter, change the time range, or change the query on a dashboard in view mode. If they then enter edit mode, the unsaved changes badge will appear immediately because the current state of the dashboard is not equal to the last saved state. Sometimes this can cause trouble because the user does not know what has changed to cause the unsaved changes badge to appear immediately, and may accidentally save an unwanted filter into the dashboard.

Potential solution?
On entering edit mode, if the dashboard state is different than the last saved state, an info modal could appear to let the user know that "this dashboard looks different from the last time it was saved", and could provide the options: "Continue from this unsaved state" and "start editing from the last saved state". Wording of course could be tweaked!

[elasticmachine]

Pinging @elastic/kibana-presentation (Team:Presentation)

[teresaalvarezsoler]

If they then enter edit mode, the unsaved changes badge will appear immediately because the current state of the dashboard is not equal to the last saved state

I cannot reproduce this. It only happens if I click in "Switch to view mode" after enter edit mode. If I navigate to the dashboard list and then I come back, all my recent changes are saved in my session. This behaviour seems correct to me.

[ThomThomson]

The idea behind this issue is it can be a little confusing that interactions the user can do in view mode can become unsaved changes the minute the user enters edit mode. This is because there is nothing that shows the last saved state, so the context is lost. This video illustrates what I mean here.

Jun-07-2022.10-03-04.mp4

If there was an info dialog that allowed the user to either start from the last saved state or continue editing from the state they were currently in, this problem wouldn't happen. This is a pretty low effort fix, but it might also not be very impactful.

[teresaalvarezsoler]

Thanks, I understand the conceptual conflict now. However, I don't think asking the user to make a decision of continuing editing or losing the changes is desirable here. It adds additional complexity and cognitive load to the user. The way it works now is much smoother and simple for the user from a UX perspective. If there is not evidence that users are confused by this behaviour (e.g., users reported issues or we spot them during usability testing or watching Full story videos), I wouldn't change anything in this regard.

[ThomThomson]

I'm pretty sure I started tracking this initially because I had been aware of some users being confused by the unsaved changes badge appearing right away when they enter edit mode, but I can't find any related discuss posts right now, and the way it currently works makes intuitive sense to me as well to be honest.

Should we close this one? Or leave it open until we can confirm one way or another if it's a problem or not?

[teresaalvarezsoler]

Yes, I think we can close it and reopen it in case we spot user feedback regarding it.