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UI Navigation and Layout Redesign

1 post · Jan 2015 – Aug 2026

What this trail covers

GitLab has undergone significant UI navigation and layout redesigns to improve usability and screen real estate. This includes neutralizing actions and controls, enhancing instance theming, updating the neutral palette, and introducing a new bloom-style glow visual element for GitLab Duo interactions. The goal is to create a more intuitive and efficient user experience, preparing for future intelligent, self-surfacing UI elements.

All GitLab trails
  1. Making room for what's next in the GitLab UIThis post details the neutralization of actions and controls (buttons, form controls, toggles, tabs) with increased contrast, enhanced instance theming across more surface areas, an updated neutral palette with tinted neutrals for themes, and the introduction of a new bloom-style glow visual element to highlight GitLab Duo interactions and moments requiring user input. It also discusses the iterative process of design changes and the rationale behind a more reductive UI.
  2. Pragmatic Redesign for GitLabThis post details a pragmatic redesign of GitLab's UI, specifically targeting navigation issues such as limited space, stacked navigation levels, and the placement of navigation elements. It outlines the problem-solving approach, the prototyping process using web inspector, community feedback gathering via Twitter and a staging server, and the successful implementation of changes like moving navigation to the side, improving vertical screen real estate, and better icon utilization. The redesign was released with GitLab 7.7.