Create/Edit Template Page: Avoid Ambiguity with Red Asterisks

[ChengShi-1]

Currently, when creating or editing a dataset template, two different asterisk (*) indicators are displayed:

• One next to the template name, indicating that the field is required for creating the template.
• Another next to metadata fields, indicating that those fields are required at the collection level, but are not actually required during the template creation process.

Because these two asterisks represent different meanings, @pdurbin , @jp-tosca and I have discussed a few ideas for better distinguishing these scenarios and reducing potential confusion.

• To use a different symbol and color for required by the template vs required by the collection. (Phil has a mock up here)

Also,

• Gray asterisks
• ○ symbol
• A clock symbol/emoji

[jggautier]

Thanks for documenting this context @ChengShi-1!

@jp-tosca and @pdurbin asked for my feedback about this in #908, but things still felt a bit vague after I'd asked a few clarifying questions.

I would encourage folks to consider:

• How much confusion there actually is, since users of repositories using the JSF version of Dataverse have seen these two different asterisk indicators for a while, maybe as far back as when we added templates to Dataverse. I read that the confusion is potential, so I'm assuming we don't have evidence of users being confused by this. If that's true, of course that still doesn't mean users haven't been confused, only that they haven't been confused enough to tell us 😂
• Whether people need to know, at the point of creating and editing templates, which fields users will need to fill out on the deposit form in order to create and edit datasets. Being sure about this might help us more confidently decide if we need two different symbols at all, or if a symbol like the asterisk should appear only next to the required "Template Name" field.

[ChengShi-1]

Thanks for documenting this context @ChengShi-1!

@jp-tosca and @pdurbin asked for my feedback about this in #908, but things still felt a bit vague after I'd asked a few clarifying questions.

I would encourage folks to consider:

• How much confusion there actually is, since users of repositories using the JSF version of Dataverse have seen these two different asterisk indicators for a while, maybe as far back as when we added templates to Dataverse. I read that the confusion is potential, so I'm assuming we don't have evidence of users being confused by this. If that's true, of course that still doesn't mean users haven't been confused, only that they haven't been confused enough to tell us 😂
• Whether people need to know, at the point of creating and editing templates, which fields users will need to fill out on the deposit form in order to create and edit datasets. Being sure about this might help us more confidently decide if we need two different symbols at all, or if a symbol like the asterisk should appear only next to the required "Template Name" field.

Hi Julian! Those are great questions and definitely worth thinking about more.
For the first question, I had the confusion when I first implemented template features, and Ellen explained the difference to me. JP also had the same question while QAing this PR. However, for me, once the difference was explained, I found it easy to understand.

For the second point, we've already talked about this.
I think it's useful to show which fields are required for datasets, when people are creating or editing templates. One of the goals of templates is to make dataset creation easier and reduce repeated work. If required fields aren't clearly marked in the template editor, people may not realize they should include them in the template. Then, when they create a dataset with the template, they'll still have to fill those fields out manually. Showing this information doesn't seem difficult, and it does help optimize the dataset creation process, even if only in a small way.

[jggautier]

For the first question, I had the confusion when I first implemented template features, and Ellen explained the difference to me. JP also had the same question while QAing this PR. However, for me, once the difference was explained, I found it easy to understand.

Thanks, I agree! Your expertise, experiences, and fresh eyes are vital, of course. I just want to keep that "we're not our users" mantra in the front of our minds.

I think it's useful to show which fields are required for datasets, when people are creating or editing templates. One of the goals of templates is to make dataset creation easier and reduce repeated work. If required fields aren't clearly marked in the template editor, people may not realize they should include them in the template. Then, when they create a dataset with the template, they'll still have to fill those fields out manually. Showing this information doesn't seem difficult, and it does help optimize the dataset creation process, even if only in a small way.

Documenting this context here is super helpful too, for this discussion and hopefully for reference later, maybe months or years later, if others need to learn what the goals were and why things were designed the way they were. I think we can all think of lots of cases where we're trying to understand why something was designed a certain way, can't find any clues and are forced to guess or possibly re-do work to learn why.

If required fields aren't clearly marked in the template editor, people may not realize they should include them in the template.

Thanks for sharing this rationale especially! The requirement of the fields, like the "Title" field, doesn't always mean that people creating templates should add instructions or values that Dataverse will pre-populated for that field on the dataset deposit form, right? I'm sure users have created templates in Dataverse repositories where they haven't added values or instructions for required fields, like the Title field. I think this helps form the question: When users are managing templates, how much does knowing if a field is required help them decide if they should add instructions or values for that field?

If we still think users still need two different symbols, one for the required "Template Name" field and one for fields that dataset editors will need to fill on the dataset deposit form, I also wonder if we should consider using the asterisks for the deposit form's required fields, since the asterisks is the symbol that's used already used on the dataset deposit form, and using a new symbol for the required "Template Name" field, instead.

And I wonder if the current position of the two notes, both below the "Template Name" field and above the deposit form fields, will help users realize which notes apply to which fields, right? Do you and @jp-tosca think that the current position of the two notes also what caused confusion about what each of the asterisks mean?