Explore the desktop design

AppSheet's desktop design is optimized for desktop browsers, presenting a more complete view of information with a consistent organization and structure. The desktop design lets users navigate their apps more easily and access information in context, and provides an efficient way to edit existing records without losing context.

The desktop design isn't used for apps viewed on mobile devices. In this case, the app is optimized for the mobile device.

The following provides an example of the desktop design:

 

As highlighted in the previous figure, with the desktop design:

• The left navigation bar contains links to both primary and menu views. Users can expand or collapse the navigation bar. When collapsed (as shown), icons and tooltips enable users to easily identify the views.
• The collection (card, deck, gallery, or table) and detail views display in separate panels on the same page. To adjust focus, users can expand to a tabbed view or resize the view panels. The desktop layout is customizable for detail views when configuring the detail view options. When you configure a detail view to include Show type columns, Page headers appear as the title of each card in a detail. (On mobile devices, page headers don't appear, only secondary headers.)
• Users can filter a collection view by its grouped items (configured using the Group by setting).
• Primary actions for a view appear in the top navigation bar in the panel.
• When editing row content, you can customize the editing experience to allow users to edit the content in place or edit content in a separate form. For more information, see the Desktop behavior option.
• Users can view detailed information as card blocks within a detailed view (configured using Show type columns in a table). See Configure card blocks in detail views to optimize the desktop design.
• You can customize the color of individual icons using format rules.

The following sections provide more information about the optimized desktop design:

• Limitations and known issues
• Optimize existing apps for the desktop design
• Use the legacy desktop design

Limitations and known issues

The following features are not currently supported in the desktop design:

• Smart Assistant
• The Share button is not available. To share a view, copy and paste its URL. Recipients must have access to the app.

The following lists the known issues with the new desktop design:

• The Text size style setting isn't supported at this time.
• For grouped actions:
  • Only one navigation action is executed, even if you specify more than one. It also ends the execution of the grouped action.
  • Validations rules are enforced in each step of the grouped action.
• For Data: add a new row to another table by using values from this row actions, if the ID is specified and exists in the table to which you are adding the row, the action is blocked. 
• When grouping by header in a view, the last group by header doesn't include inline or REF view actions.
• When using custom app launchers or navigating between apps that use different desktop modes, you might experience unexpected results with the navigation patterns.
• Background images are currently not supported

Optimize existing apps for the desktop design 

Consider the following to optimize existing apps for the desktop design:

• Reconsider your use of dashboard views
  For example, you may have used the dashboard view to present more information on a single page. With the optimized desktop design, this level of information is provided by default, without the use of a dashboard view.
• Revisit design elements implemented to improve the legacy desktop experience
  You may have configured design elements to improve the layout in the legacy desktop. These elements may no longer be needed.
• Test the app interactions thoroughly
  You may discover areas in the app where you want to make minor changes.

Use the legacy desktop design

The legacy desktop design provides an experience similar to the mobile and tablet device.  The following provides an example of the legacy desktop design for a detail view:
 

As highlighted in the previous figure:

• Detail views display on a page separate from the collection view. Users need to navigate back to see the collection view.
• The navigation bar for primary views appears at the bottom of the screen. Navigation for menu views appears in a drop-down (accessible only from the collection view). 
• Primary actions appear as overlay (floating) icons. 

 When you create a new app, you are opted in to the optimized desktop design. You can continue to use the legacy desktop design in your app by disabling the optimized desktop design. When configuring general settings for views, turn off the Desktop mode setting in the General section.