I now have access to the new layouts and have a few thoughts. Here is a screenshot of a full page detail layout for reference:
Positives:
- You can still make fields side-by-side. For whatever fields are visible, you add them to a section and make that section use row instead of column.
- Sections can have titles and descriptions, both of which can be turned off section by section. Descriptions can use rich text, and titles have 2 size options.
- When you add a linked record field, you have the option of changing its display from cards or pills, to grids, galleries, etc. See the image example for “Members”.
- If you do the above, you can use Tabs/Dopdowns filter like you can on the newer “full” interface pages. Very helpful, likely the best part about the changes in my book, and something many have been requesting. See screenshot below.
- None of my existing detail pages have been changed. The options are only there for brand new detail pages.
Major Negatives (my personal opinion):
- While yes, you can still have horizontally placed fields, you have to create a section for each row, select the “row” option instead of the default (which is column).
- You also can’t decide which field should be what width. The field width is evenly distributed, which will not work in all cases.
- The maximum number of side-by-side fields is 4, the 5th and so on fields will wrap to a new row. That’s not inherently bad, but again I have no control on the width of fields.
- It doesn’t seem like sections in full-screen detail pages can span the full width of the page anymore. There used to be options for “narrow” and “wide” rows, now we can only have narrow sections but not wide sections. I have a lot of screen real estate and I want to use it, but can’t.
- Colored backgrounds are gone. They were helpful in visually breaking up pages.
- You can’t make the title of the page/record sticky (remain in view on scroll, as the back button is) anymore.
- Record Pickers aren’t placeable anymore. Neither are arbitrary text elements (which appear by default as Section titles/descriptions) or dividers or filters, but that is trivial (to me) than not being able to place a record picker. Since filters get baked into the liked record elements, that one isn’t such a negative to me.
Nitpicking (still my personal opinion):
- Action buttons applied to sections feel backwards to me. The first button I added is named “Action 1”. As you can see, the more buttons you add, the get added to the left. In left-to-right languages, it feels like that should be the other way around. Minor, but strange.
- While I appreciate the placement of comments in the fullscreen and side sheet layout (comments are optional, and can be turned off), it would be better to allow multiple different options for this. Maybe I want comments to be at the bottom and not the side. If their on the side as shown in the picture, I would like them to be collapsable.
- Each section gets a divider put underneath it automatically. You can’t turn this off, or adjust the spacing between sections. Would be great if you could.
- Somebody out there probably wants to use a grid/gallery/etc. on a detail page that doesn’t relate to linked records. That person isn’t me, but that feature is now gone.
Potential:
- Sections might open the door to anchor tags to allow you to direct link to a part of the page (i.e. a section at the bottom of a really long page). That would be very useful.
- A more rigid building experience does mean it will be easier for Airtable to turn these into mobile-ready views, at least in theory.
In short:
Not as bad as I was expecting from looking at screenshots of un-designed pages, but worse than I’d like for the reasons above. I’m sure they can fix what I’ve pointed out, the question is will they.
Edited to add the following:
Additional positives
The new update does allow you to directly add new linked records. That means creating new records, unlinking a currently linked record, or deleting a linked record. Like elsewhere in newer “full page” interface pages, you can independently toggle whether someone can link/unlink records, or create new records. The old layouts did not allow for this and required workarounds.
Also new detail pages are very responsive. Adjust the width of your browser to test. Not bad, though not all elements are suited for a small screen, and may mean mobile-interfaces are very near.
Additional negatives
I don’t think you can adjust the height of any linked record sections except for Gallery (which lets you choose how many rows of card there are). This is bad. What if I want a lot of space for a grid/list? Can’t do that yet it seems.
While you can create new linked records, you can’t just quickly create a new row/card. It pulls up a form view of your choosing. But that can potentially slow down a workflow. A plus button in the bottom left as available in the data view would be nice.
Also the “unlink” right click option might be bugged lol. Great that it will be in place eventually when fixed, but it is not currently unlinking records when I click it.