tauriedavis

Thanks for the feedback! In 9.5 we'll be introducing fly out dropdowns that will allow users to easily access sub-menu items from the sidebar. This will make it super fast and easy for you to reach the charts page from anywhere within a project. Follow along in the issue here: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/34026

Thanks for your feedback! We will be adding color palette options for differentiating instances in an upcoming release. You can follow along in the issue here: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/35012

Thanks for your feedback - we are always working on improving the UX/UI and appreciate your input! I know that large changes can feel jarring at first but we hope that in the end, they help improve workflow and productivity.

The sidebar is a global navigation and not always necessary when interacting with page-specific content on the site. GitLab is very content heavy and by allowing the sidebar to be collapsed, it allows users to have more space on smaller screens to read/scan the information that they need. As you mentioned, the sidebar can be pinned so users can view the navigation all the time if they prefer, esp if they are using a larger screen.

If you have other examples of changes that you felt were pointless, I'd love to find out the reason for the change for you!

I also urge you to voice your opinion by making an issue for changes that you think would help improve the user experience. https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/new