Settings: three layouts to pick from
Usability round, step 3. Settings is an overview and 16 pages in five groups. Each option shows Members at 1440 and one page on a phone, in the real shell, on the six text roles. Pick one, or name the parts you want from each.
What is off now
From the apple-design review of ten Settings pages (shots of 2026-09-27 at 1440 and 390).
- HighEvery page has three titles. On a phone: "Members" in the top bar, then "Settings" with a purpose line that is not about Members, then a small "Team" over "Members".
- HighSettings has two purpose lines: "The workspace, each channel, messaging, contacts and connected services." on the overview, "Connections, the workspace, people and the audit log." on every page.
- HighThe Audit log shows raw request data (
{"body":{"email":…) and names things the way the database does: "Setting agentSituations", "Connection cc1a6b6b-b612-…". - HighWords only the builders use: "Email is the pager, Home is the truth", "red tier", "Slugs are the stored value (snake_case)", "Language model (agent brain)".
- MediumEach person on Members carries two drop-downs, "Set password" and "Remove", so six people fill the screen. "As the role: all" does not say what it limits.
- MediumGeneral and Alerts open with small uppercase labels ("PLATFORM") that repeat the page name.
- MediumWhatsApp shows "Off" twice and needs Save for its one switch.
- MediumDates carry seconds: "9/27/2026, 2:43:40 PM".
What works and stays: the Roles grid, the counts on the Members tabs (All 6, Active 5, Invited 1), and the overview's five groups with a line each.
A Settings sidebar
Settings gets its own sidebar at desktop width, with search on top and the five groups under it, the way System Settings works on a Mac. The page title is the page's name. On a phone the overview is a grouped list whose rows say what each setting is now.
1440 · Members, with a person's menu open
390 · The Settings overview as a grouped list
- One title: "Members", with the page's own purpose under it.
- Members is a table. Role and who they see are quiet pickers; "Set password" and "Remove" move into the menu at the row's end.
- Every Settings page is one click away, and you always see where you are.
- Trade-off: 248 px go to the sidebar, and it replaces the card overview at desktop width.
The overview, and a way back
The smallest change. The card overview stays as the way in. Each page opens with "Settings" as a link back, then its own title and purpose. Members keeps its pickers on the row, in one line, with the rarer actions in a menu.
1440 · Members
390 · Members
- The overview you know stays; only the pages under it change.
- The phone's top bar says where "back" goes; the page says where you are.
- Both pickers stay on the row, so a role changes in one tap.
- Trade-off: moving between two pages goes through the overview.
People and one person
Members becomes a list of people beside the person you picked, like Mail or Contacts. The list shows name, role and status; everything you can change about one person sits on their side, with Remove set apart at the bottom.
1440 · Members, Nadia open beside the list
390 · One person, opened from the list
- The list reads at a glance: no drop-downs in it.
- "Which conversations they see" is two plain choices with what each one means.
- Remove is away from everyday changes and says what happens.
- Trade-off: a role change is two clicks, where B is one.
In every option
The Audit log reads as sentences
Who did what, in words, grouped by day. The request data stays one click away under "Details", with passwords and tokens still hidden. Filters become People, Kind of change and Dates.
Plain words
| Now | Becomes |
|---|---|
| Email is the pager, Home is the truth: every alerted condition also shows on Home. Both email tiers ship disabled; with the defaults below, nothing is sent. | Everything that sends an alert also shows on Home. Alert emails are off until you turn them on. |
| Red tier (immediate emails) · Send red-tier emails | Urgent emails · Email as soon as something breaks |
| Tags categorise contacts. Slugs are the stored value (snake_case); labels and colours are just the display. | Tags sort your contacts. A tag added on a contact shows here without a colour until you give it one. |
| As the role: all · As the role: only assigned | Sees all conversations · Sees only conversations assigned to them |
| Language model (agent brain) · The model the agent thinks with — every DM reply… | Language model · The model the AI uses for every conversation reply, comment decision and caption. (This card's words are in shared code; main carries the change.) |
And
- No small uppercase labels over titles. A card's heading is the heading role.
- Dates read "27 Sep, 14:43", with the year only when it is not this year, and never seconds.
- A channel's AI switch saves when you flip it and shows its state once.
- Settings keeps one purpose line: "The workspace, each channel, messaging, contacts and connected services." Each page has its own.