How it works › Open modes

Open modes

What touching a record does is one setting per view, with three modes: expand a band under the row, open the side peek, or link to the record's page. Like Notion's per-view "Open pages in", because one forced peek mode backfires (Atlassian had to add an opt-out to its preview panel).

open =

Click a row

Live

robotparts' actuators. side: a click opens the peek, ↑/↓ step through the rows, Escape closes. expand: a band with the photo and the key specs opens under the row, several at once. link: the whole row goes to the part's page on robotparts.dev.

The live view starts when it scrolls into sight.

gallery/robotparts-actuators/views.base · “All, flat”

- type: table
  name: All, flat
  order: [model, brand, form, drivetrain, peak_torque, rated_torque, max_speed, mass, gear_ratio, voltage, od, length, buses, torque_density, price, sellers, level]
  sort:
    - { property: brand, direction: ASC }
    - { property: model, direction: ASC }

From the example robotparts actuators

index.html

<data-views src="views.base" open="side"></data-views>

Write it

views.base

open: side                          # the file's default for every view
views:
  - type: table
    name: Expand in place
    open: expand                    # this view's own mode
  - type: table
    name: Row links
    open: { mode: link, url: url }  # the page URL is the url property
  - type: cards
    name: Gallery
    open: { mode: side, splitAt: 1100 }

The view's key wins over the attribute, which wins over the file's top level; with nothing set it is {mode: side, splitAt: 1100}. The page URL is open.url, else the dataset's linkProperty. No URL, no drill-down: no title link and no "Open page".

Every mode

A real link underneath. With a URL the title cell is a real <a href>: ⌘/Ctrl/middle click opens a tab, as it should. A double-click or Enter opens the page.
side is responsive. At least splitAt px wide, the pane docks on the right and the list narrows beside it; narrower, it overlays; on a phone it is full screen with ‹ Back.
The peek is in the URL. #peek=<id> is pushed when it opens, so Back closes it and a shared link reopens it.
Keyboard. ↑/↓ or j/k step to the next record with the pane open; Space opens the peek, toggles a band, or ticks the row in link mode; Escape closes.

Comes from docs/CONTRACT.md §13 (open modes) and docs/peps/0003-open-modes.md in docs/.