Previously, I showed you some of the great improvements made to issue tracking in Jira 4.1. Today, I want to talk about one of the coolest additions to the new UI: the Operations Bar.
Previously, I showed you some of the great improvements made to issue tracking in Jira 4.1. Today, I want to talk about one of the coolest additions to the new UI: the Operations Bar.
In earlier versions of Jira, issue operations and workflow transitions were somewhat poorly assembled on the left-hand side of each issue, requiring constant scrolling and scanning as you worked through issues. Now with the ops bar, it’s much easier (and quicker) to work on your issues.
Raising the bar
Here is a breakdown of the new operations bar in Jira 4.1:
- All ops on top – First of all, all issue operations and issue transitions are now organised across the top of each issue instead of being buried on the left.
- Ever get the fellin’ you’re being followed? – As you scroll down the page, the operations bar sticks to the top of your window (leading some folks internally to call it the “stalker bar”). The big benefit is that you can take action on an issue from anywhere without having to scroll back to the top of the page.
You will also notice the header scrolls away to maximise screen real estate. - Comments in the ops bar – In Jira 4.1, the comment entry box is now part of the operations bar, meaning that it sticks to the top of the page allowing you to scroll up and down to view issue details and other comments while you are typing your comment.
- Project avatars – The avatar helps you quickly identify the current project when you are triaging a list of issues from multiple projects.
- Breadcrumbs – The breadcrumb trail includes project name, issue key and issue description. For subtasks, the parent issue key and description are also included.
- Buttons for common actions – The buttons on the left side of the operations bar reflect the three most common actions: Edit, Assign and Comment. Of course, the buttons will only appear if you have permission to perform those actions.
- Keyboard shortcuts – Hovering over each of the three common actions shows the respective keyboard shortcuts: ‘e’, ‘a’ and ‘m’. Hit ‘?’ at any time to get a complete list of keyboard shortcuts.
- More actions – This dropdown menu shows you all the remaining available issue operations based on the user permissions permissions. These operations are grouped by functional area.
- Workflow transitions – The buttons on the right of the operations bar show you the available workflow transitions. By default, the first two transitions are shown as buttons (to accommodate longer transition names on standard screen resolutions) with any remaining transitions in the workflow dropdown menu.
- View – On the far right of the operations bar, you can choose to view the issue as XML, in Microsoft Word or printer-friendly HTML.
Combined with the new view issue layout, the Operations Bar is definitely raising the bar when it comes Jira user experience.
Get Jira 4.1 today
Download Jira 4.1 now to upgrade or get started with a free 30-day trial. You can also check out our Online Trial (also free for 30 days) or play around with our live Sandbox which includes a guided tour of Jira 4.1.