Mixing lines with 1, 2, and 3 columns in a single Dashboard
Description
Currently, when configuring a Gladys Dashboard, you can choose the number of columns to use: 1, 2, or 3.
This functionality is very practical, especially for displaying certain widgets in full width. However, the choice of the number of columns applies to the entire Dashboard.
I would like to be able to define the number of columns line by line, in order to be able to mix different layouts within the same Dashboard.
Example
The goal would be to be able to build a Dashboard like this:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Full-width Widget │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
┌───────────────────────┬─────────────────────┐
│ │ │
│ Widget 1 │ Widget 2 │
│ │ │
└───────────────────────┴─────────────────────┘
┌───────────────┬───────────────┬─────────────┐
│ │ │ │
│ Widget 1 │ Widget 2 │ Widget 3 │
│ │ │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴─────────────┘
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ Full-width Chart │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Thus, a line could contain:
-
1 column → 100% width
-
2 columns → 50% / 50%
-
3 columns → 33% / 33% / 33%
And these different types of lines could be used successively in the same Dashboard.
Why?
This would allow building much more readable and content-adapted Dashboards.
For example, in an « Energy » Dashboard:
-
a consumption curve could occupy the entire width;
-
the different powers or consumptions could be displayed in 3 columns;
-
another chart could again take up the full width;
-
then a few commands could be displayed in 2 columns.
Today, to achieve this type of presentation, you have to choose between a Dashboard with 1, 2, or 3 columns and therefore cannot adapt the width to each type of content.
Ergonomics Proposal
When editing the Dashboard, each line could simply have a parameter to choose its number of columns:
Line 1 [ 1 column ▼ ]
Line 2 [ 2 columns ▼ ]
Line 3 [ 3 columns ▼ ]
Line 4 [ 1 column ▼ ]
Another possibility would be to allow changing the width of a block and let Gladys automatically reorganize the other widgets in the line.
The important thing, in my opinion, is to maintain a simple logic: the number of columns must be able to be defined independently for each line.
Responsive
The responsive behavior could of course continue to apply on small screens.
For example, a line configured with 3 columns on a computer could automatically switch to 1 or 2 columns on mobile/tablet depending on the available width.
Interest
This evolution would not call into question the current functioning of Dashboards.
The global choice of 1, 2, or 3 columns could simply become the default behavior, with the possibility of customizing certain lines.
This would give much more freedom to build complex Dashboards while maintaining the current simplicity for users who do not need customization.
In my opinion, this would be a fairly natural evolution of the current Dashboard system.
What do you think?
