Refactoring Automation Settings in Our Application

Introduction

Our application's settings were becoming increasingly complex. The original design placed auto-publish preferences within the Integrations section, which no longer reflected the evolving functionality. To improve usability and maintainability, we decided to move these preferences to a dedicated Automation Settings page.

The Challenge

The existing structure presented several challenges:

• Logical Inconsistency: Auto-publish settings are fundamentally related to automation, not integration.
• Discoverability: Users had difficulty locating these settings within the Integrations section.
• Maintainability: As we add more automation features, keeping these settings within Integrations would lead to further confusion.

The Solution

We refactored the settings interface to move auto-publish preferences from the Integrations section to a newly created Automation Settings page. This involved updating the user interface, backend logic, and data storage locations.

// Example: Moving the setting to a new configuration key
$oldSetting = config('integrations.auto_publish');
config(['automation.auto_publish' => $oldSetting]);

// Example: Updating the UI to reflect the new settings location
// In a Filament or Livewire component:
// $this->autoPublish = config('automation.auto_publish');

Key Decisions

1. Dedicated Page: Creating a separate Automation Settings page provides a clear and intuitive location for these preferences.
2. Configuration Updates: We updated the application's configuration to reflect the new location of the settings.
3. UI Adjustments: The user interface was modified to display and manage the settings in the new Automation Settings page.

Results

• Improved user experience with more intuitive navigation.
• Enhanced maintainability by grouping automation-related settings in one place.
• Increased discoverability of auto-publish preferences.

Lessons Learned

This refactoring effort highlights the importance of continuously evaluating and adjusting the application's structure to reflect evolving functionality and user needs. Regularly assessing the logical organization of settings and features can significantly improve usability and maintainability.