...
Now test everything again:
Clone
New
Edit
Console view
Mobile! (NOTE: I will NOT be focusing on Mobile on this run-through).
STOP!
🛑 NOW STOP! 🛑
Do not try anything fancy.
No moving fields to other tabs.
No hiding sections that are only visible for certain stages.
No conditional tabs.
Give this to the users for at least 2 weeks, if not a month.
It’s up to you if you give them the option to go back to the old App / layout at this stage or only after you start messing with them more.
Let them get used to this bit of cheese being moved, before you unleash anything more.
Again, I’m only talking about your main objects here, be a bit more daring with trivial objects.
Use this time to refine all the other improvements (see below), and work on the next steps in your Sandbox.
You will also get used to the double maintenance you now have to do by having Dynamic Forms, and you will get used to the “gaslightning” that occurs every time you go to make a change.
Read this Blog Post
Michael Kolodner has recently written an excellent blog post on how to design your pages for Dynamic Forms. https://www.freelikeapuppy.tech/post/design-for-user-success-field-placement. For old Page Layouts I swore by this post https://www.shellblack.com/administration/usability-fields-and-page-layouts/, so it is time to update my goto post for sharing with others on how to layout their pages, by now sharing Michael’s post.
Now
...
try the Fancy Stuff
Firstly, Clone your Lightning Page that you just finished with, in case you need to go back to it, if the user’s can’t deal with things moving around the page.
Having whole sections that move locations, or disappear, or appear at different stages may be very disconcerting to the users.
Try to NOT move the same field to a different location.
Be very careful with which fields hide and show - try to include only fields at the bottom of a section, or in a new section.
Be just as careful for the opposite directions - especially if it’s usual for records to go back a stage.
Eg there is a “new feature” that if a field in the right column disappears, the left column “helpfully” becomes one long column. NO, we DO NOT WANT THAT! Users do not need to wonder why the Amount field is twice as wide sometimes as others, and the Amount field should never be a wide column! So ensure you have a blank space that is made visible with the opposite condition of removing the field from visibility.
Try to label the sections for when they appear, to help the users understand that eg
Payment Information (Closed Won).
Try to only pick one or two reasons that fields show and hide on the same record eg
A Stage Changes
A Date entered
Has related records for X
Has a key lookup field entered
Keep fields that make the section appear eg
If a section is updated via an Integration (eg creation of an Opportunity for a Donation), then it could be one of the fields in the section that is entered that causes the section to be visible,
But that won’t work if the fields in the section must editable at any time.
You may want to add checkboxes or (god forbid) Multi Select Picklists to control which sections of the page are visible.
Start with the low hanging fruit
Sections that don’t need to be there on Closed Won
Go back to the old idea of a Closed Case Page Layout and only show things that are needed on Closed records.
But, users probably want everything, AND the fields that need to be there on Close. So maybe put those other fields in conditional tabs.
Sections that don’t need to be there until a Stage is met.
Ensure they are still there at every later stage, (unless absolutely not necessary).
If you have sequential stages, then create a “helper formula” of IsProposal, that includes the stage of Working and Proposal, or IsNegotiation that contains Working, Proposal and Negotiation.
Or use Probability instead (if it 100% tracks with Stage).
Or create your own probability style field - Stage Number so you can stay Stage < 4 or Stage > 3. This may be useful where there are the same number of Stages between Record Types, but with different Names.
Now, remember you can have a field on the page multiple times. So you might have a field that belongs in a section that is only visible as Stage X, but you could display it in another section if it sometimes gets filled out earlier, and also include it in that Stage section. Especially if you are using Conditional Tabs.
Clean up that ugly System fields section.
This is the FIRST section to move onto Conditional Tabs.
Your users do not ever want to see the Opportunity Name? Sure, move it to another tab.
Name the Tab “Settings” or “Structure” or something useful
ENSURE YOU KEEP Created Date, Last Modified Date, Owner, Record Type.
Removing these breaks “Salesforce” (as in you may as well have any old Database in the cloud)*.
Extra Fancy Ideas
Create a Tab for each Document, or Integration. Conditionally display the Tab only when the user would click the button to send the Integration or build the Document.
Include every field on that page that is in the Document or sent over to Integration.
Often these are fields that are not visible on the page layout.
Include them in the order they are in the document. This is actually a good use of single column fields.
Make them editable still.
Include fields from other records using Related Records or Dynamic Lists
Unfortunately Opportunity Contact Roles are NOT available in Dynamic Lists
The user can then quickly scan down the fields to see what is missing on the document or in the integration, and edit it then and there before clicking the button.
For bonus points find a way to add the button to the Tab (see above).
Bring your Related Lists out onto separate tabs for different Departments
Include field sections for that department only.
HOWEVER note that those fields WILL be shown twice on Edit and New IF they are on the Department Tab and the main Tab, and that may be disconcerting to users.
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