[4.x]: UX Tab issue: No error indication for fields in tabs under tab dropdown.

[myleshyson]

What happened?

Description

One of our content editors today reported not being able to save an entry. When we looked deeper into it, he had an error on a field or two but in tabs that were hidden by the tab dropdown (he was on a smaller screen). However because he couldn't immediately see where the error occurred he was confused as to why the entry wasn't saving.

What he sees when there is a field error.

Where the errors actually are.

I think adding something to indicate where the error occurs, without having to hunt for it, would offer a benefit. Could be something as small as adding an alert icon to the menu button to show errors exist in the hidden tabs. Maybe something like this?

Even better would be a high contrast list of errors at the top. When you have a lot of fields, or a lot of matrix blocks, it can be hard to find the red outline/text that contains the error. That's a pretty big UX change for errors though.

What do ya'll think?

Steps to reproduce

1. Create enough tabs so that some are hidden in the tab dropdown.
2. Add fields to the tabs that are hidden.
3. Save the entry ensuring a validation error on one of the hidden tabs.
4. See a pop-up message that the entry couldn't be saved, but nothing more.

Expected behavior

1. Some kind of visual indication as to where the errors might be located.

Actual behavior

1. No immediate indication to where the error occurred.

Craft CMS version

4.4.3

PHP version

No response

Operating system and version

No response

Database type and version

No response

Image driver and version

No response

Installed plugins and versions

[i-just]

Hi, thanks for reporting. I have submitted PRs for Craft 3 and Craft 4 for this.

We also plan to release an ‘errors summary’ feature soon (#12125), which should further improve the authoring experience in cases like this.

[brandonkelly]

This is resolved now for the next Craft 3 and 4 releases, via #12977 and #12978.

[brandonkelly]

Craft 3.8.6 and 4.4.6 are out with those improvements 🎉