Item view

The representation of a single entity at the right level of detail for the actor’s current task, balancing recognition with depth. Within the view system, items can appear in progressively richer forms — from a minimal reference to a full working surface — enabling fluid navigation between granularities without losing orientation.

User needs

• People need to recognise an entity wherever it appears, but they don’t always need all of its details.
• They want to stay in the flow of their current task, but sometimes they must shift into deep focus.
• Entities must sometimes act as links to other places, and sometimes as self-sufficient centres of work.

Semantic level

Item representation is the combination of semantic level and UI element. The two co-vary: choosing a level of detail is also choosing how much surrounding context remains — a reference sits inside running text, a row keeps the collection in view, a full view gives the item the whole frame.

Reference

• Purpose: identify and link to items
• Data: name, type
• Interaction: navigation

An inline @mention that opens to richer detail on demand, rendered as a reference:

Summary

• Purpose: quick assessment and comparison without leaving current task
• Data: key attributes, status, recent activity
• Interaction: navigation, actions for common operations

As a row in a table, the item’s peers staying in view; a card is the standalone form:

Detail

• Purpose: inspection of most important information while maintaining context
• Data: relevant details for current task
• Interaction: editing, navigate to full page

Full

• Purpose: Complete focus on single item
• Data: All data, history, relationships
• Interaction: editing, analysis, management

UI element

• Inline: within text or structured UI.
• Contextual overlay: popover, hovercard.
• Transient container: modal, drawer, side panel.
• Dedicated view: section, panel, page, workspace, tab.

Transitions

Item views support fluid navigation through semantic levels:

Reference → summary: Hover over inline reference reveals summary in popover Summary → detail: Click table row to expand detail panel or open modal Detail → full: Navigate from modal to dedicated page view Full → collection: Return to parent collection view (data view)

These transitions preserve context and maintain recognition of the entity across representations.

Related components

• Item view — the adapter-based mechanism rendering an entity at each scope
• Reference
• Dialog & drawer
• Card – summary-level item representations