08 — UI/UX Specification

From the Burrow™ specification set.

08 — UI/UX Specification

Design Goal

The interface is a storage management machine: precise, operational, and evidence-based. It is not a scare-tactic disk cleaner.

It should answer:

  1. How much storage am I using?
  2. What can I recover?
  3. Is important data protected?

Navigation

The public website homepage (/) is the product/info landing page. The 0.1 console Dashboard lives at /dashboard.

  • Dashboard
  • Storage
  • Files
  • Duplicates
  • Cleanup
  • Archive
  • Backup
  • Activity
  • Settings

Unavailable future features may appear disabled or be hidden until implemented.

Dashboard

Storage Cards

For each configured volume/provider:

  • name;
  • role/provider;
  • used/free/capacity where meaningful;
  • locally allocated managed bytes;
  • last scan;
  • status.

Potential Recovery

Break down conservatively:

  • exact duplicates;
  • archive candidates;
  • Downloads;
  • installers/disk images;
  • large/stale files;
  • cloud files eligible for local eviction (future, separate from deletion).

Never present speculative categories as "safe to delete."

Protection

Show collections with health:

  • Verified
  • Backed Up
  • Synced Only
  • At Risk
  • Stale
  • Destination Offline

Storage View

Drill into a volume/root with:

  • capacity;
  • scan coverage;
  • largest folders;
  • file-type distribution;
  • age distribution;
  • cloud state;
  • configured role.

Files View

Table fields:

  • name;
  • path;
  • size;
  • allocated size;
  • modified;
  • location/provider;
  • cloud state;
  • protection;
  • recommendation.

Filters should be first-class.

Duplicates View

Group-centric presentation.

Each group shows:

  • confidence/type;
  • hash status;
  • group size;
  • number of copies;
  • reclaimable local bytes.

Expanding a group shows every copy and relevant protection context.

Recommendation Explanation

Every recommendation must have a "Why?" explanation with deterministic evidence.

Example:

Archive candidate because this 8.4 GB project has not changed in 327 days. No automatic action will be taken.

Scan Experience

User chooses roots, sees exclusions, starts scan, and can cancel.

Progress must show useful activity without implying precision when total work is unknown.

Safety UX

Future mutation actions require a review screen summarizing:

  • exact files;
  • source/destination;
  • cloud impact;
  • backup/verification;
  • bytes affected;
  • reversible vs permanent action.

Accessibility

Use semantic controls, keyboard navigation, sufficient contrast, non-color-only status indicators, and readable tables.

Visual Direction

Professional Platypus Software utility: compact, information-dense, restrained. Avoid gimmicky cleaner-app animations and aggressive "YOU HAVE 847 GB OF JUNK!" messaging.