/data-display-and-selection

name: data-display-and-selection
description: View modes, row selection, mass actions, sorting, filters, search and table patterns. Use when designing data tables, listings, file browsers or any collection.
metadata:
  priority: 7
  pathPatterns:
    - "components/**"
    - "src/components/**"
    - "**/*.tsx"
    - "**/*.jsx"
    - "design-system/**"
    - "ui/**"
  promptSignals:
    phrases:
      - "data table"
      - "list view"
      - "grid view"
      - "mass action"
      - "bulk action"
      - "row selection"
      - "select all"
      - "item selection"
      - "view toggle"
      - "collection"
      - "search"
      - "autocomplete"
      - "typeahead"
      - "search results"
      - "chart"
      - "infographic"
      - "metric"
retrieval:
  aliases:
    - data table
    - list view
    - grid view
    - mass actions
    - bulk actions
    - row selection
    - view modes
    - collection UI
    - search and autocomplete
    - typeahead search
    - instant search results
    - chart type choice
    - infographic colour
    - making numbers comprehensible
  intents:
    - design a data table
    - add grid and list view toggle
    - implement row selection
    - add bulk actions
    - design a product listing
    - make selection easier
    - design a search with instant results
    - choose a familiar chart type
    - present a number or metric clearly
  examples:
    - add grid and list view to this product listing
    - design row selection for this table
    - add bulk delete to this list
    - make it easier to select multiple items
    - add an autocomplete search to this app
    - what chart should I use for this trend
    - make this number easier to understand

Data Display and Selection

Complex data collections — products, files, users, orders, tasks — have no single correct view. Different tasks call for different views. Browsing benefits from grid; comparing details benefits from list or table; bulk management benefits from a dense table with mass actions. Give users the choice.

---

View Modes

Offer multiple views when the data has both visual and detailed dimensions.

| View | Best for | When to default | |---|---|---| | **Grid** | Visual items: products, images, files, cards | When items are visually distinct and browsing is the primary task | | **List** | Moderate detail: tasks, emails, articles | When a key piece of text or metadata drives selection | | **Table** | Dense data: orders, reports, user management | When multiple columns of data must be compared |

**View toggle placement:** top-right of the collection, adjacent to sort/filter controls. Use icon buttons with tooltips (`grid`, `list`, `table`). Persist the user's choice in localStorage.

[Filter ▾]  [Sort ▾]          [⊞ Grid]  [☰ List]  [⊟ Table]

On mobile, collapse to the view that works best for the content — grid for visual items, list for text. Do not offer a view toggle on small screens unless both views are genuinely usable.

Past a Handful of Items, Cards Become a Table

A card earns its border when it is one of a few things a reader compares side by side. Repeat that border fifteen times down a page and it separates nothing: every row is boxed, so the boxes carry no information and the reader pays for them in noise.

**Past roughly six items, drop to a table.** Keep a horizontal rule between rows or stripe them, and drop the side and outer rules entirely. Vertical edges do no work in a list already bounded by the page's own column, and the eye groups by proximity and alignment long before it needs a drawn line.

**The exception is a card that contains something a row cannot.** An image, a chart, a per-item control set, a body of text that has to wrap: those keep their card at any count, because the border is holding a composition together rather than separating one line from the next. A product grid, a gallery, a set of dashboard tiles are not covered by this rule. The test is what the border encloses. If it encloses a line of text and a value, it is decoration on a table row. If it encloses a layout, it is a card.

Then give the header the emphasis the boxes were pretending to provide: a heavier weight, or a smaller size in caps with letterspacing, or a darker ground. Choose by how much the reader needs to navigate the list. A long reference table wants a header that anchors scanning; a short one can let the first column do it.

---

Selection: Prefer Large Hit Areas

Checkboxes are small targets. Requiring users to hit a 16×16px checkbox to select a row is unnecessary friction — especially on touch devices.

**Default: the entire row or card is the selection target.**

• Click anywhere on the row → selects the row (background shifts, checkbox checks)
• The checkbox is a visual indicator of selection state, not the only way to select
• Keyboard: Space selects the focused row; Shift+click extends selection; Ctrl/Cmd+click toggles individual items

.row {
  cursor: pointer;
  background: var(--color-surface);
  transition: background 100ms ease-out;
}
.row:hover {
  background: var(--color-grey-50);
}
.row.selected {
  background: var(--color-primary-subtle); /* subtle brand tint */
}

For cards in a grid, the entire card is the selection area — not just a checkbox in the corner.

---

Selected State Visual Language

Selected items communicate their state through a background colour shift — not just a checkbox tick.

**Background:** `--color-primary-subtle` — the brand primary colour heavily desaturated and lightened to ~5–8% opacity. Perceptible but not jarring.

**Left border accent (optional):** A 3px left border in `--color-primary` reinforces the selected state for list and table rows.

**Checkbox:** Checked and filled with `--color-primary`. The checkbox is a secondary signal, not the primary one.

.row.selected {
  background: var(--color-primary-subtle);    /* e.g. hsl(224, 21%, 94%) */
  border-left: 3px solid var(--color-pri