chore(dashboards): Improve number formatting documentation#112410
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chore(dashboards): Improve number formatting documentation#112410
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Scope: Frontend
| - **Rounding**. We often round numbers before rendering them. This saves on UI space, creates better scannability, and more correctly represents reality (not all fractional digits are significant). **Sentry rounds numbers to 3 significant digits in most cases** but uses more (4-5) in contexts where it might be useful. | ||
| - **Trailing Zeroes**. Generally, **Sentry renders numbers with a floating decimal point**. e.g., we render `"1.2"` rather than `"1.20"`. This often creates visual misalignment in tables and Y-axes, and is worth reconsidering. | ||
| - **Multipliers**. Some data types benefit from multipliers, whether by prefix or by unit. e.g., for `integer` values, a multiplier can save a lot of space (`"12,341,000"` vs. `"12.3M"`). The same goes for types with known units like durations (`"431312 bytes"` vs. `"0.411 MiB"`). **Sentry formats numbers using the nearest appropriate multiplier** whenever possible. If the value exceeds the maximum or minumum multiplier (e.g., a duration of >1000 years, or a size of <0.001 bytes) **Sentry uses scientific notation**. | ||
| - **Units**. If data has a known unit, **Sentry _always_ shows the unit alongside the value**. Sentry shows the full unit (e.g., `"milliseconds"`) in expanded contexts like detail panels, and the abbreviated unit in other contexts. |
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[Praise] Yes this in particular is really good to know! I'd never thought of this deeply before. +1
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I took a pass at the numbers-and-types documentation I wrote a while back. I replaced the page with a new one, that's more focused and gives more practical explanations of how we approach this. I hope this'll be more useful, since the Dashboards team has been getting more feedback in this area.
There are many TODOs in this document. I'd love for us to come together and close them off by making decisions. However, we don't need to do that right now! I'd be perfectly happy to merge this, and start implementing the guidelines and iterate on them gradually.
Most of this is just documenting existing guidelines. There are some notable additions, like scientific notation.