DS::Pill: reconsider show_dot: true default in badge mode (marker: false)

[gariasf]

Problem

DS::Pill defaults show_dot: true for both modes (marker: true stage-markers and marker: false status/category badges). In badge mode this default produces a colored dot before every label by default — and the codebase evidence suggests this default is miscalibrated.

Evidence — authors are actively fighting the default

Survey of marker: false callsites in app/views/:

Callsite	show_dot:
app/views/accounts/_tax_treatment_badge.html.erb:11	explicit false
app/views/import/qif_category_selections/show.html.erb:86	explicit false
app/views/investment_activity/_badge.html.erb:14	explicit false
app/views/settings/providers/_maturity_badge.html.erb:3	explicit false
app/views/shared/_badge.html.erb:16	explicit false
app/views/sophtron_items/_sophtron_item.html.erb:27	explicit false
app/views/transactions/_transfer_match.html.erb:10,18	explicit false (×2)
app/views/reports/_investment_performance.html.erb:121	default true
app/views/settings/providers/_status_pill.html.erb:10	default true
app/views/transactions/_header.html.erb:25	default true
app/views/transactions/_split_parent_row.html.erb:39	default true
app/views/transactions/_transaction.html.erb:101,133	default true (×2)

7+ explicit show_dot: false overrides vs. ~6 callsites that kept the default. When more than half the badge-mode usage opts out of the default, the default is wrong.

UX reasoning

A status/category badge already carries semantic signal via:

1. Pill shape (rounded-full, distinct from buttons / inline text)
2. Tone color (:success, :warning, :error, :neutral, :info)
3. Label text itself ("Active", "Pending", "Member")

Adding a dot on top of all three is redundant in most contexts, and noisy in dense ones.

Where the dot earns its space (legitimately additive)

• Sparse contexts — single status pill in a card header, a sidebar entry
• States with temporal or live semantics — "Syncing", "Active session", "Live" — dot reads as an indicator light
• When the pill sits next to non-pill text and the dot helps anchor it as a discrete UI element

Where the dot hurts

• Dense lists / tables — every row gets a dot → repeated visual rhythm, fights with row scanning. Example: app/views/admin/users/index.html.erb family list (PR fix: replace hand-rolled badges with DS::Pill in admin users view #1988 introduces 5 dots in a vertical stack of role descriptions)
• Self-describing labels — "Member", "Guest", "Admin" — the dot adds zero information beyond what the label and tone already convey
• Multiple pills in a row (category tags, tag clouds) — dots cluster together and compete with the labels
• Short labels (3–5 chars) — the dot visually dominates the pill

Industry precedent

Stripe, Linear, GitHub, Notion all make the dot opt-in for status badges, not default. They reserve the dot specifically for:

• Live state indicators (with animation: pulsing, blinking)
• Real-time presence ("online", "available")
• Temporal signals that the user is meant to monitor, not just read

None of them dot every taxonomy badge by default.

Concrete impact in current PRs

• fix: replace hand-rolled badges with DS::Pill in admin users view #1988 (admin/users badges): 5 new pills, all default show_dot: true. Subscription pill ("ACTIVE" / "PAST DUE") arguably defensible; the 4 role-description pills (GUEST/MEMBER/ADMIN/SUPER ADMIN) are taxonomy, not status — the dot is noise.
• fix(enable_banking): migrate select_bank dialog to DS::Pill and DS::Link #1997 (enable_banking Beta pill): 1 new pill, default show_dot: true. Old hand-rolled span had no dot; new version adds an amber dot before "Beta". Visually heavier than the original at the rate of one dot per beta-flagged bank in a scrollable list.

In both PRs the dot was almost certainly not a deliberate visual choice — it's the default winning by inertia.

Proposal

Flip the badge-mode default:

# app/components/DS/pill.rb
def initialize(label: nil, tone: :violet, style: :soft, size: :sm,
               show_dot: nil,    # was: true
               dot_only: false, title: nil, icon: nil, marker: true)
  # …
  # Default per mode:
  #   marker: true  → show_dot defaults to true  (stage markers keep their dot)
  #   marker: false → show_dot defaults to false (badges/tags clean by default)
  @show_dot = show_dot.nil? ? marker : show_dot
end

Migration impact (badge-mode callsites that relied on the default true and would lose the dot):

• app/views/reports/_investment_performance.html.erb:121
• app/views/settings/providers/_status_pill.html.erb:10 ← probably wants show_dot: true kept — this is the genuine "status" case
• app/views/transactions/_header.html.erb:25
• app/views/transactions/_split_parent_row.html.erb:39
• app/views/transactions/_transaction.html.erb:101,133

Each callsite would need a one-line review: keep the dot (add explicit show_dot: true because it's genuine status) or drop it (no change needed, new default).

The 7 explicit show_dot: false overrides become redundant noise and can be cleaned up.

PillComponentPreview#status_pending, status_failed, etc. would need updating since they rely on the default.

Alternative if the default change is too disruptive

Document the convention in the DS::Pill docstring more loudly:

Default show_dot: true is for live/temporal status pills only. For taxonomy badges, category tags, or any label whose tone+text already conveys the meaning, pass show_dot: false. The DS team is reconsidering the default — see #XXXX.

…and update the existing PillComponentPreview to make the dot-less variants more prominent so PR authors see them first.

Related

• DS Drift — week of 2026-05-18 #1971 (DS drift patrol — multiple PRs landing badge-mode pills)
• fix: replace hand-rolled badges with DS::Pill in admin users view #1988 (admin/users badges)
• fix(enable_banking): migrate select_bank dialog to DS::Pill and DS::Link #1997 (enable_banking Beta pill)