The problem: joining was four separate journeys
Claiming a cell meant clicking it, jumping to the editor, filling in a title and cover, then coming back to confirm. A whole area meant repeating that four times. Each step was reasonable; together they made people forget what they came to do.
Worse was the missing feedback: price, points threshold, quota and approval mode only surfaced after submitting. People were not unable to operate — they were unwilling to.
One principle: once inside, only this task exists
The new workspace has a single spine: select → quote → submit → bind content. On entry, the bottom dock, floating filters and detail cards step aside, leaving only what matters for this decision on the canvas.
Leaving is explicit too: back, Esc, or switching regions returns you to the view and selection you had. Reversibility is what makes exploration safe.
Why rectangles instead of cell-by-cell counting
Tapping cell by cell feels fine for one square, but a 6×4 block means twenty-four taps — and one mistake restarts it. Dragging a rectangle turns that into a single gesture and matches the shape of land itself.
Keyboard users nudge with arrows and extend with Shift, and edge and size limits behave exactly like dragging. Both inputs share one set of rules, so behaviour never forks.
Rules up front, not after submitting
The quote panel now lists the total, the points threshold, the quota and the approval verdict, with every blocker shown before the button. We also changed the order of charging and threshold checks so paying never leaves you below the threshold.
It has a side effect we wanted: people start shrinking their own selection. Once the price is visible, area becomes a decision.
Mobile is not a smaller desktop
Touch has no hover, and long-press conflicts with scrolling. One finger pans by default; a 320 ms long-press switches into selecting, and first-time visitors get a one-off gesture hint.
The panel respects safe areas and the keyboard, and becomes a right-hand column in short landscape viewports. None of this shows up in a feature list, but it decides whether the task works on a phone at all.
What is next
Admins can now see the six-stage claim funnel, so we can tell whether drop-off happens at selecting, quoting or binding. Next we want to solve content migration after a merge, and batch review for region owners.
If there is a spot you have in mind, open the map and draw it.