Minor "Empty states occur when the user first opens a product, clears or removes data, or encounters an error. Although often designed last, empty states are rich with opportunities to engage with the user. Successfully designed empty states achieve three things: Educate users, Delight users, Prompt for action"
Most Sakai tools could benefit from having a welcoming empty state that establishes the tool and suggests next steps for site maintainers. Gradebook, Announcements, Syllabus, Resources, Assignments, Tests & Quizzes, Email Archive, Polls, PostEm, Search, and Sign-up are all good examples of tools needing a default empty state.
When we upgraded to Sakai 11, we created an empty state for our local GBNG because early user feedback showed that the lack of the student listings caused people to think that there were no students enrolled in the site.
We will port this work to the new Gradebook.
Update: Paul has completed the porting work and I've attached updated screenshots based on the work on Sakai Master. This first screenshot shows the Gradebook with no students and no items:
This second screenshot show the Gradebook with students and no items:
