The User Interface
This page describes the interface elements you’ll encounter across the app.
Table of contents
- The Badge
- The Home Navigation Bar
- The Meeting Navigation Bar
- The Motion Drawer
- The Join-Device Dialog
- The In-Room Settings Dialog
- The Help Panel
- Recent Debates and Scores
The Badge
Each debate participant is represented by a Badge, which shows the participant’s username, role, and live video. The username and role appear at the top of the badge once the participant has joined; the video, if enabled, fills the centre.
The badge label for the Organizer is red; labels for other participants are gray. During the Debate stage, the current speaker’s badge is highlighted in blue.
The Home Navigation Bar
When you are signed in, a navigation bar is fixed to the bottom of every page outside of a debate (Home, profile, recent debates).
| Button | Action |
|---|---|
| Recent | Return to the home page, which lists your recent debates and any Open Debates currently accepting sign-ups. |
| Create | Open the Create Debate dialog. See Create or Join a Debate. |
| Join | Open the Join Debate dialog. See Create or Join a Debate. |
| Help | Open this documentation site. |
| Settings | Open your cookie consent preferences. |
The Meeting Navigation Bar
Inside a meeting room (Lobby, Preparation, Debate, Evaluation, Adjudicator Room) the navigation bar at the bottom of the screen shows controls that apply to your current stage and role:
| Button | Available in | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Start / Stop (camera icon) | All rooms | Turn your camera on or off. |
| Mute / Unmute (microphone icon) | All rooms | Turn your microphone on or off. |
| Debate (motion icon) | All meeting rooms | Open the Motion Drawer. |
| Ballot (list icon) | Adjudicators, during Debate and Evaluation | Open the Ballot drawer. |
| Ask Help | Team members, during Preparation | Toggle the help-needed indicator visible to adjudicators. |
| Done | Team members, during Preparation | Toggle the team-ready indicator visible to adjudicators. |
| Discuss | Adjudicators, during Evaluation | Move to the private Adjudicator Room. |
| Return | Adjudicators, when inside a team or adjudicator room | Return to the main room for the current stage. |
| Swap Roles | Debaters | Swap your role with your teammate (e.g. Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister). |
| Next stage (arrow) | Adjudicators | Advance to the next stage (Preparation → Debate → Evaluation). |
| Leave | All rooms | Leave the debate and return to the home page. The debate continues without you. |
| Stop | Adjudicators, during Debate | End the debate before the speeches finish. |
The set of buttons changes with the stage and your role, so this bar is the single source of truth for what you can do right now. On narrow screens the bar becomes horizontally scrollable; small chevrons at either edge indicate that more buttons are available off-screen.
These buttons control your own microphone and camera. To pause another participant for yourself, or — as an adjudicator — to mute or force-mute someone, see Managing Audio and Video.
The Motion Drawer
Clicking the Debate button in the meeting navigation bar opens a side drawer with:
- the motion text
- the current stage (Lobby, Preparation, Debate, Evaluation)
- the unique debate identifier (a ULID such as
01KRVJ61H2PDPDN7B4687R24HC)
Clicking the identifier copies a join link to your clipboard. Paste the link into email or chat to invite someone to the debate; see Invite Your Team.
The Join-Device Dialog
When you enter a meeting room, a dialog asks you to pick your microphone and camera and confirm that you want to publish them. You can also toggle a Blur background effect, turn the microphone or camera off, or pick a different speaker before clicking Join.
Device and blur choices are remembered for the rest of the session and applied the next time you join a meeting room.
The In-Room Settings Dialog
The Lobby control bar includes a Settings button that opens a dialog for picking your microphone, speaker, and camera. The same dialog has a Show button labels toggle, which controls whether the meeting navigation bar shows text labels under each icon.
Device choices are saved in your browser and applied automatically the next time you join a debate.
The Help Panel
Most meeting rooms have a Help button that opens a floating panel with a short reminder of what you can do in that room. The panel is room-specific (Lobby, Preparation, Adjudicator Room, Debate Room, Evaluation Room) and can be closed at any time with the × in its top-right corner.
Recent Debates and Scores
The home page lists debates you have recently taken part in. Each entry shows the motion, the organizer, when the debate took place, your overall score (if a ballot was returned), the winning side, and per-criterion scores (Content, Style, Strategy, Engagement). A show more chevron expands a card to reveal the full participant list, durations of each stage, and any written feedback you received.