Large counts on badges need a compacted display

What it is

Once unfinished work runs into the hundreds, an exact number will not fit in the badge slot on a navigation item, and cannot be read. Count compaction folds 1283 into 99+ or 1.2k — a cap or an order of magnitude — keeping the signal “a lot” and dropping ones-place precision. It is display density, not whether a badge should exist, and not whether it should later clear.

Why it happens

A nav badge slot is a few characters wide. Four- and five-digit numbers blow out the icon, cover a neighbour, or shrink until unreadable. In a choice field people need magnitude: none, a few, dozens, already blown. Ones-place precision can wait until inside the destination. Compaction turns the display from a counter into a magnitude cue so navigation geometry is not wrecked by digits.

Compaction also changes comparison. Two destinations at 104 and 191 both become 99+ and look equally urgent; discrimination is removed — on purpose. Navigation should not rank two already-“a lot” stations by whose unread number is longer. If the product truly wants the larger pile handled first, sort inside the list, do not run a digit race on the nav. For assistive tech, the compacted name should say “more than ninety-nine”, not read 99+ as an ordinary number.

Where it stops holding

Destinations whose counts hover in single digits (approvals, a cart) should not compact early; the exact value is the reason to act (two items in the cart, or three). The threshold follows slot width and type, not a copied 99. Magnitude copy (1.2k) fits unread messages; it does not fit “three contracts to sign”. Zero should be no badge, not a badge that reads 0.

Applying it

• Set a maximum readable digit count for that nav slot. Past it, compact to a cap (99+) or a magnitude, and give the exact value inside the destination.
• Accessible names use the full count or “more than N”; do not speak the plus sign.
• Do not expect two already-compacted items to be ordered by the nav number.
• How to check: drive unread into four digits; nav geometry should not break, neighbours should still be hittable. Inside, the exact value should be visible. Crossing from 99 to 100, the signal should remain “a lot”, not suddenly become an unreadable three-digit string.

Related

• Within the group: E5.17.1 A nav badge signals unfinished work inside that destination · E5.17.3 A badge that never clears dulls sensitivity to new items · E5.17.4 Badge logic must match the actual state exactly
• Adjacent: E6.11 Badges and Dots · E5.15 Number of Navigation Items
• Search terms: badge overflow · 99+ · count compaction