Prototype Done: https://goo.gl/photos/UbajznTUjMS8v15r5
Let me know if it looks ok. In particular the animation. I just used the default one.

Thanks Nicolas!

It would be great to use an animation where the card fades in while moving upwards into place. There's a good example in the GSA on iOS - does someone have a phone there you can use to take a look? 

Nit:
The reload button seems to have a lot of padding on the left side. Is that standard? I think it's meant to be 8dp padding + the standard button padding.

A side note - when looking at this, I noticed that the vertical height we use (between the omnibox and the card when below the fold) is much too tall. I'll file a separate bug for that.

Our cards have a general 16dp padding, I'll see what I can do about this.

Do you mean the vertical height in the space where "Articles for you" normally stays? We currently have 56dp there.

Issue 618853 has been merged into this issue.

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159

commit 12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159
Author: dgn <dgn@chromium.org>
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:20:51 2016

[NTP Snippets] Show a status card when there are no available snippets

Introduce a new NTP item type type: Status cards! They show up when
there are no snippets to display and let the user know that the NTP
is not broken. The current one simply acknowledges that we ran out
of snippets and allows to manually fetch more.

This CL also refactors some basic card features out of Snippet specific
classes.

Known issues that will be addressed in future CLs:
- Show a different message if the service can't fetch snippets but the
user can fix it, for example by enabling sync.
- The card should be animated as coming from below

BUG= 612508 

Review-Url: https://codereview.chromium.org/2024933002
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#399202}

[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/res/layout/new_tab_page_status_card.xml
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/NewTabPage.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/NewTabPageView.java
[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/CardItemDecoration.java
[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/CardViewHolder.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/CardsLayoutOperations.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageAdapter.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageListItem.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageRecyclerView.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageViewHolder.java
[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/StatusListItem.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetArticleViewHolder.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetHeaderListItem.java
[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetHeaderViewHolder.java
[delete] https://crrev.com/4b4d0861d8c94df4aa8f107b79a5638d03fa9ac7/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetItemDecoration.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/strings/android_chrome_strings.grd
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java_sources.gni
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/junit/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageAdapterTest.java

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/f5356095cd4a7d40ba2bee0facb8d1ca155c778c

commit f5356095cd4a7d40ba2bee0facb8d1ca155c778c
Author: dgn <dgn@chromium.org>
Date: Mon Jun 13 12:19:32 2016

[NTP Snippets] Small layout fixes to the cards and header

- Fixed the way the header collapses, it now slides under the top card.
  https://goo.gl/photos/HvDEupKHb26x7zXW6
- Added space between the text and the button on status cards.
  https://goo.gl/photos/fkXrg5aTwMc7fWTr8

BUG=617140, 612508 

Review-Url: https://codereview.chromium.org/2061653002
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#399436}

[modify] https://crrev.com/f5356095cd4a7d40ba2bee0facb8d1ca155c778c/chrome/android/java/res/layout/new_tab_page_snippets_header.xml
[modify] https://crrev.com/f5356095cd4a7d40ba2bee0facb8d1ca155c778c/chrome/android/java/res/layout/new_tab_page_status_card.xml

Issue 619597 has been merged into this issue.

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159

commit 12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159
Author: dgn <dgn@chromium.org>
Date: Fri Jun 10 16:20:51 2016

[NTP Snippets] Show a status card when there are no available snippets

Introduce a new NTP item type type: Status cards! They show up when
there are no snippets to display and let the user know that the NTP
is not broken. The current one simply acknowledges that we ran out
of snippets and allows to manually fetch more.

This CL also refactors some basic card features out of Snippet specific
classes.

Known issues that will be addressed in future CLs:
- Show a different message if the service can't fetch snippets but the
user can fix it, for example by enabling sync.
- The card should be animated as coming from below

BUG= 612508 

Review-Url: https://codereview.chromium.org/2024933002
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#399202}

[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/res/layout/new_tab_page_status_card.xml
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/NewTabPage.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/NewTabPageView.java
[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/CardItemDecoration.java
[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/CardViewHolder.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/CardsLayoutOperations.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageAdapter.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageListItem.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageRecyclerView.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageViewHolder.java
[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/StatusListItem.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetArticleViewHolder.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetHeaderListItem.java
[add] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetHeaderViewHolder.java
[delete] https://crrev.com/4b4d0861d8c94df4aa8f107b79a5638d03fa9ac7/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetItemDecoration.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java/strings/android_chrome_strings.grd
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/java_sources.gni
[modify] https://crrev.com/12fae2360889eba5e18e00ce641d95cb4a814159/chrome/android/junit/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageAdapterTest.java

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/f5356095cd4a7d40ba2bee0facb8d1ca155c778c

commit f5356095cd4a7d40ba2bee0facb8d1ca155c778c
Author: dgn <dgn@chromium.org>
Date: Mon Jun 13 12:19:32 2016

[NTP Snippets] Small layout fixes to the cards and header

- Fixed the way the header collapses, it now slides under the top card.
  https://goo.gl/photos/HvDEupKHb26x7zXW6
- Added space between the text and the button on status cards.
  https://goo.gl/photos/fkXrg5aTwMc7fWTr8

BUG=617140, 612508 

Review-Url: https://codereview.chromium.org/2061653002
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#399436}

[modify] https://crrev.com/f5356095cd4a7d40ba2bee0facb8d1ca155c778c/chrome/android/java/res/layout/new_tab_page_snippets_header.xml
[modify] https://crrev.com/f5356095cd4a7d40ba2bee0facb8d1ca155c778c/chrome/android/java/res/layout/new_tab_page_status_card.xml

Supporting the other empty states is ready to land, waiting for a final lgtm. After that only fixing the animations should remain.

The following revision refers to this bug:
  https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539

commit bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539
Author: dgn <dgn@chromium.org>
Date: Tue Jun 28 20:39:24 2016

[NTP Snippets] The Status card reports disabled sync states

When there are no snippets to display, the Status card now
shows an appropriate message and action for the following
contexts:

- User is signed out
- User has disabled sync
- User has disabled history sync
- User has set a custom passphrase

The detection of those states is done by the newly added
NTPSnippetsStatusService.

Preview: https://goo.gl/photos/gpDA8g6Mm2jW56e87

BUG= 612508 

Review-Url: https://codereview.chromium.org/2061803002
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/master@{#402537}

[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/BUILD.gn
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/res/layout/new_tab_page_status_card.xml
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/NewTabPage.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/NewTabPageView.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageAdapter.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/StatusListItem.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/snippets/SnippetsBridge.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/preferences/SignInPreference.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/signin/AccountSigninActivity.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/java/strings/android_chrome_strings.grd
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/android/junit/src/org/chromium/chrome/browser/ntp/cards/NewTabPageAdapterTest.java
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/browser/android/ntp/ntp_snippets_bridge.cc
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/browser/android/ntp/ntp_snippets_bridge.h
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/browser/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_service_factory.cc
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/browser/ui/webui/snippets_internals_message_handler.cc
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/chrome/browser/ui/webui/snippets_internals_message_handler.h
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/OWNERS
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/components_strings.grd
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/components_tests.gyp
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets.gypi
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/BUILD.gn
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_fetcher.h
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_service.cc
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_service.h
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_service_unittest.cc
[add] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_status_service.cc
[add] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_status_service.h
[add] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_status_service_unittest.cc
[add] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_test_utils.cc
[add] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets/ntp_snippets_test_utils.h
[add] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/components/ntp_snippets_strings.grdp
[modify] https://crrev.com/bea29e22d8b64035f822e48b120691e751108539/ios/chrome/browser/ntp_snippets/ios_chrome_ntp_snippets_service_factory.cc

Moving this nonessential bug to the next milestone.

For more details visit https://www.chromium.org/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

Closing, file  issue 627512  to follow the animation work.