Please make the new layout optional!
The new layout sort of works on a large screen, but not so much on a smaller screen. Make it optional, please.
App:
Replies 21
Aymeric Founder
Aymeric,
Thanks for your timely responses. The tweaks you mentioned are improvements. But they don't address the larger issue that's at the core of the problem with change of design (for me): The feel of the new layout is stressful. I don't think that will be addressed by any number of tweaks, unless they really change the visual feel of the layout. In fact, I'm not sure what the new layout is supposed to achieve. Could you please clarify that? What did you have in mind for this sudden change?
1. Many users use goals extensively to the point where having them on the side wasn't appropriate anymore.Thanks for your timely responses. The tweaks you mentioned are improvements. But they don't address the larger issue that's at the core of the problem with change of design (for me): The feel of the new layout is stressful. I don't think that will be addressed by any number of tweaks, unless they really change the visual feel of the layout. In fact, I'm not sure what the new layout is supposed to achieve. Could you please clarify that? What did you have in mind for this sudden change?
2. More and more new users don't use goals of the week or the parking lot at all. With the new layout they can leave them collapsed an focus on the weekly planner.
3. Many users have a lot of tasks in their days . The old layout forced them to scroll inside the days to manage their days, or use the day view.
4. Scrolling inside the days is not easy on tablets. The device doesn't know if you are trying to scroll the whole page or only the list.
5. Some people don't use weekplan for weekends at all. With the new layout, they can only show 5 lists instead of 7.
6. With the new design, you can access your parking lot as easily as your week tasks. It makes your workflow a bit more fluent. The first version of weekplan was already like that, then the parking lot was moved to another screen. I just brought back the original concept.
7. The new layout renders faster because the lists that are not visible are not being rendered (they were being rendered in the old layout). The layout logic (columns) is done by the browser rather than by the code of the app. It means that mobile devices, tablets and slow notebooks will run weekplan more smoothly.
> What did you have in mind for this sudden change?
Although the change was sudden for you, I have been working on the new layout for two months, and had put it on a test environment that weekplan users could use and provide feedback. I have already applied a lot of the feedback I received.
I am yet to solve this "stressful" feeling you are expressing and that others have expressed. I am going to contact some professional interaction designers to ask for their advice there.
Thanks.
Aymeric,
Thanks for your timely responses. The tweaks you mentioned are improvements. But they don't address the larger issue that's at the core of the problem with change of design (for me): The feel of the new layout is stressful. I don't think that will be addressed by any number of tweaks, unless they really change the visual feel of the layout. In fact, I'm not sure what the new layout is supposed to achieve. Could you please clarify that? What did you have in mind for this sudden change?
Thanks for your timely responses. The tweaks you mentioned are improvements. But they don't address the larger issue that's at the core of the problem with change of design (for me): The feel of the new layout is stressful. I don't think that will be addressed by any number of tweaks, unless they really change the visual feel of the layout. In fact, I'm not sure what the new layout is supposed to achieve. Could you please clarify that? What did you have in mind for this sudden change?
Aymeric Founder
Ditto Sarah De Pauw. They reflect my problems with the new layout very well: too much white space, too much information in one place, no visual separation of substantially different sections (roles, tasks, parking lot). I'm almost visually paralyzed and confused each time I look at my screen now and have to make a substantial mental effort to see what I need to do around the page. The horizontal flow of the roles especially does not work for me.
Thanks for the feedback Babak and Sarah. I am reading your comments and thinking at how I can tweak things. I have already changed a lot of things based on everyone's feedback.
- Textbox at the top of the list
- Can change how many lists to show at the same time (you can choose to hide weekends)
- Pending list is now on the right hand side of the week
- Text in the tasks is a tad smaller so that they don't take as much space
I am still thinking about:
- momentum bars being too thin
- not enough separation between each section (week / goals / parking lot)
- too much information on the screen since parking lot is on the same screen
Thanks,
Aymeric
Ditto Sarah De Pauw. They reflect my problems with the new layout very well: too much white space, too much information in one place, no visual separation of substantially different sections (roles, tasks, parking lot). I'm almost visually paralyzed and confused each time I look at my screen now and have to make a substantial mental effort to see what I need to do around the page. The horizontal flow of the roles especially does not work for me.
I absolutely preferred the well-balanced structure of the previous lay-out, having a left hand view of the goals of the week. It felt way less stressy, more effectively guiding, and more uncluttered to have week goals at the left side on the screen, visually divided from the more specific day taks. I also liked to take a detour to the parking lot where we could put the more distant tasks and dreams.The 'virtual' distance from the parking lot helped to lessen the urgency-message of these tasks.
With the new lay-out, the whole screen is taken and white (the zen-pictures are now completely invisible). The lay-out now looks like an Outlook 8- inbox filled with unread messages - which induces unwanted stress! There are now to many tasks screaming to me (with no reassuring colors reminding me to balance my roles), the momentum color bars (or how you call them) are almost invisible (giving me 'less contact' with my roles) and I absolutely miss my Pending list in the week view (I just retrieved it in the parking lot). Looking at my short-term pending list now confronts me with all my longer-term goals, and this just induces stress.
Please gives us the option to return to the old lay-out. The current one delivers too much information and let me lose 'grip' instead of promoting effectiveness. Thank you for making WeekPlan, but please let it not depart from its essentials (keep bigger goals in mind - while not losing structure and attainability).
With the new lay-out, the whole screen is taken and white (the zen-pictures are now completely invisible). The lay-out now looks like an Outlook 8- inbox filled with unread messages - which induces unwanted stress! There are now to many tasks screaming to me (with no reassuring colors reminding me to balance my roles), the momentum color bars (or how you call them) are almost invisible (giving me 'less contact' with my roles) and I absolutely miss my Pending list in the week view (I just retrieved it in the parking lot). Looking at my short-term pending list now confronts me with all my longer-term goals, and this just induces stress.
Please gives us the option to return to the old lay-out. The current one delivers too much information and let me lose 'grip' instead of promoting effectiveness. Thank you for making WeekPlan, but please let it not depart from its essentials (keep bigger goals in mind - while not losing structure and attainability).
Agreed. I can't even use it anymore. I hope we can have an option to return to the old one and maybe work on a hybrid that could be beta tested before launching.
I fully understand the 'lots of tasks a day' argument and the scrolling issues on tablets. However, in the current lay-out, these long tasks per day lists push down the goals of the week totally out of view. I think the day view was a good working alternative if you'd wish to zoom into more detail, whilst maintaining an overview on your week and weekly goals.
It would be really nice to have the option to 'customize' weekplan (where to place our week goals and parking lot), as there seems large heterogeneity in how people are using weekplan. Whether or not this customizing option would become available, I think the clear rationale of 'keeping goals in mind' and the more distinct 'parking lot' are the major assets of this software. These unique features (which were clearly translated in the visual design) make the big difference with simple, ubiquitous, and stressful because unending and unmanageable, 'to-do-lists'.