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V9 font and button size too large!

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MrP
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by MrP »

Hi 2BrightSparks

Longtime user here. But, I think a lot of the UI concepts in v9 are great, well done!

I would just say that (like others here) I think the buttons are too large.

Additionally, I would say (in my opinion) the default bright white and alternative very black themes are too .... extremely black and white :D
Please take a look at this UI for Magix Vegas video editor, which (in my opinion) gets a lot of things right for a darker UI.
https://www.google.com/search?q=magix+v ... 20&bih=913

Having said (I'll allow myself a repeat here) that the main buttons are too large, the white is too white, and the black too black (all, in my opinion), my initial impression is that this is a basis for a great leap forward for the Syncback UI.

best,
Simon
mickyj
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by mickyj »

Hi, thanks for your feedback! It's certainly made me happy to get some positive feedback.

We've been working flat out, non-stop, trying to get a new release ready. Hopefully we can release it tomorrow. The buttons are reduced in size, everywhere. All the windows are generally smaller. The amount of white space has been reduced. The progress bar is now like in V8. For the colours, that's a long term change and not something we can do overnight. It'll have to be a gradual step-by-step process.

Thanks!
karumba
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by karumba »

mickey, thanks for your hard work & professional dealing with our feedback! i'm sure the issues will get resolved in the next days/weeks. and even if that release was a bit stumbling, in the end Syncback is a great piece of software!
frostyofthenorth
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by frostyofthenorth »

mickyj wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:50 pm
Hi, thanks for your feedback! It's certainly made me happy to get some positive feedback.

We've been working flat out, non-stop, trying to get a new release ready. Hopefully we can release it tomorrow. The buttons are reduced in size, everywhere. All the windows are generally smaller. The amount of white space has been reduced. The progress bar is now like in V8.
Great to hear that you're talking this feedback in stride. Excellent!
mickyj wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 2:50 pm
For the colours, that's a long term change and not something we can do overnight. It'll have to be a gradual step-by-step process.
Do you have a beta program for that? I'd be happy to be involved and give feedback as a long-time user. I was a software developer for almost 20 years with an emphasis on UI/UX.
frostyofthenorth
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by frostyofthenorth »

karumba wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 3:19 pm
mickey, thanks for your hard work & professional dealing with our feedback! i'm sure the issues will get resolved in the next days/weeks. and even if that release was a bit stumbling, in the end Syncback is a great piece of software!
Yep, agreed!
pedromatai
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by pedromatai »

I would suggest that a classic style (like V8) be implemented as an option for the program.
This new style is modern and practical, but I believe that just like me, many were already accustomed to the old style and prefer it.
JTB3
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by JTB3 »

pedromatai wrote:
Thu Jun 06, 2019 6:25 pm
I would suggest that a classic style (like V8) be implemented as an option for the program.
This new style is modern and practical, but I believe that just like me, many were already accustomed to the old style and prefer it.
I'll 2nd this suggestion - for an option for a compact classic style UI (v8 like).
Preferably with Light+Dark themes! 8)
mickyj
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by mickyj »

Hi, thanks for this guys. It's been a really tough week and reading this has made me happy. I've been stuck at my desk for the last 7 days trying to get as much done as possible. We're just putting the finishing touches on the new release, which will be out very soon. There's still a lot more we want to do, and we'll get there.
frostyofthenorth
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by frostyofthenorth »

mickyj wrote:
Fri Jun 07, 2019 2:29 am
Hi, thanks for this guys. It's been a really tough week and reading this has made me happy. I've been stuck at my desk for the last 7 days trying to get as much done as possible. We're just putting the finishing touches on the new release, which will be out very soon. There's still a lot more we want to do, and we'll get there.
Excellent! Glad to hear it. Please don't be disheartened by the feedback. If anything it's a sign that we users really care about this great piece of software. Looking forward to the update.
pedromatai
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by pedromatai »

in the update from yesterday I noticed that the menus, texts, the interface in general has been modified. You can see the information on the screen better.
It looks great! :D
nzt
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by nzt »

I've downloaded the update and have some feedback for you.

I think the main screen is better than before because the space is used more efficiently and there is a better hierarchy between the list of tasks and the controls. Having said that it's pretty much a reskin of v8 with a ribbon, and on the whole I don't think it's an improvement because you are giving up a very familiar (if traditional) Windows look for no significant gain in usability.

However the settings area is the biggest issue for me, on the whole it's simply harder to use because of UI choices. Some specific issues:
  • Needing to use vertical scroll buttons to see all the options panes.
  • Tabs within an options pane don't look like tabs until you hover over them.
  • The solid blue is too large and saturated in a 100% grey UI, so it looks a bit out of place and has low contrast with the dark grey text. The previous version used the familiar approach of white background for the menu and inverting with the blue background.
  • The flatness, low contrast and lack of hierarchy make complex screens hard to work with. If it's a list of checkboxes there it's not so bad, but screens like Decisions-files are hard on the eyes.
I think this product is amazing and hope this feedback along with everyone else's demonstrates that your customers care about it, and encourages you to keep moving forward. Thanks for all your hard work.
olidie
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by olidie »

Without much thought I just upgraded to v9. Since I really like your software I did not bother to run a trial first. For sure the functionality has improved but not the UI. Whenever an UI changes it takes times to get used to is. Eventually one will get along since it's just a matter of habit. In case of the v9 UI I am pretty disappointed and have my doubts.

The monochrome UI is just too plain. There is no visual guidance to get a quick understanding of a menu. Everything has to be read in order the get the complete context. Let's take the "Decisions - Files" menu. Colors within the icons helped to understand what to do if in v8. Now it's just two black framed boxes with circled icons that can be fairly hard to distinguish. X and + are too easily mistaken. Same problem with the New and Delete buttons. Way to similar.

I also opt for an option to switch to a classic V8 UI.
asterixus
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by asterixus »

Hi,
first of all, I really like your software. It just has everything I ever needed to handle large amount of files. Thank you.
As for the new UI... Well, I do not understand why everyone like to follow MS Office UI. it was, it is and will be horrible and same counts for the UX. SyncBack was just perfect. It was functional and easy to understand. Now it's just large buttons or grey areas. (or buttons again if you hover the mouse pointer).
I really liked the old style.
Some good things should never change.
[email protected]
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by [email protected] »

I hate to jump on the bandwagon and I know programming is a lot of work but I just upgraded one of our licenses to V9 (with out a thought or checking as the upgrades are always awesome) and I had to register in the forum just to say that the UI is just horrible. We have been using it at this company since 2012 and at my previous as far back as 2008 and when I showed the techs here they were just devastated with how bad the UI is. There is just so much scrolling up and down and left and right to get to the options that are needed. I see a lot of users talking about how big a monitor they have but we also have to remote into old systems that don't scale like a local desktop does.

I'm not sure what can be done, I'd take a classic them that makes it look like V8 anytime!!
morice
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Re: V9 font and button size too large!

Post by morice »

In case anyone's still reading this. It appears the version ( 9.0.8 ) i'm on has addressed some of these complaints?

Button size in the main program appears close to how it was in V8 to me.
As for the icons, there are 3 styles:
- New classic Windows looking color icons. (default)
- 'Windows 10' monochrome icons.
- 'Windows 10 Dark' mode, with the monochrome icons in white.

In the Profile Setup window things are different from V8 indeed. The text based tree-style list now consists of labeled icons, with settings for each now organized in tabs. While this may take a minute to get used to for existing users, in the end it is much easier to find what you're looking for at a glance. That is if you're using the colored icons.

Not to mention that everything now works well with scaling on high res displays in Windows.

Things like checkboxes or dropdowns are slightly bigger, and there is more empty space between text and items, which allows for some breathing space. But, as this may not fancy everyone, or match everyone's display size/setup. I think a 'compact mode' as seen in some other software or on sites like gmail would be a welcome addition.

I'm not particularly fond of plain monochrome for the sake of being modern. It's useful in very small icons where less would be more, but in this case they're large enough to be stylized in color. This really helps with navigating quickly. Some may want a dark mode for those too, but it's just easier to read things on a lighter background, which is all you need when setting up a profile.
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