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I know someone on the design team and they actually did user testing against the changes, and it's a mix of usability improvements and aesthetics. You can't re

I know someone on the design team and they actually did user testing against the changes, and it's a mix of usability improvements and aesthetics. You can't really say something is less usable without some evidence.

Karunamon 9y ago
Ah, so that's why they broke everyone's avatars overnight. Much usability. So aesthetic. Wow. ..Snark aside, given that this is the company that won't even let people see their tweets in reverse chronological order, I don't put a whole lot of stock in their testing. Were actual users involved, or was it a tiny focus group?
- pavanky 9y ago
  You can disable the modified timeline if you wish to: https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083 https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083
  - Karunamon 9y ago
    That still isn't a proper reverse chronological sort (tweets still display out of order according to some magical backend fuckery), and that's before the constant injection of the "What you might have missed.." into my timeline no matter how many times I click the "I don't want to see this" button. New stuff top, old stuff bottom. This is the simplest concept in computer science.
    - pmontra 9y ago
      I'm thinking about exceptions. These comments in HN, probably sorted by upvotes or activity. FB replies, last one at the bottom, which I think is pretty natural. Thunderbird's default of last email at the bottom, which I reverse in every folder. But the last at bottom conversation view is ok. WordPress comments. *nix mail's list of messages. Probably many others.
- accountyaccount 9y ago
  Tested on samples of actual users. Unsure of size because I don't work there. If you think making avatars round is a usability issue this conversation isn't even worth having. You seem bent on deriding change regardless of what I say.
  - Karunamon 9y ago
    You seem hell bent on defending change regardless of what I say. What's such a hard concept about not degrading the user experience? Nobody stopped to say "Hey, everyone is using avatars based on the box shape, won't changing the shape of the box make everyone's avatars look like shit?" Apparently not, and that's the problem. It's a minor thing at the end of the day, sure, but it's also a symptom of a larger issue. Sorry if I seem testy, but this is a recurring problem. Making things more "modern" while sacrificing usability, and as mentioned, I place nil credence on their "testing".
    - accountyaccount 9y ago
      I'm defending the use of "usability" as a blanket term used to argue against subjective visual changes. Unless you can show me evidence one way or the other, your use of the term "usability" is subjective bunk.

Karunamon 9y ago

Ah, so that's why they broke everyone's avatars overnight. Much usability. So aesthetic. Wow. ..Snark aside, given that this is the company that won't even let people see their tweets in reverse chronological order, I don't put a whole lot of stock in their testing. Were actual users involved, or was it a tiny focus group?

pavanky 9y ago
You can disable the modified timeline if you wish to: https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083 https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083
- Karunamon 9y ago
  That still isn't a proper reverse chronological sort (tweets still display out of order according to some magical backend fuckery), and that's before the constant injection of the "What you might have missed.." into my timeline no matter how many times I click the "I don't want to see this" button. New stuff top, old stuff bottom. This is the simplest concept in computer science.
  - pmontra 9y ago
    I'm thinking about exceptions. These comments in HN, probably sorted by upvotes or activity. FB replies, last one at the bottom, which I think is pretty natural. Thunderbird's default of last email at the bottom, which I reverse in every folder. But the last at bottom conversation view is ok. WordPress comments. *nix mail's list of messages. Probably many others.
accountyaccount 9y ago
Tested on samples of actual users. Unsure of size because I don't work there. If you think making avatars round is a usability issue this conversation isn't even worth having. You seem bent on deriding change regardless of what I say.
- Karunamon 9y ago
  You seem hell bent on defending change regardless of what I say. What's such a hard concept about not degrading the user experience? Nobody stopped to say "Hey, everyone is using avatars based on the box shape, won't changing the shape of the box make everyone's avatars look like shit?" Apparently not, and that's the problem. It's a minor thing at the end of the day, sure, but it's also a symptom of a larger issue. Sorry if I seem testy, but this is a recurring problem. Making things more "modern" while sacrificing usability, and as mentioned, I place nil credence on their "testing".
  - accountyaccount 9y ago
    I'm defending the use of "usability" as a blanket term used to argue against subjective visual changes. Unless you can show me evidence one way or the other, your use of the term "usability" is subjective bunk.