3 ms·

Why do people hate redesigns?

2 points by LordAtlas 5y ago

Akronymus 5y ago
Most redesigns make the software objectively worse, IME.
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Yes especially too much whitespace. I don't buy a big screen to have it display so much blank space. There's a factor of change resistance I'm sure. But for many sites I modify the CSS now for a compacter view and it really suits me so much better. Much less scrolling. It really feels amazing having so much content directly available. Also remember that twitter's goals are not always aligned with your own. They want you to scroll because it gives them extra data to harvest, like how long you so scrolling to look at something.
jfengel 5y ago
My opinion is that a redesign should always be rolled out with significant new features. They may be disconnected, but the user will perceive them as connected. If they can be more interested in the new feature than the redesign, they'll spend a lot less time on the effects mentioned in the article. Users are right to object to changes for their own sake. You should have a good reason for a redesign. Those reasons may be hard to explain to users -- they could be internally technical, or simply your own opinion that your site feels dated (and will feel increasingly dated in the future). So convince them that the redesign is necessary by connecting it to something they want. It's all emotional, and you're balancing their emotions with your professional judgment about what they'll want in the long run. That judgment has to include balancing their immediate opinions, which are always going to be driven by effects that make them conservative in the short term while demanding more in the long term.
compressedgas 5y ago
I had a theory about this it involved a concept I called received perfection. Your users don't see the problems that you do with your product. They don't want it changed at all unless it is to fix something that they see as wrong. If you want to redesign something you have to first convince the users that what you see as needing to be fixed is something that needs to be fixed. You got to focus on the flaws. So that they will welcome you fixing them.

2 points by LordAtlas 5y ago

Akronymus 5y ago

Most redesigns make the software objectively worse, IME.

GekkePrutser 5y ago
Yes especially too much whitespace. I don't buy a big screen to have it display so much blank space. There's a factor of change resistance I'm sure. But for many sites I modify the CSS now for a compacter view and it really suits me so much better. Much less scrolling. It really feels amazing having so much content directly available. Also remember that twitter's goals are not always aligned with your own. They want you to scroll because it gives them extra data to harvest, like how long you so scrolling to look at something.

jfengel 5y ago

My opinion is that a redesign should always be rolled out with significant new features. They may be disconnected, but the user will perceive them as connected. If they can be more interested in the new feature than the redesign, they'll spend a lot less time on the effects mentioned in the article. Users are right to object to changes for their own sake. You should have a good reason for a redesign. Those reasons may be hard to explain to users -- they could be internally technical, or simply your own opinion that your site feels dated (and will feel increasingly dated in the future). So convince them that the redesign is necessary by connecting it to something they want. It's all emotional, and you're balancing their emotions with your professional judgment about what they'll want in the long run. That judgment has to include balancing their immediate opinions, which are always going to be driven by effects that make them conservative in the short term while demanding more in the long term.

compressedgas 5y ago

I had a theory about this it involved a concept I called received perfection. Your users don't see the problems that you do with your product. They don't want it changed at all unless it is to fix something that they see as wrong. If you want to redesign something you have to first convince the users that what you see as needing to be fixed is something that needs to be fixed. You got to focus on the flaws. So that they will welcome you fixing them.