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I blame Netflix for popularizing the stack of horizontal scrolling carousel of thumbnails. It is a terrible way to browse, and so many companies mindlessly copy

I blame Netflix for popularizing the stack of horizontal scrolling carousel of thumbnails. It is a terrible way to browse, and so many companies mindlessly copy it.

marssaxman 5y ago
All that automatic zooming and whirring and auto-playing as my cursor moves around drives me batty! It's so distracting - it's harder to figure out what I might want to watch with all that chaos trying to grab my attention.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  fuuuuuuuuuuuuck autoplay.
  - LandR 5y ago
    Turn it off.
    - mywittyname 5y ago
      I had no clue that this was even possible.
      - LandR 5y ago
        The setting doesn't exist in the netflix UI on TVs and your phone etc. But it's there if you log into the netflix settings on a browser.
canadaduane 5y ago
Can you point specifically to what you don't like about it? Personally, my "least favorite feature" is that hovering (with mouse) over any video would auto-play. In other words, just by moving the mouse you would be under threat of accidentally distracting yourself. Maybe some people don't feel the same way, but for me, it was destabilizing to the point that I couldn't recall what it was I was searching for / interested in in the first place. I think they have "fixed" this in the past year, but there are still times when auto-play completely interrupts my thought/intentionality.
- cronix 5y ago
  I have to change from the traditional 2 finger vertical scroll to get to the bottom of the page to a single touch pointer action to bypass the area of the screen so I can get past the area and continue to scroll to the bottom. It's horrible UI if you have a multigesture touchpad, like apple macbooks. Instead of scrolling from the top, it starts scrolling vertically (like it's supposed to) to suddenly scrolling horizontally as soon as you hit that area. Amazon prime does it too. Instead of speedily cruising around the interface, it's a nonstop battle for control to go where I intended. You end up fighting the interface, which leads to a very poor experience day after day after day. If I want to scroll horizontally, scrolling left-right should do that, not horizontal to get a vertical action.
- Mindwipe 5y ago
  You could just turn autoplay off in settings.
  - denimnerd42 5y ago
    that's only a recent feature!
  - dymk 5y ago
    It's quite annoying to turn it off, you have to do it from a web browser. Most people don't even know that it's an option. Horrible design for this particular feature's UX.
jayd16 5y ago
You say mindlessly copy but what's the better solution they're ignoring? Or do you mean you don't like TV focused controls used in a browser?
- wtetzner 5y ago
  How about a list you can vertically scroll through, with the option to filter based on various criteria?
  - jayd16 5y ago
    A vertical list is a waste of horizontal space when it's a list of movie posters. They go with the carrousel for better or worse because it lets you quickly scroll through categories without scrolling through every item in a category. If you want a grid, its basically what they have. If you just want more search options, I agree but the search layout is also already a grid. I'm asking for a specific implemented app that feels better in practice, not just something you think might work better. There are subtle issues with getting this layout right. Its not as obvious as you say when you need to deal with crap remote dpads and no keyboards.
    - wtetzner 5y ago
      > A vertical list is a waste of horizontal space when it's a list of movie posters. It doesn't need to be a list of movie posters. > If you want a grid, its basically what they have. It's not though, you have to scroll horizontally for each section. That's not the same as a grid. > I'm asking for a specific implemented app that feels better in practice, not just something you think might work better. That's tough to do if everyone is implementing it poorly. However, I would say that something like this feels better in practice (even if it's still not ideal): https://i.imgur.com/AU6Az7e.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/AU6Az7e.jpeg
      - Jcowell 5y ago
        That wastes more space than a horizontal scrollable grid that’ll go back and for with the mouse wheel. Even Netflix large rectangular preview boxes still fit more shows.

I blame Netflix for popularizing the stack of horizontal scrolling carousel of thumbnails. It is a terrible way to browse, and so many companies mindlessly copy it.

marssaxman 5y ago

All that automatic zooming and whirring and auto-playing as my cursor moves around drives me batty! It's so distracting - it's harder to figure out what I might want to watch with all that chaos trying to grab my attention.

mywittyname 5y ago
fuuuuuuuuuuuuck autoplay.
- LandR 5y ago
  Turn it off.
  - mywittyname 5y ago
    I had no clue that this was even possible.
    - LandR 5y ago
      The setting doesn't exist in the netflix UI on TVs and your phone etc. But it's there if you log into the netflix settings on a browser.

canadaduane 5y ago

Can you point specifically to what you don't like about it? Personally, my "least favorite feature" is that hovering (with mouse) over any video would auto-play. In other words, just by moving the mouse you would be under threat of accidentally distracting yourself. Maybe some people don't feel the same way, but for me, it was destabilizing to the point that I couldn't recall what it was I was searching for / interested in in the first place. I think they have "fixed" this in the past year, but there are still times when auto-play completely interrupts my thought/intentionality.

cronix 5y ago
I have to change from the traditional 2 finger vertical scroll to get to the bottom of the page to a single touch pointer action to bypass the area of the screen so I can get past the area and continue to scroll to the bottom. It's horrible UI if you have a multigesture touchpad, like apple macbooks. Instead of scrolling from the top, it starts scrolling vertically (like it's supposed to) to suddenly scrolling horizontally as soon as you hit that area. Amazon prime does it too. Instead of speedily cruising around the interface, it's a nonstop battle for control to go where I intended. You end up fighting the interface, which leads to a very poor experience day after day after day. If I want to scroll horizontally, scrolling left-right should do that, not horizontal to get a vertical action.
Mindwipe 5y ago
You could just turn autoplay off in settings.
- denimnerd42 5y ago
  that's only a recent feature!
- dymk 5y ago
  It's quite annoying to turn it off, you have to do it from a web browser. Most people don't even know that it's an option. Horrible design for this particular feature's UX.

jayd16 5y ago

You say mindlessly copy but what's the better solution they're ignoring? Or do you mean you don't like TV focused controls used in a browser?

wtetzner 5y ago
How about a list you can vertically scroll through, with the option to filter based on various criteria?
- jayd16 5y ago
  A vertical list is a waste of horizontal space when it's a list of movie posters. They go with the carrousel for better or worse because it lets you quickly scroll through categories without scrolling through every item in a category. If you want a grid, its basically what they have. If you just want more search options, I agree but the search layout is also already a grid. I'm asking for a specific implemented app that feels better in practice, not just something you think might work better. There are subtle issues with getting this layout right. Its not as obvious as you say when you need to deal with crap remote dpads and no keyboards.
  - wtetzner 5y ago
    > A vertical list is a waste of horizontal space when it's a list of movie posters. It doesn't need to be a list of movie posters. > If you want a grid, its basically what they have. It's not though, you have to scroll horizontally for each section. That's not the same as a grid. > I'm asking for a specific implemented app that feels better in practice, not just something you think might work better. That's tough to do if everyone is implementing it poorly. However, I would say that something like this feels better in practice (even if it's still not ideal): https://i.imgur.com/AU6Az7e.jpeg https://i.imgur.com/AU6Az7e.jpeg
    - Jcowell 5y ago
      That wastes more space than a horizontal scrollable grid that’ll go back and for with the mouse wheel. Even Netflix large rectangular preview boxes still fit more shows.