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I totally agree. We use GitHub a ton, but every time I load the first page when trying to do something, my eyes dart across the screen, then a feeling of over-s

I totally agree. We use GitHub a ton, but every time I load the first page when trying to do something, my eyes dart across the screen, then a feeling of over-stimulation and weariness sets in. I take a deep breath, relax, and then try to deconstruct their interface so I can figure out what to click next. It definitely taxes the mind to use GitHub on a daily basis. I understand it's a tough problem domain, but there is definitely room for massive improvement in the UX.

masklinn 15y ago
Just as there are "clean youtube" browser extensions and the like, the interwebs are in dire need of a "clean github" browser extension.
- hartez 15y ago
  Stylish (or whatever the equivalent is for your favorite browser) is always an option until a better design comes along. For example, if you don't use the details boxes that much, you can apply something like div#repo_details { opacity:0.3 !important; } ul.with-details-box { opacity:0.3 !important;} to make those fade a bit and draw you eye toward the menu bars below them. You could event apply it your specific repo urls, so you could customize it depending on what you're working on. Again, only a temporary hack, but better than nothing until a better universal design can be agreed upon and implemented. Stylish: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/
bcjordan 15y ago
I've started using the address bar to get to most things. I usually only need to get to /issues, /commits, /tree/master/filename
- maaku 15y ago
  Github devs: this is a sign that pretty though it may be, something is wrong.
  - cpach 15y ago
    I agree that this should spur the Github developers to re-consider their current design, but I see nothing wrong with the general concept of using URL:s for navigating, just as I prefer the Unix shell over GUI:s for many tasks. Jakob Nielsen wrote about that over ten years ago: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990321.html http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990321.html - I think the gist of his article still holds true.
- yuvadam 15y ago
  And I thought I was the only one. It's awesome that the URL scheme is 'right' and I can easily use it to get to where I need. But that just means the UI/UX is severely lacking.
- spacemanaki 15y ago
  You can replace /tree/master/filename by just pressing "t" on a project's page. Learned that a week or two ago and it changed my life.
  - egor83 15y ago
    press '?' to get a list of available keyboard shorcuts
- antirez 15y ago
  I do the same. Probably browsers should have some support for this stuff. What I mean is that if I always visit: foobar.com/verb/<something> and urls where it's clear that there is a fixed part and a variable one, maybe the browser could help you writing this stuff easily, so that you start typing "github commit" and something to just fill with the missing pieces appear.
  - eieio 15y ago
    I do this using firefox bookmarks/keywords using %s. For example, I use the bookmark http://www.reddit.com/r/%s http://www.reddit.com/r/%s with the keyword rdr so that I can just type "rdr programming" into the location bar to go to http://www.reddit.com/r/programming http://www.reddit.com/r/programming. It has made my browsing a whole lot faster.
- apinstein 15y ago
  We do that a bit as well. Now that I think about it maybe they just need an "awesome bar" for github; put in a sha, branch name, issue, tag, pull request, etc and it can auto-complete and take you there. Also the network view could be really useful for managing projects if it were much faster and slightly better... In general I just think that there are way too many similarly sized/colored buttons spread all over the place, so I never know where to look for what I need, and I can't ever quite tell where I am without much work. I think the mental model of how to view and navigate the repo/network is not transparent or consistent. If they could nail that it would really help a ton.

masklinn 15y ago

Just as there are "clean youtube" browser extensions and the like, the interwebs are in dire need of a "clean github" browser extension.

hartez 15y ago
Stylish (or whatever the equivalent is for your favorite browser) is always an option until a better design comes along. For example, if you don't use the details boxes that much, you can apply something like div#repo_details { opacity:0.3 !important; } ul.with-details-box { opacity:0.3 !important;} to make those fade a bit and draw you eye toward the menu bars below them. You could event apply it your specific repo urls, so you could customize it depending on what you're working on. Again, only a temporary hack, but better than nothing until a better universal design can be agreed upon and implemented. Stylish: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/stylish/

bcjordan 15y ago

I've started using the address bar to get to most things. I usually only need to get to /issues, /commits, /tree/master/filename

maaku 15y ago
Github devs: this is a sign that pretty though it may be, something is wrong.
- cpach 15y ago
  I agree that this should spur the Github developers to re-consider their current design, but I see nothing wrong with the general concept of using URL:s for navigating, just as I prefer the Unix shell over GUI:s for many tasks. Jakob Nielsen wrote about that over ten years ago: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990321.html http://www.useit.com/alertbox/990321.html - I think the gist of his article still holds true.
yuvadam 15y ago
And I thought I was the only one. It's awesome that the URL scheme is 'right' and I can easily use it to get to where I need. But that just means the UI/UX is severely lacking.
spacemanaki 15y ago
You can replace /tree/master/filename by just pressing "t" on a project's page. Learned that a week or two ago and it changed my life.
- egor83 15y ago
  press '?' to get a list of available keyboard shorcuts
antirez 15y ago
I do the same. Probably browsers should have some support for this stuff. What I mean is that if I always visit: foobar.com/verb/<something> and urls where it's clear that there is a fixed part and a variable one, maybe the browser could help you writing this stuff easily, so that you start typing "github commit" and something to just fill with the missing pieces appear.
- eieio 15y ago
  I do this using firefox bookmarks/keywords using %s. For example, I use the bookmark http://www.reddit.com/r/%s http://www.reddit.com/r/%s with the keyword rdr so that I can just type "rdr programming" into the location bar to go to http://www.reddit.com/r/programming http://www.reddit.com/r/programming. It has made my browsing a whole lot faster.
apinstein 15y ago
We do that a bit as well. Now that I think about it maybe they just need an "awesome bar" for github; put in a sha, branch name, issue, tag, pull request, etc and it can auto-complete and take you there. Also the network view could be really useful for managing projects if it were much faster and slightly better... In general I just think that there are way too many similarly sized/colored buttons spread all over the place, so I never know where to look for what I need, and I can't ever quite tell where I am without much work. I think the mental model of how to view and navigate the repo/network is not transparent or consistent. If they could nail that it would really help a ton.