5 ms·

Updated user interface for signing in to or signing up for your Google Account

24 points by mfiguiere 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
LorenDB 3y ago
Material design feels like it was designed entirely to look good with zero regard for usability. It uses way too much padding for everything and wasted tons of screen real estate.
- lwansbrough 3y ago
  I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the most extensively usability tested design systems ever. Whether or not that supersedes the hubris of Google designers is another story. Personally I don't have an issue using material design elements as a user.
- princevegeta89 3y ago
  I always had the impression that it was a design taken blindly to desktop after it ended up getting positive reception on mobile. On desktop, I found it to have weird buttons, weird spacing, weird controls and layouts with hamburger menus all over the place.
  - LorenDB 3y ago
    My main complaint is actually with mobile. Phones already have limited screen space. I don't need Google's trash padding taking 20% or more of that away from me. In terms of UI, Android 11 was the last good Android. Anything with Material looks awful. In fact, I will likely switch to Linux or Sailfish OS if possible when I have to replace my Android 11 phone.
    - Macha 3y ago
      I think based on timing your objection is with Material You / Material Design 3 specifically, which replaced Material Design 2 starting in Android 12. Android 11 was already using Material Design (2) (the card theme) which replaced the previous theme, Holo in Android 5. Holo was the cyberpunk-y black with blue highlights interface, though honestly Kitkat (4.4) had already started that trend that led to Material, removing colors from Holo. I'm also not a fan of Material You to be honest, the "colors from your background" gimmick just results in all the colours being muddy boring desaturated ones, and the general low contrast + rounded look just doesn't work for me.
      - LorenDB 3y ago
        OK, you are correct, Material You is the main complaint here. Basic Material isn't that bad, but Material You ruined everything.
  - frereubu 3y ago
    The use of hamburger menus on desktop is one of my pet peeves. I get that it's simpler to manage across the vast number of properties that an organisation like Google has, but it's a really suboptimal use of space. Ditto the fact that the "new document" icon in Google Workspace is all the way at the bottom right, even on a huge monitor.
    - crazygringo 3y ago
      > Ditto the fact that the "new document" icon in Google Workspace is all the way at the bottom right, even on a huge monitor. Even on mobile it's easy to miss! Google makes it a white button with a thin gray shadow, usually against white rows separated by thin gray lines. If you squint, it literally becomes invisible because its visible weight is identical to its surroundings. IIRC it used to be the solid accent color with white text, so you couldn't miss it. But now it's almost invisible unless you know where to look for it. It really is baffling.
  - gustavus 3y ago
    Desktop interface design peaked in Windows 95 and it has been consistently downhill since then.
    - skydhash 3y ago
      Windows XP was good, even if it was very…playful. Windows 7 was usable even with the eyecandy. i feel that Win95 UI was a bit too drab for personal computing.
    - crazygringo 3y ago
      Maybe, but it didn't translate to mobile at all. Flat design has been the attempt to try to create a unified design language across desktop and mobile, since most people are constantly switching between the two and using the same apps across both.
- difosfor 3y ago
  To be honest I kind of miss the old skeuomorphic design days where you didn't need tons of animations and huge margins to make flat design usable.
  - jbverschoor 3y ago
    Enable high contrast mode on macOS. It adds borders around buttons etc. You’ll be amazed how clean yet unusable the flat design is when you turn it off after a week
- Ferret7446 3y ago
  The padding is useful for mobile/tablet I assume.
pydry 3y ago
I hate log in pages which split username and password across two pages. It messes with my password manager.
- samcat116 3y ago
  It’s necessary for SSO and passwordless flows
- danpalmer 3y ago
  As passwords are used less and less with alternatives like Passkeys, SSO, or even just policies defined by the maintainer of an account, split login flows like this are going to become more and more common. I know it’s a slight regression for password managers, it annoyed me at first, but I have made my peace with it as I understand the other security benefits. I’d recommend sorting your password manager out, I use 1Password and don’t have any problems. I think it’s something password managers will need to get better at quickly.
- dns_snek 3y ago
  Bitwarden usually fills in both fields for me.
- frereubu 3y ago
  Which password manager do you use? I use 1Password and the split username / password Google logins work fine for me, and from another sibling comment it sounds like Bitwarden does too.
- kristjansson 3y ago
  AFAICT the better ones (including Google's existing flow) have the password input present in the document, but hidden, and unhide when they want to ask for it. That way a manager looking at the DOM can pre-fill (or be ready to fill) the password. Splitting across two documents seems monstrous and probably insecure?
- dbbk 3y ago
  It shouldn't if implemented correctly
- 3y ago
petarb 3y ago
So much hype for a crappier looking page
- JoshTriplett 3y ago
  It makes sense that they're making a huge amount of noise about this, because "this doesn't look like the right login page" is otherwise an extremely valid reaction that should be encouraged.
  - basch 3y ago
    and yet, they announce a change to the login screen from a domain of workspaceupdates.googleblog.com If I was unaware of the change, and somebody sent me a link, and I wanted more information about the change, and got sent a link to workspaceupdates.googleblog.com (without already knowing of it) I would think its a sophisticated phishing attempt. A corporation like google should really be pushing human trust through exclusive use of .google or .google.com
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    Are they making a huge amount of noise? This is just their changelog page essentially, where every Workspace update is documented, no matter how large or small. The intended audience is Workspace admins. On the other hand, why this trivial change is being upvoted here on HN as interesting news is totally baffling to me.
samcat116 3y ago
Looks much better IMO.
SllX 3y ago
> Note that this is strictly a change in visual appearance, there are no functionality impacts or changes. This is the only sentence that matters.
- dbbk 3y ago
  So they went to all this trouble to NOT fix the multi-account issues? Which is for like, anyone with both a personal Gmail and a work Gmail?
  - tlogan 3y ago
    The person who is getting promotion for this is not the one who cares about these issues (which is like pretty much every single workspace user).
  - SllX 3y ago
    Apparently not, but it is excellent news for those of us that read that headline and thought “what fresh new hell did some UX designer trying to pad their resumé and really leave their mark on the world for the next couple of years cook up?” So it’s at least a karmically neutral change. You didn’t win anything and I didn’t lose anything.
serhack_ 3y ago
Social engineering attackers remained silent for some minutes /s
passwordoops 3y ago
Cool. So when can I sign out of one account without signing out of all accounts without jumping through hoops?
prophesi 3y ago
It's wild to me that they don't implement dark mode and `prefers-color-scheme` for their sign in page, and I'm assuming this will still be the case. Gotta love visiting youtube.com which does respect this preference, then get blasted with light once you click Sign In.
- stevage 3y ago
  Dark Reader. Seriously.
  - lolinder 3y ago
    Links to the extension [0][1]. I can second the recommendation! This extension is one of the best things about Firefox on Android. [0] Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/darkreader/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/darkreader/ [1] Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dark-reader/eimadpbcbfnmbkopoojfekhnkhdbieeh https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dark-reader/eimadpb...
    - stevage 3y ago
      Yeah, I recently got a new computer and suddenly found the web unusable. I'd actually forgotten that I'd installed that extension, I just thought almost every website supported dark mode now.
- dochtman 3y ago
  No dark mode on GMail is… the worst.
- pavlov 3y ago
  For a page that has a billion users and is a prime spoofing target, they probably have real data showing that any visual adaptation results in substantial user confusion.
  - Guest9081239812 3y ago
    If any visual adaptation results in substantial user confusion, then why roll out this update which they say is "strictly a change in visual appearance"? If they're going to cause confusion, at least incorporate some additional functionality at the same time.
cosmotic 3y ago
Can I maybe switch accounts from the first screen instead of the second this rendition? It feels so weird to respond to "hi wrongaccount@gmail.com, click next to continue" with next.
lopkeny12ko 3y ago
> Note that this is strictly a change in visual appearance, there are no functionality impacts or changes. > There is no admin control for this feature. > There is no end user setting for this feature What was the point of all this press noise then? Even in the Google product, they've been pestering me with these useless "the sign in page is getting a new look" notices. This all feels like a huge nothingburger. Maybe all the public communications was only published to support some PM's promotion case at Google.
- tech234a 3y ago
  If the page suddenly changed without warning, a lot of people would probably think that they didn’t land on the legitimate login page.
- jsnell 3y ago
  What press noise?
- crazygringo 3y ago
  What press noise? This is a blog for Workspace admins that lists literally every update to Workspace no matter how big or small. But was submitted to HN for some reason. Although the notification about "getting a new look" is important for security. After all, protecting yourself from phishing requires you to recognize that a site is legit. So showing that notification on the login page is a pretty obvious thing to do. (And I haven't seen it anywhere else.)
486sx33 3y ago
[flagged]
dvh 3y ago
I this why simple html interface to Gmail will stop working in March?
suzzer99 3y ago
[flagged]
LoganDark 3y ago
> Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. > End users: There is no end user setting for this feature — users see these improvements automatically. Visit the Help Center to learn more about the new Google sign-in page. It's fascinating to see the shift in tone between admins and end-users. For admins they know that all admins want to know is if they can do anything about it which they can't. For end users though, they devolve into PR-speak and direct people to help center articles. Seeing these directly next to each other is surreal.
tlogan 3y ago
I wonder who is in charge of this? All these changes in Google are more like reflection who has more power inside Google but not what customers want. And of course problems with multi account issues and workspace addons is whatever…
greatgib 3y ago
It is funny because I don't see at all on what count the new page have a "more modern look". Here, "more modern" probably means that "this did not change for a long time, so we can say that it is modern if we change it"

24 points by mfiguiere 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Material design feels like it was designed entirely to look good with zero regard for usability. It uses way too much padding for everything and wasted tons of screen real estate.

lwansbrough 3y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the most extensively usability tested design systems ever. Whether or not that supersedes the hubris of Google designers is another story. Personally I don't have an issue using material design elements as a user.
princevegeta89 3y ago
I always had the impression that it was a design taken blindly to desktop after it ended up getting positive reception on mobile. On desktop, I found it to have weird buttons, weird spacing, weird controls and layouts with hamburger menus all over the place.
- LorenDB 3y ago
  My main complaint is actually with mobile. Phones already have limited screen space. I don't need Google's trash padding taking 20% or more of that away from me. In terms of UI, Android 11 was the last good Android. Anything with Material looks awful. In fact, I will likely switch to Linux or Sailfish OS if possible when I have to replace my Android 11 phone.
  - Macha 3y ago
    I think based on timing your objection is with Material You / Material Design 3 specifically, which replaced Material Design 2 starting in Android 12. Android 11 was already using Material Design (2) (the card theme) which replaced the previous theme, Holo in Android 5. Holo was the cyberpunk-y black with blue highlights interface, though honestly Kitkat (4.4) had already started that trend that led to Material, removing colors from Holo. I'm also not a fan of Material You to be honest, the "colors from your background" gimmick just results in all the colours being muddy boring desaturated ones, and the general low contrast + rounded look just doesn't work for me.
    - LorenDB 3y ago
      OK, you are correct, Material You is the main complaint here. Basic Material isn't that bad, but Material You ruined everything.
- frereubu 3y ago
  The use of hamburger menus on desktop is one of my pet peeves. I get that it's simpler to manage across the vast number of properties that an organisation like Google has, but it's a really suboptimal use of space. Ditto the fact that the "new document" icon in Google Workspace is all the way at the bottom right, even on a huge monitor.
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    > Ditto the fact that the "new document" icon in Google Workspace is all the way at the bottom right, even on a huge monitor. Even on mobile it's easy to miss! Google makes it a white button with a thin gray shadow, usually against white rows separated by thin gray lines. If you squint, it literally becomes invisible because its visible weight is identical to its surroundings. IIRC it used to be the solid accent color with white text, so you couldn't miss it. But now it's almost invisible unless you know where to look for it. It really is baffling.
- gustavus 3y ago
  Desktop interface design peaked in Windows 95 and it has been consistently downhill since then.
  - skydhash 3y ago
    Windows XP was good, even if it was very…playful. Windows 7 was usable even with the eyecandy. i feel that Win95 UI was a bit too drab for personal computing.
  - crazygringo 3y ago
    Maybe, but it didn't translate to mobile at all. Flat design has been the attempt to try to create a unified design language across desktop and mobile, since most people are constantly switching between the two and using the same apps across both.
difosfor 3y ago
To be honest I kind of miss the old skeuomorphic design days where you didn't need tons of animations and huge margins to make flat design usable.
- jbverschoor 3y ago
  Enable high contrast mode on macOS. It adds borders around buttons etc. You’ll be amazed how clean yet unusable the flat design is when you turn it off after a week
Ferret7446 3y ago
The padding is useful for mobile/tablet I assume.

pydry 3y ago

I hate log in pages which split username and password across two pages. It messes with my password manager.

samcat116 3y ago
It’s necessary for SSO and passwordless flows
danpalmer 3y ago
As passwords are used less and less with alternatives like Passkeys, SSO, or even just policies defined by the maintainer of an account, split login flows like this are going to become more and more common. I know it’s a slight regression for password managers, it annoyed me at first, but I have made my peace with it as I understand the other security benefits. I’d recommend sorting your password manager out, I use 1Password and don’t have any problems. I think it’s something password managers will need to get better at quickly.
dns_snek 3y ago
Bitwarden usually fills in both fields for me.
frereubu 3y ago
Which password manager do you use? I use 1Password and the split username / password Google logins work fine for me, and from another sibling comment it sounds like Bitwarden does too.
kristjansson 3y ago
AFAICT the better ones (including Google's existing flow) have the password input present in the document, but hidden, and unhide when they want to ask for it. That way a manager looking at the DOM can pre-fill (or be ready to fill) the password. Splitting across two documents seems monstrous and probably insecure?
dbbk 3y ago
It shouldn't if implemented correctly
3y ago

petarb 3y ago

So much hype for a crappier looking page

JoshTriplett 3y ago
It makes sense that they're making a huge amount of noise about this, because "this doesn't look like the right login page" is otherwise an extremely valid reaction that should be encouraged.
- basch 3y ago
  and yet, they announce a change to the login screen from a domain of workspaceupdates.googleblog.com If I was unaware of the change, and somebody sent me a link, and I wanted more information about the change, and got sent a link to workspaceupdates.googleblog.com (without already knowing of it) I would think its a sophisticated phishing attempt. A corporation like google should really be pushing human trust through exclusive use of .google or .google.com
- crazygringo 3y ago
  Are they making a huge amount of noise? This is just their changelog page essentially, where every Workspace update is documented, no matter how large or small. The intended audience is Workspace admins. On the other hand, why this trivial change is being upvoted here on HN as interesting news is totally baffling to me.

samcat116 3y ago

Looks much better IMO.

SllX 3y ago

> Note that this is strictly a change in visual appearance, there are no functionality impacts or changes. This is the only sentence that matters.

dbbk 3y ago
So they went to all this trouble to NOT fix the multi-account issues? Which is for like, anyone with both a personal Gmail and a work Gmail?
- tlogan 3y ago
  The person who is getting promotion for this is not the one who cares about these issues (which is like pretty much every single workspace user).
- SllX 3y ago
  Apparently not, but it is excellent news for those of us that read that headline and thought “what fresh new hell did some UX designer trying to pad their resumé and really leave their mark on the world for the next couple of years cook up?” So it’s at least a karmically neutral change. You didn’t win anything and I didn’t lose anything.

serhack_ 3y ago

Social engineering attackers remained silent for some minutes /s

passwordoops 3y ago

Cool. So when can I sign out of one account without signing out of all accounts without jumping through hoops?

prophesi 3y ago

It's wild to me that they don't implement dark mode and `prefers-color-scheme` for their sign in page, and I'm assuming this will still be the case. Gotta love visiting youtube.com which does respect this preference, then get blasted with light once you click Sign In.

stevage 3y ago
Dark Reader. Seriously.
- lolinder 3y ago
  Links to the extension [0][1]. I can second the recommendation! This extension is one of the best things about Firefox on Android. [0] Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/darkreader/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/darkreader/ [1] Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dark-reader/eimadpbcbfnmbkopoojfekhnkhdbieeh https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/dark-reader/eimadpb...
  - stevage 3y ago
    Yeah, I recently got a new computer and suddenly found the web unusable. I'd actually forgotten that I'd installed that extension, I just thought almost every website supported dark mode now.
dochtman 3y ago
No dark mode on GMail is… the worst.
pavlov 3y ago
For a page that has a billion users and is a prime spoofing target, they probably have real data showing that any visual adaptation results in substantial user confusion.
- Guest9081239812 3y ago
  If any visual adaptation results in substantial user confusion, then why roll out this update which they say is "strictly a change in visual appearance"? If they're going to cause confusion, at least incorporate some additional functionality at the same time.

cosmotic 3y ago

Can I maybe switch accounts from the first screen instead of the second this rendition? It feels so weird to respond to "hi wrongaccount@gmail.com, click next to continue" with next.

lopkeny12ko 3y ago

> Note that this is strictly a change in visual appearance, there are no functionality impacts or changes. > There is no admin control for this feature. > There is no end user setting for this feature What was the point of all this press noise then? Even in the Google product, they've been pestering me with these useless "the sign in page is getting a new look" notices. This all feels like a huge nothingburger. Maybe all the public communications was only published to support some PM's promotion case at Google.

tech234a 3y ago
If the page suddenly changed without warning, a lot of people would probably think that they didn’t land on the legitimate login page.
jsnell 3y ago
What press noise?
crazygringo 3y ago
What press noise? This is a blog for Workspace admins that lists literally every update to Workspace no matter how big or small. But was submitted to HN for some reason. Although the notification about "getting a new look" is important for security. After all, protecting yourself from phishing requires you to recognize that a site is legit. So showing that notification on the login page is a pretty obvious thing to do. (And I haven't seen it anywhere else.)

486sx33 3y ago

[flagged]

dvh 3y ago

I this why simple html interface to Gmail will stop working in March?

suzzer99 3y ago

[flagged]

LoganDark 3y ago

> Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. > End users: There is no end user setting for this feature — users see these improvements automatically. Visit the Help Center to learn more about the new Google sign-in page. It's fascinating to see the shift in tone between admins and end-users. For admins they know that all admins want to know is if they can do anything about it which they can't. For end users though, they devolve into PR-speak and direct people to help center articles. Seeing these directly next to each other is surreal.

tlogan 3y ago

I wonder who is in charge of this? All these changes in Google are more like reflection who has more power inside Google but not what customers want. And of course problems with multi account issues and workspace addons is whatever…

greatgib 3y ago

It is funny because I don't see at all on what count the new page have a "more modern look". Here, "more modern" probably means that "this did not change for a long time, so we can say that it is modern if we change it"