Why the mobile UI is breaking users' brains

Squire

It seems the new mobile UI is just something users can't get on board with. As a 25 year UX engineer currently working on a UI used by 350 million users, it's my job to understand how humans interact with UIs, and I can state with certainty, this new UI will not feel good to users until it starts to follow natural patterns.

For instance, swiping left while on the server's channel list brings you into your current channel. Therefore, swiping left from the current channel would naturally follow this “drill into” hierarchy and bring you into that channel's details. Right? Nope. Instead, it replies to a user.

Okay, so, In order to get to the channel details, which most people I know use very frequently to access pins, threads or view user lists, you actually have to move your hand inconveniently all the way to the top of the screen and click the channel name. Then, instead of the menu animating in from an origin that would make sense to the human brain (near where they clicked, i.e., the top), it slides in from the bottom of the screen. The whole experience is fractured and works against all user expectations.

Imagine if you were using a streaming app on your TV, and you selected a show to watch by clicking its tile, and the UI opened the show's menu and the first item that was highlighted was your system settings, and in order to play the show you had to know to press up on the remote, even though there were no visual cues telling you to do this. Then, it would select the title of the show that was all the way at the top of the screen and was not part of the menu, and when you selected that, it would play your show. 

That's what your new UI feels like.

Go back to basics. If swipes are used for navigating, keep them for navigating. If clicks trigger menus, slide menus in near the point of contact. Make clickable items reachable.

And next time, please do some user research and AB testing with active users.

28

Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • Hameed Latif

    The new mobile UI faces criticism from an experienced UX engineer for not aligning with user expectations. Navigation inconsistencies, inconvenient gestures, and confusing menu animations hinder the user experience. The request is for a simpler design that prioritizes intuitive interactions, along with a call for thorough user research and testing for future improvements.

    7
  • Echo

    Because they hate good things and love terrible UI's.

    3
  • Christina

    I have not once used the reply feature as intended. It's actually quite frustrating.

    4
  • Azraelaaaa

    It is very inconvenient and frustrating. I don’t swipe left to reply. Navigating should remain under swiping.

    4
  • YouEverLetMeInsideOrThereWithin

    Every single time I've used the swipe left to reply feature has been on accident when I wanted to check and see who is online. I agree with every word here. 

    2

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