Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible • Hacker News Board

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#31

Post by codyb » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:10 AM UTC

therealmarv wrote: post #11

llampx wrote: post #3

I've given up entirely on the Slack desktop app and use Ripcord exclusively. Much faster, more responsive and easier to use for 99% of my time spent on slack.

How is voice chat on Slack working in Ripcord? I'm guessing not at all?

Says works for Discord and WIP for Slack.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#32

Post by dang » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:11 AM UTC

nemo44x wrote: post #25

The product manager for this should be reassigned. To not even have the option to opt-out and use the classic input box is ridiculous. Productivity tools need to be very careful about radical change. Especially when the change won’t make anyone more productive.

Please don't cross into personal attack in HN comments. It breaks the site guidelines ( https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html). Note this one: Be kind.

It's hard enough for people to hear criticism or fix mistakes without their head, or a colleague's head, being called for.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#33

Post by WatchDog » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:11 AM UTC

Since moving companies, I have traded slack for microsoft teams. Teams is pretty terrible in comparison, one of the most annoying "features" is it's WYSIWYG editor, I have no idea why slack would want to copy one of the worst elements about teams.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#34

Post by stuartd » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:12 AM UTC

therealmarv wrote: post #11

llampx wrote: post #3

I've given up entirely on the Slack desktop app and use Ripcord exclusively. Much faster, more responsive and easier to use for 99% of my time spent on slack.

How is voice chat on Slack working in Ripcord? I'm guessing not at all?

Under "Features" it says it's a WIP (so yes, probably not working at all):

> Voice chat (Discord OK, Slack WIP)

It also lists this 'feature' which I think is hilarious:

> Not made from a web browser

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#35

Post by Arathorn » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:13 AM UTC

Amusingly, for https://riot.im we just shelved our WYSIWYG editor efforts after trying two completely separate implementations over the years (one via Draft.js, the other via Slate.js) because: a) it's a nightmare to get right, b) nobody used it anyway (it was optional), c) chat isn't a wordprocessor, d) markdown (commonmark) + floating formatting toolbar is good enough.

Our current editor was written from scratch (codenamed CIDER), and seems to work pretty well for markdown input + some semantic elements like prettified usernames, room names, etc.

https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk/blob/develop/... tells all about CIDER, and https://blog.riot.im/riot-web-1-5/ gives the full context if anyone cares :)

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#36

Post by neonate » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:13 AM UTC

I really dislike it as well. It puts designeyness right in my face in a way that interferes with my use of the tool. The old way was just fine.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#37

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:14 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#38

Post by exogeny » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:15 AM UTC

I'm going to take the opposite of this argument, and for bonafides, I run the product team for a 1000+ person company. I'm going to assume that this thing was tested out the wazoo, both qualitatively and behind enough feature-flags and buckets to keep Optimizely in business for a year. So I have no doubt that this wasn't just a hunch on their part, but something that they meticulously tracked. If I'm wrong, definitely let me know.

Anyway, the main point, what percentage of people do we think knows markdown to such an extent where it's easier for them to use than a WYSIWYG editor would be? I'd venture on HN alone that number is I think the lack of backwards-compatibility is a legit criticism, and sure, an opt-out would be nice, but I don't think for a second that this is as egregious as people are making it out to be.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#39

Post by StavrosK » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:16 AM UTC

At the risk of sounding like a shill, I'd like to shill Zulip. We started using it instead of Slack, and it has been amazing. It's fast, everything is designed to help you get to conversations quickly, keyboard accessibility is second to none and the streams is a much better default than rooms.

I can't recommend it enough, it's well worth the money even though they have a nice free tier and are OSS so you can self-host.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#40

Post by stavros » Thu, Nov 21, 2019, 12:17 AM UTC

Arathorn wrote: post #35

Amusingly, for https://riot.im we just shelved our WYSIWYG editor efforts after trying two completely separate implementations over the years (one via Draft.js, the other via Slate.js) because: a) it's a nightmare to get right, b) nobody used it anyway (it was optional), c) chat isn't a wordprocessor, d) markdown (commonmark) + floating formatting toolbar is good enough. Our current editor was written from scratch (c…

Thank you for adding the feature of not adding WYSIWYG. I can't believe how frustrating Slack's new editor is.