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Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

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Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#571

Post by filleduchaos »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #413
Nullabillity wrote: post #397

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's even sadder because Org-Mode demonstrated how to do WYSIWYG right. Apply the styling in real time, but then also show the formatting characters around it! That way you lose all of the weird WYSIWYG edge cases (will this character I type at the edge of a bold segment also be bold?), and you also teach WYSIWYG users Markdown in a natural way.

Ugh. No. This really breaks up the flow of the text. I’m sure it’s fine for org-mode’s intended audience, but for people not from a coding background, it’s horrid. And there’s no need to “teach WYSIWYG users Markdown” when WYSIWYG is fine for them.

In my experience it doesn't particularly break up the flow of text. And as for "people not from a coding background", inline styling with visible formatting characters is exactly how Whatsapp implements its rich text editing. Considering it's an app with a billion and a half MAU, I think you might find that you have an unrealistically low opinion of non-developers' intelligence.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#572

Post by dijit »

mcjiggerlog wrote: post #565
darkcl wrote: post #528

I have contacted them, and they replied me with this Lucas (Slack) Nov 20, 9:15 PM PST Hi there, Thank you for taking the time to write in and provide this feedback. I apologize for the disruption to your existing workflows. Our aim is to build an editor that works for all Slack users to better format their messages and clearly communicate in channels, regardless of their technical expertise. While we are taking all…

There's Mattermost[1], which is an open source alternative to Slack. I haven't tried it yet so can't vouch for how it compares. [1] https://mattermost.com

I had a lot of issues with mattermost delivering messages out of order and constantly getting disconnected with “retry” on lots of messages.

Not saying you’ll have the same issues, but definitely turned me off. :/

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#573

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

greggman2 wrote: post #474
Plyphon_ wrote: post #464

In their defence (not the defence of the WYSIWYG box itself) - they quite likely have done lots of user testing that has shown clear desirability, improved value to user, improved usability, etc etc. You have to remember Slack's target persona is probably no longer the Engineer (If it ever was) - it's more likely a much less tech-savvy employee who finds WYSIWYG editors very handy to create rich text inputs. I guess…

> they quite likely have done lots of user testing that has shown clear desirability, improved value to user, improved usability I have never worked at a company that did user testing or if they did it was always done in a way or interpreted in a way to back up the designer's opinion. I don't think I've once in my entire 40 yr career seen a designer test with users, find out something was bad, and change their design…

The reason the Windows 95 interface was so much better than what came before it was because Microsoft did loads of user testing and changed their design heavily based on it.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#574

Post by e12e »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #503
sambe wrote: post #495

This is not one of those "oh, that's annoying, i'll have to remember that and learn to work around it" issues. It's more like "I want to immediately stop using this software but have no choice". Its driving me crazy - Slack is all text input. Don't break text input dummy!

Exactly. Personally, I recommend switching to Ripcord as a Slack client. That's what I did some time ago, and I couldn't be happier.

There's also wee-slack:

https://github.com/wee-slack/wee-slack

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#575

Post by syshum »

sharken wrote: post #524
chris_wot wrote: post #502

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that Microsoft Teams is literally an existential threat, they really want to listen to feedback internally!

Not until Microsoft Teams gets the layout fixed, see https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/su...

Not really.

Teams biggest "Feature" is that is part of the Office 364 Suite, a lot of the layout and other issues are simply forgiven since there are no additional licensing or costs to use it over Slack if you are already on Office 364 Enterprise

Teams is "good enough" for most organizations and is improving,

That is microsoft current plan, be "good enough"

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#576

Post by e12e »

dijit wrote: post #533
darkcl wrote: post #528

I have contacted them, and they replied me with this Lucas (Slack) Nov 20, 9:15 PM PST Hi there, Thank you for taking the time to write in and provide this feedback. I apologize for the disruption to your existing workflows. Our aim is to build an editor that works for all Slack users to better format their messages and clearly communicate in channels, regardless of their technical expertise. While we are taking all…

I've been using wee_slack.py for some time; if you can add an application token and prefer the weechat UI then it's an appreciable option, but the issues I've had regarding inputting code are not necessarily fixed there since weechat doesn't take multi-line input. :(

Sure it does: /edit (opens $EDITOR, in my case neovim).

Link to wee-slack: https://github.com/wee-slack/wee-slack

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#577

Post by epanchin »

guessmyname wrote: post #46

This is funny because I work across the street of Slack’s office in Vancouver, Canada and two Slack engineers who I frequently chat with during our daily commute already told me they —and a handful of other employees— hate the WYSIWYG input box too, but were afraid to express their feelings because their role is irrelevant compared to the people who made the decision to ship it.

Please ask them what they think of the ‘drafts’ section. I’m so fed up of losing chats to that section.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#578

Post by Ensorceled »

What is currently driving me crazy about slack is that:

1) Slack constantly makes subtle changes the UX that always takes a bit of time to figure out, I don't want to read update notes to find out how a critical comms tool has changed eg. yesterday the mac chat became psuedo wysiwhg and it broke my muscle memory and stuff bounces around while I'm typing, eg2. Drafts: FU, I didn't ask for you to reorder my UI around so I can't find stuff, DON"T CHANGE MY MENUS

2) Bugs, I left hipchat because they couldn't stop breaking stuff with every update. Many of Slack's changes are "breaking stuff" until you figure out what they've changed.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#579

Post by tremon »

syshum wrote: post #575
sharken wrote: post #524

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not until Microsoft Teams gets the layout fixed, see https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/su...

Not really. Teams biggest "Feature" is that is part of the Office 364 Suite, a lot of the layout and other issues are simply forgiven since there are no additional licensing or costs to use it over Slack if you are already on Office 364 Enterprise Teams is "good enough" for most organizations and is improving, That is microsoft current plan, be "good enough"

That has always been Microsoft's plan, to be "just good enough" to make the cost of switching outweigh the cost of muddling on.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#580

Post by Ensorceled »

rndgermandude wrote: post #552
Ensorceled wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point, I guess they could stop using slack and eventually get fired.

Why so snarky? The parent poster asked a valid question, and "my organization relies on it and de-facto mandates its use" would have been a good answer.

I'm confused, do you honestly believe the person I was replying to doesn't know that Slack is critical comms infrastructure at a LOT of companies?
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