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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

#831

Post by avdempsey »

jonahx wrote: post #810
ninkendo wrote: post #801

Did Slack ship a buggier version of this yesterday? I have it on one of my workspaces, and it's fine . I can still type `backticks` in the editor, with the exact same combinations of keystrokes I used before, it's just that they render as they will on the channel, rather than showing me the backticks (and only when I type the closing backtick. GIF here: https://i.imgur.com/o3wPWN0.gif ) Triple backtick does the same,…

Many edge cases are different. To name one: You realize after finishing your code block that the first two lines of it actually shouldn't have been part of the code block, but should have been normal text above. Go ahead and try to make this change with the new system. Compare that to what you would have done with the old, plain-text system.

Sure enough, the rich text formatting is copied. The workaround I have for this is the Get Plain Text app. It strips all formatting from copied text (either automatically or on a keyboard shortcut). Sad it's required for this use case. But at least this works.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#832

Post by carapace »

asix66 wrote: post #790
nmec wrote: post #701

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expressed my discontent to them as well and just received this reply: "I'm afraid there is no way to disable this at the moment, and it's not in the roadmap to roll back on this feature. That said, we're still in the initial stages here, so our focus right now is listening to feedback as we consider certain changes for improvement as we move forward. You've raised some fair points here, so I've shared your feedback…

So their rollout methodology here was to go live with beta software, on production servers, to paying customers, and force them to find the bugs. Brilliant!

It worked for Etsy.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#833

Post by snowe2010 »

misnome wrote: post #468
snowe2010 wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really unsure why I was downvoted for this. I posted a link to someone else in this thread that has actually talked to Slack employees, it's directly related to the comment I replied to.

Probably for the same reason people downvote when the same comment is copy-pasted all over a thread; I don't need to be linked to somewhere else in the same conversation. I especially don't need to be linked to somewhere else in the conversation that _I have already read because it is higher ranked_. Also possibly: following an opaquish link to find yourself on the very same page is annoying, and kind of the opposite…

Well I didn't copy and paste the same comment all over, I just posted this link once. The comment I linked was also not higher ranked when I commented, as I commented right around when the original post was made. Every comment in the thread was still getting shuffled around due to upvotes and nothing was stable.

In the future how do you suggest I handle this?

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#834

Post by indigodaddy »

indigodaddy wrote: post #817
ninkendo wrote: post #801

Did Slack ship a buggier version of this yesterday? I have it on one of my workspaces, and it's fine . I can still type `backticks` in the editor, with the exact same combinations of keystrokes I used before, it's just that they render as they will on the channel, rather than showing me the backticks (and only when I type the closing backtick. GIF here: https://i.imgur.com/o3wPWN0.gif ) Triple backtick does the same,…

I use the website, and for our workspace I am not seeing the auto-formatting at all now. It appears to be like it was before they rolled out the wysiwyg. Yay I guess. I did not like it at all so I'm happy about it.

Well, now it's back. Weird.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#836

Post by cygned »

Slack is at the point where we as long-term customers are wondering what they are working on all day. In fact, we are actively looking for replacements.

We could stand this new editor (even though it’s annoying), but what really drives us nuts are the performance issues on mobile, that there’s no way on iOS to see a screen share or to share the screen and that Slack is not integrated into the iOS call system. And when you have the pleasure to use it on mobile, it always tells you that the connection is bad

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#838

Post by carapace »

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…

In a ~20y professional career I've done it once.

We did the whole bit: Hired a special company that had rooms with one-way mirrors so you could watch the users use the thing.

It was brutal.

One person went to this really cool subpage, and we were all so excited to see what they were going to do. User waved the mouse around for a few seconds and then clicked back. We were jumping up and down in our seats, just losing it. Our special thing was so cool (we thought) and this person literally couldn't begin to understand what it even was.

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#839

Post by ilikepi »

jonahx wrote: post #810
ninkendo wrote: post #801

Did Slack ship a buggier version of this yesterday? I have it on one of my workspaces, and it's fine . I can still type `backticks` in the editor, with the exact same combinations of keystrokes I used before, it's just that they render as they will on the channel, rather than showing me the backticks (and only when I type the closing backtick. GIF here: https://i.imgur.com/o3wPWN0.gif ) Triple backtick does the same,…

Many edge cases are different. To name one: You realize after finishing your code block that the first two lines of it actually shouldn't have been part of the code block, but should have been normal text above. Go ahead and try to make this change with the new system. Compare that to what you would have done with the old, plain-text system.

> To name one: You realize after finishing your code block that the first two lines of it actually shouldn't have been part of the code block, but should have been normal text above.

    * move the cursor to 0,0
    * hold shift and hit down-arrow twice to highlight the first two lines
    * continue holding shift and hit left-arrow once to deselect the EOL on the second line
    * use the keyboard shortcut for toggling code blocks (cmd-alt-shift-c)
awkward, but it works. :shrug:

EDIT: formatting

Re: Slack’s new WYSIWYG input box is terrible

#840

Post by mattacular »

rmsaksida wrote: post #568
mattacular wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with that is Slack no longer needs a small segment of vocal users. They used to, but now they're a huge established company with plenty of service contracts across tons of industries.

That's true, but it can change. Just as tech users were vocal about getting people in, they can be vocal about getting people out.

They can be vocal about getting people out all the want, won't make them effective at it, especially if most people don't understand why power text editor users hate WYSIWYGs. Once contracts are inked and the whole company gets hooked on something like Slack good luck getting it back out.
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