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Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

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Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#291

Post by dilap »

Yeah, it's bullshit. I think once a company gets "big" and corporate enough, focus somehow dissipates away from actual usability into...something else. See also: all recent changes to Slack.

Maybe this is just because the best people are drawn to work on new products?

Another insane example of this is scrolling in the iOS AppStore app. If your finger happens to start a scroll on a button, the scroll is just completely ignored.

Apple used to write entire carefully-considered tech reports about how to handle this case (until the finger starts to move or some time has passed w/o moving, you're in a limbo state where a button tap or scroll can't be distinguished), but now they don't even try to get it right.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#292

Post by Thorentis »

Since the repo screen is now basically full width, why not add a simple commit stream on the left? (So make it three columns instead of two). The most important thing I look for when checking out a repo, is how much commit activity there is and what sort of things are being worked on. It gives you a good sense of the health of the project.

So in the middle you have the files, and the action buttons above that, on the right you have info on langs, the contributors, the "About" blurb, but on the left you could put a (live updating?) commit stream with just a small contributor pic and name, hash, time stamp (x days ago), and the first bit of the commit message.

EDIT: Instead of just a commit stream, why not add a "repo feed" on the left? Includes new issues, PRs, commits, etc. Live updates (animates new ones bumping into the top).

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#293

Post by lostmsu »

natfriedman wrote: post #284
ljm wrote: post #126

I submitted feedback over it but, aside from the over-reliance on rounded corners, and making pills and buttons hard to separate, the single worst change is that you can't see the latest commit status from the repo screen. Instead, you get the commit hash, and have to click a tiny ellipsis button to get the commit message and the status indicator. When I'm browsing on github and not using git directly, the commit sho…

Thanks for the feedback about the latest commit status. This is something we should definitely fix. Also – I don't think there is a principle of lowering information density at work here. I think it's just a design that we will keep iterating. We are pro information density at GitHub.

Why aren't you doing A/B?

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#294

Post by dilap »

natfriedman wrote: post #284
ljm wrote: post #126

I submitted feedback over it but, aside from the over-reliance on rounded corners, and making pills and buttons hard to separate, the single worst change is that you can't see the latest commit status from the repo screen. Instead, you get the commit hash, and have to click a tiny ellipsis button to get the commit message and the status indicator. When I'm browsing on github and not using git directly, the commit sho…

Thanks for the feedback about the latest commit status. This is something we should definitely fix. Also – I don't think there is a principle of lowering information density at work here. I think it's just a design that we will keep iterating. We are pro information density at GitHub.

In what ways do you consider the new design to be better?

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#295

Post by talideon »

In aggregate, I neither like it nor hate it. But here's what I hate:

* It's even flatter than the previous layout, which makes it more difficult to use. In particular, it's easy to miss the branch dropdown. * It no longer shows the last commit message, which is an extremely useful thing to be able to see, as others have noted. If space is an issue, they should shift the junk on the right of that section up beside the 'branches' dropdown.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#296

Post by lostmsu »

pbreit wrote: post #203
ljm wrote: post #126

I submitted feedback over it but, aside from the over-reliance on rounded corners, and making pills and buttons hard to separate, the single worst change is that you can't see the latest commit status from the repo screen. Instead, you get the commit hash, and have to click a tiny ellipsis button to get the commit message and the status indicator. When I'm browsing on github and not using git directly, the commit sho…

Wow. I don't get it. It's still very similar just a bit worse all the way around.

That was my initial thought too. But I discarded it as conservatism, and giving it a try.

To be fair, likely there's not much difference. One good thing I noticed is now there is a link to the the latest release.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#299

Post by amarshall »

juliendc wrote: post #9

They are following the trends of flat design and rounded corners, which I don’t really mind. I’m more bothered by the fact that nothing is aligned: the GitHub logo, the breadcrumb, the horizontal menu and the issue title are all on different verticals. Looks messy.

This was among the first things I noticed. Here it is with vertical lines added https://i.imgur.com/EVSTdLA.png

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#300

Post by jamespullar »

DreamScatter wrote: post #153
duhi88 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't consider any of your criticisms as being "less accessible". To take your example of the languages, the new design is more accessible. It has a clearly labeled heading, and I can see the names of the languages are being used without clicking on the bar. The old design has no hints that the striped bar (or in the case of `linux`, grey) is supposed to be informative. We're all just used to clicking that bar i…

They could have left the languages in the same place where it was before. Now it requires extra input and mental effort to find the languages section. This is definitely a step backwards. Not complaining about the design of the new languages section, but the layout is just completely terrible and useless.

I would regularly wow people by showing them the language feature existed. It was obfuscated in the old layout and now it's readily available without any additional clicks. Yes, my eyes have to scan to the side now, but to call it "completely terrible and useless" is ridiculous. More users will discover this feature now that it's been moved and made visible.
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