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Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

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581–590 of 590 posts

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#581
post #134

Lots of hate here. I probably don't use GitHub as much as others here, so I can understand that any change adds friction and people are going to hate that. Having said that, I'm comparing using the Wayback Machine: new: https://github.com/torvalds/linux old: https://web.archive.org/web/20200619163555/https://github.co... and I can't find it in me to dislike the changes they've made. They've removed the double repo na…

Tangential comment: I just opened the link with the new design on my phone and it was a delight to look at compared to whatever I saw last time. I think the design changes were made keeping in mind smaller screens, which might be what the user data suggested (how am I to know). But I agree with other comments that the top bar content could be aligned with the rest of the content. Stretching it to each end is causing…

> I think the design changes were made keeping in mind smaller screens

It doesn't work properly on small phones. On my Moto G5 plus, on a repo's home screen, 3-digit "last commit dates" don't fit in the space available.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#583
post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The density has increased with things that aren't useful. You're browsing the file listing page ( Code tab) but it now has a bunch of extraneous stuff on the right hand side (Did you know that this repository has 0.5% Perl code??). Also the most prominent bit is the bold #105 in the commit message - who cares about the handcrafted comment, the important thing is the Github specific pull request number.

Absolutely spot on.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#584
I tried the new layout when offered as a beta feature and very quickly realized it was a regression in terms of ease of access to the information I want when I navigate to a repo page. I’ve submitted multiple feedback messages and was shocked when this was pushed through. Natfriedman, please consider these points.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#585
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.

Wow, I think you didn't get enough credit here for replying to this thread! Kudos to you!

I personally like some aspects of it and dislike some other, but nothing major in my opinion. What I can say is that only recently I started using the 'Projects' feature and it's really awesome!

Amazing work, and assuming you're the real 'natfriedman' it's amazing you answered!! :)

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#586
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.

Change is bad unless it is great.

Don't make changes just because your designers need something to do. When you make design changes your customers must immediately love it, if not it is a bad change. When it comes to design, there is no such thing as a "good change", there are only bad changes (the default) and great changes.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#587

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Change is bad unless it is great. Don't make changes just because your designers need something to do. When you make design changes your customers must immediately love it, if not it is a bad change. When it comes to design, there is no such thing as a "good change", there are only bad changes (the default) and great changes.

I agree with this. Taking on a "UI overhaul" of something folks don't see as a problem is just inviting them to try other tools. A lot of devs love using Github already - why up-end them?

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#589
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.

Little late to the party here but I am a heavy user of GitHub both personally and at work, and these recent changes have made it much less enjoyable, usable, and efficient.

I feel as though they were driven by some need to refresh the look of GitHub, but not by the need of the users. And this I think is the biggest mistake here.

If you have roughly 40,000,000 active monthly users — how many of those do these design changes serve? And how do they serve them?

That's what I'd be asking now if I was on your team.

Re: Ask HN: Thoughts on new GitHub layout?

#590

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "want the source" you mean you want to look at the source via the gitlab website ? I would interpret "want the source" as "I want to download the source" in which case showing the files is useless. All you need is a "download source" button

The conversation was about viewing the source online vs the README so clearly I meant I want to glance through the source online. There's a few reasons I might be doing this: - before deciding if I want to clone the repository. - Or sometimes I might just want to check the hooks of a particular API (eg the outputs of a Terraform module) where there isn't really a need to manually clone the repository just to validate…

How would you know you even want to look at the code at all if you haven't read the description of the code which is currently below all the code at the bottom of the page?

I need to know what the project is and what it's trying to do before I have any interest in looking at the code.

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