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Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

support.discord.com

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Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#31

Post by kevingadd »

listless wrote: post #27
kevingadd wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A person who uses Discord posting on the Discord forum about how the changes (in their opinion) make the product worse to use is not exactly a good comparison to a "bad tumblr post", unless what makes it a bad tumblr post is that it's a downer or you feel it doesn't meet your quality bar for Good Forum Content. By my reckoning, the post clearly enumerates their complaints with the new design, it provides some referen…

I think it’s the “harmful” rhetoric that signals “I have an agenda”. We really need to get passed this charged way of conveying perfectly valid feedback. Because come on. It’s a chat app.

Of course they have an agenda. Discord is harder for them to use now, and they want it fixed. When did "agenda" become a negatively charged concept that only bad actors possess?

Slack and Teams are chat apps too. Why would chat apps not be important?

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#32

Post by cblconfederate »

TBF their previous design isnt the pinnacle of readability either, it's basically 50 shades of grey (I use the web version only and haven't seen the new one yet). The audible beep seems to be always random. In general I think these chat interfaces are the worst kind of discussion boards we can have, but discord is free and still allows adult content so i guess its a compromise.

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#33

Post by mpalmer »

kevingadd wrote: post #20
dahfizz wrote: post #10

The language here rubs me the wrong way. Everything is stated as being "incredibly harmful" with no explanation beyond > ...directly harms visually impaired individuals due to lack of visual clarity. I am also not sure how "Elements lack unity" is related to the UI causing harm. I don't use discord, so I have no idea how good the UI is. If the UI is bad and hard for the visually impaired to use, there is definitely a…

A person who uses Discord posting on the Discord forum about how the changes (in their opinion) make the product worse to use is not exactly a good comparison to a "bad tumblr post", unless what makes it a bad tumblr post is that it's a downer or you feel it doesn't meet your quality bar for Good Forum Content. By my reckoning, the post clearly enumerates their complaints with the new design, it provides some referen…

The language people use to express themselves is important; forming reasonable arguments is an important skill.

Falling back on strong emotional language like actively harms is a crutch - unless well-supported by facts or reasoning.

Also they don't "suggest" a remedy, they demand it, and their demand is backed by their unsupported claim of "actively harms".

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#34

Post by cblconfederate »

simmerup wrote: post #12
eloeffler wrote: post #6

I miss the times™ where theming was a thing in my favorite programs and environments. WinAmp, MySpace, even my Nokia 6300 had themes. I never understood why this trend didn't stay and become more popular.

I imagine it's because it makes the app look amateurish.

why does a discord full of 15 year olds need to look professional?

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#35

Post by falcolas »

1970-01-01 wrote: post #25
dahfizz wrote: post #10

The language here rubs me the wrong way. Everything is stated as being "incredibly harmful" with no explanation beyond > ...directly harms visually impaired individuals due to lack of visual clarity. I am also not sure how "Elements lack unity" is related to the UI causing harm. I don't use discord, so I have no idea how good the UI is. If the UI is bad and hard for the visually impaired to use, there is definitely a…

It should rub you the wrong way because the language is wrong! The author has used the wrong word to describe the problem. If you replace the word harm and harmful with difficult it makes sense. harmful: of a kind likely to be damaging difficult: hard to deal with, manage, or overcome I've done it for everyone: >Saturated dark colors against dark backgrounds are hard to read and difficult to parse >White mentions lac…

For the visually impaired, it's not "difficult" to use, it's closer to "impossible" to use.

By toning back the language, you've made it sound like whining and not a legitimate concern. You make it easy to ignore.

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#36

Post by tobr »

eloeffler wrote: post #6

I miss the times™ where theming was a thing in my favorite programs and environments. WinAmp, MySpace, even my Nokia 6300 had themes. I never understood why this trend didn't stay and become more popular.

Theming makes it really hard to update the software in any substantial way. Even the slightest change to the design could end up breaking themes, or being drawn as white text on white background, etc.

I think it’s natural that it was more common when auto-updating software wasn’t the norm.

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#37

Post by dahfizz »

falcolas wrote: post #35
1970-01-01 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should rub you the wrong way because the language is wrong! The author has used the wrong word to describe the problem. If you replace the word harm and harmful with difficult it makes sense. harmful: of a kind likely to be damaging difficult: hard to deal with, manage, or overcome I've done it for everyone: >Saturated dark colors against dark backgrounds are hard to read and difficult to parse >White mentions lac…

For the visually impaired, it's not "difficult" to use, it's closer to "impossible" to use. By toning back the language, you've made it sound like whining and not a legitimate concern. You make it easy to ignore.

"X elements are impossible for me to see because of Y condition" is a perfectly legitimate piece of feedback. "X element being the wrong color is causing catastrophic harm" is insane feedback. By using silly language, they are making themselves easy to ignore.

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#38

Post by cwilkes »

mpalmer wrote: post #33
kevingadd wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A person who uses Discord posting on the Discord forum about how the changes (in their opinion) make the product worse to use is not exactly a good comparison to a "bad tumblr post", unless what makes it a bad tumblr post is that it's a downer or you feel it doesn't meet your quality bar for Good Forum Content. By my reckoning, the post clearly enumerates their complaints with the new design, it provides some referen…

The language people use to express themselves is important; forming reasonable arguments is an important skill. Falling back on strong emotional language like actively harms is a crutch - unless well-supported by facts or reasoning. Also they don't "suggest" a remedy, they demand it, and their demand is backed by their unsupported claim of "actively harms".

> Also they don't "suggest" a remedy, they demand it

Would this post have been better if they said “it might be a good idea if you considered going back to the previous way?” I’m not sure how soft pedaling the ask makes it more reasonable.

The post is pretty clear in what is wrong and how to fix it. If anything Discord is the aggressor here with a forced change without an “use the old UI” button.

If the posts included screenshots to show how bad the UI change is that would have made it better. Maybe the support forum doesn’t allow it.

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#39

Post by thatguy0900 »

falcolas wrote: post #35
1970-01-01 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should rub you the wrong way because the language is wrong! The author has used the wrong word to describe the problem. If you replace the word harm and harmful with difficult it makes sense. harmful: of a kind likely to be damaging difficult: hard to deal with, manage, or overcome I've done it for everyone: >Saturated dark colors against dark backgrounds are hard to read and difficult to parse >White mentions lac…

For the visually impaired, it's not "difficult" to use, it's closer to "impossible" to use. By toning back the language, you've made it sound like whining and not a legitimate concern. You make it easy to ignore.

I think it's easier to ignore when it comes across as typical internet flame war hysteria rather than someone trying to have a conversation about a issue

Re: Discord's new UX design is harmful to the visually impaired and colorblind

#40

Post by silicon2401 »

dahfizz wrote: post #10

The language here rubs me the wrong way. Everything is stated as being "incredibly harmful" with no explanation beyond > ...directly harms visually impaired individuals due to lack of visual clarity. I am also not sure how "Elements lack unity" is related to the UI causing harm. I don't use discord, so I have no idea how good the UI is. If the UI is bad and hard for the visually impaired to use, there is definitely a…

> The whole thing reads like a bad tumblr post.

It's exactly the kind of demonizing language that has unfortunately become common in recent years. By using dishonest wording to make your target look like an inhuman villain, it's easier to make the readers accept whatever the writer says. The writer then tries to sneakily shirk the responsibility to justify their claims. Just like at your quote:

> This is not good UX design. It is the opposite. It harms end-users. Revert the changes.

This wouldn't have passed my high school writing class. It's 3 arguments, 1 conclusion, and 0 evidence to support the conclusion. Instead of justifying their claims, people nowadays like to just throw out extreme words like "harm" and make it sound like Discord is installing keyloggers or something

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