Publicly deriding the changes (that a lot of people have put a lot of work into) and then saying "Hey, pay me, I could do better!" seems a little arrogant to me.
From Google's perspective I wouldn't rehire this guy.
My offer to Google Reader
61–70 of 104 posts
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#62If anyone's interested in an alternative - here's one: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1834305
Direct link http://www.newsblur.com/
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#63Wow this is a bit naive and egotistical. I HATE the new google reader but to think that it takes ONE man outside of Google to fix their product is downright silly. The redesign was made in the context of Google's near-future plans to ignore that is ridiculous. A more constructive move is to provide a short checklist of things to re-consider or build/recommend a competing product. Its not like Google cant improve it m…
How many people should it take to design a UX for an application with a single screen?
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#64Someone at Google needs to get a Goddamn clue and look at a UI design manual. What the hell are they thinking? Has Larry let the MBAs get out of control? There's clearly something wrong, as no sensible, actual user of these products surely could believe that this mess is an improvement? This is on a par with the del.icio.us mess.
It may not be MBAs, but Ex-Yahoo! guys http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3143054
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#65Dear God in Heaven please let them take him up on it. Now that I'm a few days into the new redesign my workflow has become 1. Read RSS feeds. 2. Research RSS feed readers.
This morning I did what I should have done a long time ago: configure gnus to do all my RSS reading. It took me an hour but it was an hour well spent.
Until recently Google Reader was just good enough but with the recent changes, it became just too painful. I'm not talking about the "social" features; I never used them. It was the poor layout and design, wasted real estate and especially the broken key shortcuts that did it.
So now Google has lost access to all my RSS habits.
It has also been a lesson to me in SaaS solutions (Software as a Service). When the provider can make substantial changes in their service at a whim, they can leave you high and dry. You're no better off than when you put yourself in the hands of a commercial software vendor or, dare I say it, Ubuntu :-)
Now happily reading the HN feed and others through gnus...
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#66[deleted]
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#67Dear God in Heaven please let them take him up on it. Now that I'm a few days into the new redesign my workflow has become 1. Read RSS feeds. 2. Research RSS feed readers.
Me too, I am definitely in the market for a new RSS reader now.
The RSS reader of www.netvibes.com isn't that bad.
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#68Someone at Google needs to get a Goddamn clue and look at a UI design manual. What the hell are they thinking? Has Larry let the MBAs get out of control? There's clearly something wrong, as no sensible, actual user of these products surely could believe that this mess is an improvement? This is on a par with the del.icio.us mess.
Here's one of the reasons:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3190205
"If I remember correctly, Google engineers are given the choice of one 30" monitor or a two 24" monitors,"
That explains all. At the time "normal people" converge to notebooks and laptops with even less height, they "optimize" UI for their immense screens. The managers who approve also test it on their 30 inch screens. And they certainly don't understand the complaints, probably saying:
"don't you all have 30 inch?"
"let them eat cake."
I have an old notebook with 1050 pixels height and even there the new changes are annoying to me. What's with now more common 768, 800 and 900 pixels?
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
First, a user script is a poor solution because it reaches a small minority of people, is limited in the functionality it can add, and would frequently not survive updates. It's a band-aid, and a poor one at that. Second, what makes you think I didn't send an email?
I heard from a reliable source that there were contractors behind the new design. If that's true, I'm stunned. They didn't put an employee on this project?
I know the tech lead isn't a contractor (unsure what the relationship is between tech lead and designer, though)
Re: My offer to Google Reader
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
24in Monitor. I could see how it might not scale down well, maybe they need to introduce the UI scaling features that Gmail has that might help with a lot of peoples issues. The userscripts I tried basically just removed a lot of margins and padding around content, so maybe those might suit you on a small display?
If I remember correctly, Google engineers are given the choice of one 30" monitor or a two 24" monitors, which is what the new Google Reader was presumably built on and perhaps optimized for. However, given the fact that laptops dominate computer sales nowadays, I'm downright amazed they didn't test it further on small screens.
If I remember correctly, Google engineers are given the choice of one 30" monitor or a two 24" monitors, which is what the new Google Reader was presumably built on and perhaps optimized for.
They also get a laptop (most choose a 15" MBP). I seriously doubt non one saw it on a smaller screen.