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Apps Getting Worse

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Re: Apps Getting Worse

#231

Post by mastazi »

mattbk1 wrote: post #210
mastazi wrote: post #205

There should be a new category of apps, where you can still get the contents offered by a given service (Spotify, Youtube, your favourite news service etc.) while at the same time not using the built in UI. For example, imagine a web app that embeds Youtube videos, that will show you every new video published by channels you choose. No home page suggestions, no "trending", no "you might be interested in". You could d…

In a perfect world, all of those would work in an RSS reader.

Yes, true. I wish Spotify artists/playlists or Youtube channels etc. had RSS.

So, the next idea would be a service that scrapes contents and builds an RSS feed.

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#232

Post by grishka »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #225
blibble wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As an end user, I view a bank as a box to keep my money so I don't have to deal with cash. That's really it. I personally like features such as savings accounts (which require a treasury department), a brokerage, lending, mortgages, wire transfers, detection of fraud, and so-on a bank does far more than provide a safe place for your cash to sit

I believe the point is that all those services have existed for Quite Some Time, don’t need consumer-facing changes, and any additional consumer-facing software changes are bunk.

Yes. And they somehow existed even before computers were invented. Computers sure did help streamline the processes tho.

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#233

Post by WastingMyTime89 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #50
Negitivefrags wrote: post #29

The worst offender recently in my opinion is Spotify on desktop. It used to be that when you clicked on an artists page you would see all the music tracks listed. Now it's all buried deep in and you have to search through the individual albums. Even the list of albums itself is not shown on the main artist page, you have to click "See Discography" first. The "Home" page is even worse. Where is my discover weekly play…

Spotify on Android degraded in the same way. It's a garbage of an app nowadays. I mean, after many years of not using their service, I recently had to spend a good half hour in front of their app, trying to figure out how to a) list all available songs of a given artist, and b) play one of them. And I couldn't do it. This task is pretty much impossible with their current design. All because, instead of treating their…

I don't know what Spotify is doing with the Android app. They seem to be pushing podcasts really hard and there doesn't seem to be a way to stop the app from doing that. I didn't enjoy using it at all.

I finally bit the bullet last month and moved to YouTube Music. Migration was a pain but I find the generated playlists better and the UX less painful to use.

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#234

Post by jagged-chisel »

grishka wrote: post #232
jagged-chisel wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the point is that all those services have existed for Quite Some Time, don’t need consumer-facing changes, and any additional consumer-facing software changes are bunk.

Yes. And they somehow existed even before computers were invented. Computers sure did help streamline the processes tho.

Sure did. Did. As in already done. What else, aside from security fixes, needs to change software-wise?

Edit: I realize this can be read with a pile of snark that I didn’t intend. Apologies.

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#235

Post by p1peridine »

kilroywashere wrote: post #163
Negitivefrags wrote: post #29

The worst offender recently in my opinion is Spotify on desktop. It used to be that when you clicked on an artists page you would see all the music tracks listed. Now it's all buried deep in and you have to search through the individual albums. Even the list of albums itself is not shown on the main artist page, you have to click "See Discography" first. The "Home" page is even worse. Where is my discover weekly play…

soulseek is far better than spotify.

True. I cancelled my spotify sub the same day I discovered soulseek. I keep my music collection (~100GB) offline now, all organized in folders.

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#236

Post by bishoprook2 »

masa331 wrote: post #40

Are PMs the only one to blame? What about developers "bored" with old and perfectly working stuff jumping to new shiny hype trains whenever possible?

...or simply the need to have version 6.0 after version 5.0, somethings gotta change.

Sometimes I think it would be an interesting mental exercise to convert most (all?) web pages and PC apps to something like a bog simple Windows 3.1 application. You could melt an online banking site to a handful of drop down menus and dialog boxes.

You have to wonder what the effect of ever-more-obtuse interfaces combined with visual gingerbread has on people with vision problems.

OTOH, there's apps that have been around for years where you have to wonder what they were thinking to begin with. Calibre. After Effects. Gimp.

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#237

Post by RachelF »

The article missed the worst regression in modern times: Windows 8 and then Windows 10.

These operating systems are harder to use, have fewer features and are uglier than Windows 7.

Hundreds of millions of people battle with Windows every day.

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#238

Post by jeremycarter »

samb1729 wrote: post #24
eplanit wrote: post #4

One of the reasons I don't buy any online versions of movies from Amazon anymore is because of their UI (the other reason is that I just don't trust them). Their web UI for videos lets me scroll through cumbersome graphical tiles of my movies in A-Z, Z-A, or oldest-newest -- that's all. On the firestick, I can't search them except via Alexa, which tries to sell me a different copy of the same movie, or to sell me oth…

My Prime Video experience on Apple TV in the UK mirrors this. I knew exactly what I wanted to watch but I simply could not figure out how to get the app to show it to me. The search feature returned and endless feed of results, none of which matched. Let's take a live example tested while writing this comment. I searched for "Stand-up comedy", and I see 9 results on my TV right now: - The Grand Tour - The Grand Tour…

Could always just watch The Grand Tour on repeat. That's what I do

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#239

Post by blibble »

jagged-chisel wrote: post #225
blibble wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As an end user, I view a bank as a box to keep my money so I don't have to deal with cash. That's really it. I personally like features such as savings accounts (which require a treasury department), a brokerage, lending, mortgages, wire transfers, detection of fraud, and so-on a bank does far more than provide a safe place for your cash to sit

I believe the point is that all those services have existed for Quite Some Time, don’t need consumer-facing changes, and any additional consumer-facing software changes are bunk.

the point was:

> A bank doesn't need a full-time development team for example.

all of the areas I mentioned are subject to constant change, mostly from regulators

implementing the Payment Services Directive, Solvency II or MiFID II all require developers

the developers working on the app/website that you interact with are always going to be a small fraction of the developers that work for a bank

and if you think this isn't the case (in a very cut-throat industry), I would suggest you start a bank and put the rest of them out of business with your vastly reduced costs

Re: Apps Getting Worse

#240

Post by mwcampbell »

grishka wrote: post #220
mwcampbell wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Runtime efficiency is just one consideration to be balanced against others. Maybe you would have an easier time getting a job if you would accept the new stuff and be willing to compromise on runtime efficiency so your team could crank out more features and more quickly meet its business goals. Note: the issue isn't your individual productivity; being willing to go along with the pack has its own advantages.

> meet its business goals I don't want to work at a place that has "business goals". I don't want to work on a proprietary product either. I just want to use my skills to make the world a better place, and moving money around ain't that. I don't want to participate in the rat race or help it in any shape or form.

Having business goals isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's possible to develop a good product that improves the lives of its users, while compromising on some things so the business can sell the product before it runs out of money. The money from those sales can then be used to fund more worthwhile work. It may be hard to find a position at a company that lives up to that ideal, but it's possible. I believe my cofounder and I are trying to do that with our bootstrapped company (but we're not currently hiring). You have to be willing to compromise on some ideals though; I struggle with that myself.
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