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Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

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Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#281

Post by clenneville »

vemv wrote: post #28

The final result looks too widget-y/SPA-y, overloaded with information. That's precisely a front where GH wins (over Gitlab): it's visually calm and sparse, ideal for something that would be part of daily, thoughtful work.

Thanks for the feedback on the density of GitLab’s UI. Agree that there is a balance to strike between providing enough information and maintaining scannability and ease of use. If you have specific feedback, please feel free to share it here or in a GitLab issue. We value feedback from the rest of the community.

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#282

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

swish_bob wrote: post #256
shaki-dora wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point was that developers themselves are often browsing repositories they do not own/contribute to.

And what is it those developers are doing? Personally, I'm reading the README and/or looking at the contents of files. Plus looking at issues. Very rarely am I looking for the releases tab. I'm amused that people are using the "I only do this every 6 months so I can't remember where it is" argument. If you only need the functionality every 6 months, perhaps not having it in your face every time you use it might be a…

Isn't the point that everything should be easy to get to (even if you’ve never been to releases, it should be obvious how to get there) but frequently-accessed things should require less effort?

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#283

Post by guelo »

vanderZwan wrote: post #218
pembrook wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called nostalgia. It's emotional, not rational. Ask any 16 year old (like my son), who came of age having no context for what the windows 95 UI even looked like. Shocker, he vastly prefers flat interfaces, ie. like the design of Notion. The problem I see in this github redesign has nothing to do with the fact that it's flat. It's tougher to use because it's just bad design. The three columns make it insanely den…

No, it's not nostalgia, goddammit. It's because it contains good visual affordances. Skeumorphism isn't pretty, but it works because our eyes are naturally trained to perceive the visual hints. Our eyes are trained to subconsciously perceive depth via shadows. To perceive clear edges and group things by them. I really, really hate that 99% of all UX designers are basically graphic designers who are good with visual f…

The Windows 95 "3D" look isn't skeumorphism. Skeumorphism refers to design touches that mimic real life objects. The big example is from early iOS which had things like virtual leather stitching in apps or lined paper in the Notes app or shelves in the iBook app.

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#284

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

abhchand wrote: post #50

First half of the article that redesigns the navigation is actually pretty good. It got me hooked and i find it valuable. When they started touching the content, I got a lot more hesitant. 1. I can't articulate why , but honestly it's extremely useful to see the last commit message on each file. It gives me a sense of which files have changed and if my changes are still the latest ones. It's not foolproof, but it doe…

Removing the last commit message 'because commit messages are often bad' was one thing, but tossing out the last change date alongside it with nary a mention? Unforgivable.

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#285

Post by jrochkind1 »

grblovrflowerrr wrote: post #56
scott_s wrote: post #17

> If you are a programmer, you might be surprised but other people normally don’t like hierarchies. Nested structures are hard to grasp, remember, navigate, and grouping is very often non-intuitive. Nested tabs are one of the worst UI patterns out there. GitHub is primarily a development tool, so it should be designed for developers. Hierarchies align very well with development tasks, so it's natural to use them for…

I think the two natures of Github as a tool for software development and Github as a social coding site are often at odds. Some ways this could be reconciled: - greater end user customization of the UI layout - an option to enter a different UI(contributor UI) for repositories you contribute to/own - make the contributor UI an enhancement on top of the current UI(perhaps a new darker tab bar) - related to the above,…

Yeah, I tend to be not interested in customization, and I believe "general population" UX studies show that most people (not necessarily devs) aren't interested in customization either.

An example of a tool set in a similar space as GH that has prioritized customization are Atlassian Confluence and Jira. How many of us enjoy that software? More than GH?

Customization can't save software that hasn't gotten the UX right in the first place.

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#286

Post by jlarocco »

throwaway77790 wrote: post #215
jlarocco wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strongly agree with this, and it's probably the biggest reason I don't use BitBucket unless I'm getting paid to. The other big reason is that Bitbucket loads bunch of trackers and JavaScript from remote servers.

Names/urls of the trackers and scripts?

I block the requests to google-analytics.com, newrelic.com, and statuspage.io.

I allow the requests to atlassian.com, cloudfront.net, "bytebucket.org", and bitbucket.org.

For comparison GitHub connects to github.com, githubusercontent, githubassets.com, and githubapp.com. I am blocking the githubapp.com requests, though.

And finally sourcehut doesn't make any requests outside of sr.ht

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#287

Post by notriddle »

vanderZwan wrote: post #218
pembrook wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's called nostalgia. It's emotional, not rational. Ask any 16 year old (like my son), who came of age having no context for what the windows 95 UI even looked like. Shocker, he vastly prefers flat interfaces, ie. like the design of Notion. The problem I see in this github redesign has nothing to do with the fact that it's flat. It's tougher to use because it's just bad design. The three columns make it insanely den…

No, it's not nostalgia, goddammit. It's because it contains good visual affordances. Skeumorphism isn't pretty, but it works because our eyes are naturally trained to perceive the visual hints. Our eyes are trained to subconsciously perceive depth via shadows. To perceive clear edges and group things by them. I really, really hate that 99% of all UX designers are basically graphic designers who are good with visual f…

Just to be clear, are you only complaining about the OP's redesign? Or is this aimed even at the current GitHub look?

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#288

Post by tracker1 »

tedunangst wrote: post #134
grblovrflowerrr wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the two natures of Github as a tool for software development and Github as a social coding site are often at odds. Some ways this could be reconciled: - greater end user customization of the UI layout - an option to enter a different UI(contributor UI) for repositories you contribute to/own - make the contributor UI an enhancement on top of the current UI(perhaps a new darker tab bar) - related to the above,…

GitHub should go full MySpace, completely custom css per project.

Good god no! One of the reasons Facebook won imho is simply because you didn't have to go hunting for core navigation features for every single user's profile page. I do emphatically NOT want that with Github... write a website for your project on ghpages if you want it customized.

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#289

Post by vanderZwan »

guelo wrote: post #283
vanderZwan wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's not nostalgia, goddammit. It's because it contains good visual affordances. Skeumorphism isn't pretty, but it works because our eyes are naturally trained to perceive the visual hints. Our eyes are trained to subconsciously perceive depth via shadows. To perceive clear edges and group things by them. I really, really hate that 99% of all UX designers are basically graphic designers who are good with visual f…

The Windows 95 "3D" look isn't skeumorphism. Skeumorphism refers to design touches that mimic real life objects. The big example is from early iOS which had things like virtual leather stitching in apps or lined paper in the Notes app or shelves in the iBook app.

As I mentioned elsewhere:

> Using fake depth and shadows on a design element to give it a 3D look like a real-world button is a form of skeuomorphism, because it relies on an understanding of real-world buttons that can be pushed.

Note that these effects are always on objects that have interactive behavior with real-life analogies. Windows for example can be "picked up" and "moved". It casts shadows to mimic the idea of one window being in front of another. The mock-up tabs in the Win95 interface can be clicked on and also mimic real-life tabbed file folders.

Yet at the same time, a table does not feature any drop shadow or fake depth effects. A table cell doesn't have a real-life analogy of an object that can be picked up and moved around. It does feature a visible grid to help eye saccades.

Look up the history of the desktop metaphor. It's based on actual physical desktops. You know, the ones in administration with paper folders which contain files. For most modern people it is skeuomorphism hiding in plain sight.

Re: Redesigning GitHub Repository Page

#290

Post by apertoire »

haven't read through, but two things

- forks is important to easily find out alternatives, when a project has been abandoned

- i like the overview, but it should be more prominent ... when was the last time the owner of this repo took interest in it ?

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