Congratulations on the Butt-Ugly-fication of Evernote à la Metro

[Annoyed 3]

I realize that a simplified UI eases the load on underpowered mobile devices and matches the wildly successful Windows 8 Metro (sarcasm), but what about those of us who invested in powerful desktops (Windows 7 Aero, the most widely used OS), only to have them dumbed down?

 

I hate the new UI and will be disabling updates to remain with version 4.  If version 4 becomes unusable in the future then I will look elsewhere.

 

I'm sick and tired of having cràp shoved down our throats.

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I'm sick and tired of having cràp shoved down our throats.

I'm pretty sure you're not having ***** shoved down your throat. You chose to use EN. If you don't like the newer versions, then that's unfortunate. But like you said, don't use them. You are free to leave at any time.

[Annoyed 3]

Having gotten the rant out of my system, allow me to approach this more thoughtfully.

 

After spending several weeks with the flat UI of IE10, apart from the aesthetics (or lack thereof), I was struck by the lack of visual cues with reference to UI controls.

 

For example, the scrollbars are mono-colored boxes, providing no visual cues that they are anything more than a box, let alone controls.

 

Discounting Aero, even XP had intuitive visual cues for UI controls.

 

Taking simplification to the extreme, perhaps we could go back to character terminals.

 

I, too, have much time and data invested in Evernote since the original release.

 

/end more thoughtful rant

[ZZZ 135]

Having gotten the rant out of my system, allow me to approach this more thoughtfully.

 

After spending several weeks with the flat UI of IE10, apart from the aesthetics (or lack thereof), I was struck by the lack of visual cues with reference to UI controls.

 

For example, the scrollbars are mono-colored boxes, providing no visual cues that they are anything more than a box, let alone controls.

 

Discounting Aero, even XP had intuitive visual cues for UI controls.

 

Taking simplification to the extreme, perhaps we could go back to character terminals.

 

I, too, have much time and data invested in Evernote since the original release.

 

/end more thoughtful rant

 

I agree, it's not an upgrade, it's a downgrade.  Truly horrid UI design.  I've turned off updates too and downloaded the last version of 4.x

[ZZZ 135]

p.s. Your metro analogy is funny because I also think this is akin to Windows 8.  Take something everyone likes (Windows 7), and force feed them something worse some UX designers think is best for everyone. 

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I'm actually pretty happy with the interface. However, I would prefer the ability to customize elements of it to fit individual use cases / preferences. As much as I like the gray, I'm sure there are lots and lots of people who would prefer color to provide visual cues.

[ThisIsMyAlias 0]

Can someone tell me if the 4.x download is still around (I looked and can't find it). I can't stay with v5, it's show unassigned tags feature is broken.

 

Ha, after searching with no luck, I of course find it after posting for help. Here: http://download.cnet.com/Evernote/3000-2381_4-10425994.html?tag=mncol;1 and here http://filehippo.com/download_evernote/15615/

[Annoyed 3]

Can someone tell me if the 4.x download is still around (I looked and can't find it). I can't stay with v5, it's show unassigned tags feature is broken.

 

Ha, after searching with no luck, I of course find it after posting for help. Here: http://download.cnet.com/Evernote/3000-2381_4-10425994.html?tag=mncol;1 and here http://filehippo.com/download_evernote/15615/

 

The "AutoUpdate" folder in your "Evernote Local Files" folder (specified on the General tab of Evernote Options) should contain installers for your previous Evernote installations, provided version 5 didn't alter that.

[RobD 47]

I too prefer the look, feel and design of v4 over v5.  The bland. muted colors provide no apparent benefit.

[hachkc 5]

As to the general theme in v5, I'm not a big fan, don't see it as an improvement but also don't see it as a big problem.  Basically, its dull especially if you are in list mode which I use almost exclusively.

[Jamie_Adams 2]

I really like the new 'flat' design, and certainly don't feel that the features have been dumbed down. I can do everything that I could do before.

 

The design isn't as colourless as it was before. The latest version, to me, looks to have hints of blue in the header.

 

Anyway, i'm only posting to offer a bit of balance. Count me as a fan.

[jontyc 12]

 

I'm sick and tired of having cràp shoved down our throats.

I'm pretty sure you're not having ***** shoved down your throat. You chose to use EN. If you don't like the newer versions, then that's unfortunate. But like you said, don't use them. You are free to leave at any time.

 

 

I feel for the OP--when you commit to a system, leaving is not that easy. 

 

There's just something particularly frustrating about Evernote--the updates make me feel like there's only 2 people on the Windows team, UX specialists their mums.

 

But it could be a case of "the person you love the most can hurt you the most".

[Andreas Falkner 3]

I find myself having to spend a lot more time navigating in this terrible UI, because of the lack of colors and visual aids, everything is now grey in grey and my eyes get tired much more quickly with evernote. Undo this stupid UI and bring back some color, especially in the side bar!!

[LemurTech 3]

I find myself having to spend a lot more time navigating in this terrible UI, because of the lack of colors and visual aids, everything is now grey in grey and my eyes get tired much more quickly with evernote. Undo this stupid UI and bring back some color, especially in the side bar!!

 

Plus 1 for this. What a dumb, dumb idea to go "Metro". In particular, I think of older people using it who may not adapt to new conventions (and the lack of visual cues) as quickly as those who have grown up with rapid technological changes. But I'm not particularly old, and I hate this UI. I can be excited by new things, but not when they just reduce my productivity without returning any "pop".

[dddebug 5]

I like new versions too... but this time (v 5.x for normal Windows) it's just getting weird and breaks useful functionality.

 

HOW, tell me please, do we set URLs to newly created notes?? (not web clips)

There simply is nothing to click on and enter it, like in versions 4.x.

So now I have to paste the link into the note body....

 

dd.

[jefito 5,589]

I like new versions too... but this time (v 5.x for normal Windows) it's just getting weird and breaks useful functionality.

 

HOW, tell me please, do we set URLs to newly created notes?? (not web clips)

There simply is nothing to click on and enter it, like in versions 4.x.

So now I have to paste the link into the note body....

 

dd.

Click on the "Info" button at the top of the note header; you'll find the URL field there.

[HragH 5]

Exactly my thoughts, dumbed down

I went back to v4 a few days ago, I should have done that weeks ago

A clue that the people behind this update probably don't even use this software properly is when the lady in the v5 intro video says that they redesigned the interface so that it would "really showcase your notes". I'm sorry, I don't use evernote to SHOWCASE my notes, that is not the purpose of the freaking program.

In any case, the way picture attachments are implemented in evernote, without the ability to resize them, makes this capability non-existent. Since I for one, do not have a camera that outputs evernote sized pictures specifically for my computer screen resolution.

 

In v5 I can't even tell if I'm looking at notes or tags in the sidebar since there is absolutely no reference

Really who thought this was a good idea?

Oh wow related notes, now I can't even quickly scroll to the bottom of a note to make some additions because I have this stupid gimick that creeps up at the bottom

And the atlas? Come on

The option for coloured notebooks and tags should have come way before these gimicks

 

Evernote v4 is fantastic, will stay here as long as I can, or until the developers concede that v5 is a flop

[jefito 5,589]

In any case, the way picture attachments are implemented in evernote, without the ability to resize them, makes this capability non-existent. Since I for one, do not have a camera that outputs evernote sized pictures specifically for my computer screen resolution.

While the Evernote client itself doesn't have the ability to resize an image, the integrated Skitch application does. Moreover, you can use your favorite Windows-registered image editor to do resizing as well. I use Paint.Net, myself. This is not a big deal for me.

 

In v5 I can't even tell if I'm looking at notes or tags in the sidebar since there is absolutely no reference

The tag tree in the left panel is a mess so far in V5, agreed. I usually keep it closed, as I did in V4: pawing through the tag tree with any significant number (~200 for me, plus any shared tags) of tags is not really useful in my book. If you do want to see your tags filtered, you can just click on the Tags header, though and you can at lease see your own tags via the drop-down at the head of panel. It's still not enough, though.

What they seem to want people to do with tags is to use the Ctrl+Shift+T hotkey to do multiple tag selection, which should, in theory (I think -- I've seen examples where this hasn't worked in any way that I can explain), do the successive filtering down of the applicable tags as you add more tags. One thing I like about that is that it puts things right up at the head of the note list and near the search explanation panel. One thing I don't is that if you're using a vertical note list (e.g. Snippet View), the tag area isn't all that wide, and if you overflow the width and need to use the Add Tags dialog, you lose the successive filtering and the typeahead selection, which is a pain. I like the direction, but it could definitely be improved.

The shared tags thing is its own ball of earwax. The treatment of duplicate shared tags is a puzzle. You see duplicates in the search control, where having a duplicate doesn't matter (the search grammar has no way of distinguishing between duplicate tags -- it's just a piece of text, so showing the same tag twice adds no meaning to the search or user context, it just takes up room), and you can't do anything about it anyways (i.e., there's a hover 'X' for deleting a tag, but if it's a duplicated tag, it doesn't work). Haven't figured the motivation for that approach out yet.

Evernote v4 is fantastic, will stay here as long as I can, or until the developers concede that v5 is a flop

V4 is also pretty much a dead-end. If you use reminders for lightweight to-do lists (I do) then it's a no-go. V5 is certainly not a flop for me (despite my criticisms of certain aspects), and I doubt that they're going to go fleeing back to V4, which had its own problems for my usage (= less than fantastic). Tweaks and improvements will be made for V5 going forward, is my best guess...

[BurgersNFries 2,407]

I finally upgraded yesterday & excluding things that have been fixed in & prior to V  5.0.2.1392 (269392) don't see what all the fuss is about regarding the color scheme & layout.  What I do find disappointing is the clear differentiation between sync'd notebooks, local notebooks & notebooks shared to me.  I do think that needs to be addressed as it is very easy to put something in a sync'd or shared notebook that should go into a local notebook.  But as far as everything else goes, sure, it's different.  But most (all?) software that I've used for years has evolved & changed over time.  Certainly Windows 7 is far different from 3.1.  The recent introduction of iOS 7 includes several changes to things I use every day.  And yeah, sometimes it takes some adjustment on the part of the user.  But it's not good for software to stagnate.  There was "much ado" when Evernote introduced V4.  Those who have been around the board for many years may remember all the ruckus about the retirement of the tape view.  There was weeping, wailing & gnashing of teeth & predictions of Evernote's demise.  Oh, and people griped about that color scheme as well.  And yet EN went on to reach 60+ million users & adding more & more functionality.  I am confident V5 will continue to evolve & get better over time just as EN as a whole has done. 

[Mario@NCI 2]

For whatever it's worth, I just want you, Evernote, to know that I profoundly hate the Windows desktop flat design. Especially scrollbars are disastrous. Awful across the board. Darn, it's not because a big OS company I won't name changed their design for that disastrous thing that you have to do the same. This would have been a good time for Evernote NOT to follow the pack and keep your better previous UI interface. Version 5 makes me miss the good old days of Version 1. I am responsible for deploying Evernote throughout my company and having our employees adopt Evernote, and now, with this ugly monster, you just have made my job a lot harder.