BETA - no reminders shown, multiple clicks required to get to a note

[NBarreto 20]

Hi,

 

I just got a pop-up message suggesting I changed to the Evernote Web BETA interface.

I must say that I'm extremelly disappointed with this update.

 

Here are a couple of reasons:

 

1) No reminders on top of notes when I click on a notebook

 

I run multiple projects in Evernote, each one has a notebook. In these notebooks I store project information, research and todos or reminders.

If I want to see what I have to do, at a glance, in the previous version I would just click the notebook and see all my project reminders at the top.

 

With evernote BETA that went way and I can't find a way to show my reminders by notebook/project

 

2) If I need to get to a note, I now need more clicks.

 

Click the icon on the left to get to notes, find a notebook through the gigantic font list of notebooks, click a notebook and open a note. (4 clicks)

Previously, I would just pick a notebook from the side view and see all notes and chose the note I wanted (2 clicks)

 

3) Design is confusing

 

Fonts are huge, the notes list is centered on my scree (21") so there's a lot of weird white space around it.

There are not very clearly defined boundaries between different sectinos of the screen. It's hard to tell where the separation of the note title and the note text is.

The new note toolbar on the side isn't helpful at all, I would like to see all options at glance.

 

 

4) The interface is completely different from the PC/MAC

 

Why completely change something that worked well, instead of improving performance of the previous web interface ?

 

5) Can't find a way to go back

 

I had just switched to a premium account yesterday. Since I cannot seem to be able to continue using my previous workflow in this new interface, I'm going to have to reconsider staying a paid customer.

 

 

 

[TMcK 0]

I was lost on beta...reverted back. **Kudos for revert option**. 

 

Work on basic principles of organization and make them consistant across devices. 

 

Big mistake in not coming out with Beta version for ALL devices. Even if the UI sucked, I might still have a chance to learn it.

[thorrrr 24]

Hi Guys

 

I agree with the majority of the comments. I know what they are trying to do but they have removed far too much. 

If you listen to Phil Libins speech on YouTube he explains why he has gone down this route. But he and his team have got it so wrong.

 

They seem to listen less and less to customers, yes the web was tired looking and needed an update but removing 80% of its functionality beggars belief.

But Phil is on some higher plane of re inventing the IT world and knows what its customers want even without listening to them.

 

I am sure with enough comments and feedback they might  (i did say might) drag him down from his cloud and wisper the feedback to him.

We can only hope, i know i can switch back to old but and some users will need to but i like change especially if its for the better. 

 

This is beta after all and the team might listen and add back the functionality that is required.

 

4 stars for looks

-5 stars for functionality 

 

Cheers 

[parkylondon 2]

 

The new beta is terrible. No stacks, tag organization  and reminders lost... switched back to the old version, too. Thinking about buying Premium, but if functionality is going down the drain, I won't do it.

Keyword is beta. Your feedback and suggestions are helpful for working out kinks!

 

^^^ Understood re "Beta" but sometimes poor UI design gets enforced and people leave. Let that not happen with Evernote.

[andrew610 2]

where is my reminders button? 

 

who needs to chat inside evernote?

 

ug

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

where is my reminders button? 

 

who needs to chat inside evernote?

 

ug

Reminders are available in "Notes" or from any specific Notebook. For example see here from "Notes":

https://www.evernote.com/l/ABlMvQJ79tdDdIeEfuG9txtf4jbC1S7-se4

(note that I have the actual reminders minimized, you'd just have to click that disclosure arrow to the left to reveal the actual reminders)

[goxnotes 12]

The beta is terrible.

Here is their explantion: "When you work, the interface fades away to showcase your thoughts. Then, when you need it, Evernote Web beautifully re-emerges"

 

Web and applications designers seem to think they know what's best for others. Or maybe they need to 'reinvent" things to justify their paycheck, or maybe becuase it's what they do all day they think the "old" interface is boring and "needs improvement."

 

I hope they are listening to this: The reality for most of us (myself and every one I speak with) is that re-inventing interfaces for the sake of having something "New" does not help anybody. The "Fade Away" menues becoming so common today are a pain in the @$$. Users are constantly mousing over icons trying to find the item they want. We all have larger screens today.  You don't have to make all the menues go away to save space on a 14in monitor or 3 in mobile screen.

 

Menus are NOT a distraction. They are the dashboard that lets me move around quickly and work more easily. Fade aways are a distraction.

I want to get to things in a single click. I don't wan to hunt for it in fade away menues or have to go through 3 screens to get there. Looking for things that faded away some where is a distraction that breaks my line of thought. That makes your application a distraction that interferres with my work.

 

If you want to give some users a clean no detail interface, then ADD a button to pop out the document into it's own screen. Then the rest of us can ignore that button. 

Just becuase google did stupid fade aways doesn't mean it's tjhe holy grail of interfaces. Google gets a lt of complains on their interface.

 

Logical precision is what cleans up excessive menus, not fade aways.  Have you ever navigated menues that have say,  "Settings" " My Account" "Security Settings" and tried to figure out which one has the emails settings?  Create menues that makes sense. Menus where 99% of users choose the right item the FIRST TIME even when they don't know where something is. That is what makes a good interface.

 

Do what most interface design teams never do. Get average users or new users and watch them try and use your  interface. Watch where they get confused. Watch what they assume a label means. Stop letting designers who work with interfaces 24/7 tell you what novice users need. Most of them are far removed from novice users. Design for the people who actually use your product, not your development team's opinion makers.

 

Evernote executives; ARE YOU LISTENING?

[jim232777 4]

 

2) I think Libin explicitly stated that the entire purpose of this new web version was to differentiate it from the desktop versions. That is, as per Libin's keynote, their original goal for the web interface was to attempt to feature-match a desktop client. However, as he stated, this worked poorly. It was technically challenging or impossible to do that effectively, and it wasn't an effective user experience. The beta is a reflection of a new direction, a new way in which Evernote conceptualizes the web interface as a totally discrete client from the desktop clients. The web client will, as Libin suggested, highlight the very best of what can actually be done effectively on the web. It will offer, as I interpret Libin's statements, a profoundly different experience from the desktop clients. 

 

 

Reading over many of the forum comments (this thread and others), there are many who use the web interface as their *primary* interface with Evernote.  Some run Linux (like I do at home), some have particular bugs in the desktop client that interfere with their workflow (not my experience, but everyone uses different functions/workflows), some are in work or school environments where they can't install software, or they share computers (I have that situation to some extent as well), some have other reasons (personally, if I'm already in the browser, I think it's quicker!). 

 

All of these people need as much functionality, in as compact space as possible.  I am a premium subscriber based to a large extent on the web version. (I do use Android version when I'm mobile, but if near a PC, will use it instead.)  I hope all the comments are heard by Evernote, and understand that in order for Evernote to be the "remember and organize all your information" application they want it to be, these customers will require full functionality!

 

That said, somewhere in the forum, someone (don't remember who or where, as I've probably read over a hundred posts this morning) suggested a quick, one-click switch between current-style interface and a newer, cleaner, writing interface.  Sounds good to me!

 

Thanks for listening.

[MMcKaibab 36]

If you listen to Phil Libins speech on YouTube he explains why he has gone down this route. But he and his team have got it so wrong.

 

I just watched this "talk" and you have got it so right: Evernote has got it so wrong. For this user, at least, and for other users like me, the direction they are taking is just completely wrong. Listening to him saying that for six years they've tried to figure out what the web client is for tells me he and his group seem completely clueless. To think that Evernote somehow is going to replace Word or PowerPoint as production tools shows a complete lack of understanding of how people actually use their computers to get work done. And now adding "chat" to their product?!? I mean, WTF? Yeah, for informal social communication lots of folks are enamored of "sharing" every little bit of their lives with everyone else in the world. However, as a professional, my reality is that I take very good care that I work and rework my documents and presentations until they are highly polished and only then do I want to "share" that work with anyone. And while I'm doing that the LAST thing I want in my working environment is the chance that I'm going to accidentally click something that then "shares" my imperfect working draft with the rest of the world. I also have very little interest in some "chat" feature that will pop up while I'm working and take my mind off what I'm doing. I want my working process and my "sharing" process to be completely separate from each other until I actively make the decision that I am now ready for my work to be "shared." Listening to Libins (and reading the overwhelming push back they're getting on this forum) makes me think he and the Evernote developers really have no interest at all in how many of us work.

[JohnDM 122]

The beta is terrible.

.

[ . . . ]

 

Evernote executives; ARE YOU LISTENING?

 

No  . . . .  They Are Not Listening.

 

Evernote had HUGE amounts of Goodwill from it's users. When I got really serious about using Evernote, I was blown away with the amount of Goodwill / Good Faith / Trust / that the hard core user community had about this app. It was people like Gazumped, BurgersNFries, JMichael, and Csihilling and many others that convinced me, through learning from them and their faith in the app,  that going premium was a good idea for me -- YOUR CORE USERS ARE WHAT SOLD ME. Not you. Not your slick promo videos, Not all your marketing efforts.

 

You Are Not Listening.

 

You are now bleeding goodwill in buckets. The people that really use your service are telling you they can't use the beta to do any kind of meaningful work with their existing data and You Are Not Listening.

[jim232777 4]

Since today's "Evernote Team" email was promoting the new "beautifully refreshed" (but crippled) web interface,  I was hoping some of this feedback might have been incorporated, so I switched back to beta.  Sadly, still the same problems:  more clicks, wasted space, and less functionality. 

 

<sigh>

[jefito 5,589]

Since today's "Evernote Team" email was promoting the new "beautifully refreshed" (but crippled) web interface,  I was hoping some of this feedback might have been incorporated, so I switched back to beta.  Sadly, still the same problems:  more clicks, wasted space, and less functionality. 

 

<sigh>

I don't know if you're following the Release Notes as they're coming out, but that'll show the progress that they've made. nanphan has also been pretty good about indicating what's on their roadmap for the new web client.

[jim232777 4]

I don't know if you're following the Release Notes as they're coming out, but that'll show the progress that they've made. nanphan has also been pretty good about indicating what's on their roadmap for the new web client.

 

 

Actually I missed the newest set of notes.  Thanks for the heads up.

[Tra5hman 6]

"Evernote executives; ARE YOU LISTENING?"

 

 

I think we can say with 100% certainty that, no, Evernote executives are not listening to any of the negative feedback.

 

Now, there will be a bunch of folks within Evernote who are as horrified at this web beta as the rest of us, but we can say with 100% certainty that they, as the out-group, are not being listened to by Evernote executives for one second.

 

The in-group within Evernote will be those who are behind this beta redesign; along with the financial commitment to-date, there will also be an emotional and career investment in it. When folks have gone all-in to that extent, they NEVER admit they're wrong. Look at the total crock that M$ foisted upon us with Windows 8, despite MASSIVE pushback from the community prior to its release telling them it was a shambles. M$ had all the time in the world to listen, acknowledge their errors and reshape the product before release. Instead, they continued, in what became a massive strategic error, ceding huge territory to competitors, costing them untold billions, and irreparably damaging goodwill.

 

Like others here, the Web interface is the primary way I use Evernote. I cannot install the desktop version, so the Web UI needs to do everything I need. The current Evernote Web works fabulously, whereas the Beta is completely useless for the productivity tasks I need to perform. From my perspective, the beta is total garbage. It really is that bad for me.

 

Evernote is clearly an ambitious company, and as such they appear prepared to abandon their current user base in pursuit of these ambitions to occupy new territory. That's their choice, of course. It's impossible for me not to conclude that this web beta represents an abandonment of current users. The wall of negative feedback makes clear we are no longer the target user base, because if we were, the feedback would be being positively responded to in the form of beta product changes - but that's not happening. 

 

So perhaps it's time for folks to recognise the new reality: for a while our and Evernote's interests were aligned and we all benefited, us and Evernote both, but those days sadly appear to be drawing to an end. Plan accordingly.

[Hogmeister 5]

Totally agree, the beta is unusable for me because of the way I use Evernote.  Just the lack of a List View option, in itself, would mean I would never (until I have to) move to the new layout.  

 

More worrying is the direction that the software is going... simplistic, white space, elegant... and impossible to use for anything but the simplest of tasks.  Anyone like me who has come to rely on Evernote as a cornerstone for organising their life will soon be looking for alternatives.  The comparison with Windows 8 is a good one.

[snafu77 7]

Thanks to everyone for letting me know I'm not alone in constantly asking "WTF?" about these updates. I don't have the time or inclination to test their broken code or broken UI/marketing strategies. That's why I try my hardest to never update the clients. I need what Evernote was, a place to store documents, organize and view them in an easy to access manner. Empty pages, chat, market ads, unreliable updates and various other superficial nonsense doesn't help me do those things. Ubiquitous file sync clients, organized directories and standard file editors can do the job just fine. The execs need to think on how trying to be all things to all people generally works out. 

[taq 10]

Ouch, more than 2 months when this discussion started and still no reminders on beta? Come on, must put a calendar over there, developers.  :-p

[malockin 14]

Ouch, more than 2 months when this discussion started and still no reminders on beta? Come on, must put a calendar over there, developers.  :-p

 

I'm not sure what you're looking at, but the beta does have reminders support. You can add them, set time, set as done, etc.

It has been there for a while now.

[taq 10]

Thanks for your answer.
Just checked before post here, and could not find them on a easy way. Just after you replied, I thought there were something weird if you can see it and I can't, so I noticed that the reminders are there just after we start to write on the note, on the top. Don't know what exactly is the idea of keep notes easy, but it didn't worked for me at first. :-)

[dbaz 0]

This Beta is definitely off track. No reminder support, a major loss in functionality. I quickly switched back.

 

How do you switch back?

[malockin 14]

 

This Beta is definitely off track. No reminder support, a major loss in functionality. I quickly switched back.

 

How do you switch back?

 

 

After they shuffled the Web/Web Beta forum I had a hard time finding the post too.

 

Here you go:

https://discussion.evernote.com/topic/69003-opting-into-and-out-of-the-new-web-beta/