Curious - is there anyone that likes the new design?

[maslakovic 28]

I personally hate it. And am glad that there is a chorus of people on the forums who are horrified by the new colour scheme.

 

Out of curiosity - is there anyone at all that likes the new colour scheme (I am not looking for responses from Evernote employees/designers)?

Thanks

[woodwin 1]

Would be nice to adjust colors a bit, but at least use one with appropriate contrast. This looks washed out and makes it very hard on the eyes!

[James80 5]

It's awful. Thinking about following Apple first over usability and their own customers. Just a little darker line between the notes in the left column would be a huge improvement. I'm so curious to know Evernote's testing process regarding design changes like this. Do they just test among themselves and go around giving each other high-fives? Or, do they do user testing outside their bubble and testing with non-users to see if the app is intuitive. Put the previous design and this one in front of someone who hasn't used the product and see which one is easier to use.

[SandroMar 0]

I never ever whine on forums, but my stomach is so revolted with the new Yosemite ***** (and I mean the entire new GUI) that I have at least to complain with those sheepish companies that have taken up such a bad idea and integrated in their products.

I think poor SJ much be turning around in his grave! Even Windows95 was better.

 

Please Evernote, make the current theme disappear completely before I switch back to paper and pencil (yes, scissors and glue as well!) !

[Metrodon 2,184]

I don't mind it - I wasn't a particular fan of the V5 UI and how something works (and how well it works) are as important to me as a little colour here and there.

 

Can I get stuff in quickly? Can I find it quickly?

 

At the moment (with the odd sync issue....grrrr) seems to be yes to both.

[Zebo Stoneleigh 9]

The new version is much slower and less responsive. That's what I hate most (thanks to a patch overnight that seems to have fixed several MAJOR bugs).

[Jwajc 3]

I hate the 'all gray look' ....I don't know how to go back to the previous version of Evernote where there was color and it was easier to see and find things. I absolutly hate this new look. What is the attraction to taking color out of programs and washing everything out. AT LEAST GIVE US A CHOICE OF COLOR SCHEMES! is there a way to get the older version of Evernote back?

[jinzhouy 0]

the remake of colour scheme and reducing of contrast only reflects a dogmatic (in contrast to smart) following of the so-called yosemite philosophy, which I see also in other apps. the guiding principle backing the bauhaus school should be centred around functionality, which includes, foremostly, easy on the eyes for identifying information needed. 

[Zebo Stoneleigh 9]

Also - it seems to be retitling my notes "untitled" as I click on them (digging through my recent notes hoping to have one show up with content)... I just quit the app and fixed the note names in the web client.

[Zebo Stoneleigh 9]

Not a fan. Granted, that's only party because I find the new "clean" design less functional (Evernote seems overly and unhealthily obsessed with form over function - they really want their products to "look" cool). And yet, the new look with its practically invisible (not a good thing) frame windows and settings icons is only a small part of my issue with the update. My main issue is that it just won't show me any of my content. Luckily, I can still access it through the web client (which I updated, and then almost immediately downgraded because the new beta web client is horrible). So, for now - I'll continue on in the web client but I'm really starting to worry about Evernote. I've been a premium user for 21/2+ years and I have 13,000 notes... but I drank the Kool-Aid about customer loyalty, 100 year company and all that jazz... and I'm realizing with the passage of time that Evernote is starting to suffer the pains of any large company (distraction from core values/product and distance from consumer). I want a highly functional easy to use program. Right now I have a pretty program that does nothing.

[techyjon 4]

I am not a fan of the new look but in time I am sure I will get used to it.

 

To be fair to EN devs I think they have, as they should, given EN a facelift to fit the new Yosemite look. 

 

I am not keen on the lack of contrast between components. Which again is something I don't like about Yosemite.

 

It is historically very not Apple to allow any kind of user customisation of appearance (or much else!) . That said I have seen it done well in a couple of apps and I think it would be a welcome addition to EN.

[NightStalker 407]

 

Ideally, they'd just give us customizability and we could drop the issue.

 

Grumpy - you've hit the nail right on its head with that. As you say, you and I have been bitching in tandem for at least the last couple of years, and it seems to no avail. They may say they're "listening", but we don't actually seem to have achieved any significant changes.

 

If they'd only just stop with this idiotic attitude that THEIR idea of what the app should look like and WHAT buttons we see is for our own good and can't be changed, then all should be much better. I just don't understand this deep-seated reluctance to let us tailor our own work environments. Even less do I understand it when configurable toolbars are a fundamental feature of almost all Mac OS X apps. They seem to be slavishly following Apple's dictates in terms of Yosemite and its silly translucency, but they won't follow the Mac standard and let us configure our toolbars!

 

Options - THAT is what we need. As you say, correctly - if we had the options to configure the toolbar, change the colours, change the layout, the contrast, etc etc - then most of the chorus of complaints would just go away.

 

Then - and only then - would we be able to concentrate on matters related purely to functionality.

 

And your idea of bringing the users - especially those who have been on these forums for as long as you and many of the others have - into the ideas, development, and testing phases MUCH earlier, would also prevent a lot of the blowback they seem to get every time.

 

So - options (lots) and early feedback from users.  Any money to bet that they would even consider those?

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

In general I don't mind it. Some elements are easier to see, some are harder, so compared to version 5 it's about the same in terms of usability, just traded some problems and solution.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

It's always been about usability for me. Is it easier for me to see? Actually, yes it is. I like this version better than the last one. Of course, I didn't like the last one much, so that is kind of a backhanded compliment. You and I have been berating Evernote for two years about the colors, contrast, and usability. I don't want to spend two more years doing that when there is so much more that I am interested in seeing. Ideally, they'd just give us customizability and we could drop the issue. 

 

It's not that I am in disagreement with anyone here. But, my browser has more white than Evernote and my retinas haven't been burned out of my skull yet. Hahaha. Get it? Retina display

 

Anyhow, I'd like to see us pursuing other things. Is the outrage more or less? I don't know how to measure it, but it seems about the same to me. We've been here and done this before.

 

The designers did their best. I don't want them to apologize for it. They don't need to apologize for pouring their hearts and souls into the app, it won't solve anything anyhow to push them into it, and it will waste even more time forcing them to write an apology, so I don't see the point. Ideally, I'd like to see them bring users into the process early in the Alpha stage, let us play with it in a Beta stage, and then release it to the public. This might help create a product that more people will love. 

[NightStalker 407]

Grumpy - I don't think it's the colour cheme per se that is the problem for most (or the LACK of colour). It's how that affects the usability.

 

The light grey text on blinding white background, the translucency thing (which I personally hate with a passion) that makes things illegible depending on one's desktop wallpaper background, the inability to customize that toolbar and get rid of the Chat button, etc etc. 

 

THOSE are what most people are complaining about - not just the (lack of) colour scheme per se or for its own sake. It's how it seems to be affecting the usability.

 

I agree with you that there is a chorus of complaint every time EN brings out any major changes, BUT:

 

1. Perhaps that is because the changes really ARE retrograde steps, and NOT what users want? We're being told what we're getting.

 

2. On this occasion, there seems to be a much bigger chorus of disapproval, to the point where there is an amazing number of first-time posters finding this forum, signing up, and posting their concerns. WAY more than we've seen in the past. Surely that should tell Evernote something?

 

They stuffed up Penultimate by trying to get too smart and foist massive changes on users - and rightly got severe blow-back because of it. I no longer use Penultimate - I use Notes Plus, although UpWord is catching my eye.

 

The blowback they're getting over this new version of Evernote core app seems to me to be much more severe than they've had in the past. I checked out OneNote a couple of days ago, and I have to say that it is getting there.  It's not quite there yet, but the way Microsoft (and I'm no Microsoft lover) seem to be progressing OneNote, almost every update adding REAL functionality, it won't be much longer before it is a real Evernote killer. I don't imagine for a moment that Evernote is going to come crashing down - but the tech world is full of precedents where companies have not listened to what their users actually want, or say. And have gone under as a result.

 

I think this new version is just symptomatic of Evernote's complete disdain for what its users want. No options, no configurability, no way to change the appearance, and removing things that work(ed).

 

So while I haven't personally moved to v6, so I can't honestly answer the original poster's question, I can say that the numerous complaints about the interface create one factor that is stopping me from upgrading. I don't like it, from what I read.

 

And of course, your point about functionality is spot on - but the interface can and DOES affect functionality.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Sure. I like it. Why not?

I wasn't pleased with the old one, so I am glad to see this one, which I consider an improvement. Look back on the forums and you'll see that people are furious ever time there is a major revision, and they swear they'll leave or refuse to upgrade. Apparently, there are still people using version three. Our dance of outrage over colors, contrast, and buttons is a sacred performance we engage in every year. Welcome to the party

In the end, the contrast and colors are aren't a terribly important thing, in my opinion. They can make it fuchsia for all I care. This quibbling over colors distracts us from bigger and better things that will make our lives better. No one is going to remember Evernote in the future, or say their life improved because Evernote came up with the perfect color scheme. What matters (to me) is what it does.

I am more interested in functionality, and there are features I'd like to see them working on instead of tinkering with it to get the perfect shade of gray.

[Mark923 26]

WHAT color scheme? I opened my EN for Mac and I don't see any color... I thought it froze while loading, and was waiting for the previous colors to "load". I hate that there is no allowance for color customization. That's what I really liked about SpringPad was the color coding and such. In the day of high resolutions and mobility, EN has consistently avoided customization. Now, they've removed ALL colors?