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Evernote for Mac 6: Design Feedback


Jackolicious

Idea

  • Level 5
Hey Evernote land!

 

We've just launched a newly redesigned Evernote for Mac and we'd love your feedback. There has already been quite a lot of discussion, so let me sum up what we understand from it so far:

 

Text contrast: We've attempted to improve text legibility significantly from version 5. This is directly in response to your feedback. We have several upcoming updates that take even further steps to respond to your feedback and bump contrast even more! 

 

Light background: With the new version, we have adopted many of Apple's design queues from Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10). Lighter backgrounds and translucency (what Apple calls Vibrancy) are among the design themes for Apple's new OS (our new home). We've worked closely with Apple and their design guidelines to craft a beautiful new look without removing any existing functionality. Users on Yosemite should now see that Evernote fits right in. Users on 10.9: we’ve heard your feedback and you should see more contrast coming back to your UI in versions 6.0.2 and above.

 

If you have any additional feedback, please feel free to voice it below. Please keep the discussion constructive. We read every post, we put our hearts into this product, this is our life's work, and we love your feedback. It only helps us get better. 

 

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Hi

 

I'm afraid I'm not a huge fan of the new look.  

 

Partly this is aesthetic / personal taste - I think it's dull dull dull - shades of pale grey all around anyone?  Anything one can do to skin it?

 

But the more important issue for me is the icons.  They're very thin and colourless, and this makes it hard to quickly see which is which and to grasp what they do.

 

i'm comparing them the icons at the top of this comment box as i'm posting (in Chrome if that makes a difference).  They're colourful, and thick enough to see quickly what does what.

 

So, happy evernote user though I am, I'd love it if someone had another think about the icons in 6.03.

 

Thanks,

 

Jestyn

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Not sure if this falls under "Design" but I didn't see a functionality/UX topic.

 

The sync warning that pops up when you quit Evernote only has one option, "Quit Now." This makes it far to easy to hit enter and stop Evernote from Syncing on close, meaning your notes are not up to date across devices.

 

I would suggest adding a "Finish Sync" option to this box (and also making THAT the default option) since it's too easy to stop the sync without realizing that you are doing it. I have several times had to reopen Evernote and manually sync again just to ensure that everything is updated.

 

The copy in the box is written like it's only a notification but again, it's too easy to accidentally cancel the sync the way the button is now.

 

Image of pop-up notification attached for reference.

post-240352-0-21912600-1418048415_thumb.

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Not sure if this falls under "Design" but I didn't see a functionality/UX topic.

 

The sync warning that pops up when you quit Evernote only has one option, "Quit Now." This makes it far to easy to hit enter and stop Evernote from Syncing on close, meaning your notes are not up to date across devices.

 

I would suggest adding a "Finish Sync" option to this box (and also making THAT the default option) since it's too easy to stop the sync without realizing that you are doing it. I have several times had to reopen Evernote and manually sync again just to ensure that everything is updated.

 

The copy in the box is written like it's only a notification but again, it's too easy to accidentally cancel the sync the way the button is now.

 

Image of pop-up notification attached for reference.

Good point! Definitely a bit too easy to hit enter or accidentally click through this warning by accident. I think your suggestions would be great. 

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Not sure if this falls under "Design" but I didn't see a functionality/UX topic.

 

The sync warning that pops up when you quit Evernote only has one option, "Quit Now." This makes it far to easy to hit enter and stop Evernote from Syncing on close, meaning your notes are not up to date across devices.

 

I would suggest adding a "Finish Sync" option to this box (and also making THAT the default option) since it's too easy to stop the sync without realizing that you are doing it. I have several times had to reopen Evernote and manually sync again just to ensure that everything is updated.

 

The copy in the box is written like it's only a notification but again, it's too easy to accidentally cancel the sync the way the button is now.

 

Image of pop-up notification attached for reference.

Good point! Definitely a bit too easy to hit enter or accidentally click through this warning by accident. I think your suggestions would be great. 

 

 +2 good observation. Should be the way you suggest.

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Not sure if this falls under "Design" but I didn't see a functionality/UX topic.

 

The sync warning that pops up when you quit Evernote only has one option, "Quit Now." This makes it far to easy to hit enter and stop Evernote from Syncing on close, meaning your notes are not up to date across devices.

 

I would suggest adding a "Finish Sync" option to this box (and also making THAT the default option) since it's too easy to stop the sync without realizing that you are doing it. I have several times had to reopen Evernote and manually sync again just to ensure that everything is updated.

 

The copy in the box is written like it's only a notification but again, it's too easy to accidentally cancel the sync the way the button is now.

 

Image of pop-up notification attached for reference.

 

I don't have pictorial evidence of this, but I believe this represents a change from previous behavior.  The pop-up used to have two options, something like,  "Finish sync" and "Quit Now."   Not sure what the advantage of removing the first option is.

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I believe the box actually had three buttons: Cancel, Finish, and Quit Now.

Finish and Cancel both did exactly the same thing as just dismissing the window: Cancel. It made sense to pare it down. However, even Apple doesn't default to dangerous in such modal dialog boxes. That's why there is always a cancel button and it's always the rightmost and default button on danger prompts.

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Completely agree with mwebber post. Given a choice, I would never use the new interface and really dislike the removal of ability to customize toolbars and other screen items. This interface now gets in the way of my work instead of helping it.

 

I downgraded from Yosemite back to Mavericks and EN 6  to 5 because I need to get work done. Apple design standards based on iOS are fundamentally misguided: a 30" desktop monitor is not a 3" phone screen and never will be.

 

 


It seems that for myself and others, the new scheme is so egregious and visually counter intuitive to workflow that it warrants consideration of moving away from the program or not using it as much.  Given this, the simplest solution should be to provide both schemes asap (which would make most happy) and later the ability to further customize the scheme to your individual liking, which would make everyone happy.

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Bugs and color scheme notwithstanding, I'm not happy about the changes to the thumbnails in Card View. Much of my research is visual in nature, and I tailor the thumbnail for each note to ensure that key parts of the images remain visible. Unfortunately, Evernote 6 changed the aspect ratio of the thumbnails, which means that essential parts of my images are getting cut off. I have hundreds of notes, and redoing the thumbnails for all of them would be a huge inconvenience. (Also, this is just a personal preference, but the new opaque title overlay on the cards isn't as appealing to me.)

 

I understand that there are people who like the new look, and I certainly think that we should have the option to use it. But please give us the option to keep the old interface and customize our color scheme instead of foisting this new one on us. Meanwhile, I've downgraded to Version 5 and plan to stay there until Evernote changes its approach.

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Suggestion... 

 

Snippet View: does not expand/collapse (no button to actively do this)....  Also can not make smaller than certain point.

 

I use evernote most of the time in half screen...  

This prevents the ability to do so effectively, and makes my note not visible, unless i double click to open a second independent window... (Also no tabs is frustrating here)

This is against Mac mission control functionality...

As opening multiple windows, and then dragging to different spaces... Can have a situation where different mac notes are in different spaces causes terrible integration with Mac/OSX.

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Just adding my voice to the chorus of dismay regarding the new UI.

 

I've been regularly use Evernote on Mac and Windows for the better part of a year now. Both version have worked well and I've become increasingly reliant on Evernote for pretty much everything. Overall though I much prefered the Mac look and feel to the Windows version. I'd struggle to point out exactly what the differences are/were, but the Mac version *just felt easier to use* - until I updated to v6, of course.

 

And then yesterday, after a week of struggling to come to turns with this new bland Mac UI, I found myself back on the Windows version and suddenly that had become the easier one!

 

I would so love to have the option to restore the look and feel of v5.

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Hello,

 
I decided to created a discussion user to reach out on this subject, since it appears there is no feedback or suggestion option within the Evernote app/website itself.
 
I wanted to start by mentioning that there are parts of this update that I love. The app responds better, and the data conflicts I experienced between iOS and OS during v5 no longer appear to be an issue. That's awesome, and thank you so much! I did lose a few notes that way in the past. I can share my notes more easily now, and the Top View option looks pretty cool (it almost makes me want to stray from my beloved Snippit View.) The spellcheck seems to catch more mistakes, now.

 

But something's not quite right.

 
It's silly and sentimental, but I miss the green. The stark white contrast and gray app I'm looking at now doesn't feel like the app I cried into finishing college graduate applications on a deadline that had me too stressed out to even think at times. It doesn't feel like the app I poured all my creativity and dedication into when I realized the layout helped me start, finish, and edit my work so much easier than Word, Pages, or SpringPad ever did. It doesn't feel like the app that I became attached to enough to constantly have open for anything from Christmas ideas to rants about why dragons are obviously better than robots to drafts on feedback to my employees. It doesn't feel like the app I spent three years recording my life in.

 

The colors were calming. They were friendly. They gave me some weird type of Nirvana-like inner peace with myself. I miss them dearly.

 
I'm not asking for v5 back. Progression is vital to technology and nothing that stands still can consider itself innovative or inspiring. UIs are meant to become better and better, with plenty of new ideas along the way. v6 will inevitably be followed by v7, and there will be a flood of new features to be both worshipped and reviled by many.

 

But for one user who is now staring at a bare and unadorned Evernote app, trying to figure out why I feel unsettled and at odds with myself when writing something as simple as a thank you note to my grandparents (whose Christmas gift I may have accidently opened early), something's not quite right anymore.

 

May I please have my serene green and tranquil grey back? I promise I'll treat them well.

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I started a topic on Windows Version of Evernote over a year ago regarding the non-option to use dark backgrounds.  I now have a work issued Mac and I was dismayed that the UI colors are even worse in Mac (Mavericks).   Based on feedback I read in other thread (with 7 pages), it doesn't appear Evernote is interested in listening to user feedback.  I think everyone who has difficulty using Evernote at end of the day when our eyes are fatigued will need to look for a new product.

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At least give us an option to customise the look of Evernote 6 for Mac. Regardless of what background one has, it doesn't look good and there is a total lack of contrast and personality. The way users are ignored is almost disturbing. A customisable toolbar is another example of that. This is more a beg than a complaint, because Evernote 6 for Mac just doesn't look good (to say the least) and is hurtful even to my young eyes. Please!

 

I have no problems with the transparency used in Yosemite, but in Evernote it's just too much and out of place in certain views (like the card view).

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I've been complaining ever since the new version came out. The fact that I am not complaining any more is not because I have grown to like it - its because I just cant be bothered any more - and can't see any point as the user feedback is being blatantly ignored. Kind of pointless posting feedback. This has become a forum for venting frustration rather than anything else.

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Wow.  I was afraid I was the only one who does not like the new UI.  Contrasting the text on the paper is fine.  You're correct.  It reads better.  Give EN some life though.  The new UI is NOT visually appealing.  Drab.  Dull.  Like the monochrome displays of years past.  Please correct!!!!

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Been using the new UI for a couple of weeks now - and I still find it harsh on the eyes.  Having experienced a far more visual friendly and, yes, more quickly navigable presentation, I want it back!  Please, please, please give us the option of using the old one...

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They locked the earlier thread about this - - I joined this forum just to say that I really have a lot of trouble focusing my eyes on the "upgraded high contrast" ui.

 

This is especially jarring when coming from my iPad where the color is green and everything is easy to use.

 

To the developers - -- my input is that you have broken this app for my use. It was easy to use, now it is so difficult I have cancelled my premium subscription and am looking for something better.

 

No amount of cool contextual writing, your changing the world, will make any difference if your USER CANNOT EASILY AND QUICKLY READ WHAT IS ON THEIR COMPUTER SCREEN.

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EN is such a powerful and flexible tool for so many of us BUT---the self destruction of Penultimate and the introduction of the low contrast notebooks, in the name of some kind of attempt at a design sync with Apple, are instead myopic and stunningly inept.  They are violating the most basic principles of design in the name of "improvement"!!!  What is driving such shallow attempts?  Are there not at least some betas that are tested by groups outside of those at EN who are already totally immersed in a culture that is losing its way?  WHERE IS THE WISDOM ON THIS SHIP?  Please, just settle down and do the right things!  Thanks for the opportunity to vent a little!    

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Dear Evernote -

 

I'm a long-time Premium user, having mentally signed up "for life" to your brilliant product. My first post - I've never felt moved to take to product forums before, but the new UI direction is just wrong. 

 

After the skiing-on-a-glacier retinal damage caused by 6.0.1 I luckily found a copy of 5.7.2 online, and rolled back to it. 

 

After a few weeks I had forgiven and just about forgotten. An update dialogue popped up, and I just tried 6.0.5...ugh, the UI still isn't right. Green/white/grey is so much better. I'm resolutely sticking to 5.7.2 until you realise that you are on the wrong track. If you don't, then I will look for an alternative product within the next month.

 

Please please listen to your customers. You are wrong on this. It is a deal-breaker.

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Hi Evernote folks,

 

The new design might be pretty, but for users with light sensitivity it is difficult to use your app. I find that I have to turn down the brightness and try to avoid the notebooks page. If you added an option for a light or dark theme I think that would help tremendously. The ability to change the background color of notes would also be helpful.

 

I loved this app but at this point, certain aspects of your app are almost unusable.

 

 

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I guess this is the right place for this feedback.

I'm using Version 6.0.5 (451190 Direct).  I've decided to forego betas for the time-being, so if this is already addressed, please disregard.

 

Two things.  One more general in nature and one more specific:

 

1) The app just doesn't look like Evernote with all the blue highlights or lack of color.  I understand that apps change over time and you're adopting Apple design guidelines, but when I look at the app...there's no indication that it's Evernote...and I would think that's a bad thing.  When I see Wunderlist, I know it's Wunderlist.  From a branding perspective, isn't that an issue?

 

2) When you click on child-level objects (notebooks, shortcuts) in the sidebar, it would be nice to have a visual cue.  When you click on the root level items (Notebooks, Tags, etc.) they become blue.  Try right-clicking a notebook to delete.  No indication as to which one is selected.  There's a momentary flash of blue when you click, but that's it.  When you select a note in the note list, it gets a blue border...so maybe something like that.  The simplest change would probably be just leaving the text blue while selected.

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There is one aspect of the design that really annoys me.  It's the fact that once you type to the bottom of a note there is no margin at the bottom between your text and the edge of the application window.  It just lets the text  butt right up against it. I've never seen any editor allow this before and I'm surprised at how incredibly annoying it is. Every other editor knows when you hit the bottom to extend a blank line beyond the text you're typing.  Otherwise it has the subtle effect of making you feel like your text is going to drop off the edge.

 

Anybody else get annoyed by this?

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Keyboard Shortcut for Editing Tags Selects All the Tags

 

I've done this more times than I care to mention.  Hit the keyboard shortcut to go to the tag(s) of a note (Command + ') and just started typing.  This works great if tags don't already exist on the note.  If they do, the shortcut ends up selecting all of them and whatever you type overwrites the existing tags.  This doesn't seem like the intended response.

 

It would make more sense to use (Command + ') to enter the tag area of a note and from there either add or delete.

 

FROM THIS

Tag-Shortcut-Behavior.png

 

TO THIS

Tag-Shortcut-Proposal.png

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Ability to Complete Checklists with Keyboard

 

When working in a note with checklist items, I would like to select a checkbox with the keyboard and maybe hit space or some other key to toggle checked or unchecked.  Right now when you move through the note the cursor simply ignores the checkbox.  I can see it highlighting the box in blue to indicate a change is possible.

 

Evernote is a productivity tool for me, and the less I use my mouse the better.  It keeps me focused on the task at hand.

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Well I've waited a while before adding my thoughts to this discussion. I thought the Evernote experience may improve with a little experience; it hasn't. I've been using Evernote for years now and find it indispensable, but it's almost like some Microsoft team developed the new version. It is just so counter intuitive it sends me into a rage.

 

For example, this morning I clipped a note from a news article and decided to email it. I didn't want to send via workchat, I wanted to email it. I had to do a google search on the topic in order to learn how to do it. There was no icon, there was no drop down option. Why? As far as I'm concerned, emailing a note should be a piece of cake. Who knew that I would have to go to note>more sharing>email note? I would never have found that route without the Google search. Now that's what I call clunky.

 

The other problem has nothing to do with colour schemes but basic design. Yesterday I was searching Notebooks. I was looking at a note there. This morning I couldn't find a way to return to All Notes view. Why change something so completely that it frustrates the hell out of experienced users. If I am finding it hopeless, then how would newbies go? They'd just switch back to whatever else they were using. I feel like doing likewise.

 

Memo to Evernote: please give us back a tool bar that is useful and please get back to what was  a most intuitive interface.

 

Signed: Totally Confused in Oz.

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Well, the new version on yosemite is pathetic. I cannot give 1 out of 10. It looks so dull and colorless. Why new UI is so dull and colorless? To be frank, I used to respect evernote for whatever it is. However after coming across new UI, I'm not at all feeling proud of using evernote. It doesn't look like I'm working on MAC and using an good product. I totally hate new UI. 

 

I started searching for a new note tools and came across oneNote. Though, oneNote lacks killing features but it's much more attactive. As I now, I have both product However planning to move all my contents to oneNote. New UI is simply horrible. 

 

Just wanted to ask EN, do you have any plans for changing theme or look? I can't bear working on EN with this new UI. Look and feel wise, old UI was still okay but oneNote is awesome. 

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Font!

 

Read this. You see it sucks reading font like this.

 

Why changed all fonts including the notebook view on left side, note list view and notes itself to Helvetica Neue?

 

The design is good, clean, thanks for removing the grey side bar (bright background is more readable).... although I bet you have retina screen on Yosemite. Keep in mind many of us continue using Mavericks (or older) for simple reason because Yosemite is not readable with the new "teenager font Helvetica Neue". I am anxiously awaiting they will push the Sans Serif San Francisco from Apple Watch to OSX as well as to all iOS. Till then I'll be stuck on Mavericks.

Anyway, you shouldn't push the horrible Helvetica Neue font for the sake of new "look".  Simply let the application to use the "system-wide font".

The notes font can be changed in Evernote (luckily yes, thanks) back to Lucida Grande, but what about the Notebook list and Notes list?  The sidebar font and notes list font is not readable. I am using Evernote 8 hours a day, so the font matters. Readability is paramount in applications such as Evernote. Please give users ability to change the font in side bar, and notes list.

 

Thanks.

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At this point I'v kind of lost Hope. I hate to be cynical but how is it possible that Evernote is ignoring this overwhelming uproar from its paying members.

It's utterly insulting to be told you will address these issues in the upcoming update to just to be left with the exact same UI...

I had to completely delete all my EN data from my main computer, reinstall a version of EN 5 and re-download all my data, which is really a drag, and I have noticed inconsistencies between my old notes and these newly re-downloaded ones so that's not giving me much trust into your engineering either... Meanwhile I use the new version on my laptop to keep an eye on when you will fix the problem but update after update, still the same horrible Ui and no customization in sight ..

 

Seriously, what are you guys doing? Thinking? What's going on?  

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I will however make one concession that I just realised...

 

In Mission Control... 

 

All apps looking the same, can pose a problem...

 

Even though we have app icons... Its not so nice going into mission control and seeing: "white documents" for:

 

Word

Mail

PDF's (preview)

Excel

safari

AND Evernote getting mixed up in the whiteness of it all....

 

Mission control is becoming slightly less intuitive by this lack of differentiation. (i.e. takes me slightly longer to click on the one I want)

i.e. I can spot Spotify immediately since it is black, in misison control.

 

Spotify is nice, but with mulitple windows of the same application.

I am a user of Cmnd+Tab to cycle through applications., but the focus of the navigation to the desired window "drifts" from [Cmnd+Tab] and [shift+Cmnd+Tab] which is frustrating at first.

I set Apple Mac System Preferences > Mission Control preferences and use both the

a) hot-corners (mouse / trackpad) for Mission Control, Application Control,  Show Desktop a, and Show Dashboard; and 

B) I set shortcut keys for these as well.

 

I am missing the functionality of Alt+Tab on Windows cycling through all of the open windows as a newby to Mac OS X Mavericks and now Yosemite

and I must mouse to the Window_pulldown menu and select the desired window

I have customized Move and Zoom features provided in MOOM, to augment the anchor to four sides and quarter window move and zoom

 

Steffen

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The one thing I would like to change about the layout is the visibility of tags.

Even if I run EN in fullscreen mode I can't see more than 2 tags in the note, if I have the preview on I can sometimes see only 0 - 1 tag. I constantly need to switch to the i dialog to just see or change tags. 

 

Since tags are such an essential part of my workflow this is a big annoyance. 

 

Please assign more space to tags in the note pane. I consider tags more useful than the created/modified dates which take up way to much space.

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At this point I'v kind of lost Hope. I hate to be cynical but how is it possible that Evernote is ignoring this overwhelming uproar from its paying members.

It's utterly insulting to be told you will address these issues in the upcoming update to just to be left with the exact same UI...

I had to completely delete all my EN data from my main computer, reinstall a version of EN 5 and re-download all my data, which is really a drag, and I have noticed inconsistencies between my old notes and these newly re-downloaded ones so that's not giving me much trust into your engineering either... Meanwhile I use the new version on my laptop to keep an eye on when you will fix the problem but update after update, still the same horrible Ui and no customization in sight ..

 

Seriously, what are you guys doing? Thinking? What's going on?  

 

 thank god, you gave me the solution to downgrade back to EN5. 

Because of the new data management I couldn't load my notes in EN5 and was afraid I would just have to migrate all of them one by one to another software.

 

This new eye painful UI almost made me give up on Evernote !

just lost 3 hours in the process, not really what is expected from a productivity application

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@Jack:  You asked for our feedback on the new UI design of EN Mac 6.

 

Please bring this web site to the attention of your UI Designers:

 

Contrast Rebellion at http://contrastrebellion.com/

 

It very clearly addresses the issue of using low contrast text

 

Thanks.

 

JMichael,

 

That is an excellent website, thank you for the link. It is all to easy for a designer to create a visual that looks good on his and his colleagues computers. If I only worked on the awesome 5k displays at my office, with their excellent color accuracy and incredible vibrancy, I would be neglecting the hundreds of other less appealing computer situations that others have to endure. Even something as simple as the cleaner in your office keeping your monitors free of dust and fingerprints can make a difference to how you design. My iphone 6s may also vividly display my design, and my retina Macbook Pro at home keeps my illusion of universal design excellence going into the night. Try going into a best buy store and looking at your designs on some fingerprint filled, good but lower quality or at least different quality display. Designs should look good on as many modern displays as possible, and I think is perhaps far more important than say, ensuring a website still works without javascript or on IE6. 

 

But despite all of that, the lack of contrast in EN6 just makes the whole experience unappealing. EN5 was beautiful, as was the web clipper. At least give us some display options so we don't jump ship as soon as a more visually appealing piece of software comes out. It can't be that difficult to at least bury some options in the preferences. 

 

Robert

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Sorry guys, the new design is awful and seems to be getting worse with each update. For goodness sake inject some colour back into EN!

 

Take the views of the customers and their experience into consideration or they will be voting with their feet.

 

Blackrat 

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I really don't mind the overall aesthetic of the design, my only complaint is that the text highlight continuity within the sidebar hasn't been resolved and it's driving me bonkers.

 

The notebook from which I'm working should highlight, indicating that I'm working from there, as opposed to having "NOTES" perpetually highlighted.

 

It goes without saying that I'm in "notes"...

 

When I click on different notebooks, they flicker blue, but then they return to the default text colour.

I know where I am because I remember what I clicked on, but really it seems unnecessarily convoluted. 

 

I hope the EN team takes this into consideration for their next update. 

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My team works with a vast collection of images and we all find it very hard to go through our entire reference library even in "expanded card view".

It would be really nice if Evernote had an image-friendly view option; something more like Pinterest and less like Windows explorer.

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  • Level 5*

 

Hey Evernote land!
 
We've just launched a newly redesigned Evernote for Mac and we'd love your feedback. There has already been quite a lot of discussion, so let me sum up what we understand from it so far:
 
. . .
 
If you have any additional feedback, please feel free to voice it below. Please keep the discussion constructive. We read every post, we put our hearts into this product, this is our life's work, and we love your feedback. It only helps us get better. 

 

 

Jack, you asked for our feedback well over 7 months ago, and there have been many, many responses, suggestions, and requests.

 

Since then there have been 10 updates/releases, not counting Betas.

 

Can you tell us if there have been any changes implemented that were requested/suggested in this thread?

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I absolutely hate the monochrome Apple look. It is simply not nice to work with. I also use Postbox and it is also pale monochrome. No colour in sight.

Colour backgrounds and coloured icons improve usability. I use these apps all day, every day and the brightness is bad for my eyes and the lack of colour make it less enjoyable to use and more prone to mistakes as I hit the wrong icon as they all look the same.

 

At least give us the option to add some colour under preferences.

thank you 

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I know you've gotten a lot of complaints about the lack of contrast in the sidebar, but now the colored background for selected sidebar items is distracting!

 

skitch.png

 

Most of the time I want to be paying attention to what I'm writing in a note, not the fact that "Notes" is selected in the sidebar.

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When I saw the new design I thought... what the hell! What are they thinking of? Specially since the design for the web application had been launched just a moment before and none of them looked similar. If I wouldn't know better I wouldn't even be able to guess they were the same app from the same brand. Same thing applies to the iOS version.

 

So my question is, what on earth are you guys at Evernote thinking making three different designs for a service that should reflect your brand? Most importantly, from a branding view, not having the green colour (why blue when green is your colour) on the desktop version is beyond my understanding.

 

I haven't read trough all the pages regarding this topic, so if my question have been asked/discussed please don't mind - or guide me to the answer. 

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G'Day all - long time no see.

 

I got fed up with complaining about the awful UI of v6 and its progeny, and also the lack of customization of toolbars, icons, etc, and the overall lack of colour.

 

So I rolled back to v5.4.2, and have been happily Evernoting away with it ever since, and I dropped out of these forums.

 

But I just popped back in to see if there had been any significant change, because I have "Check for Updates" turned off on every installation of Evernote.

 

But nope - it all looks like the same washed out, over-bright, colourless, non-customizable mess. The dark sidebar that Marcus menioned above MAY give it a little bit of the v5 pizzazz back. But for me, v5.4.2 is still the best. And there's no mention of the silly "Chat" thing in the toolbar in v5.4.2 either. So I never have to see or hear about something I'm never going to use.  Does ANYONE actually use Chat?  Just curious....

 

So, it's back to working with v5.4.2 for me,. And I intend to stay there until doomsday if I can :)

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G'Day all - long time no see.

 

I got fed up with complaining about the awful UI of v6 and its progeny, and also the lack of customization of toolbars, icons, etc, and the overall lack of colour.

 

So I rolled back to v5.4.2, and have been happily Evernoting away with it ever since, and I dropped out of these forums.

 

But I just popped back in to see if there had been any significant change, because I have "Check for Updates" turned off on every installation of Evernote.

 

But nope - it all looks like the same washed out, over-bright, colourless, non-customizable mess. The dark sidebar that Marcus menioned above MAY give it a little bit of the v5 pizzazz back. But for me, v5.4.2 is still the best. And there's no mention of the silly "Chat" thing in the toolbar in v5.4.2 either. So I never have to see or hear about something I'm never going to use.  Does ANYONE actually use Chat?  Just curious....

 

So, it's back to working with v5.4.2 for me,. And I intend to stay there until doomsday if I can :)

 

What do you mean by "lack of customization of toolbars"? As far as I know, you can customize both the toolbar and the sidebar anyway you want. In fact, I removed the Work Chat button from the toolbar as well as Atlas, Market and Announcements from the sidebar. Now I only have my shortcuts, recent notes, notebooks and tags just like the iOS version and I'm quite happy with this setup.

 

As for the design, I've noticed quite a few welcome changes. They removed the annoying translucency of version 6.0, increased the overall contrast and added a dark sidebar which I absolutely love. So I'm also quite happy with the design. I just wish they made the selection color green instead of blue.

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What do you mean by "lack of customization of toolbars"? As far as I know, you can customize both the toolbar and the sidebar anyway you want. In fact, I removed the Work Chat button from the toolbar as well as Atlas, Market and Announcements from the sidebar. Now I only have my shortcuts, recent notes, notebooks and tags just like the iOS version and I'm quite happy with this setup.

 

As for the design, I've noticed quite a few welcome changes. They removed the annoying translucency of version 6.0, increased the overall contrast and added a dark sidebar which I absolutely love. So I'm also quite happy with the design. I just wish they made the selection color green instead of blue.

 

 

As I haven't downloaded the latest iteration of v6, and having read so many negative comments, I was assuming that Evernote were holding fast to their refusal to make the Toolbar customisable. Many people - including me - probably made life hell for Marcus and the rest of the dev team for months, harping on about how Evernote was shouting about how they adhered to Apple's UI conventions - but they always refused to make the toolbar customisable like it used to be in much earlier versions.

 

So, are you telling me that they finally relented and DID IT???  Wow..!  So you can do all the things Apple lets you do, like drag icons on or off the bar, shift them around, select icon only or icon + text, etc etc?  You know, all the things you can do in just about every other app that works on a Mac? 

 

Maybe it's time for me to risk everything and upgrade one of my "less core task" Macs to see how it looks?

 

Thanks for the heads-up...

 

EDIT:  OK - so I just upgraded a spare old iMac to v6.0.16, and while you CAN customise the toolbar insofar as removing that objectionable "New Chat" button, it still is NOT customisable really. There's no choice of icons vs icons+text, for example.  But the biggest let down is that you can really only remove the original buttons, or restore them. I can't ADD buttons for functions that I commonly use, such as Email Note, or Print Note.  I can't see any way to do that. But THAT is what most people would mean by a "customisable toolbar".

 

There are some general improvements overall, but it still lacks any personality or colour. It no longer looks like Evernote - it just looks like yet another plain grey and white app.  Even Apple's own Mac apps, from Mail to Pages (and don't even mention things like Final Cut or Logic - they're spectacular) all have icons with colour, working on the principle that recognition of icons (as opposed to text-only labels) is a visual thing based on the shape and the colour. But Evernote know better, apparently.

 

Still, it IS a small grudging concession that they've allowed us to remove the Chat button. In the meantime, I'm sticking with v5.4.2 at least until they bring back some colour, some personality, and FULLY customisable toolbars.

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I actually love the new colour scheme.

 

I always hated skeumorphism in its more extreme Steve Forstall form, and was continually disappointed that Evernote seemed to want to keep the horrible skeumorphic design long after apple saw the light. Even the default fonts were a hark back to the awful skeumorphic UI.

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EDIT:  OK - so I just upgraded a spare old iMac to v6.0.16, and while you CAN customise the toolbar insofar as removing that objectionable "New Chat" button, it still is NOT customisable really. There's no choice of icons vs icons+text, for example.  But the biggest let down is that you can really only remove the original buttons, or restore them. I can't ADD buttons for functions that I commonly use, such as Email Note, or Print Note.  I can't see any way to do that. But THAT is what most people would mean by a "customisable toolbar".

 

There are some general improvements overall, but it still lacks any personality or colour. It no longer looks like Evernote - it just looks like yet another plain grey and white app.  Even Apple's own Mac apps, from Mail to Pages (and don't even mention things like Final Cut or Logic - they're spectacular) all have icons with colour, working on the principle that recognition of icons (as opposed to text-only labels) is a visual thing based on the shape and the colour. But Evernote know better, apparently.

 

Still, it IS a small grudging concession that they've allowed us to remove the Chat button. In the meantime, I'm sticking with v5.4.2 at least until they bring back some colour, some personality, and FULLY customisable toolbars.

 

 

We added a customizable toolbar earlier in the year.  Quite honestly we did the bear minimum to get it out as quickly as we could but have been waiting for forum users to tell us what buttons they would like us to add.  No one has mentioned anything about customization since so we sort of dropped it and have been focused on other things.  For the toolbar customization feature we're letting the crowd decide what buttons they would like us to add.  We're not going to add every single feature.

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Hi everyone. 

 

I'm assuming everyone still has the backround colour blinking in and out randomly as per picture? 

10e518i.png

 

I really like the evernote look for the split second i get to see the transparency and colour as I switch from another app. Is it on the horizon to fix this? Thanks. 

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Update: I tried the direct download version, though that has the exact same issues. Does anyone have a solution or comment to this discoloration thing? Does anybody have 'normal' colours in Evernote yet? By that I mean having some sort of transparency outside of the sidebar.

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Apologies if this has been covered here (I read multiple relevant threads before I found one that wasn't closed!), but I am really hoping easy access to "send note via email" will be added back. This isn't even so much for my workflow (I use automation software so it's still only a keystroke), but for other users and for my feeling comfortable that Evernote isn't going to transition from a darling to a hated company like so many tech companies have.

 

I actually actively promote Evernote use in a large academic medical community, both formally and informally, but having to explain the many steps re how to share a note via email leads to me feeling I'm making excuses for the company, and disincentivizes people from using it :(

 

Worse, having a clear "Share" button offer a dialog that does not indicate you're working with a proprietary communication platform feels like manipulation. Further manipulative that there's a drop-down glyph next to "Share," but the drop-down doesn't include "Email a Copy," although that IS an option! It feels very much like Evernote wants to force people to go on their site whenever info is shared, rather than letting the user choose (and burying "Email a Copy" several menu layers deep does NOT really count :P ).

 

Finally, for people who never look several menu layers deep, they will not know the convenience of their gmail contacts being immediately accessible via auto-fill. This is one of the features that makes Evernote a truly cross-platform tool: I can be in a foreign country, log in ONCE to Evernote, and read and share my notes. I don't have to look up email addresses or cajole people into creating an account to be able to read my info.

 

Hope you can see my concerns.

 

Thanks

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Update: I tried the direct download version, though that has the exact same issues. Does anyone have a solution or comment to this discoloration thing? Does anybody have 'normal' colours in Evernote yet? By that I mean having some sort of transparency outside of the sidebar.

 

We have varying degrees of transparency on the other views but I don't see what you're seeing.  This looks like an OS or hardware issue.  What OS are you running and what is the hardware you're running on.  Also are you seeing this on the laptop monitor or another monitor.  My point is I don't think this is a universal issue that everyone is seeing.  If anyone else is seeing this then please speak up so we can narrow down the issue.  

 

Also our transparency is very slight so you won't really be able to see the colors bleed through like you may be asking for.  We reduced this because we were seeing some performance issues and some don't like the transparency.  Anyway, lets try to narrow down the issue.

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Apologies if this has been covered here (I read multiple relevant threads before I found one that wasn't closed!), but I am really hoping easy access to "send note via email" will be added back. This isn't even so much for my workflow (I use automation software so it's still only a keystroke), but for other users and for my feeling comfortable that Evernote isn't going to transition from a darling to a hated company like so many tech companies have.

 

I actually actively promote Evernote use in a large academic medical community, both formally and informally, but having to explain the many steps re how to share a note via email leads to me feeling I'm making excuses for the company, and disincentivizes people from using it :(

 

Worse, having a clear "Share" button offer a dialog that does not indicate you're working with a proprietary communication platform feels like manipulation. Further manipulative that there's a drop-down glyph next to "Share," but the drop-down doesn't include "Email a Copy," although that IS an option! It feels very much like Evernote wants to force people to go on their site whenever info is shared, rather than letting the user choose (and burying "Email a Copy" several menu layers deep does NOT really count :P ).

 

Finally, for people who never look several menu layers deep, they will not know the convenience of their gmail contacts being immediately accessible via auto-fill. This is one of the features that makes Evernote a truly cross-platform tool: I can be in a foreign country, log in ONCE to Evernote, and read and share my notes. I don't have to look up email addresses or cajole people into creating an account to be able to read my info.

 

Hope you can see my concerns.

 

Thanks

 

Thank you for the very heart felt and thoughtful reply.  I fully understand your point and I appreciate that you are still supporting Evernote even though you feel there are areas of the product that could and should be improved on.   On this issue, I'm very supportive and I'm actively looking at it.  I know it may seem like a simple thing to add back but there were reasons we moved it and we need to look at the impact of bringing it back.  I really appreciate your post and just wanted to let you know I read your comment.

 

In our upcoming release called 6.2 we haven't moved email note but I think a lot of long time Evernote users are going to be really happy with the changes we have made.    A beta is just on the horizon.  We've been using it internally and loving the enhancements.  I hope that we can win back some of you who have been frustrated by some of the past changes and lack of improvement in certain areas.  Anyway,  I'm really excited about it and hope you will be too when you get your hands on it.  

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Update: I tried the direct download version, though that has the exact same issues. Does anyone have a solution or comment to this discoloration thing? Does anybody have 'normal' colours in Evernote yet? By that I mean having some sort of transparency outside of the sidebar.

 

We have varying degrees of transparency on the other views but I don't see what you're seeing.  This looks like an OS or hardware issue.  What OS are you running and what is the hardware you're running on.  Also are you seeing this on the laptop monitor or another monitor.  My point is I don't think this is a universal issue that everyone is seeing.  If anyone else is seeing this then please speak up so we can narrow down the issue.  

 

Also our transparency is very slight so you won't really be able to see the colors bleed through like you may be asking for.  We reduced this because we were seeing some performance issues and some don't like the transparency.  Anyway, lets try to narrow down the issue.

 

 

Thanks for the reply. I am running the mid 2013 Macbook air on Yosemite 10.10.5. 

I assume it's an Evernote issue since I've never had a problem with transparency in other apps. I know that at least some other person here had the same issue. I believe I read it around the launch of version 6. 

 

I've fiddled with turning on / off 'reduce transparency', deleting the app, rebooting, finding and getting rid of all app related folders. While the app is running fine, It's a little maddening since I see Evernote looking like it's supposed to only to become grey as soon as I touch it. I don't have an external monitor but since it only affects the transparency in Evernote I doubt it's an hardware issue. 

The only option I could think of is a complete OS reinstall, but since El Capitan is right around the corner I'll hold off on that until it is released. 

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Just updated Evernote on my Mac to version 6.1.1.  Very disappointing.  The "light background" sidebar that was introduced in version 6.0 is now gone, making the sidebar a different background from the notes and notebooks windows.

 

This is a step backwards in design.  The first post in this thread announces "light background" as one of the features of 6.0.

 

I am visually impaired.  I invert the colors on my Mac to give me white text on a black background.  Inverting the "light background" on the sidebar means I have black font on white background on the sidebar, which is VERY difficult to read.

 

Can you please provide a Preference option that allows me to force all windows to a consistent background color?

 

Please think about the impact UI changes will have on your user community before making arbitrary changes.  Consider adding

options to allow users the opportunity to customize window colors.

 

Thank you.

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Just updated Evernote on my Mac to version 6.1.1.  Very disappointing.  The "light background" sidebar that was introduced in version 6.0 is now gone, making the sidebar a different background from the notes and notebooks windows.

 

This is a step backwards in design.  The first post in this thread announces "light background" as one of the features of 6.0.

 

I am visually impaired.  I invert the colors on my Mac to give me white text on a black background.  Inverting the "light background" on the sidebar means I have black font on white background on the sidebar, which is VERY difficult to read.

 

Can you please provide a Preference option that allows me to force all windows to a consistent background color?

 

Please think about the impact UI changes will have on your user community before making arbitrary changes.  Consider adding

options to allow users the opportunity to customize window colors.

 

Thank you.

 

There is one.  Go to the View menu and select Sidebar Options > Use Light Sidebar.

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Just updated Evernote on my Mac to version 6.1.1.  Very disappointing.  The "light background" sidebar that was introduced in version 6.0 is now gone, making the sidebar a different background from the notes and notebooks windows.

 

This is a step backwards in design.  The first post in this thread announces "light background" as one of the features of 6.0.

 

I am visually impaired.  I invert the colors on my Mac to give me white text on a black background.  Inverting the "light background" on the sidebar means I have black font on white background on the sidebar, which is VERY difficult to read.

 

Can you please provide a Preference option that allows me to force all windows to a consistent background color?

 

Please think about the impact UI changes will have on your user community before making arbitrary changes.  Consider adding

options to allow users the opportunity to customize window colors.

 

Thank you.

 

There is one.  Go to the View menu and select Sidebar Options > Use Light Sidebar.

 

 

Thank you!  I looked under "Preferences", but didn't try the "View" menu for options.  I GREATLY appreciate your help!

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You can also right click on the sidebar and change it.

 

Marcus,

I'm not sure it gets said enough, but I want you to know how much I appreciate your honesty and transparency.  All of you folks including Jack and Nancy over in the web beta.  I can't even imagine how difficult it is working on a product that polarizes so many people.  It seems like any post on this forum or on the blog or in Facebook results in any number of complaints, concerns, and issues.  It takes some thick skin to work there.

 

At the end of the day, I feel confident that Evernote is on the right path.  It's never going to please everyone but at least you listen and continue to strive for glory.  I appreciate that.

 

Thank you! 

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I'm usually here only on the odd occasion to complain, this time, I just wanted to say thanks for the sidebar colors in the latest Mac app. The background and foreground colors are easy on my eyes and make it easier to differentiate between shortcuts.

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Hey Evernote land!
 
We've just launched a newly redesigned Evernote for Mac and we'd love your feedback. There has already been quite a lot of discussion, so let me sum up what we understand from it so far:
 
Text contrast: We've attempted to improve text legibility significantly from version 5. This is directly in response to your feedback. We have several upcoming updates that take even further steps to respond to your feedback and bump contrast even more! 
 
Light background: With the new version, we have adopted many of Apple's design queues from Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10). Lighter backgrounds and translucency (what Apple calls Vibrancy) are among the design themes for Apple's new OS (our new home). We've worked closely with Apple and their design guidelines to craft a beautiful new look without removing any existing functionality. Users on Yosemite should now see that Evernote fits right in. Users on 10.9: we’ve heard your feedback and you should see more contrast coming back to your UI in versions 6.0.2 and above.
 
If you have any additional feedback, please feel free to voice it below. Please keep the discussion constructive. We read every post, we put our hearts into this product, this is our life's work, and we love your feedback. It only helps us get better. 

 

Hi,

 

Recently I bought Evernote Premium and I am very excited for the possibilities that the app has.

 

I have some recommendations for new releases:

 

1) Allow to put an image/avatar in the notebooks, you know the images is better for our brain to locate info faster.

2) Activate a new functionality that allows archive completed tasks.

3) Activate a gauge that allow me check the % of sync (it must allow to pause/continue the sync), when you upload a large document you don't have idea how many time requires before shut down the computer.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Jorge Martinez

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We read every post, we put our hearts into this product, this is our life's work, and we love your feedback. It only helps us get better. 

 

 

 

 

Evernote, if you read this... why not listen to the community or your common sense and bring back the green color for the desktop client? It just doesn't make sense to go with another colour while everything else have your green. Kind of seems like you have an identity crisis. Are you?

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  • Level 5*
Posted · Hidden by charboyd, December 2, 2014 - Forum Code of Conduction violation: Flame War
Hidden by charboyd, December 2, 2014 - Forum Code of Conduction violation: Flame War

@lykoz:  I think you are a troll. You have NO credibility with me, and I suspect, with few others here.  I haven't seen anyone "liking" your posts. You clearly don't know what you are talking about.  Please go bother someone else.

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Posted · Hidden by charboyd, December 2, 2014 - Forum Code of Conduction violation: Flame War
Hidden by charboyd, December 2, 2014 - Forum Code of Conduction violation: Flame War

@lykoz:  I think you are a troll. You have NO credibility with me, and I suspect, with few others here.  I haven't seen anyone "liking" your posts. You clearly don't know what you are talking about.  Please go bother someone else.

 

JMichael are you for real? Do a google search for Finder in Yosemite and see what comes up....

 

You are the only one trolling....

 

Are you sure you are even using Yosemite?

 

OSX HAS NOT HAD COLOURED ICONS ON SIDEBAR AS DEFAULT LOOK SINCE SNOW LEOPARD!!!!!!!!

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  • Level 5*
Posted · Hidden by charboyd, December 2, 2014 - Forum Code of Conduction violation: Flame War
Hidden by charboyd, December 2, 2014 - Forum Code of Conduction violation: Flame War

lykoz is now on my Forum Ignore list so that his/her posts don't clutter the threads I view.  See your forum profile to add anyone to your ignore list.

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