V3.5 – oh, man

  • Resolved dFactory

    (@dfactory)


    10 years, 11 months ago

    Hi Camu,

    I love SlimStat – using this since it’s beginning (5,000 downloads – easier to say than when it time it was). I’m a designer & developer, and realize what issues arrised sinse 3.8 WP release, especially in terms of design. I understand you tried to keep up with the new style. But please, change that, improve that, whatever, but make it look as good as before, I beg you ??

    What I mean:
    – the colours, thay should match the color scheme selected by the user. now it looks flat, but it is out of everything we have in WordPress UI
    – text size is too large at large screens (RDW, I see, but not that way please)
    – all the icons looked ok if when they were small (before the update), now it is not so good
    – the panels, in my opinion, should behave more like dashboard widgets (as it was before), not to expand on large screens, but to have a predifined max width, so we can arrange it the way we used to before
    – a scroller for data panels, I found it after couple of hours, it was so difficult to notice

    My general impression – it’s a huge step backward. But I really hope you’ll push that forward again.

    Best regards,
    Bartosz

    https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/wp-slimstat/

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Plugin Author Jason Crouse

    (@coolmann)

    Hi Bartosz,

    I’m glad that, after using our plugin for years, version 3.5 finally pushed you to come forward and provide feedback about the new interface. You bring up some interesting points, especially regarding colors. Let me start from the end:

    • Version 3.5.1 will introduce an option to disable the new slick scrollbar, and revert back to the system one; I see your point, but we are getting very positive feedback about the new bar as well. Also, by default the scrollbar is visible when you first open the reports, so I’m not sure what confused you about it.
    • Panels behave just like your WP dashboard widgets in version 3.5: they expand and adapt to the screen width. We are going to introduce a fourth column in version 3.5.1, to accommodate large screens ( width > 1440px ), just like WordPress does.
    • Text size: we are using a slightly bigger font size, you’re correct. But that’s to accommodate, again, all the feedback we’ve gathered so far from other users who were complaining about crammed reports and hard-to-read text. We followed WP’s lead on this, by using one single font for everything, and we even removed most font styles (bold, italics) to improve readability. We will probably launch an inline survey (that appears right within your report screens) to collect some useful feedback that will allow us to further improve the interface
    • You didn’t mention any of the new features we introduced: in-report pagination, streamlined date filters, reorganized settings pages, etc. I was wondering what was your opinion on those aspects
    • Icons can be resized, but we also wanted to do something original that stands out and can be noticed. Plus, WP is setting a trend with their sidebar icons, which are slightly bigger in WP 3.8 compared to previous versions, so again we just followed their lead
    • You make a great point regarding colors and uniformity/consistency with the color scheme selected by the user. At this stage, however, there’s still very little official documentation around on how to leverage those colors in a plugin, and we wanted to wait for things to be a bit more stable, that’s why we came up with our own palette. Which we believe is not that odd (we’re not using Red Ferrari or Bright Purple or Bright Yellow Mustard, after all) but we agree that there’s room for improvement.

    On this last item, would you be interested in collaborating with our team to come up with a better WP integration?

    My point is that our redesigned interface was the result of a detailed analysis of MP6 and lengthy discussions within our (small) team. We looked at other popular analytics softwares (google analytics, piwik, etc) and tried to find commonalities that could also work in WP SlimStat.

    We don’t believe it was a HUGE step backward, and according to the feedback we’re getting in the first few hours after launch, we actually took a step into the right direction. Aware that there’s always room for improvement, and that we always welcome our users’ feedback, which is what makes WP SlimStat really special!

    Thank you,
    Camu

    Plugin Author Jason Crouse

    (@coolmann)

    Hi Bartosz,

    you’ll be happy to know that our team has been at work to “tone down” the new interface and make it more integrated with the new WordPress admin color schemes.

    Those interested in testing version 3.5.1 before it’s officially released next week, can send us a message at

    https://slimstat.getused.to.it/contact-us/

    Happy Holidays,
    Camu

    Thread Starter dFactory

    (@dfactory)

    Hi Camu,

    First, sorry for the late reply – I was busy with Christmas. Secondly, thank you for your long reply. It explained me a lot. I admit, naming the changes a huge step backward was an axagerration.

    My general thought was: what I liked in SlimStat design the most that it looked and behaved like dashboard widgets and I had a feeling it turned to something different.

    I propose to move our discussion from WP forum. I’ll definitely contact you soon.

    Happy New Year,
    Bartosz

    Plugin Author Jason Crouse

    (@coolmann)

    Hi Bartosz,

    thank you for your email. I just sent you a copy of 3.5.1 for your review. I hope it is a further step in the right direction ??

    Happy New Year to you and your loved ones,
    Camu

    Thread Starter dFactory

    (@dfactory)

    Wow, it was fast! And for me it looks waaaay better then it was in 3.5.

    Thank you for the great work you’re doing and Happy New Year to you and your team.

    Bartosz

    Plugin Author Jason Crouse

    (@coolmann)

    A review for SlimStat would be a nice way to say thank you ??

    Cheers,
    Camu

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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