New tapatalk android release

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New tapatalk android release

Post by ericf4 » Mon Dec 15, 2014 5:20 am

Just got the new version this am, pretty different layout than before. Trying to get the flow down. Anyone else notice this and have any thoughts on it? I think I like it better, still trying to figure it out. Seems a bit more streamlined perhaps.
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by CGSshorty » Mon Dec 15, 2014 5:22 am

It looks nice, but it will take some getting used to.
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by ericf4 » Mon Dec 15, 2014 5:37 am

Agreed.
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by logan2z » Mon Dec 15, 2014 5:53 am

Not a fan so far. Don't really like the white on grey background thread titles, for example, but maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by Knome » Mon Dec 15, 2014 11:14 am

The thread / topic view is a form of contention here as well. The good thing is that it is in flux and that if you aren't happy with where it is now, this style isn't the way it's necessarily gonna be forever. Lately each beta is focusing on making everything work smoothly but once it's up to our satisfaction, there will be a UI refinement again.

The new layout though will not change drastically though, the basic way to get around is:

Top of the screen (drop down menu): forum navigation, sub forums, subscribed sub subforums, etc

Middle of the screen (tabs): navigation for your content, trending, timeline, subscribed threads, participated, etc

Right hand pull out menu: where your "actions" are located: Messages, search, view profile, mark as read, etc.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by logan2z » Mon Dec 15, 2014 11:41 am

Ken, FWIW here's some feedback:
Knome wrote: Top of the screen (drop down menu): forum navigation, sub forums, subscribed sub subforums, etc
This doesn't seem to be working so well at the moment. If I look at WUS using the new version of Tapatalk, for example, and navigate to 'Official Forums' I used to only see the list of official forums at WUS, such as Aquadive, Ball, DOXA, etc. Now I see those sprinkled in amongst things like 'Photo Album', 'Reference Material', 'Reviews/1st Impressions', etc. So the list contains the official forums but a lot of other cruft as well.
Knome wrote:Middle of the screen (tabs): navigation for your content, trending, timeline, subscribed threads, participated, etc
The icons here are pretty non-standard/unintiutive. '@' for 'Participated'? '@' is typically used for email. The RSS feed icon for 'Unread'? Again, unintuitive and non-standard. It's one thing in a web interface when there is hover help but in a mobile interface more intuitive icons would be welcome.

The new format seems to emphasize the name of the sub-forum and de-emphasize the thread title. IMHO it should be the other way around. I'm personally less interested in which sub-forum a thread is on and more interested in the thread title describing the thread. The white on grey background makes the thread title pretty insignificant. And since we typically read from left to right, having the sub-forum name on the left and thread title on the right exacerbates this issue. I find myself hunting around for the thread title when it should be very obvious.

Finally, the visual styling for unread threads is too subtle. The only thing that seems to distinguish read from unread threads is a small vertical blue bar to the left of the thread heading. Otherwise the styling of read and unread threads appears identical and the common aspects of the styling overwhelm the deltas. I tried playing around with the settings for this and it made little difference.

Just curious: Are these sorts of changes tested with end users before they're rolled out or are they all developer-driven?

All of this is meant in the most constructive way. I love the app and use it almost exclusively to view the watch forums, which is why it's important to me that it works well and is intuitive to navigate.
Last edited by logan2z on Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by logan2z » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:08 pm

Forgot to mention: That big header in the topic view takes up a LOT of vertical real estate without providing any more information than the old one. That means a lot more vertical scrolling to get through a list of topics.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by CGSshorty » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:17 pm

The subforum name is too prominent and the thread title is too subdued. Reverse that.
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by ericf4 » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:21 pm

Mine smells like tangerines ..weird..
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by logan2z » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:23 pm

CGSshorty wrote:The giant font for the subforum and tiny font for the thread title makes no sense.
+1 mentioned in my TLDR post above :)

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by logan2z » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:26 pm

ericf4 wrote:Mine smells like tangerines ..weird..
You must have upgraded to the Pro scratch-n-sniff version.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by logan2z » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:29 pm

Quite honestly this is the first update in a long time that is making me want to use the web interface for the forums instead of Tapatalk.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by jeckyll » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:30 pm

logan2z wrote:Quite honestly this is the first update in a long time that is making me want to use the web interface for the forums instead of Tapatalk.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll be skipping it :)
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by CGSshorty » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:34 pm

This is so much worse than the previous version.
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by jeckyll » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:37 pm

There should be a "OMFG I hate this version" button in every app that takes you back one version :)
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by logan2z » Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:40 pm

jeckyll wrote:There should be a "OMFG I hate this version" button in every app that takes you back one version :)
That's a feature I'd pay for :)

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by Knome » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:28 pm

Thanks for the comprehensive post Andrew, I've been composing a lot of feedback along these lines into a report to the product team to cut the shit.
OMFG button is in the report as well.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by ericf4 » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:29 pm

I don't get it. For me it seems fine so far. That said I only go to timeline on dwc.
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by streetracer101 » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:33 pm

For me it seems really slow. I keep getting a cannot connect to server error... Even when on home WiFi. That never happened before the update. Also, whenever I get a pm, it won't load it unless I click on the pm, then back out then click on it again. Really freaking annoying.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by jeckyll » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:35 pm

logan2z wrote:
jeckyll wrote:There should be a "OMFG I hate this version" button in every app that takes you back one version :)
That's a feature I'd pay for :)
I already paid once. I should get that feature for free :)
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by jeckyll » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:36 pm

Knome wrote:Thanks for the comprehensive post Andrew, I've been composing a lot of feedback along these lines into a report to the product team to cut the shit.
OMFG button is in the report as well.
It makes me feel a bit better just to know someone's listening. Maybe that's because I work for a software company though ;)
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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by jswing » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:39 pm

Just going to take some time to figure out the new layout I guess.
Last edited by jswing on Tue Dec 16, 2014 6:55 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by Knome » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:40 pm

also for the nonstandard icons in the tabs, what would you recommend?

@ was chosen because it just denotes places you've been to, there isn't really a "standard" icon for participated is there?

rss icon and the "diagonal wifi" looking symbol we have for unread seemed intuitive to the android beta group but if there is a better one, it's an easy change, we're open to suggestions.

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by Knome » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:45 pm

CGSshorty wrote:The subforum name is too prominent and the thread title is too subdued. Reverse that.
Just want to confirm, for this issue, what area are you in? Timeline? Feed?

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Re: New tapatalk android release

Post by logan2z » Mon Dec 15, 2014 2:45 pm

Knome wrote:Thanks for the comprehensive post Andrew, I've been composing a lot of feedback along these lines into a report to the product team to cut the shit.
OMFG button is in the report as well.
Sure, glad to help, and thanks for listening. I work on web/mobile interfaces for a living so I'm often in the middle of conversations like this. I also work with user experience designers who often find solutions looking for problems, which kind of appears to be the case here ;)

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