Horrible UI - Still

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66 replies

D
Userlevel 1
Badge +5

IME there are two types of users. Ones who are productive and like to get things done efficiently, and ones who are happy to spend their whole day scrolling through TikTok and YouTube videos.

 

Some of the general guidelines I use in design are.

  1. Every additional action required reduces usage by 10x
  2. Scrolling/swiping/selecting from menus requires 10x the cognitive overhead of tapping.
  3. Parsing/finding unlabelled, unfamiliar, and/or monotone icons is a total waste of user time and completely unnecessary.

I’m in the productivity bin, but I notice throngs of young users who are looking for excuses to stroke their phone/pad. These individuals will look at a screen that we would classify as “productive” and cry “too complicated”. As a market reality they are much more likely to purchase “easy”.

 

Totally agree. It’s one of the big challenges in creating good software apps. If you read App Store reviews, you will see thousands of apps where the reviews are initially dominated by “beautiful” and “simple.” Inevitably the tide changes after a few months and the comments are all “doesn’t work” or “can’t do xyz.”  It’s hard to acquire users, but it’s even harder to retain them.

jgatie

Its not my *** app, ok?

 

MODERATOR EDIT: language

 

I apologize.  You've been shilling your own apps against forum rules for years, forgive me if I don't bother to check who authors what any more.

K

Has Sonos been making app changes to exploit advances in smart phone tech over the years, or has it, as I suspect, been doing this to just keep up with the joneses, when nothing new can be offered that year?

And the changes tend to be revolutionary rather than evolutionary to attract attention, losing the advantages an evolutionary approach can bring - ask mother nature about that.

controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23

Its not my *** app, ok?

 

MODERATOR EDIT: language

 

I apologize.  You've been shilling your own apps against forum rules for years, forgive me if I don't bother to check who authors what any more.

The rules about this were made clear to me by the moderators many years ago. You may not agree on them, but I don’t care what you think, it’s what they think that is important.

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
J

Precisely. I always tell me designers that anytime a user has to scroll that it’s a design failure.

 

So how would you present a 15-room system on an iPhone without scrolling?

I have to say it’s a shame that @dtohmatsu has been upset about the System name for so long when he could have changed it to anything he wanted.  No doubt he will blame Sonos for not making this clear.

One thing I would certainly agree with is that ‘My Sonos’ is a bit of a mess and could be substantially improved.

A

I appreciate [NOT] the handy 20 - 30 second wake up time. Makes it a real aggravation to mute your Sonos to take a phone call, or worse hear what your spouse is saying.

Sucks enough I’m using old Play 1s on my desk but muted, grouped with the room I’m listening to so I can actually pause at need.

I thought that it was just me… The wake up time has been getting slower and slower, to the extent that we now just walk across the room and press the button, rather than wait for the mobile software to react.

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

What ‘20-30 sec wake up time’ are you referring to?

Ken_Griffiths

From a fully closed state, if I launch the Sonos App it takes between 7 & 8 seconds to load a 15 room system (that’s an iPhone XR or iPad Pro (3rd gen) controller) - if the Sonos App has been backgrounded, or minimised, for a while, then it’s a couple of seconds to wait in that case, if that, for the focus to be reclaimed.. and my controllers are now both a few years old. 

20-30 seconds sounds to me like there is perhaps an issue with the controller device itself, or perhaps the network. I would just try closing all apps fully and just count (normally) and see how long it takes to launch?

… and I thought my old iOS controllers were getting slow?🤷‍♂️

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

I don’t see that, I just forced closed Sonos App on iPhone 12 mini, and see all rooms in a couple of seconds. About my system will show the Sonos device (IP address) associated with the App, what device is that when it takes 20 seconds? Maybe its an older/slower Sonos device?

D
Userlevel 1
Badge +5

Performing simple actions like opening the equalizer requires 5 minutes of discovery every time you want to use it.

 

Tap Volume, tap EQ icon, how can that be improved?

 

Is that a serious question?  What is the point of hiding the EQ icon. Even if the user remembers how to unhide the icon, it still requires an extra step (tap the volume control) in order to display the icon. Why would anyone possibly design the UI that way. Even if experienced users remember how to do this, why would you want to introduce that kind of totally unnecessary friction for new users. Also why are other playback controls (crossfade) hidden elsewhere behind a “more” ellipsis in a line (the music/album title) that is completely unrelated to playback control. A minimal amount of UAT would immediately reveal these problems.

Honestly, whoever is responsible for this must have studied at the blind darts school of UX design.

 

J

 

A lot of thngs in the app feel like they’ve been “bolted on” or “shoe-horned” in to the existing app and it could really do with a proper re-write rather than just tarting it up with a re-skin.

 

You obviously weren't around the last time Sonos did this, to a storm of protest.

I do know that it’s not an easy thing to re-design and re-write existing software…. I was a software developer for over 30 years until recent early retirement. I fully understood the need for the S2 version so that old legacy products didn’t stifle the software, but apart from improvements to setup routines and features like that, it’s still the same old app as far as I’m concerned.

 

 

You do understand that the app is just a remote control for the system, and all the system firmware is on the speakers? Why were you expecting the remote control to change at the point when the S1/S2 split occurred?

 

D
Userlevel 1
Badge +5

I’ve had a Sonos system for 15 years. Somehow I’ve managed to move with the times, graduating from CR100 all the way to the mobile apps. The changes in the latter tend to be incremental so the learning process is usually a case of “what does this new button do?”.

 

CR100 was kludgy but decent for a startup in that day and age. CR 200 looked cool but was garbage. There should not be a learning process. The functionality is neither new nor complex.

 

> I can’t say I’ve ever been aware of the app having an emetic effect.

 

Presumably you’re feigning obtuseness and actually know my comment was hyperbolic.

Bumper
Userlevel 6
Badge +12

I think part of this is a generational problem. As I watch young folk, they seem to be looking for excuses to fondle their phone/pad

 

 

OK Boomer.

chicks

Anyone else here still fondly remember the (odd but brilliant) MOG UI?  Still have all the old WordStar key combos memorized?  Still use vi? ;)

J
Userlevel 5
Badge +8

 

A lot of thngs in the app feel like they’ve been “bolted on” or “shoe-horned” in to the existing app and it could really do with a proper re-write rather than just tarting it up with a re-skin.

 

You obviously weren't around the last time Sonos did this, to a storm of protest.

I do know that it’s not an easy thing to re-design and re-write existing software…. I was a software developer for over 30 years until recent early retirement. I fully understood the need for the S2 version so that old legacy products didn’t stifle the software, but apart from improvements to setup routines and features like that, it’s still the same old app as far as I’m concerned.

 

 

You do understand that the app is just a remote control for the system, and all the system firmware is on the speakers? Why were you expecting the remote control to change at the point when the S1/S2 split occurred?

 

 

Yes I’ve been around a long time with Sonos and whilst I like it, I do allow myself to criticise when I think it necessary. Yes I do understand how the Sonos system works and at the time Sonos were telling us that S2 would allow them to do a lot of exciting new stuff (although perhaps not those exact words) so I probably assumed that they would want to improve the software which is always stated as the thing that lets Sonos down in most reviews I’ve read or seen.

As an ex commercial software developer and designer I do know that whatever you do, you will always get people who moan about it…. it’s a given, but that shouldn’t stop the process of continuous improvement in the software.

 

J
Userlevel 5
Badge +8

Incidentally, I know my profile says I’ve been a member since 2015 (or something like that) but in truth I’ve been around many years longer than that. My old account was linked to an email address that I no longer have and the only way I could change my email address with Sonos at the time was to create a new account :) 

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