Timeline for Our Design Vision for Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
104 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 9, 2023 at 1:00 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
|
|
| Sep 7, 2023 at 8:16 | comment | added | Jeremy Thompson | Whatever the vision is you and GitHub have both lost your Branding on Google, it does make a difference for visual people: i.sstatic.net/hMThB.png | |
| Sep 6, 2023 at 15:39 | comment | added | Vland | the more I look at these images (I have tried several times), the more I don't understand what I should look at. I admit I'm not an UI expert | |
| Sep 5, 2023 at 13:26 | comment | added | NotThatGuy | @V2Blast "Here's the overall look we're going for" - I honestly thought you just posted the current pages, to critique them. On further inspection, apparently you consider it "aging design" to have the author name on the right instead of the left, and to not have share and bookmark buttons, and to be able to fit more than 5 questions from a list on the screen. I'm still trying to figure out what you changed about the question page (even looking at it side-by-side). Maybe some icons at the top for asked/modified/views? In conclusion, I'm not sure whatever's being changed is worth much effort. | |
| Sep 1, 2023 at 13:34 | comment | added | J3soon | Thanks for seeking feedback before development! At first glance, I'm confused about the changes presented in the screenshots. It took me a while to figure out that these screenshots are mock-ups, while the actual discussions are taking place within the embedded links. I believe this post could be enhanced by simply linking to individual discussions using bullet points. For instance: (1) buttons (Shipped), (2) colors (Finalized), (3) left side navigation (In discussion), ... Clearly mentioning that the screenshots are mock-ups can also prevent confusion. Thanks again for the discussion! | |
| Aug 30, 2023 at 17:58 | comment | added | Rick Henderson | Just remember that not everyone who reads this is a designer, or even notices the things you've mentioned. Pointing them out explicitly is part of good design communication. | |
| Aug 29, 2023 at 15:31 | comment | added | alex440 | @Piper While you're at it - what about making tab press inserting the actual '\t' character, and not jumping to the submit button? Would it be hard to implement? | |
| Aug 28, 2023 at 17:45 | comment | added | vbnet3d | With a lot of the other commentators, I am at once please that SE is reaching out to the community early about this, but also confused about what is being discussed. I think at least listing high-level goals and examples would be a good start. Those pictures don't really tell me anything. | |
| Aug 26, 2023 at 16:03 | comment | added | pilchard | I would also be curious to see comparison screenshots of serious/long-time users UIs vs the UI shipped by the 'design team'. I for one haven't seen an ad in years and the 'Related Questions' box is relegated to the side bar even on unanswered questions. A good touchpoint would be exploring the numerous scripts and style overrides that various long-time users have implemented and distributed. | |
| Aug 26, 2023 at 15:22 | comment | added | pilchard | Much of what I see in the 'mockups' are changes that the community has already weighed in on such as information density (more please, not less). An example would be this post from a mere year and a half ago: New post summary designs on site home pages and greatest hits now; everywhere else eventually. | |
| Aug 21, 2023 at 19:20 | comment | added | V2Blast Staff | @LoverofStructure: There's a post about that issue over here. | |
| Aug 17, 2023 at 12:13 | comment | added | Lover of Structure | I believe that on some subsites of SE, the up- and down-buttons aren't displayed in a sufficiently distinct color after they are pressed. That is, glancing at them doesn't immediately make it clear whether I pressed them already; I have to spend more time with my eyes on them, trying to discern whether one of them is in a darker shade than the other button, and I have to pay attention to whether the circle is thickened/darkened. Has this issue been brought up? | |
| Aug 16, 2023 at 18:34 | comment | added | Kaia | Just wanna say, this overall looks like a cool redesign and I'm glad you're doing a feedback process. | |
| Aug 16, 2023 at 16:14 | comment | added | Kevin B | @tobias_k "AudioBubble" is stack's test collective used in their dev environment, naturally it's not actually going to be related to any real questions. The answer is "recommended" either because it was created by a "recognized member" of that collective, or it was manually recommended by such a member. | |
| Aug 16, 2023 at 16:05 | comment | added | tobias_k | I guess I am late for the party, but can't see this mentioned until now: What is "Answer recommended by Audio Bubble" supposed to mean? Why is that answer "recommended", and how is AudioBubble even related to the topic of the question? | |
| Aug 16, 2023 at 14:25 | answer | added | Devin | timeline score: 39 | |
| Aug 16, 2023 at 12:53 | comment | added | Rand Random | On the first glance, I thought "what's the difference?" - so I don't really care either positive or negative | |
| Aug 16, 2023 at 11:58 | answer | added | samcarter_is_at_topanswers.xyz | timeline score: 12 | |
| Aug 15, 2023 at 23:38 | comment | added | forresthopkinsa | Thank you for sharing these designs! I know that the community can tend to be hyper-critical (esp. in the context of recent events) but communication like this is definitely a step in the right direction. Additionally, as someone who generally doesn't like 'modern redesigns', I am actually a big fan of what you've shown in these screenshots. Excited to see this develop! | |
| Aug 15, 2023 at 20:16 | history | edited | John Omielan | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Remove the phrase "coming from them" re: the three designers, as an earlier edit which added text before it made this phrase to now be redundant (and somewhat inappropriate) in the current context of the sentence.
|
| Aug 15, 2023 at 19:52 | comment | added | starball | @ElementsinSpace yes. I don't disagree. I like the formatted list too. Easier to see when skimming. | |
| Aug 15, 2023 at 19:34 | comment | added | Elements In Space | @starball A list is so much easier to read, especially if all I'm on the page for, is to look for the links to the items in the series. The paragraph is nice, but I want the list back in. | |
| Aug 15, 2023 at 19:29 | history | edited | starball | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
deleted 17 characters in body
|
| Aug 15, 2023 at 19:29 | comment | added | starball | @ElementsinSpace it's still there? it's just inline in the text now. look closer and see rev 12. | |
| Aug 15, 2023 at 17:42 | comment | added | Elements In Space | @Piper I don't understand why the useful list of posts in this series was removed for version 11 of this post. | |
| Aug 15, 2023 at 17:13 | history | edited | PiperStaff | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 120 characters in body
|
| Aug 15, 2023 at 13:33 | history | edited | PiperStaff | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
deleted 73 characters in body
|
| Aug 14, 2023 at 19:28 | comment | added | Martin F | You've showed us two blurry images of ... something or other! Why not show us clear images of now and proposed, so we can see the difference? | |
| Aug 14, 2023 at 11:33 | answer | added | einpoklum | timeline score: -4 | |
| Aug 14, 2023 at 1:24 | comment | added | new Q Open Wid | I'm getting a little bit irritated at how bloated Stack Exchange is getting. Back in the olden days you could go onto the front page and load 10+ questions. it felt very slick, compact and organized. In the new design, there's a huge amount of space and info scattered about in the questions box. It's harder to locate important stuff (especially with the distracting icons and colors) and it just feels more messy, confusing and opaque than the original. | |
| Aug 14, 2023 at 0:46 | answer | added | D.R | timeline score: 0 | |
| Aug 13, 2023 at 11:07 | comment | added | Dharman | Why is there unanswered button near the answers? | |
| Aug 12, 2023 at 15:13 | comment | added | Scott Seidman | A design engineer would ask "what problems are you trying to fix?" The "vision" images aren't telling me this. | |
| Aug 12, 2023 at 10:33 | answer | added | Robert M. | timeline score: 9 | |
| Aug 12, 2023 at 0:42 | answer | added | vas | timeline score: 11 | |
| Aug 11, 2023 at 16:45 | answer | added | Laurel | timeline score: 4 | |
| Aug 11, 2023 at 7:31 | comment | added | StayOnTarget | "Design" is a very general term. Suggest adding a modifier to clarify you meant visual design especially as used in the title & opening . | |
| Aug 11, 2023 at 0:51 | answer | added | Jacob | timeline score: 5 | |
| Aug 10, 2023 at 23:36 | review | Close votes | |||
| Aug 11, 2023 at 5:30 | |||||
| Aug 10, 2023 at 23:12 | answer | added | curiousdannii | timeline score: 24 | |
| Aug 10, 2023 at 20:24 | history | edited | CarrottStaff | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added link to left nav post
|
| Aug 10, 2023 at 20:23 | history | edited | shainanigansStaff | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Fix typo
|
| Aug 10, 2023 at 9:48 | answer | added | Stephan Kolassa | timeline score: 15 | |
| Aug 10, 2023 at 3:07 | answer | added | starball | timeline score: 3 | |
| Aug 10, 2023 at 1:45 | comment | added | Drew Reese | @curiousdannii I can see the pictures and I still don't see or understand what is different about this "vision". It looks like what already exists now. 🤷🏻♂️ What is the point? | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 22:51 | answer | added | QHarr | timeline score: 6 | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 22:18 | answer | added | kaya3 | timeline score: -1 | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 22:12 | history | rollback | Journeyman GeekMod |
Rollback to Revision 6
|
|
| Aug 9, 2023 at 21:56 | answer | added | Journeyman GeekMod | timeline score: 17 | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 21:44 | comment | added | curiousdannii | This post communicates almost nothing to anyone who can't see the pictures. Please explain in detail what category of changes you are talking about. | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 21:34 | history | edited | curiousdannii | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 41 characters in body
|
| Aug 9, 2023 at 20:00 | answer | added | Someone | timeline score: 11 | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 19:55 | history | edited | PhilippeStaffMod | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
linking to user cards post
|
| Aug 9, 2023 at 18:17 | comment | added | Kevin B | I mean, i'm all for changes that are improvements, but lets not let new designs be the only thing we get when there's so many other things on the public network that need work. | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 17:09 | answer | added | TankorSmash | timeline score: 10 | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 16:08 | answer | added | StephenG - Help Ukraine | timeline score: 38 | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 10:31 | history | edited | Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 9 characters in body
|
| Aug 9, 2023 at 10:28 | answer | added | Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog | timeline score: 19 | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 9:22 | answer | added | iBug says Reinstate Monica | timeline score: 43 | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 9:11 | comment | added | NoDataDumpNoContribution | If only the content management team would have as many visions as the design team... Not meant in a bad way, I like the vision, especially the boxes with the score in the question list view, just wishing there would be more of that focusing more on content creation and curation. | |
| Aug 9, 2023 at 2:41 | comment | added | Rebecca J. Stones | Thanks for posting these insights. I look forward to hearing about sites other than Stack Overflow too. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 21:16 | answer | added | Chindraba | timeline score: 12 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 20:52 | answer | added | markalex | timeline score: 12 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 19:56 | answer | added | Mark Setchell | timeline score: 29 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 19:46 | answer | added | Laurel | timeline score: 40 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 19:27 | comment | added | Shadow Wizard | @V2Blast guess it all boils down to the general mistrust, or more accurate lack of trust, between myself and SE as a company. And it's one of those cases where I'll be happy to be wrong. But even so, yes, I would like to have wall of text where I can see what I might otherwise miss from comparing screenshots to what we have today. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 19:04 | comment | added | Mad Scientist | It's a bit unfortunate that this post is probably receiving a much more chilled response due to confusion about the actual scope of the changes. This is the kind of preview I'd hesitate to show my boss simply because I fear he'd focus on some specific points that aren't actually part of the scope, and I spend half the meeting explaining that. If you don't have all the context, it's very easy to misunderstand these screenshots. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:59 | history | edited | V2BlastStaff | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added relevant link
|
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:58 | comment | added | Andy | When working on the top bar, please be aware of some of the pitfalls encountered last time it was changed. Big example is how it impacted reviews. Another important one may be feedback the last one received. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:53 | comment | added | JonH | @V2Blast - To me that precision really does not matter, it actually looks funny. But what do I know, maybe 233,200,245 questions and 3 seconds later 233,200,248 is important for someone in this world. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:51 | comment | added | V2Blast Staff | @JonH: That precise number is already shown in the current UI; it's only the placement of that info that has changed in the mockup. (It's an understandable question, though I think having the exact number is useful to some folks.) | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:47 | comment | added | JonH | @Piper - One thing I find odd is that the precise number of questions is shown for instance, in one of the visions it says something like 233,200,245 questions, like why not just say 233M questions, does it matter that its 233 million 200 thousand 245 questions? Or something that says "Over 230M Questions". | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:39 | answer | added | Resistance Is Futile | timeline score: 76 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:37 | answer | added | CDR | timeline score: 7 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:36 | comment | added | Bryan Krause | @JNat I think the conflict is coming from not understanding which aspects of these screenshots are useful information, and which are not useful/distracting. To me, a "vision" means "what we want the site to look like", so if that includes changes that are not intended, why are they there? Perhaps they are there to demonstrate something else important but more subtle, like a specific color scheme or change in spacing. But, so far, it seems like all the most obvious differences from the current site are not intended to demonstrate changes that are part of the vision, so which parts are? | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:27 | answer | added | CDR | timeline score: 7 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:26 | history | edited | V2BlastStaff | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
clarified title
|
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:22 | answer | added | Andy | timeline score: 22 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:07 | comment | added | JNat StaffMod | I also think it's uncharitable to say that we're not describing the changes deliberately because it makes it harder for you to contest them, when we're coming to you without decisions having been made, and mention that you can expect more posts to discuss more specific changes... :\ 2/2 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 18:07 | comment | added | JNat StaffMod | No one said the screenshots' contents are random, @ShadowTheGPTWizard — just that they don't represent any actual, set in stone, changes. They illustrate a high level vision of how a unified design for the sites might look like in the future. That being the case, I don't think it's particularly relevant to have a wall of text saying stuff like "the inbox has a blue dot, instead of a red one" because... that might not be the final product. 1/2 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:54 | comment | added | V2Blast Staff | The purpose of this post (and the images in it) is basically to say, "Here's the overall look we're going for." The subsequent posts (mentioned above) will share more details about proposed changes to individual elements in the left sidebar and other parts of the UI, rather than trying to discuss them all here. (We'll edit in links to those posts once they go up.) So if y'all see an element missing from this mockup, or the wrong UI element being used in this mockup, be patient – it's only a mockup. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:53 | answer | added | Random Person | timeline score: 2 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:48 | comment | added | Random Person | We now have sort for bountied answers in a question page? | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:47 | comment | added | V2Blast Staff | @AndreasdetestsAIhype Regarding the question about MSE/MSO: I believe the design vision (and many of the specific proposed design changes, which will be discussed in detail in the upcoming posts) are intended to apply network-wide – though certain UI elements may apply only to SO or only to the tech sites because they relate to features that are only present on those sites – so this is being shared on MSE since it relates to the network as a whole. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:36 | comment | added | Shadow Wizard | @idmean I disagree. The screenshots with the changes are not random. Someone made them, and know exactly what changed. I don't like it this way and want to know those changes. I understand SE motivation against it, would be easier to resist the changes this way, but still, want to try and ask for it even though it's futile. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:33 | comment | added | idmean | @ShadowTheGPTWizard As you like reading, did you read "Nothing else is set. It is simply meant to portray a visual identity described by the team as simple, modern, efficient, and scalable." There is no list of planned changes. (Also, it's very hard to communicate a high level visual design vision as text...) | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:30 | comment | added | Shadow Wizard | While one picture is worth 1000 words, I'm old school, and love to read instead of staring at a picture trying to figure out the differences. Can you please provide a list of the planned changes? | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:05 | comment | added | Ismael Miguel | Those bright green rectangles, on the first screenshot, just take my entire attention. I see nothing else but those, with everything else being ignored automatically. Don't know if this happens with others or not. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 17:01 | answer | added | Journeyman GeekMod | timeline score: 26 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:58 | comment | added | tripleee | What will these things look like on mobile? The three-column layout is problematic but if it can adapt to be a single column on mobile, it can continue to work on smaller displays. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:57 | answer | added | Bryan Krause | timeline score: 157 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:48 | answer | added | Makoto | timeline score: 119 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:42 | answer | added | ColleenV | timeline score: 40 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:38 | comment | added | user7610 | Does not look all that different from what's there now. I imagine I would not really notice any differences if it was deployed tomorrow. I might get to feel that different vibe, but I would not be able to point out specific changes from memory. Probably because I don't use SO much, I mostly read the questions and answers I get to from search engine. And I write to the markdown textareas from time to time. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:27 | answer | added | ChatGPT Stan | timeline score: -3 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:24 | answer | added | Mithical | timeline score: 92 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:22 | comment | added | Nathan Tuggy | @Jamiec: At first I agreed with you, but then I thought about it some more from the perspective of a line-of-business software engineer. While pleasure working with a system I'm maintaining is not the highest priority, or even the second-highest, it does make it easier to put a little extra time, focus, and inspiration into it, rather than having to consciously avoid focusing on what I dislike. How much more for a visual designer, whose aesthetic taste is more clearly necessary to produce good artistic work? (Not that SE needs to be fine art. But it should look good and flow smoothly.) | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:15 | answer | added | Kevin B | timeline score: 11 | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:15 | comment | added | Andreas condemns Israel | Also, why are you only showing screenshots of the questions and Q/A pages? These pages don't actually need any design changes; they mostly work just fine. There are however other pages that are in deep need of refreshments and enhancements. Review pages, for instance. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:14 | comment | added | ChatGPT Stan | I'm sorry, but I don't understand what the vision is. Do the images represent the design vision? Apparently, you are critiquing it. What kind of answers are you expecting from us? Is this an announcement and no answers are expected? | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:11 | comment | added | Andreas condemns Israel | And, do you really have to push the blog articles even more onto the Q/A readers/contributors? The blog articles are not relevant to us. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 16:05 | comment | added | Jamiec | "The aging design has become frustrating for me, for our designers, and for our audience." - only one of these really matter, in my humble opinion. | |
| Aug 8, 2023 at 15:42 | history | edited | PhilippeStaffMod |
edited tags
|
|
| Aug 8, 2023 at 15:41 | history | asked | PiperStaff | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
