Our new look!
Comments
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@brian_cronometer, I think moving forward and not rolling back ia a totally reasonable approach. I recognize that things couldn't have stayed they way they were and change is an important part of a products ability to stay relevant.
However, there are a couple of big issues that nobody is addressing:
1. It seems like the feedback that was provided before the launch of the redesign was mostly ignored. This all could have been avoided by acting on that feedback.
2. As a result of this, usability has been greatly decreased for the way existing users consume your application.It seems like efforts are underway to fix the simple things like font sizes, colors and format. However, nobody has shared anything about the core usability issues that have been introduced and which of those will be addressed.
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They've ignored their use base from day 1, so why would we think it's different now?
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First of all dear cronometer team, thanks for the work you put in developing cronometer. I love your app for the data you provide and have been a user for a long time.
Sadly I have to agree that this upgrade is rather a downgrade and places looks over functionality.But while most of this thread is about the desktop version I've got issues with the app/mobile version (system: motorola moto z3, android version 9) too:
-probably a bug: when you drag an item before it would scroll smoothly up/down while moving it to the top/bottom. now it won't anymore.
I have to almost drag the item out of the screen and even then scrolling is really slow. Before it worked fine and dynamically adjusted the scrolling speed. and since everything is bigger now moving an item from top to bottom takes quite some time-font size/items/padding way too big, as already has been said - too much scrolling!
i've got multiple different items (sometimes 15-20 per meal, tracking supplements too) so even before the screen size was barely enough for me to have a compact overview and wished for the option to have a smaller font size option.. now I scroll 3 times to see all items..
suggestion: add zoom/font size option for users.-text spacing (? - meaning spaces between letters of a word) as well too big - "wednesday - default macronutrient targets" doesn't even fit fully on the screen anymore, looks awkward, and long items names get cut off too soon in the diary
(-not acute, personal preference: while the new design looks nice and clean I actually liked the old look more - it was unique. now it looks like every other generic app. suggestion: add old design to theme options.)
while I'm already at it, another thing that bugs me since a long time (mobile+desktop version):
it annoys the hell out of me that when I paste a copied item it always appears at the bottom even when i click on an item and then press paste - expecting it to appear there. when you have many items it is extremely annoying to drag it to the right place (chronological order is important in my diary) - especially on mobile which I'm mainly using! I'm using copy paste often so this is definitely a problem especially with the moving bug I mentioned above.Please, while you work on fixing the issues mentioned here make it possible for users to switch back temporarily to the old interface, because in this form the app is really hard to use right now.
Wish I got more kind words too say - sorry. Otherwise it is a great app - keep up the good work. @brian_cronometer - Happy to hear you are actually listening to the community and not ignoring our issues. Thank you.
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Ok "Keep the feedback coming."
- Darker fonts
- More contrast between custom foods and database foods (like it was)
- Ability to see nutrient content of individual items in recipe so you can adjust on the fly.
- Bring back the calendar
- Right click print of diary is now wonky (I now have to do a report to properly print a diary for one day)
- I would love to print a recipe that just has the directions and ingredients and not all the nutritional info.
- The colors were not that important to me (keto vs not) but good visibility and contrast are
- Although I can weigh my ingredients in a recipe in oz, everything comes out in grams and then I have to either reset my scale or do some math to figure out a serving. It would be nice to have more control over units (as well as for the nutrition label) though this is nothing new.
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I would like to clarify my comment on recipe weights.
I like to make recipes that I can cook and freeze. I also like to weigh them after making them and it would be nice to be able to enter the weight of the completed recipe and then enter into the program the weight of what I ate. I can workaround it but it sure would be nice.
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@jocoyn in the recipe editor under the 'Advanced Info' section you can enter in the cooked weight of the recipe to override using the default sum of ingredient weights. I think that's what you're after for that one?
Aaron Davidson
CEO, cronometer.com
https://forums.cronometer.com/discussion/27/governing-terms-and-disclaimer -
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I agree that the new look is much less space efficient. Zooming text size did help some.
My biggest complaint about the new look is the add food/add ingredient dialog. The more generous space around everything causes the OK button to fall "below the fold" on a 1080p screen (bad for those who prefer to navigate with a mouse) and the measurement units drop down can no longer be changed by typing (bad for those who prefer to navigate with a keyboard). As this in the most frequently used element of the site, it reflects very poorly on the design team that they did not do a better job here.
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@ Aaron. Concerning the weights. Ok. So it does mean having to use grams from all I can tell. I don't see a preference that allows cooked recipe weights in ounces. I can do the math but.....But that does help .
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@jocoyn : that's a good point about g vs ounce. I've set my scales to g mostly because the database always has weight in g. Some foods have both g and ounce, but not all. It would be nice if they added this basic unit conversion in so that all foods could use ounce or g.
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A dark theme would have been very welcome. I haven't actually looked at the new design - these very forums turned me on to Dark Reader as people commented on requests for a dark theme to Cronometer. At least you guys listened enough that the App got a dark theme (I hope that the updated app still has it.)
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I can say that unlike many here, I think the move of the menu to the side was actually a positive change. It does take too much space by default, but a click to the hamburger menu icon and it minimizes to icons. Minimized, it is an actual improvement to me. I especially appreciate that it allows more navigation in a single click (no longer need to first click Foods, then click the section I want; I can jump directly to the appropriate section in one click even if it wasn't the section I last used under Foods).
By my count, this is the first positive comment about the new design from a customer in this thread.
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I've been using desktop Chronometer Gold for about one year and have enjoyed using it. I've used the new version these last two days and I wholeheartedly concur with the feedback that so many users have presented here. I use a desktop PC with a 27" monitor and I agree that:
1: FAR TOO MUCH scrolling is required with the new interface compared to the former version;
2: There is way too much white space. I've had to lower the brightness setting on my monitor;
3: Fonts are often too large and take up too much space. There is too much space between lines of text;
4: The Add Food to Diary popup window has far fewer lines displayed. Some popup windows are not completely displayed and require scrolling to reposition them;
5: I much prefer having an entire calendar month displayed all the time next to the daily diary. It greatly facilitated finding and copying food items from past days to the current one;
6: Some font colors need more contrast against the white background. For example, clicking on the Diary Add Food/All choice lists most foods with a black font and custom foods in a light font color that is hard to distinguish from the lines in black font color.;
7: Adding a search tool to enable a user to search the diary for specific food entries would be a great addition;
8: Would be great to allow desktop users to choose between the former and new user interface. -
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Hello,
I appreciate that Cronometer's team is here and says they're attentive to our concerns, here's my biggest one today : the spoiled space everywhere AND the fact that it doesn't change. It's the origin for most of the biggest issues (endless scrolling, too few data displayed together, calendar hidden by default...)
Do you guys have scheduled to seriously work on this ?
Thanks for your answer,
Mag
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I like the dark theme on mobile, I haven’t been too inhibited by the new design personally. Everyone is averse to change at first, even if it’s not necessarily a bad change.
I don’t like though how when I tap and hold to sort entries, there is what I think was intended to be a slight haptic “buzz” to indicate you’ve started moving something, but it’s not like other apps where it’s brief and subtle. Rather, it’s the same “buzz” vibration that my iphone gives when getting a notification. I was confused actually, and stoped logging to check like three times before I realized it was cronometer doing it! I am thinking this was probably not intentional and meant to be the more subtle “buzz” but either way I hope it can be changed as I move entries around quite frequently without a second thought, and it’s a bit disruptive.
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Can't say i'm totally enjoying the UX of the new desktop UI thus far.
- The scaling and perhaps also the padding is all wrong resulting in more scrolling. Zooming out to 80% helps somewhat but then the Add Food To Diary dialog box as at a different scale requiring a zoom out of 75% to match.
- Came across another UX issue whereby if i have items highlighted in the Diary then to unselect all quickly i used to use the calendar and simply choose todays date. That still works but having the calendar linked behind the date label requires an extra mouse click to open the calendar. Of course i can always shift and deselect all the items again but none of the solution are ideal and one is even a step backwards.
- The dashboard offers very little use. A panel to your blog. A panel advertising Cronometer Gold. And two panels showing the mini graphs that were better served on the Diary page in the previous UI. Maybe you have more plans for the dashboard but it's a wasted page. In addition in settings i can opt in/out of four panels on the dashboard so it's not really that customizable either when it could be telling me stats or a list of the last 20 items added for quick adding of entries or something.
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I did find two things this morning. I believe one is a bug.
I can access calendar by clicking on date. I can live with that.
But there seems to be a bug which did not go away once I cleared my cache and rebooted the computer. When I go to add food the drop-down window is one item deep. This is on the desktop and seems to vary based on the section (I have several)
Yes, you can very tediously scroll one item at a time but normally I am used to seeing 18 items in the scroll window
EDIT this could be because I have more than three distinct sections and only the first three now give me the full drop-down choice
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Hi, just a quick note that the white on white without being able to change it makes the new web UI difficult to use. So far I think the rest of the changes are nice.
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Another desktop user here. Sad to say, I agree with what has been posted here. I liked the fact that I could see everything I needed to see on one page, and that is no longer the case. I don't like having to scroll to get all the info, I don't like the sidebar. While the reason I use mostly my desktop is that I'm just not comfortable working on a space as small as the screen of my phone, the new Crono is just HUGE on a desktop, lots of wasted space.
As others have said, it's not just resistance to change. I get that things change and it takes getting used to. However, I am not seeing an improvement in functionality here. Unfortunate. I really, REALLY love Crono otherwise, much much better than anything I've used in the past.
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Here's a quick example: The text I'm typing into the bar is white, on a white background. I cannot see what I'm typing unless I highlight it.
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I've been using Cronometer since January 18, 2018...so close to six years now. Obviously, I'm pretty proficient in the use of the program by now and it takes me very little time to enter my data every day. I think that I would have been more accepting of this upgrade if the changes you made had been less drastic. To me, this feels like a completely different program...one I am really struggling to use (things that took one step, now require at least two...which adds up). I've got so much invested in the program--hundreds of recipes, for example--that I probably won't make a move; however, I asked before, and I'm asking again. Wouldn't it be possible for you to make this upgrade optional (I would even be willing to pay for access to the previous version for a desktop)? I've never asked for any upgrades and would be happy if you never touched the older version again. Please give this your serious consideration. Thanks.
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@data_obsessed I am glad to read that you actually got the mobile app to scroll AT ALL when you are dragging an added food to a different location. So far, I can't get it to scroll. I have to drag the newly added food from the bottom to the top of the screen, not the whole diary page, then repeat two or three times, to get the food to the top of the diary page.
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So far, I can't get it to scroll.
Scroll is working for me on mobile although it is slow. That is on Android, it could be different on iOS.
In general, I would say the mobile app is working fine for me. It is the desktop experience I find so appalling.
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You asked us to be patient and promised us you were working hard and were listening to us and that there were already lots of updates & blablabla
There has been no improvement vs our main issues
Same amount of extra scrolling, same amount of extra clicks, same absolute loss of data shown on screen.
You say people have been complaining about too much data on screen ? HOW MANY PEOPLE ? WHEN ? I think you're lying to us. I think you're taking the 2-3 (dumb) customers who may have asked for something as dumb as this in the past 10 years to manipulate us in believing we're just a very few unhappy people vs a totally good change many of your customers have asked you
I think you're trying to put us to sleep hoping that with time we will get used to it
We won't.
We'll just leave. I will. I can't use that.
THIS is a nightmare. Sincerely. It's an absolute pain to use. It's far worse than "I don't take any pleasure to use it anymore". IT'S AN ABSOLUTE PAIN. PLEASE LISTEN TO US. I'm under the impression you just want the time to do its job cause we're like children who just won't accept change. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. THIS IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT TOOL NOW. IT'S NOT USABLE AS IT IS.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, LISTEN.
This looks like a phone screen, this is not, this is a PC screen. That's INSANE.
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I agree with @MagpieBavarde
There was some communication early on and some very minor changes and then communication and changes have stopped.
It really feels like you are just waiting for us all to go away.
This isn't a "change is bad" situation. This is about the fact that the application is now a far less convenient tool on a desktop.
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hi guys, regarding the app:
you can just re-install the previous version of cronometer. in this thread I post all the steps how I did it.
(small mistake: please note that the link I provide is truncated. I cannot correct that post anymore. then in the next post I provide the correction: the full correct link.)all this is for Android. if somebody could post something for other platforms that would be much appreciated.
Let's send a message of peace to the embattled:
@Aaron and his team has received huge criticism for their new release. in fact, they got 100% refusals. I haven't seen a single positive comment. let's help them! they are in emotional distress. if we reinstall old versions, this is a positive way of saying that we love their app, which is the fruit of hard work of the last decade. I hope they will find peace of mind to reconsider their failed redesign and take a wise decision to revert and start listening to us, the users. we all had wrong decisions in our lives, at least I definitely had! and if one has invested much then it is emotionally difficult to concede the losses.
-> peace and love and revert to what was good. -
@Hiilary The macro colors seem to be restored to the previous colors, at least on the main diary page and everywhere else I have looked. Thank you so very much for following up on this.
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As a CronometerPro user I'm quite disappointed with this "upgrade". Too many clicks to find things that used to be all on one screen. Also can't see clients dashboard.
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@CMacKirnan Nope, the colors are not restored.
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I noticed now if I bring up the web page new, it has all the white on white issues, but if I just refresh the page after that the background turns brown, which is pretty ugly but at least the page is useable.
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@CMacKirnan the colors are not changed for me. In fact, I haven't noticed any changes to the desktop experience since the first set that came a day or two after the change.
