It seems like no one can defy the change towards "flat-design" in modern software. Don't get me wrong, I like it for the most part.
But who actually designed the new SourceTree UI, stepped back, took a deep breath and thought "Yeah that looks good"?
The UI had lots of changes in the past and most of them made it worse in terms of usability and readability, which is a pitty. The lack of contrast and outlines makes it a total mess for me.
Hi everyone,
I'd like to start by acknowledging that we should have done better in communicating our intentions and how we are resolving concerns around this very passionate topic.
As noted previously in thread, the substantial UX redesign was first introduced nearly two years ago for both platforms with additional changes as necessary. One of the goals was and is the fidelity of Sourcetree between platforms as well as with the rest of the Atlassian family. And in an effort to tackle the very common complaint of interface bloat, we also removed several buttons from the toolbar and other areas that were either redundant or infrequently used.
Since this admittedly rocky start we've listened to your feedback and made some changes:
One of the most contentious aspects was the removal of the treeview (sidebar) from Sourcetree for Windows. Jens, our Head of Product, recently posted an official response in SRCTREEWIN-7176 to help move us all forward.
Thank you for your patience and feedback around the pain points you’ve experienced with the UX changes. We do strive to improve the experience overall for the wide variety of users in our community but don't want to strip away everything you've come to know and love. We have work to do internally to better communicate and listen and I hope you can help us by staying positive and encouraging!
Brian GanningerProduct Manager, Sourcetree
Totally with you. SourceTree has been on a downward path for quite some time now. The latest update completely kills readability, and where's the GitFlow button?
SourceTree was a great product. I hope it gets better again, (not counting on it though)
+1 Daniel, good point well made. I've gone from thinking that sourcetree is the best git tool, to barely understanding it, whats wrong with colour. Luckily I had the previous version I downloaded a week or so ago so have rolled back. Maybe an option for old/new view wouldn't go amiss Atlassian?
Agree. I don't like it either. Plus, the changes have introduced some regressions:
- Submodule repo tabs are automatically closed when you activate ST
- Can no longer reorder repo tabs (right-hand side)
Having some color back would be nice – and what's with the new modification icons?? Yuck.
FWIW, if you want to go back, you can download it here: http://downloads.atlassian.com/software/sourcetree/SourceTree_2.1.dmg (taken from: https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/290155 )
The new user interface looks like a wireframe and not a final product.
The icons are terrible.
The tabs are extremely bad looking.
I really would like the option to have the old theme. Maybe you could let the user choose the old theme or this new flat theme.
How can we install an older Windows build? The above is a Mac build.
I'm finding all kinds of problems with the new version (e.g., doesn't show all pending changes – yikes!).
The distinction between a modified file and an untraced file is not massively obvious anymore
Could have at lease kept the yellow background on the modified icon.
Agree, the new UI is a step back
@Jeff Pek - Based on this...
https://jira.atlassian.com/projects/SRCTREEWIN?selectedItem=com.atlassian.jira.jira-projects-plugin%3Arelease-page&status=all
The Windows version you probably want is...
https://downloads.atlassian.com/software/sourcetree/windows/SourceTreeSetup_1.6.25.exe
No idea how long it will be supported with the recent switch to Atlassian logons, but it might see you through this time of UI upheaval.
Also agree
Flat design, no contrast - feels like gooing back to the good old green/black terminals with ASCII-Graphics
As @Rasmus Mikkelsen said:
Having all the icons (modified, untraced, ....) in the same colour makes the GUI "unreadable"
Having different line spacings in Bookmarks, Filelist und Log makes the GUI look like crap
+1 Daniel - Totally agree! The new UI is pretty fugly. And please, bring back the GitFlow button on the toolbar!
I'm going to try installing an earlier version (windows) or failing that look for a new UI or may even go back to the command line!
Any good alternatives out there?
Seems I'm the only one who likes it. I admin "There is beauty in simplicty". It's not tiresome anymore, it's more airy and colors are very pleasant. Good job Atlassian and don't look at those reactionaries.
I totally agree, if this is a precurser to adding themes so we can change the look and feel then ok I can accept that
This is the latest downloadable version of windows with the old theme https://downloads.atlassian.com/software/sourcetree/windows/SourceTreeSetup_1.7.0.32509.exe
Yes, I have an old version downloaded but always keep my software up to date unless there are lots of bugs in the latest version. Just disappointed that there is no option for my own theme
@Honza Honza If you read my initial post you will see that I do agree that there might be beauty in simplicity, but only if it is done well - which considering the responses here is not entirely the case.
For example: As many pointed out the distinction of modification (added / removed / modified) was clear and understandable, using language independent symbols (+ / - / ...) that where even color-coded. How the change to the new design here is "not tiresome" to you is beyond me and I would like to hear why you think that way.
And calling out criticism as reactionary here is bold, when you have a divergent opinion on a topic.
Personally I have strongly disliked flat UIs ever since this "flat trend" started, but this one takes the price. This is the not only one of the ugliest I've seen but it also completely worthless from a usability point-of-view. I'm sorry for the harsh words but this is bad.
If you lack things to improve in the SourceTree client please add support for using different diff-tools for different file types instead. That would be useful.
i just "upgraded" to Sourcetree 1.8.0 build 36401 and the UI is now horrible. Is there a way back to how it was ?
The new UI is terrible. Also please bring back the GitFlow button.
I couldn't care less about the flat design, as long as it is functional I'm not complaining but where is my GitFlow button! The button absolutely needs to come back!
UI now looks like Windows 3.x
The diff window where you can stage / discard hunks / lines is just horrible, if you have some long lines (yes some people do that) buttons are hidden and u need to scroll to right to see them, and the functionality barely works, were giving errors that I could not revert some simple changes, which can't even be reproduced now, you can no longer select with SHIFT key, trying to copy the lines and paste them manually resulting in that the copied text is somehow backwards.
The new version is terrible. The new design gives a bad readibility. And I have tons of crash when I use it... I'm going back on the previous one !
Really dislike this update.
It also has more bugs.
No GitFlow button on the main UI (have to go into menu).
Keeps crashing when doing simple things like Create Pull Request.
Bad move.
UI experience is always somewhat "subjective", but it's not only this new UI. It's about all these bugs.
All your shiny new versions introduced regressions! Every x months you come up with a "new UI", meaning to push out a version with bugs!
Think about:
To not provide an archive with at least the last version to download is NOT user friendly. Your quick response time is no excuse for that!
AND:
I agree with that cat!
Quote from Melek Rebai:
+1
The new version is ridiculously hard to read, and quite frankly looks like an intern project. I'll be looking for an install to go back to the previous theme.
I had to uninstall the Windows 1.8 version within an hour because it kept switching to the File Status view when I wanted Log History. If I switched back to the Log History within seconds it had flipped to File Status again. Completely useless when you're actually trying to read what's happening in any other tab than File Status. Never seen that behaviour before and it was incredibly annoying.
And yes, the flat UI is a step back, but even worse was changing the file status icons. As others have noted the previous versions were clear. The new letters seem to go against all design instincts, forcing users to hover to figure out what they mean - don't make me think!
+1 to @Daniel Krämer about the readability of the modification icons.
As per another lost color-code, +1 to @Rasmus Mikkelsen:
No color, why only use variants of gray and blue, its really hard to find anything at a glance
Just my two cents, I second @Joshua Wilke's request:
Im glad Im not the only one that thinks this new design is useless. Everything merges into one box of text with no colour or contrast to split it up. Why take git flow button away!?!? I found it in teh menu but it errors when I try and create a new feature. Useless, I actually though it was broken when I opened it.
Was there no user testing done on this product at all?
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