Option to Restore or Toggle the Old Cloudron UI Layout

[DEVBenSon]

I wanted to share some feedback on the recent Cloudron UI redesign.

I’ve been using Cloudron for years and was very comfortable with the previous layout. The new UI feels like a forced push toward a “modern” style darker colours and a long, left-hand menu with almost every option listed. which I personally find overwhelming and frustrating to navigate.

This change was very abrupt, with no transition period and no way to customise or ease into the new layout. There’s currently no option to:

• Adjust or simplify the menu layout
• Change how navigation is presented
• Stick with a legacy / classic UI layout

I’m not against Cloudron evolving, but forcing a major UI change with no fallback or customisation has significantly disrupted my workflow, and I’m sure it affects other long-time users as well.

Are there any plans to introduce UI customisation options or a way to switch back to a legacy-style layout in the future?

[humptydumpty]

With that said, we need more customization options, not time wasted maintaining a legacy UI.

[DEVBenSon]

@humptydumpty
I agree on customization, but the jump to the new dark left-side menu was a lot all at once. It felt rushed with no real way to ease into it, especially for users who were auto-updated. That’s what made it frustrating for me.

[humptydumpty]

@DEVBenSon I'm sorry but I fail to understand how it disrupted your workflow since most of the options/menu is visible without having to dig in sub-menus. The dark mode is tied to your system settings, but I'm sure you know that as a DEV, so please explain the issue like I'm 5 again (non- DEV here).

[humptydumpty]

Maybe you can get Dashy to work: https://forum.cloudron.io/topic/6409/dashy?_=1769015951148

[marcusquinn]

To be fair, the Notifications UX has regressed. Hoping the old way of navigating that comes back at some point.

I'm also always wanting for minimal clicks, and max keyboard navigation.

[robi]

@marcusquinn said in Option to Restore or Toggle the Old Cloudron UI Layout:

To be fair, the Notifications UX has regressed. Hoping the old way of navigating that comes back at some point.

I'm also always wanting for minimal clicks, and max keyboard navigation.

OMG yes, the keyboard nav has been a wishlist item for so long!

[girish]

@devbenson the old UI is gone for good. It was angular 1 based and this new one is rewritten in vuejs.

There was really no specific vision of making it "modern", we were simply rewriting to a newer framework and coding for small screen first, since angular 1 is unmaintained now. About the side bar: it seemed only natural to move all the options of a management panel to the left . Having all the server management options below the profile icon is not a natural place.

With that in mind, the issues you may be noticing might just be bugs. Feel free to open specific threads and we can discuss and act on them.

There is 9.0.17 being rolled out now which has a collapsible sidebar and quick actions for the listviews (so you don't have to click ... in many of the lists). Maybe that improves things?

Things like keyboard nav are coming.

[fbartels]

@marcusquinn said in Option to Restore or Toggle the Old Cloudron UI Layout:

the Notifications UX has regressed

Yes, once you dismiss them now, they are simply gone.

[scooke]

@fbartels holy cow, you're right!
I used this before to sort of keep track of which apps needed manual updates, or to press the Reboot button if I wasn't ready to do it at the moment of reading the Notification.

[robi]

@girish it's a deep psychological phenomenon where familiarity is disturbed with dislike and confusion when things are changed and the time invested in learning and optimization is disgarded for a complete new layout where so many things change from left to right or right to left that it does indeed become a productivity problem.

Unfortunately it's also often expressed in less than kind words which is a shocker to those already familiar with the new design.

Different stage of acceptance.