[2283] My thoughts on "updated" GUI

RejZoR · 2017-01-20T20:36:39.000Z

We have Behavior Shield, awesome, I love it, but I’m sad to report the interface has hardly been improved. If it’s planned to be released in such state, I’d rather see it postponed for a month and at least done properly. Otherwise it’ll be yet another totally not memorable release of avast!. AVG, apart from silly Zen was released in rather pleasantly designed interface which feels fast, consistent and just really pretty looking. avast! on the other hand, your very own flagship product feels like absolute mess. Sorry, but it just does. Nothing is consistent, layout is not thought out at all (saying it’s just not thought out “well” would be an understatement).

checkboxes and dropdown menus (when dropped down or “open”) in installers are still white
Virus Chest access is still not in the main left side panel which is ridiculous
Amoeba is not enabled by default (it really should be because it’s so cute!)
Whole GUI takes whole 3 seconds to open every single time on a top of the line system with super fast Samsung 850 Pro SSD, I find this totally unacceptable.
On-access and On-Demand scan settings are still crammed into one page which is just awful
Behavior Shield is not even listed under Protection’s panel because there is no space to even do so because both scan types are crammed into single panel
The “Pi” icon for statistics is microscopic. Some of us also use Windows touch devices…
On-Demand scans are still horrible gigantic rectangular white buttons
Main settings are still horrible white panels
Main settings font looks weird on my gaming 1080p monitor because it has this awful sub-pixel anti-aliasing applied to it
Inconsistent flip switches. Protection panel uses round switches, main settings use rectangular ones
Browser security extension refuses to install to my Firefox 50.1 for some reason
Activating Free version doesn’t instantly refresh the “Activate” button. You have to re-open GUI to refresh the state
Closing browser in Bank Mode still just closes entire Bank Mode without asking you at all (but does if you click OFF button). Very undesired behavior if done by mistake.

Only thing that actually improved:

Main GUI panels that open from the sidebar aren’t white anymore and they nicely overflow from the side button in the same purple color. This is the only visible improvement. Seriously?

I know I make quick GUI mockups in Paint.NET, but surely, a professional who’s used to make graphical designs all the time could do more in all this time since last beta and after all the discussion about the GUI changes. avast! 5, 9 and 10 had the best interface designs. Stylish, well laid out, this here just isn’t. On any level. I’m very disappointed if I’m quite honest

system · 2017-01-20T21:40:41.000Z

+1
Please check the youtube video RejZor did about the interface.

Vlk · 2017-01-20T21:56:44.000Z

Oh come on guys… While I do agree with some of the comments (e.g. regarding the layout of the navigation, the loading speed, or the size of the window), some of the other things are ridiculous. We are planning to be making quite some changes to the UI but it hasn’t been a priority for this release, and are obviously taking inputs and feedback from various sides – and, believe it or not, not everyone would agree with you on many of these items, RejZoR. BTW the Settings UI hasn’t really been changed for years, besides minor refinements such as colors and fonts; so yes I agree it’s not great but it also isn’t any worse than what’s there in the current version.

One of the very cool things about this new product is that most of the UI layer (the skin) can actually be changed on the fly. I.e. it doesn’t even require a product update for us to do refinements.

BTW looking forward to putting the Behavior Shield under test, it works pretty well.

Thanks
Vlk

Alikhan · 2017-01-20T22:00:05.000Z

Vlk post:3:

BTW the Settings UI hasn’t really been changed for years, besides minor refinements such as colors and fonts; so yes I agree it’s not great but it also isn’t any worse than what’s there in the current version.

I think it’s the font and font size which doesn’t make it look good… I’m pretty sure it’s changed from stable build. See Screenshot.

RejZoR · 2017-01-20T22:56:21.000Z

Vlk post:3:

Oh come on guys… While I do agree with some of the comments (e.g. regarding the layout of the navigation, the loading speed, or the size of the window), some of the other things are ridiculous. We are planning to be making quite some changes to the UI but it hasn’t been a priority for this release, and are obviously taking inputs and feedback from various sides – and, believe it or not, not everyone would agree with you on many of these items, RejZoR. BTW the Settings UI hasn’t really been changed for years, besides minor refinements such as colors and fonts; so yes I agree it’s not great but it also isn’t any worse than what’s there in the current version.

One of the very cool things about this new product is that most of the UI layer (the skin) can actually be changed on the fly. I.e. it doesn’t even require a product update for us to do refinements.

BTW looking forward to putting the Behavior Shield under test, it works pretty well.

Thanks
Vlk

Well, that’s your problem right there. It’s NEVER a priority. It always feels like someone made it just because it had to be done for the sake of being there as bare minimum and it never gives impression someone sat down and made it well. And if you don’t bring a nice package on release day, changing it days later just won’t matter at all. When people try it out while all the hype is going on, they need to be hit in the face with the WOW effect. If they see what you have now, they’ll just roll with their eyes and try something else. Sure, people expect protection from AV’s in the first place. But GUI comes in with strong 2nd place. Always. It’s what you can physically see at any time unlike detection. Current GUI of avast! 17 just won’t convince anyone. Unless you’re really into purple color. And just the color.

Vlk · 2017-01-20T23:24:48.000Z

It probably does miss the WOW effect but not any more and not any less than the other counter-examples presented here. It seems to me that the argue is mainly over minor issues, and that’s what bothers me. Despite what you may think, creating a kick-ass GUI WAS a priority for this version. If you think we’ve failed on delivering that, point taken but minor tweaks like the list below won’t move the needle… To do what’s needed, I think we will need to go back to the drawing board.

Thanks
Vlk

DavidR · 2017-01-21T00:05:51.000Z

@ RejZoR
I haven’t partaken in this round of beta testing.

First, having seen the initial UI images of the early avast beta, I just don’t like Purple, I feel it is too hard to get good colours to go with it and it looked a bit of a mess.

Second I felt I would be deserting avast to beta test the AVG version. But if you were to get rid of the Zen hassle, I quite like the AVG UI more so when comparing it to the avast UI images I have seen.

You are right about the WOW factor, as they say you only get one chance to make a first impression. So like you I feel by the time a beta comes out the UI design, font and colour scheme, etc. etc. would be almost the finished article and not work in progress after the beta and final versions have been released.

RejZoR · 2017-01-21T00:19:02.000Z

Vlk post:6:

It probably does miss the WOW effect but not any more and not any less than the other counter-examples presented here. It seems to me that the argue is mainly over minor issues, and that’s what bothers me. Despite what you may think, creating a kick-ass GUI WAS a priority for this version. If you think we’ve failed on delivering that, point taken but minor tweaks like the list below won’t move the needle… To do what’s needed, I think we will need to go back to the drawing board.

Thanks
Vlk

Vlk post:6:

It probably does miss the WOW effect but not any more and not any less than the other counter-examples presented here. It seems to me that the argue is mainly over minor issues, and that’s what bothers me. Despite what you may think, creating a kick-ass GUI WAS a priority for this version. If you think we’ve failed on delivering that, point taken but minor tweaks like the list below won’t move the needle… To do what’s needed, I think we will need to go back to the drawing board.

Thanks
Vlk

Minor issue is when one or two thing(s) is/are misplaced or doesn’t feel right. There are hundreds of small things that are out of place and when you have hundreds of small things that are out of place, everything feels out of place. It doesn’t look good and it doesn’t feel good.

There is no need to go back to a drawing board, but you didn’t even try improving it based on suggestions we gave you for what you already have now. You could turn a really bad interface into a pretty good one by basically just re-arranging existing things a bit. And yet you haven’t done any of that. I don’t know what else to do or say at this point. Ultimately it’s “your” product and “your” company, I’m just a nobody who likes to whine about things because I think it would benefit you.

It really sucks when I’m posting complaints with best intentions and I can’t shake off the feeling I’m really badly insulting someone or hurting someone’s feelings…

Asyn · 2017-01-21T07:16:59.000Z

The biggest problem with the (main) GUI is still the loading speed (esp. on low end systems) and that it uses more resources than all other Avast processes together…!!

system · 2017-01-21T08:45:15.000Z

It’s sad to see how Avast is put aside against AVG. Avast is still in Beta and we are soon in February 2017. Bye

Evjls · 2017-01-21T10:22:08.000Z

Vlk post:3:

Oh come on guys… While I do agree with some of the comments (e.g. regarding the layout of the navigation, the loading speed, or the size of the window), some of the other things are ridiculous. We are planning to be making quite some changes to the UI but it hasn’t been a priority for this release, and are obviously taking inputs and feedback from various sides – and, believe it or not, not everyone would agree with you on many of these items, RejZoR. BTW the Settings UI hasn’t really been changed for years, besides minor refinements such as colors and fonts; so yes I agree it’s not great but it also isn’t any worse than what’s there in the current version.

One of the very cool things about this new product is that most of the UI layer (the skin) can actually be changed on the fly. I.e. it doesn’t even require a product update for us to do refinements.

BTW looking forward to putting the Behavior Shield under test, it works pretty well.

Thanks
Vlk

I just made a video review for AVG’s software analyzer. Is it still applicable to Avast beta?

A.User · 2017-01-21T11:41:20.000Z

For me protection matters the most, but the previous Avast interface will be better until you do some other touches selected from the proposed ones. Just make sure the bugs (which are not as low as needed for a stable release) are fixed before release and then when you have the basis you can further improve the interface. But take a look at the proposals of every user. Also CyberCapture needs to do more capturing to be happy. ;D

Patrick2 · 2017-01-21T15:49:47.000Z

As a Long Time Avast Free User on various systems, started using Avast back in 4.7 days when It was shaped like a media player for a GUi way back then, Seen a lot of improvements over the years in Terms of GUI aspect, while that is not my main focus in terms of continuing to use Avast for Protection, main focus is how it does on protection, system performance impact (which is very low compared to other Antivirus products)

Sure on my lower end system its a little slow loading, but I blame the lower end system specs for that aspect, Anyhow Avast GUI changes I do like in this beta build (nice darker color, fits in better with my dark Windows 10 Theme, can’t wait to see how it performs on my main system in the future, opted not to run the beta on the main system as kept it on my test lower end Intel Atom Nettop Desktop. Of course I could change my mind and go ahead and try it after another system image backup prior to doing that.

Overall keep up the good work…

TrueIndian · 2017-01-21T16:43:50.000Z

Vlk post:3:

BTW looking forward to putting the Behavior Shield under test, it works pretty well.

Thanks
Vlk

I have tested it in avg and it seems a really good.

I want to know how does dyna-gen blend in with the IDP?? Or they are completely different things??I mean avast! has a sandbox/deepscreen and this IDP,how do they blend in?

keloo05 · 2017-01-22T00:57:04.000Z

RejZoR post:1:

… avast! 5, 9 and 10 had the best interface designs. Stylish, well laid out, this here just isn’t. On any level …

I totally agree with you ! I agree with everything you said about the current GUI, and I have the same perception about how the GUI should look and feel, and about the fact that they (Avast team) don’t want to listen what users have to say. I feel a stubbornness in the air, and I don’t understand why they are like that. I’ve been using Avast since 2004, but now I feel they are a different company, not the same team who used to interact with users in these boards and care for their wishes.

VLK, why don’t you make a poll to see what users think about which version of Avast since 5.0 had the best GUI?

In my opinion, Avast 5, 6 and 7 shared the same GUI, but it improved every year, with 7 being the best of all (very organised and good looking). 8 was a bad change (tiles and horizontal menus). 9 and 10 combined the good layout of 7 with the tiles of 8, but they were also ok. 11 & 12, bad again.

I don’t understand how AVG’s GUI can be so better (except the ZEN thing), and Avast’s GUI (current and beta) can be so bad. If Avast 17 final remais like it is in the latest beta, and if you remove the ZEN thing from AVG, I will move to it.

system · 2017-01-22T03:41:40.000Z

i also agree that up till this point v5 had my favorite gui. i dont however on how terrible this one is, is it GREAT? no i dont think its amazing. i do think its very much decent though. i do not think its nearly as terrible as some do. i agree with the purple im still on the fence with the purple and orange mix. personally i HATE crazy flashy gui’s. i would much prefer a more simple and basic gui that gets right to the point. another thing i disagree on is i actually like the settings where it it now at the bottom.

system · 2017-01-22T06:20:30.000Z

As for the GUI, the rule is one, imo: KIS(S)

Avast User Interface History From v4.8 to 2016
http://www.getavast.net/news/avast-user-interface-history-from-v4-8-to-2016

DavidR · 2017-01-22T10:13:40.000Z

avon post:17:

As for the GUI, the rule is one, imo: KIS(S)

Avast User Interface History From v4.8 to 2016
http://www.getavast.net/news/avast-user-interface-history-from-v4-8-to-2016

Nice collection of the old avastUI screens, brought back many memories, most pleasant, some not so.

A.User · 2017-01-22T11:15:11.000Z

My favs are Avast 7 and Avast 2014. 8) But this one has a potential. I guess that they will not make it the best for release, but after they fix the bugs and get it working alright in the say first month they will start monthly releases and the GUI will become better. Hopefully.

schmidthouse · 2017-01-22T17:43:10.000Z

Love the Link!
Yah, the Ghetto Blaster GUI you could customize with different skins. (If my memory serves me)

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