LinkedIn
Twitter
Hi everyone,
AppSheet’s desktop user interface is officially graduating to Generally Availability (GA).
Some of you have been following this project since its beginning a long while ago, but others among you may be newer to the community. So let me quickly remind everyone what this is about with two screenshots from an AppSheet app in a desktop web browser:
(more pictures in our Preview announcement a long time ago)
In short, we’ve made significant changes to the user experience for users on desktop browsers (compared to the legacy design, not necessarily compared to what most of you have been seeing in the past year):
- Sleek, Modern Look: When accessed on a desktop browser, your apps will show a design that better uses the available space and leverages desktop patterns – think side navigation menus, split layouts, and tabs for an easy navigation.
- More Information, Better Organized: You can now display more information while keeping everything in context.
- Snappier Interface: App interactions tend to be smoother and more responsive.
You can find more info in our documentation on specific changes.
Additionally, there are a number of major changes under the hood. We significantly changed our architecture and data handling and we also upgraded our tech stack, all to put you and ourselves on better footing for future development and to provide better maintenance.
So, what changes?
This launch means this new design is official and fully supported. As this project has been going on for a long while, some of you had expressed concerns whether the new design would make it to GA (“General Availability”) and could be removed from the platform. As a result, some of you were hesitant to use it but this announcement reaffirms our commitment to this new user interface for desktop users.
It also means the team will now support this as any other production feature. In terms of process, you can report bugs through our existing support channels.
What Do You Need to Do? Explore and Enable
While we are not making any changes to your existing apps, we encourage you to turn on the new design for your apps still using the legacy user interface. Take some time to explore the differences and test how users prefer the new design!
Many thanks to our community
This update has been a big long-running and collective effort. We’ve been previewing the new design with you and we wanted to thank you all for your support, your ideas, and the issues you reported.
I want in particular to mention a few names, in no particular order: @Marc_Dillon @Karimmc2 @Suvrutt_Gurjar @Koichi @KON_TROLL @SkrOYC @Axel_Pro @scott192 @Skip2MiLu @PocketDragon @Denzil_Snyman @checktheclaws @Rifad @kvngo94 @WillowMobileSys @dbaum @Aurelien @JPAlpano @hien_nguyen @gscriptTR @thematgallery @Izzat_Safrah @armstrob88 Many more contributed, so my apologies for not mentioning them/you here. These same AppSheet creators are also going to call us out and push us to keep on improving!
- Arthur, for the AppSheet team
FAQ
Q: What are the changes that this new design brings? Are there known issues or limitations?
A: See more info in our documentation on specific changes. On that page, you’ll also find a list tracking limitations and known issues.
Q: I’ve been using this (new) user interface design for quite a while. What really changes for me?
A: The majority of creators may not notice a significant difference. We’ve made a number of changes but aside from specific issues, many of them in the past 3-to-6 months were under-the-hood improvements. We’re very happy that you’ve been using the new design and hope you like it!
Q: I don’t see this new design in my apps. How do I get to use this new design?
A: All new apps are created with the new design enabled with a few exceptions:
- Copies from our gallery of app templates may still show the legacy user interface (depending on the app being copied) until we update them in the near future.
- Copies from an existing app will show the user interface design that was chosen in the existing app. If you copy an app showing the legacy user interface, then the copy will also show the legacy user interface until you turn on the desktop mode.
Q: I reported an issue related to this desktop design, but it did not get resolved.
A: We appreciate you taking the time to report any issues you've encountered. We tried to internally log and discuss all reported issues (and I’m not talking just about those reported through the community website).
However, there are instances where we were not able to reproduce an issue, others where fixing the issue would have required us to make changes to both the mobile and desktop user interfaces, and yet others where we decided to address the underlying problem differently or later.
We also received some (good) ideas of improvements or feature requests that we could not prioritize for this launch. Beyond this launch, we will continue to improve the experience for desktop users.
From now on, you can report any new issue (or issue that we did not respond to) through one of our support channels and we’ll take a look at it. Please check first the list of known issues and limitations in our documentation.
Q: Will you make the legacy user interface unavailable on desktop browsers?
A: There are currently no plans to turn the legacy user interface off. If that changes in the future, we’ll make an announcement. If that were to happen, the legacy user interface would then remain available for an extended period of time after such an announcement (think of the order of 12 months or more).
First of all, congratulations on the achievement of this milestone. I'm sure Desktop mode constitutes a welcome and useful option for many creators. I emphasize the word "option" because I would like to argue that there are, and will continue to be situations in which it is preferable to use an app in a way that mirrors the interface on a mobile device. For this reason, I am concerned by the use of the word "legacy." This word implies that the mode that reproduces the mobile device interface on a computer browser is a temporary vestige of a bygone age that is bound to be phased out eventually.
Here's what I currently see in my editor:
I imagine that the wording will need to change. Words like "preview" and "new" etc. will need to go. And I think it's fine for the default to be changed to "on," as it already has for me when I make new apps. But, I think it's very important that this continue to be an option, as it is now and not deprecated as a "legacy" mode. Here are a few reasons:
- For some very simple apps, the mobile-device mode is completely adequate and the desktop mode doesn't add any significant improvement. Rather, adjusting to the desktop interface after becoming used to the mobile interface merely complicates the user experience in such situations.
- Two slightly different interfaces can complicate user training. If one makes videos to show users how to do various things on their apps (as I do), the availability of two slightly different interfaces (modes) means that training videos need to be expanded to cover both types.
- Inability to turn off the desktop mode means that creators need to test and refine the UX in the two modes simultaneously. This may be worthwhile in many cases but I can imagine many other cases where keeping things simple and limiting one's design concerns to the mobile interface (mode) would be preferable.
In conclusion, my main request is that the "option" be maintained, like many other options in the interface. And, in addition, if indeed the option is to be maintained, I would also request that those of us who prefer to simply have the mobile design mirrored in a computer browser not be made to worry by references to a "legacy" mode.
