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qbittorrent / qBittorrent

qBittorrent BitTorrent client
https://www.qbittorrent.org
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Refresh UI look and feel #11058

Closed GustavoOS closed 5 years ago

GustavoOS commented 5 years ago

qBittorrent has a outdated look and feel, as it seems too attached to QT components. Even the reference software (uTorrent) also has this 2000s look.

I imagined what a simple Torrent client should look like and made a quick sketch. I also think a dark theme version of qBittorrent is missing. Dark Theme.

As this is a quick sketch, it can (and should) be inhanced.

Pentaphon commented 5 years ago

That is absolutely disgusting. I'm glad you don't work on this project.

GustavoOS commented 5 years ago

Yea it has many points to improve, but it had UX (not so much design) in mind, leaving to the main screen only what the average user actually uses. I may leave you to the the proper design, but I didn't want to come here with nothing to show.

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From: Pentaphon notifications@github.com Sent: Monday, August 12, 2019 12:47:01 PM To: qbittorrent/qBittorrent qBittorrent@noreply.github.com Cc: Gustavo Souza gustavo.oliveira.souza@outlook.com; Author author@noreply.github.com Subject: Re: [qbittorrent/qBittorrent] Refresh UI look and feel (#11058)

That is absolutely disgusting. I'm glad you don't work on this project.

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adem4ik commented 5 years ago

I don't think qB needs that simple-flat-easy-for-kids look at all. It is specific software with tons of options and possibilities. Imo UI should be functional in the 1st place, and the current one seems so. Mb a bit polishing here and there like this https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/pull/10600, but it's fine as it is now.

Xeddius commented 5 years ago

I would NEVER use a UI like this. Perhaps if I was trying to teach it to my grandma, but hell, even my parents who are in their mid-40's can manage to use the default interface without issues. (and they didn't start using computers until 2015.)

In theory it's nice, but in practicality it's overly simplistic. Maybe if this were being used on a Smart phone, I could see it, but on a desktop, never in my life.

dfault-user commented 5 years ago

Why?

Piccirello commented 5 years ago

I think this is a neat idea. Most BitTorrent software exposes a ton of complexity, which is part of the reason why dead-simple software like Popcorn Time is so popular.

I do believe there's some niche that would be well served by the OP's interface, however I don't think qBittorrent is that place. Our users love the level of control and granularity that qBittorrent provides.

ghost commented 5 years ago

there are so many things wrong with this

tapper82 commented 5 years ago

The UI could could do with some a11y tho. https://github.com/qbittorrent/qBittorrent/issues/11031 Pleas fix it for us blind people.

nonamethanks commented 5 years ago

Yeah this is horrible to look at.

kattjevfel commented 5 years ago

This would be the death of qbittorrent.

deltanedas commented 5 years ago

please dont

namazso commented 5 years ago

qBittorrent is not a simple torrent client, it is supposed to be an useful one

For a simple one I recommend you look at PicoTorrent, although even that manages to have a more useful GUI than you made here

Strikegently commented 5 years ago

It sucks that you got flamed so hard, but don't take it personally; it is important that feedback be blunt in order to ensure standards are upheld (see Linus Torvalds' comments to maintainers of the Linux Kernel).

Your UI looks like a dark theme equivalent of the Internet Explorer download manager; I'm sure it looks fine for a "modern" application, but it's not okay for qBittorrent. People need to see a lot of information in a small amount of space. Your UI has very low information density, which ruins the user experience for a torrent application.

What qBittorrent has now is simple and functional. That's all it needs to be.

tapper82 commented 5 years ago

Can any one look at my issue about a11y pleas?

GustavoOS commented 5 years ago

I don't think qBittorrent should drop all its complex funcionalities, I stand for a layout improvement in order to offer a better experience for the user instead of programmers. This would be done via simplification of the main screen and the complexities you guys love would have it's own room. This is about having a simpler layout, not dropping functionality.

Regarding the complexities of the software, how do you know if your users love it or hate it? Is there any UX research at all?

Despite being a fast sketch (and a raw one), I would like to explain you some advantages of this approach:

  1. Clear status visualization for the users who download one torrent at a time.
  2. Prioritize important information on the main view. Most people who don't understand computer networks also don't understand IT jargon like "trackers" and "peers".
  3. Adding an image (or color) in order for the user to know what file he's looking at without needing to read the file name.
  4. Separating complexity to other views where they are expected. For me, a clear example of this is Google Chrome: when you open it, there are just a few options, but if you click in the right place, it's complexity pops up.
  5. Improve accessibility: A lot of information on the screen means a lot of text to describe for the blind users. More space means text can be easily enlarged so whoever that has reading problems can read better.

Another thing I had in mind but I didn't draw in the sketch was some kind of network real time status, so the user can see when the torrent is slow due to internet constraints or to torrent lack of popularity visually.

PS: The sketch I provided was actually inspired by Steam's download manager (which is dark themed), not Microsoft's IE; I don't think a light theme should be discarted. Steam also has this network status that I mentioned.

kattjevfel commented 5 years ago

  1. I don't think the majority of qBittorrent users is the kind that downloads only one torrent at a time, more like a few hundred at a time

  2. So you're saying we should incorrectly name things then? Please keep fuzzy words and the like to grandma-friendly software, and let us have informal and correct labels.

  3. Again, leave that for grandma-friendly software, though this sounds like something for toddlers, can people no longer read in the year of 2019?

  4. Hiding things behind a million layers is just annoying for people who know what they're doing. But I suppose there could be an "advanced" mode to turn on that brings it back, with only simple stuff being shown by default. Still, this would make qBittorrent look like a very basic (and non-functional) program.

  5. I can get this, but still, put that behind some "ez-mode" or whatever, don't dumb down the application, there are other programs for that.

GustavoOS commented 5 years ago
  1. I don't think the majority of qBittorrent users is the kind that downloads only one torrent at a time, more like a few hundred at a time.

This is speculation unless there's any kind of usage evaluation. In my opinion, users download few torrrents at a time (personally I never saw someone downloading 100 torrents at once), and keep uploading many at a time (some delete torrent right after download is complete).

  1. So you're saying we should incorrectly name things then? Please keep fuzzy words and the like to grandma-friendly software, and let us have informal and correct labels.

I didn't say that, rather than in the main screen this kind of info can be omitted (and shown, for example, in a detailed view).

  1. Again, leave that for grandma-friendly software, though this sounds like something for toddlers, can people no longer read in the year of 2019?

This functionality speeds the user interaction as human beings recognize images faster than text.

  1. Hiding things behind a million layers is just annoying for people who know what they're doing. But I suppose there could be an "advanced" mode to turn on that brings it back, with only simple stuff being shown by default. Still, this would make qBittorrent look like a very basic (and non-functional) program.

My sketch reflects how I would like to use qBittorrent and is incomplete by definition. Maybe one feature or another could remain in the main view so it is clean and functional for everybody (not just me)

  1. I can get this, but still, put that behind some "ez-mode" or whatever, don't dumb down the application, there are other programs for that.

I don't mean to dumb down the application, but I am suggesting a new layout focused on what's good for the user so that the user experience is improved. My sketch doesn't need to be the final look. The truth is that developers should have in mind that near half of every software feature is never used by it's users. This article explains why.

ano0 commented 5 years ago

wouldnt this be better as a new client that people who like simple things could then install

Piccirello commented 5 years ago

@GustavoOS I really do like your initial sketch. I think you've captured exactly the minimal info you'd need without any extra bloat. Maybe add dl speed, but i'm not sure about that.

It's worth noting that this is possible to build today using qbittorrent's web apis. You could enable the alternative web ui feature to have qbittorrent serve your version automatically. And it could go on the wiki with a list of available alternative web uis. But qbittorrent's built-in ui likely won't be undergoing a drastic overhaul any time soon.

Xeddius commented 5 years ago

I will say though, despite how I feel about the sketch, a dark mode would be a useful feature and is a good idea in my opinion. (And wouldn't be hard to implement.)

namazso commented 5 years ago

@Xeddius qBittorrent currently uses the system color scheme. If that is dark, qBittorrent will also be dark, see screenshot: image

Xeddius commented 5 years ago

@namazso is that on a Windows OS? or is it on a *nix system? It works fine on Linux, and is dark on my laptop. But my desktop is Windows based and despite having dark settings configured for the OS it is still eye-blindingly white by default.

namazso commented 5 years ago

@Xeddius Yes it is Windows 10. If you're referring to the "Dark" mode in Windows 10, it doesn't actually change the windows style used. What does on a modification-less windows is high contrast themes: image Alternatively you can use a theme patcher like mine and use custom unsigned styles.

Xeddius commented 5 years ago

I've had bad experiences with theme patchers in the past and I'd like to stay away from modifying any of my system files. High Contrast looks terrible and I'd really rather have the option on a per-program basis because in my experience not every program plays nicely with patched system dark themes in Windows (In fact at least 4 of the 10 programs I regularly used had issues with text, menus, etc.). When the program natively supports the option there's less to worry about and things usually work as they should. I appreciate the advice though.

namazso commented 5 years ago

@Xeddius mine doesn't patch any system files, but anyways don't wanna shill it in random issues. However the programs having issues with custom dark themes usually have issues with high contrast themes too, which is a builtin windows feature primarily for the visually impaired. Therefore I'd recommend filing a bug report for those programs, since this is an accessibility issue (after confirming it exists with high contrast too).

Xeddius commented 5 years ago

@namazso Can't file bug reports for software that is not open-source nor actively maintained anymore. I'll check your patcher out though, since it's not modifying system files it'll probably be fine. Thank you.