Please keep in mind, when reading this, I do love odrive and am passionate about its success.
These criticisms are meant to be constructive and may seem harsh / candid but I figure I might as well share them… I’m also a developer, UI/UX designer, etc. so don’t hate me too much!
What is the justification for cramming EVERY feature / setting into a menu?
Now, I’m a technical person… but most people won’t understand the purpose, or need for these types of settings. In fact, I’d venture to say it would freak most people out the thought of a need for these being menu items. These types of settings I’ve seen in bittorrent clients but none in syncing / cloud service clients generally, and if they are - they are tucked in another screen somewhere.
I love odrive, the concept at least, and I want it to be taken seriously by the masses because it really solves a critical problem with today’s storage and I’m willing to pay for premium if some of these other things get figured out…
I’m questioning the design decisions on the choice of this interface. It’s not very Mac-esque to cram every setting in a menu. I’d much rather have a UI that offers these things tucked away in a preferences screen with a traditional tabbed setup. or even just a screen in general that has to be first clicked. They’re “set and forget” settings, not something to be toggled and un-toggled by regular users every few minutes or even daily. Some nice common-defaults work wonders for user experience and for power users, let them dig for the settings.
I’d definitely rather have more focus given to the actual status of syncing in the menu than the settings for sure, you do an okay job at showing the progress of files syncing… at least when it’s working right…
For instance…
(only letting me put 2 images and 2 links in my post since I’m a new forum user… so if you’re really curious… you’re going to have to piece them together…)
https://odrive-discourse-backup.s3.amazonaws.com/original/2X/b/bb536d8de8fee6c36e52a23a7a6bf3bb526281f1.jpg
This shows a seemingly dynamicly named menu item called “Ready to sync new changes”… I get what you’re saying here… but most users will not. Changes to what? Yes, I know and we all mostly know… “our files, doy…” but this just isn’t needed. Simply saying “Status” could work. Or even a native looking progress bar visualizing the status. But saying it’s “ready to sync new changes” as if the software is generally not ready? or should otherwise be considered not ready, had this menu item not been placed?
People coming to odrive are specifically looking for odrive, as of right now… totally get it… but when the power-users share or invite others… the less techy folk… what they find is important to your monetization strategy succeeding…
Anyway…
To a developer, the below screenshot of information is very valuable:
https://odrive-discourse-backup.s3.amazonaws.com/original/2X/b/bb536d8de8fee6c36e52a23a7a6bf3bb526281f1.jpg
To a user, it just looks sloppy and doesn’t benefit them at all… what does Send diagnostics even mean to an end-user…? I do understand that odrive’s market at this point is probably more for power-users but still… to break out of the power-user market and into the mainstream you’re going to have to lose the excess garbage that makes developers happy…
Usage guide? announcements?..
The terms “usage guide” is a vernacular mostly found in development documentation, API’s, and other things… “Help” is a much more universal word for common-users.
Trash bin area…
https://odrive-discourse-backup.s3.amazonaws.com/original/2X/0/04b781907abead0f0b7b9b22333be6a0dc389365.jpg
- Empty trash and sync all deletes?
My interpretations / initial thought: “Okay… empty trash!.. and… sync all deletes?”
First off, there is a trash bin? Cool! but I don’t remember deleting these things…
WAIT, I DELETED THIS?
Some of these files may have been moved files, and saying they are in the trash been is a little unnerving to anyone honestly. It’s a nice feature, but maybe doesn’t need so much spotlight.
Also, you’re creating these folders for your users…
https://odrive-discourse-backup.s3.amazonaws.com/original/2X/3/387c056333f996152a20f48bd70262a74c7b19a8.png
Why not just add one called “Recently deleted or removed…” I dunno, but putting it into the main menu is just unwieldy and can’t ever show you the entire picture… so it doesn’t belong there.
Sorry just feeling incredibly opinionated today for some reason…
Don’t take it personal!
Seriously love you guys…
- Josh