Urgh - Bromcom UI changes

[timbo343]

Is it me or have Bromcom decided to move completely from a working UI to a clunky UI? The colourful UI used to make so much sense and now the "blue and white" UI just feels, well.. awful to use.

 

The names in registers don't fit in the table correctly either and it has nothing to do with the screen resolution. Zooming out of the page makes no difference.

[noelmm]

Our staff really dislike the new interface, so much so they are still using the old version for as long as they can. We have some staff saying using the new version they cannot see the same details as on the old version, students timetables not present etc.

[timbo343]

Thank god there is someone else out there that doesn't like it.. makes me feel a bit better.

[Ditto]

Software providers need to be really careful with UI changes - badly done it can lose a lot of good will. When I used progresso, it went through a UI change. Advanced Learning decided to take a phased approach, which became irritating because you ended up with two different look and feels. Before the project was finished, they decided to go for an even newer layout, so potentially end up with three styles! The last changes I saw were actually positive, because it focussed on freeing up 'real estate' to improve the usability, not just the look. They formed a customer group to help provide input at development stage which was a smart move. Not sure how it is now, hopefully improved and complete. Any company that just updates there UI to have a 'modern look', is likely to get their fingers burnt. Progresso users would much preferred they fixed poor performance issues that showed up in the UI (because of back end issues), than making it look more modern.

[DrBeaker]

We had similar with SIMs last year changing icons that have been the same as long as I've been using it.

 

Including changing the SIMS icon from blue to white apparently due to wanting to be a gender-neutral icon.

[psydii]

But the SIMS icon change didn't alter the available functionality inherent in the UI design.

 

Meanwhile I've got our reception team in tears because they are having to manually copy-paste some data out of SIMS because the UI is the only place it is exposed. (Attendances mark comments)

[DrBeaker]

But the SIMS icon change didn't alter the available functionality inherent in the UI design.

 

Meanwhile I've got our reception team in tears because they are having to manually copy-paste some data out of SIMS because the UI is the only place it is exposed. (Attendances mark comments)

Exactly.

 

This is when we're at the mercy of cloud-based systems and GUI changes.

 

For better or worse but it will be IT getting the blame for stuff that's our of our control [emoji26]

[supportman]

Having never used the old interface I am absolutely fine. Seems like a sensible layout to me

[noelmm]

Since the new interface we have been seeing real speed issues when loading pages. While the old interface was slow sometimes the new version just hangs with the nice, new progress bar displayed and never actually loads anything. Teachers are now so frustrated with a simple task of taking a register they are using paper registers. While I'm all for changing the system to improve it, there never seems to be any thought put into the experience of the end user, or at least that's my impression but I could be wrong.

[Bromcom_Hus]

Since the new interface we have been seeing real speed issues when loading pages. While the old interface was slow sometimes the new version just hangs with the nice, new progress bar displayed and never actually loads anything. Teachers are now so frustrated with a simple task of taking a register they are using paper registers. While I'm all for changing the system to improve it, there never seems to be any thought put into the experience of the end user, or at least that's my impression but I could be wrong.

 

Hi Noel, Have you raised a support case with some examples? If so, please PM me the case reference number, and I will get that checked-out. New pages should be as responsive as before, if not better.

[supportman]

Since the new interface we have been seeing real speed issues when loading pages. While the old interface was slow sometimes the new version just hangs with the nice, new progress bar displayed and never actually loads anything. Teachers are now so frustrated with a simple task of taking a register they are using paper registers. While I'm all for changing the system to improve it, there never seems to be any thought put into the experience of the end user, or at least that's my impression but I could be wrong.

Try using the latest Edge or Chrome, we found the old Edge had issues.

 

Everything is perfect since we upgraded to the new chrome based edge for all teachers.

Edited September 11, 2020 by supportman

[noelmm]

Hi Noel, Have you raised a support case with some examples? If so, please PM me the case reference number, and I will get that checked-out. New pages should be as responsive as before, if not better.

 

PM Sent

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

We use the latest Chrome which is better than Edge but still slow.

[paulkerton]

I much prefer the new UI, personally. Much cleaner.

[Dave_G]

Since the new interface we have been seeing real speed issues when loading pages. While the old interface was slow sometimes the new version just hangs with the nice, new progress bar displayed and never actually loads anything. Teachers are now so frustrated with a simple task of taking a register they are using paper registers. While I'm all for changing the system to improve it, there never seems to be any thought put into the experience of the end user, or at least that's my impression but I could be wrong.

 

..and having to wait whilst it loads the entire list before you're able to do a search (then having to wait for said search to complete).

[Dave_G]

Having never used the old interface I am absolutely fine. Seems like a sensible layout to me

 

It's really not.

 

'Modules > Setup' has 'System Users' and 'Third Party Access Permissions and Logs', but 'Roles and Permissions' are under 'Config > Setup'.

 

Why aren't they together? (I don't even care where!)

[Bromcom_Hus]

It's really not.

 

'Modules > Setup' has 'System Users' and 'Third Party Access Permissions and Logs', but 'Roles and Permissions' are under 'Config > Setup'.

 

Why aren't they together? (I don't even care where!)

 

Hi Dave,

 

"Config" section is designed to hold menu items that they are not used every day by the users, so day to day used functionalities are not cluttered unnecessarily within huge menu system. We also advise to use GLOBAL SEARCH at the top which returns you all the features, reports and many other data items that you may want to access without worrying where it sits in the menu system.

[supportman]

Hi Dave,

 

"Config" section is designed to hold menu items that they are not used every day by the users, so day to day used functionalities are not cluttered unnecessarily within huge menu system. We also advise to use GLOBAL SEARCH at the top which returns you all the features, reports and many other data items that you may want to access without worrying where it sits in the menu system.

 

I love the idea of that... but I don't think it really works in its current form.

 

I too was confused why there appeared to be 2 configuration sections. Both "Setup" and "Config" sounds very similar. Maybe some better wording might help. I'm not really sure what though!

[Bromcom_Hus]

I love the idea of that... but I don't think it really works in its current form.

 

I too was confused why there appeared to be 2 configuration sections. Both "Setup" and "Config" sounds very similar. Maybe some better wording might help. I'm not really sure what though!

 

Thanks for the feedback. We appreciate these feedbacks, as it only help us to improve. I will pass this to our UI/UX Team.

[RootsSchImp]

I agree with @timbo343 and @noelmm - sure, the old UI wasn't winning any webdesign prizes but if you clicked on the main menu and selected, say, Exams, you got on one page everything the system did relating to exams - it was so easy to learn. Now it's not only that things are hidden in menus and submenus - there's no consistency across the system either.

 

It's like 5 different websites got drunk and f&*£3d each other and you're the chambermaid finding them in a heap on the hotel floor.

[Bromcom_Hus]

I agree with @timbo343 and @noelmm - sure, the old UI wasn't winning any webdesign prizes but if you clicked on the main menu and selected, say, Exams, you got on one page everything the system did relating to exams - it was so easy to learn. Now it's not only that things are hidden in menus and submenus - there's no consistency across the system either.

 

It's like 5 different websites got drunk and f&*£3d each other and you're the chambermaid finding them in a heap on the hotel floor.

 

Thanks for the feedback RootsSchImp. That's still possible; when you access any page in a module, all related other functions within that module in the system shows on the left hand side of the page. This also reduces extra click to go to module home page to go to different function. All functions in a module is accessible with single click. Addition to that, global search can be used with single click to search anything in the system.

 

However, I will still pass your feedback to the team. Thanks