Adopt v7 look in v8?

mobidutch

I personally think the updated look in v8 of 1Password is a major step down from v7. The v8 UI does not feel native to macOS, it feels more like an attempt to adopt a 3rd party look that can be used across platforms. That does not help me at all as a macOS user. Is there any chance you guys can make that UI theme optional? For now, I am downgrading (or upgrading, I suppose) to v7.

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1Password Version: 8.7.0
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 12.4

Ben

Hi @mobidutch

I'm sorry to hear you aren't as thrilled with our new Knox design language as we are. While there may be room for small adjustments, we're not looking to make further major changes to the design for 1Password 8, but I'm sure we'll do another refresh at some point in the future. With the launch of 1Password 8, 1Password 7 is no longer supported and will only receive important security updates. Although you can continue to use 1Password 7, it’s best to use the latest version of 1Password that includes all the latest features and security updates, so you I wouldn't encourage you to downgrade to 1Password 7.

Ben

mobidutch

Hello Ben,

I appreciate the quick reply. For as long as v7 gets security updates, I’ll opt to postpone the move to v8. I am already plenty satisfied with v7 features.

Thank you,

Arjen

skatch

I'm with you @mobidutch. I'm a bit bummed by the cross-platform web feel of the new design language, even though it's clear a lot of work has gone into it. (If it weren't a native app, I'd rate it highly.)

Aesthetics aside, I have a functional gripe, which is that Knox is much more wasteful of screen space, even in compact mode:

• The default font size is bigger than the standard for Mac apps. (For example, compare the text size to Messages.app, Safari, Mail, etc.)
• There's a lot more padding around elements throughout the app compared to v7, which I felt struck a good balance between aesthetics, readability, & density.
• Some of the above can be mitigated by scaling with "zoom out", but this setting doesn't apply everywhere.
• Also, the browser extension takes the font size + padding to extremes and is completely non-adjustable, so very little info fits in the view and text is often truncated.

It feels like maybe the font size + spacing was designed around web/mobile-first standards, rather than native desktop app standards? I hope that the 1Password team considers some platform-specific tuning of Knox as it evolves in the future.

mobidutch

Thank you for confirming I am not alone in this. You have perfectly voiced the same issues I have with the Knox approach. While I understand that from a development perspective, it is useful to go with a cross platform approach, the decision has been detrimental to the end user experience, which includes look & feel. IMHO of course.

FredericC

A lot was made since the launch of the beta, it fell more polished… but the design is so poor compared to v7. V7 is a little outdated now for sure but when it came out it was spot on one of the best designed Apple App. Now it is at best a "well designed cross platform app" but far from any macos dedicated app. It makes me sad as I'm pretty sure it won't evolve anymore.

mlondon

+1 on the problems with the v8 UI/UX.

The color scheme in v8 is NOT conducive to clearly differentiating the sections/panes.
The UI is wasteful in its use of font sizes and padding around objects.

It looks and feels like some teenagers where let loose to "fix" a problem that didn't exist.
Very disappointed with this "downgrade" from v7.

PeterG_1P

Hi folks, thanks for your feedback here.

While as @ben noted we're not looking to do a major overhaul of the Knox design (and we acknowledge that visual aesthetics carry some element of subjectivity for everyone), there are a few things you can use to customize your experience: namely the compact mode and interface zoom options in Preferences > Appearance. I'd note that for some folks, dark mode can also provide the kind of visual contrast they find works best for them. The ability to resize the three major panes of the app and collapse the major elements of the sidebar can also provide you with improved screen real estate, depending on your needs.

We are still making some tweaks to the UI for the sake of readability, making sure that elements are able to be clearly differentiated, and so on. That's of course important and we want your experience to be an excellent one.

I would add that, if you look elsewhere on this forum, you'll find folks requesting that we do make the fonts bigger, space things out more, (and so on) for the sake of visual clarity and accessibility. I have a lot of sympathy for that viewpoint. We also want you to be able to set parameters that work for you and your device as well, hence the options mentioned here.

FredericC

I agree that even with the evolution since beta, the design still seems weird on MacOS. This is sad to ear that the design of the app will not evolve to stick to Apple global design.