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Forum Discussion
1Password 8 - Non-native feel
Like many Mac users, I was greatly disappointed to read that 1Password is moving to Electron. I firmly believe that Electron is a bad framework for app development, and the 1Password 8 beta does not change this opinion. I’ve compiled a list of issues, as I see them. Some are endemic to Electron, while others are simply stylistic choices by the dev team. I will try to omit complaints that are purely personal preference, such as specific color usage.
- The lack of rubberband/elastic scrolling is jarring and unpleasant.
- There isn’t enough visual feedback that the window is out of focus. In particular, the “New Item” toolbar button should fade to a lighter blue when unfocused.
- Many interactions in the app do not have the animations they should, including list expansions, menu displays, checkbox toggling, and modal dialogue appear/disappear.
- Unnecessary reliance on modal dialogues is antithetical to native Mac app development. In particular, the “Preferences” and “About” windows should be … well, windows, not modal dialogues.
- It is unusual for a Mac app to have the “About” page be part of the preferences dialogue.
- When unfocused, 1PW 8 lacks hover states. In order to copy a field when the app is unfocused, you have to click into the window, then click the field again. 1PW 7 only requires a single click and properly displays hover state when unfocused.
- 1PW 8 no longer shows the number of items in a tag/category.
- There is seemingly no longer an easy way to mark or unmark an item as a favorite.
- The account name at the top of the sidebar has a disclosure triangle in the down position, indicating that clicking it will collapse the sidebar entries for that account. Instead, clicking it brings up a popover menu with various actions. (I don’t know whether this behavior is different when you have more than one account. My point is that this behavior is unusual for this type of UI element.)
- The app uses almost 2x the memory footprint of 1PW 7 and 10x(!) the idle CPU usage.
- The app is noticeably slower. Scrolling a long list introduces a delay in displaying icons that is not present in 1PW 7. Additionally, there is flicker and occasional slow loading when changing filters, vaults, and tags. (1PW 7 also has flicker at times, notably when changing login items. It’s far more prominent in 8, however.)
- There’s too much list padding. With windows of identical dimensions, 1PW 7 shows me 10.5 items; 1PW 8 shows me only 7.5.
Are these things ultimately minor? Yeah. Complaining about a preferences window becoming a modal dialogue is about as first-world a problem as you can get. At the same time, I’m paying money for this, and now it feels like I’m going to spend money on a downgrade.
1Password 8 is probably the most native-feeling and best Electron app I’ve used, but that’s like saying the McDonald’s by Disneyland is the best McDonald’s I’ve eaten at. I’ve been a 1Password user for years (I started with 1Password 3) and always held the app up as the only app I unreservedly considered worth a subscription. Now it’s pretty likely I’ll move to something else.
1Password Version: 80200056
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 11.5.1
The simple answer there?
Electron apps near universally suck. An app being electron based is a near certain indicator it will be poor to use and suck up system resources.
While 1P8 is a much better electron implementation than most, you’re still replacing a first class native app with one that doesn’t fit macOS’s UI design.
That’s why there’s such a backlash. If you’d never had a really good native app at all, people would care a lot less.
@Lars What other considerations are you referring to that trump the end user experience? This thread is talking about a downgrade of the user experience. Please keep in mind that your end users don't care if this change saves you a few cents. What other considerations should we be so focused on, please enlighten us.
A bad user experience is hard to overcome when you're dealing with a commodity product.
@stanfield - what other considerations should you be focused on? None, of course; each person's preferences regarding what is most important in an application will be different. That's why there are plenty of choices out there. We encourage everyone to find the solution that fits their desires best. We hope that will be 1Password, obviously, but we also recognize no one solution will be everyone's preference. :) :+1:
@stanfield I'm a 1Password User on Windows and Android and personally I'm really happy with the Switch to Electron.
There are some things I don't Like but it's still EarlyAccess.Just some quick points where AB has valued User Voice (in my Opinion).
- Psst Sharing
- Dark Mode for Windows
- Better Document Handling
- Better Implementation for Security Questions
- Vault Collections
- More Storage in the 1P Family Plan
- Fastmail Integration / Masked E-Mail
- Faster Rollout vor Features across all Platforms
You are free to choose a Product which suits you better. For me that Product is called 1Password.
@Lars
There is wisdom in the old adage …
“You dance with the one who brung you.”
Unfortunately, it appears that AgileBits is determined to “Trade in the loyal wife of 15+ years for a younger woman.” Even when your original Mac users who put you on the map are more than willing to overlook your “side chicks” as long as you continue to “take care of home” as always.
I'm not sure why, but I read the entire thread this morning. I am not a developer nor a deep technologist, but I am a personal Mac user and have used 1Password personally since almost the very beginning. I am also CIO for a mid-size (c. 1,200 people) company, where windows is our primary user platform (80%) with a more or less equal distribution of 10% for Macs and Linux clients.
We are also half-way through an evaluation project at acquire a new enterprise password manager platform, not only for a number of specific business use-cases but also to provide the tool to each and every user in the company to reinforce user behaviour when it comes to Information Security. We have come across some client and user experiences which (even if the enterprise back-end was strong) I would not inflict upon my worst enemies. 1Password remains the highest-rated for UX (and not just because of the cross-platform - we would always need to give priority to Windows).
I understand the feedback in this thread from a large number of dedicated Mac users, regarding the feel of real integration both from a functional as well as a UX perspective. But I have not personally reacted this way (I didn't even notice the "X" to close preferences was on the top right until I read this thread). Now that people have mentioned performance, I can see that the refresh of an item's icon is visibly not instant (like 0.25 second), but I don't feel it myself.
I choose applications based on their functionality, performance, and user experience. This means I need to have Word, Office, and Excel on my Mac, along with OneDrive and OneNote. I use many apps in the web browser, where my day is bombarded with different design-related user experiences (good and bad). And the reason I love the Mac platform in my personal life is the amazing hardware and its native integration with the OS. Not because I want every app to follow every design rule in the MacOS playbook.
Finally, what prompted me to write, was the other aspects of the 1Password proposition and service. Users here have talked about moving away from 1Password (and I get that, especially if you manage everything in your own environment without a subscription); but when it comes to Information Security, trust and transparency (although it took a while for 1Password as company to become transparent), it is hard to find another service provider. Nothing of this has been mentioned in this thread (although I realise the focus is on being a native Mac App).
@fletchni - thanks for the perspective, it's much appreciated. And yes, this thread isn't specifically about what you discussed, but your points about being a Mac user yet not really noticing many of the issues brought up in this (and other) thread(s), are well-taken.
I use many apps in the web browser, where my day is bombarded with different design-related user experiences (good and bad). And the reason I love the Mac platform in my personal life is the amazing hardware and its native integration with the OS. Not because I want every app to follow every design rule in the MacOS playbook.
Exactly. Since each person's assessment applies only to their own user requirements and preferences, it's not wrong to make "mac-like design" one's primary or even sole criterion for how one chooses what apps and services to use. It's not even wrong to switch to another solution. But it's worth remembering that 1Password 8 for Mac is still in Early Access. Many of our Mac-based users may not even know it exists yet because they don't frequent Mac-focused subreddits or tech blogs/forums, etc. They want a product that works for them. Currently, 1Password 7 is that product because it is still our production version.
Will 1Password 8 for Mac be a change? Sure, in some ways, -- and for some users more than others, depending on how they currently use 1Password. But when we introduced 1Password 7 for Mac as the successor to version 6, it was a significant change to many user's workflow, too. We added new features, refined others, and moved some things around (much of it in response to user feedback, in fact! ;) ). And some people right here on this forum didn't like the changes, enough to leave impassioned feedback or even talk of downgrading to version 6. Same thing when we switched from 1Password 5 for Mac to 6, and so on, back into even earlier versions. Each time, we listened to feedback, incorporated some of it into later revisions, and kept working to make 1Password the best password manager available. We'll do the same this time as well, keeping in mind that the result won't be everyone's choice.
