An update on Skype for Mac
Over the last few days we’ve seen renewed interest in the design of Skype for Mac, and I’m going to give you some insight into our thinking and into our plans to address some of your concerns.
Some background: at Skype, we build products for users ranging from grandmothers in China to 15 year old students in Connecticut – and everyone else in between. We take a huge number of factors into consideration when designing software: from different usage patterns (video/voice/IM) to technical literacy; from age to cultural norms. All of these have an impact on everything from product and process design, user interface layout, iconography and more. And given this diversity of design decisions, some of them occasionally fail to please segments of our users. I’d like to reiterate our commitment to one segment in particular – those of you who’ve been vocal in your feedback on the most recent versions of Skype for Mac.
The shift in user experience from 2.8 to 5.X is a significant one, and we acknowledge that this was a lot to have delivered to existing users in a single update. Nevertheless, we believe that the 5.X platform offers significant advantages over the previous versions for the majority of our users, and this is borne out in the usage and opinion data we’re seeing from the Mac user base as a whole.
However, there’s still plenty of work for us to do and we know that not all of you prefer 5.X. To that end, we’ve taken a comprehensive look at the feedback from the last couple of months and identified two broad patterns. I’ve captured a distillation of some of the issues we have heard.
Some of you want to be able to multitask more within Skype
We’ve seen a number of comments from people who want to be able to make video calls and have IM conversations at the same time, or have multiple IM conversations visible at once – and many more permutations and combinations. If you’re in this group, you probably find the current 5.X interface less flexible than 2.8.
What are we doing about this? Two things. First, we’re making Skype 2.8 available for download from our website, and it’ll be available for the foreseeable future. Note that it doesn’t let you make (or participate in) group video calls, nor does it contain all of the performance improvements we’ve made in 5.X. But the last thing we want is to prevent you from using software you prefer.
Second, we’re planning to make some additional changes which will allow you to multitask more effectively within Skype, including a change to the UI which will allow you to continue an IM conversation with one person or group while participating in a video call with another, or when switching to another app.
It’s also worth pointing out the call monitor window, which has been in 5.X since the beginning, which shows you the status of the current call, allowing you to adjust volume, mute, and so on, no matter what you’re looking at. Additionally, the compact sidebar view should help you navigate quickly among a larger number of concurrent IM conversations.
Some of you want to be able to multitask more between Skype and other apps
This is how we interpret feedback about the overall ‘size’ of Skype. Many of you have commented about the size of the Skype window, and published screenshots of how you use Skype 2.8 in conjunction with other apps.
We introduced the contact monitor panel in 5.X, which gives you an easy way to see your contacts’ status while you’re doing other things. To display it, just press Command-3. You can choose whether you see all of your contacts, or just a certain group or groups.
On the other hand, we will be sticking with the metaphor of a primary, combined window which newer users and less frequent users find easier to learn. We plan to introduce overlay panels like the contact monitor to provide additional flexibility for those of you who need it.
The future of Skype on the Mac
Mac OS X continues to be a very important platform for us, and we’re very privileged to have such an active and vocal user community on the Mac platform. As Krishna said in his previous blog post, we’re moving to a much more rapid delivery cycle for our products, which should give us opportunities to iterate and improve on aspects of functionality and experience in a much shorter timeframe than we’ve been able to in the past. We’re committed to delivering regular improvements to the product – and those listed above are part of a direct response to your feedback. Please keep it coming.
I’m the only one in my company who doesn’t complain about skype interface. That’s because I downgraded back to 2.8!
Good luck with the next iteration though. I’m sure it’ll be great.
—— Quote ——
Some of you want to be able to multitask more between Skype and other apps
This is how we interpret feedback about the overall ‘size’ of Skype.
{-snip-}
We introduced the contact monitor panel in 5.X, which gives you an easy way to see your contacts’ status while you’re doing other things.
{-snip-}
we will be sticking with the metaphor of a primary, combined window which newer users and less frequent users find easier to learn. We plan to introduce overlay panels like the contact monitor to provide additional flexibility for those of you who need it.
—— /Quote ——
So, you don’t have any plans to actually make any changes for this particular concern? You’re just going to “stick with it”, and if we don’t like it we can keep using 2.8 forever? So … We have what you’ve already given us in 5.X (and which we unanimously hate) — but never fear, you’re going to give us more things like it? What?!
Beyond ‘overlay panels’ being a half-reasoned non-answer, the Contact Monitor Panel does NOT function as a buddy list. It has no right-click options for the contacts listed, it doesn’t allow you to show offline contacts. It’s nearly useless except as a floating “click here to open the UI everyone seems to hate” button.
Beyond that, what about the issue that this primary window makes AWEFUL assumptions as to what information is important to me, and finds absurdly redundant ways to eat up my screen showing it (over and over again)? It’s not just “make is smaller”, its “let me tell you, what I want to see and how”.
—— Quote ——
Some background: at Skype, we build products for users ranging from grandmothers in China to 15 year old students in Connecticut – and everyone else in between. We take a huge number of factors into consideration when designing software:
—— /Quote ——
And if a “show simple buddy list view” option didn’t come out of those considerations, then such considerations were not actually focused on or considering actual ‘business users’ and the UX THEY wanted/needed, so much as those consideration were simply evaluating the UX YOU wanted to create for them.
All of this would just go away if you’d only give us a “just show me a buddy list view” option. It doesn’t even have to be the default option. It can be buried in the preferences. But it has to be there.
——
erykroderyk commented:
The whole ICQ/old Skype/Adium/iChat/Jabber/Google chat paradigm—a tight floating contact list + floating (tabbed or separated at will) chat windows—did not ever need to be broken or improved. It was good, it was what Skype was about.
——
Exactly that. There’s a reason every presence/communication tool out there has a similar UI/UX. It works. It’s not fundamentally broken. It allows people to use the tool in the ways they want to use it. You can improve on this design, but throwing it out entirely just to be different is beyond needless … it’s a bad idea.
—— Quote ——
we will be sticking with the metaphor of a primary, combined window which newer users and less frequent users find easier to learn. We plan to introduce overlay panels like the contact monitor to provide additional flexibility for those of you who need it.
—— /Quote ——
Also, do you know how insulting it is as a “long standing” and “frequent” user to hear that those users who are “newer” users and users likely to use the application “less frequently” are driving the destruction of basic usability for “loyal” “power users”?
I think you may have the 80/20 rule backwards in your head a little bit.
/sigh
Oh thank god I’m able to revert back to the old one.
I’m completely capable of working myself around a computer. But the new interface isn’t at all intuitive. I opened an instant message conversation just to try it out, and now i can’t get back to my contact list. When the skype icon had that little red number icon on it, i opened skype and couldn’t even find out why the icon was red. I never had issues like these with the old interface.
Dear Skype-team,
I’m glad you focus on upgrading and making your program better, but this was wayy wayy too much for a user to handle. Like I said, the app needs to be intuitive, with the new interface it’s far from it
I would like to present a detailed discussion to the post by Mr Rick Osterloh, VP Product Management & Design, and Mr Krishna Panicker, Product Manager of Skype for Mac. This was inspired by the invitation for discussion from Mr Peter Parkes, Social Media Communications Manager.
I think that many people complaining here are missing what the Skype employees are saying. Beginner and simple-use users are their focus. The majority of people effected are power-users, or moderate-users. What I think the Skype employees are beginning to respond to, is that you can serve both the beginner and power-user markets. To really do it right, I think full-app skinning is necessary.
After extensively researching what everyone is asking for, here and on other forums, and some of my own input, I want to summarize what I think are the missing needs that skype 5 does not provide to power-users. I will post the needs on the next comment (they are long). Many of these missing needs are why I and other power-users are staying on 2.8 for the time being.
-Nick Yeates-
Open Source Community Manager
Zenoss Inc.
Here is my compilation of missing needs in skype 5 (mac), for power-users.
1) Concise and powerful UI and UX
1a) Less whitespace
1b) Modularity of UI Elements – many seperate windows, if wanted – off by default?
1c) Contact listing – customizable, see below
1d) Smaller icons
1e) screensharing a selected portion of desktop
2) Contact Listing
Everyone does this differently. Consider introducing a hidden or hard to find ability that can turn on options, or allow skin-like customizability here. Deliver current default method so beginners continue to succeed.
2a) Fully functional while multitasking with other apps
2b) Grouping – by user group, online status, etc
2c) Ordering – by latest message, by last/first name, etc
2d) Alignment – Separate window, attached to chat window, left, right, top, bottom alignment
2e) Drag and drop files; windows always on top, or not
2f) All in one user listing – not separate listings for different uses – This will need to allow easily changing any of the above options to enable various use-cases and call/chat states
3) Customizability / reskin-ability of entire UI
This would theoretically solve everyones issues. You could fully deliver the default product as it looks now (as the default skin), and then allow the community to enable all other UIs that users want. Multiple windows, drag and dropping of elements within windows – all possible. In order to serve the beginner crowd, the default skin would remain the same, and the skinning option may be hard to get at.
4) Multitasking with other apps
4a) Fully functional CONCISE contact listing that works well with multitask – not a secondary one with less features. See 2f, all in one.
4b) Calls and Video that have extensive view options when multitasking – always on top, or not, sizing options, etc
4c) Can see multiple chats or videos while also operating 3rd party apps – multiple windows (modular UI) solves this, see above.
5) Multitasking within Skype
5a) Chat with 5 seperate conversations and see all without navigation
5b) Video and chatting and history all at the same time
5c) Send a file while doing any number of other things
5d) Basically, do any number of tasks within skype, all at the same time
Please, can you give as back the option from 2.8 to share a “screen selection”?
PLEASE
Hi,
I have a lot of contacts in my Address Book and some of them have multiple numbers, sometimes even 7 or 8 numbers.
In 2.8 contacts where not “integrated”, they were just added to Skype as Address Book contacts, and all my numbers were there.
Now, in 5.X the contacts are “sort of integrated”, but most of the time I have issues with numbers, as Skype only pulls some of them from my Address Book. Also, a lot of times I have duplicates, as Skype usernames normally don’t match the real names.
I think the previous approach from 2.8 was better, although it needs to be enhanced. By the way, I don’t really see the point in introducing a “Cover flow” in contacts. Most of my contacts don’t have a picture, and if they do, it’s obviously not a high resolution one, so the end result is very bad and useless.
Please take not of all our complaints, but consider, although we all know it’s hard, enhancing the 2.8 version to match the functionality and look of Mac OS X Lion (you can find some inspiration in Facetime…), introducing video calls and forgetting about 5.X at all… it was clearly a failed attempt, a great mistake. I say this with all respect and consideration for your hard work, but I really believe the mac users deserve a Skype that has all the features 2.8 had, with the new Mac OS X look and functionality (full screen,…), also don’t forget screen selection sharing,…
I think it would be very much appreciated by all users, even the ones you blame take advantage of this “new…look”, like grandmothers in China. I have lived in China quite some time and I can tell you Chinese grandmothers prefer the features of 2.8 far more than the fancy/horrible look of the new UI.
Thank you for your response to our claims. But I think we deserve a real change, and not just a favorable interpretation of our hard criticism.
Best!
Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to read through the entire comments section, so here just my 2 cents to the post:
You keep mentioning the point “multitasking”. For me personally that is only a minor issue on the list of endless UI shortcomings. I just spent 3 minutes figuring out how I can delete a contact from my list – just to find that the ‘delete’ button on my keyboard is my only choice. This is a great example of how your UI and UX went from good to manageable to bad and confusing. It also took me ages to actually find my full contact list which didn’t show up until I realised that a click on “Contacts” in the left hand side panel requires a second filtering-action on the top between “Family”, “Skype” and “Adress Book”. More confusing it could not be.
You mention that you are trying to address a broader audience and user-base. Well, with the latest version, all you do is confuse the heck out of existing users and make it really hard to get started for new users. I can’t see one single UI improvement.
Focusing on better multitasking won’t make any difference at all. What you need to do is to hire a UI expert to completely rethink the new interface. The design contest and making the old version available is a clear signal to us from you: “F*ck it, we give up! You figure it out somehow.”
Very sad. Skype is such a good product.
My initial reaction when opening v5 for the first time was why can’t I make it smaller. There have been certain functions (that me as a very proficient computer user, and application designer) which have seemed masked unintuitive or downright unavailable. Even on a 24″ monitor the window is very large, I haven’t opened it on my 13″ laptop scree yet
I feel sorry for less tech savvy users coming from 2.8.
Anyway 2.8 is now installed and I am happy again
Most poorly conceived and turgidly executed interface update I have ever seen.
So much basic functionality hidden or removed, and as for the interface size…
“But we think heart of the problem is actually about multitasking rather than window size. ”
Have you even looked at it on a laptop designed for portable functionality? We don’t all have massive screens, but apparently all your design and testing people do. The interface takes up half the screen but only manages to show eleven contacts at once on a 13″ MacBook Pro. It’s nothing to do with what I’m doing at the same time, or multitasking, it just doesn’t do the job efficiently. It’s bloated.
Did you get the Windows design team in to mess this up for you? People who don’t understand the concept of application designed with multiple windows? Or, more likely, did an executive or group of executives with no idea about interface design make this their pet project and prevent the design team from doing their job properly?
Since the Skype feedback cancellation isn’t very good, when I have a skype call for business and 2 people on the call of 6 people are in the same room, everyone has to mute unless they’re speaking. Since people forget, it was always so convenient to have the tiny list of mic levels in the top right corner of my screen always floating on top. I could easily say “Hey Bob, mute please” because I could clearly see they were echoing. Now I have to have the huge bloated ugly terrible box that covers 2/3 of my screen and stare closely to see if I can notice that one person’s subtle glow is bigger than another person’s subtle glow and ask that person to mute. I’ve lost functionality. It’s harder to do what I used to be able to do so quickly and easily. What target audience was made happier by this? Was this change a benefit to anyone at all? It’s certainly problematic for me. I’m bothered every day by the lack of this feature.
Dear Rick,
First of all, thank you for interacting with us this way and for making an update on this issue.
I don’t have much to add, most of the things I have an issue with have been already said; however, I don’t agree or support the concept of the primary, combined window. This might work and might be liked by Windows users, but Mac users are used to something else. A Mac-like application is not an all-in-one window or UI, take for example an app made by Apple: Pages. A real Mac-like application has multiple windows, that only appear when you need them and you close when you don’t need them anymore.
This is sort of a philosophy for many Mac applications and for Apple too, things should only be there if they have an use, a light should only be there if it’s indicating something, not because it looks pretty, etc. Skype 5.X does not follow these basic ideas, it has features that are not really useful. Many people, myself included, are not talking about multi-tasking here, we really mean that the UI is simply ugly, bloated.
The new UI wouldn’t receive all this criticism if at least we could choose which UI we want, without having to revert back to 2.8.
Many of us believe that having an independent contact list and a messages window with detachable tabs works better than a bloated window full of information that it’s not needed all the time.
As many others, I hate the 5.0 design with passion. I honestly tried to use it and make it work for few months, but it got to point where I considered not using skype anymore and for last month I did not even run the application 100% of time as I used to. My negative attitude to using it make me not want to even log in to your service.
What is wrong?
1) I cannot just have a small list in corner to quickly at glance see who of my friends is online.
2) I cannot video call and post links and comments and cut & paste stuff for people I talk with at the same time.
3) I cannot chat with multiple friends at the same time just reading what one is writting while I type message for the other one. I cannot keep chatting with my friends while on video call.
4) I keep contact lists for all IM services on separate monitor to the side, I don’t want to turn my head away from the camera when video calling someone and I don’t want to move the Skype windows around every time someone calls me. I especially hate you for this one.
5) I hate you every time you force me to grab my mouse in app that I interface with primarilly with my keyboard.
6) I used to switch between chats of friends with Mac window switching through keyboard shortcuts.
Quality of calls
1) My calls sound worse with 5.x
2) My microphone settings break often in 5.x and it often disconnects my USB microphone even though it is properly configured
3) I often have problem to make calls to landline with 5.x that don’t exist with 2.8
4) My dial pad disconnects in middle of phone call and I cannot dial options (like unmute) during conference calls. Again just in 5.x
Wish List (features not in 2.8 or 5.x)
1) Smart contact groups – let me create dynamic smart groups of contacts (everyone from US, everyone not in group, everyone with email @skype.com, …)
2) I have a lot of skype contacts for people who I only care about on weekends or when I do certain activity or at work, but not otherwise. Not everyone is my friend and my coworkers don’t need to see me online on weekends and my parents should not see me available while at work.
a) Let me turn off tracking online presence or even seeing those contacts from certain group.
b) Let me block them from contacting me during certain times or allow me to change my presence for this specific group.
I will stay with 2.8 until you address the above issues, but not forever, your inability to address these issues creates a great opportunity for your competition.
To make it more simple:
I think you (Skype Team) should have learned one thing:
Mac users are not Windows users.
Windows users willingly adopted that fullscreen app you released in v4.
At least I don’t remember such a huge negative feedback.
Maybe because in v4@Win you had the option to switch to classic mode?
Or maybe because Win users are actually used to use fullscreen apps?
Dono.
On Mac, sticking with that unusable almost fullscreen design without the optional classic mode is surely the wrong choice.
Actually, on Mac, it should be the classic mode as default and optional (making it hard to find would be a good choice ) that huge ugly unusable thing (I apologize – CNR).
And guys, that thing is not easier to use for anyone. Neither was v4 for Windows. Neither does having it all in one place nor does wasting so much space necessarily make an app easier to deal with or to look more structured. Who told you that? M$? *eg*
I feel sorry for you guys though, most of all for the designer(s). So many people picking on you & your work… on the other hand you seem still to think this is the right way (at least this blogpost sounds a little like that). Guys, it’s not. Why don’t you just say “OK, sorry dear customers, Skype v5 for Mac is not as awesome as we initially thought, we’ll make you happy with the next version” instead of pointing out the goodies (for me they are not) of v5?
I don’t know if I mentioned this before in one of my prior posts, but I think it’s only the lack of alternatives who let most (all I know) mac users downgrade to 2.8 instead to switch to another service. But I’m pretty sure, if you stay on this road, another provider will show up soon. Matter of time. But for now, your fate still rests with you. Don’t lose it.
Written from my Mac with Skype 2.8 installed and, for the first time in 8 years, without any desires to even look at any Skype upgrade until next major version.
Hi Skype,
If the point was to take a reasonable interface (v2.8) that did the job well, to a massive waste of space and something you constantly need to hide to get it out of your way, then this new version is a success.
Great pieces of software are functional, well thought out and stay out of your way. The only part IMHO
you have managed is it is functional. The interface is way off and is a pain to use and it just takes
up a lot amount of space.
Well it may be all well and good to try to account for everyones tastes, cultures, experience levels
and so on, most of the time it just becomes a big compromise. Using the analogy of a car, you don’t design a bus to go to the Indy 500. This is what Skype feels like to me a bus. Version 2.8 was more like an Indy car, clean and fast and out of my way.
Please fix this – I’m going back to the old version. I don’t have the patience for the requirement of
hiding and showing the controls all day long!
Again – Please Fix ! TX
To me it really is about screen real estate. Regardless of the functionality the current design may have, the minimum size for the main window in v5 for Mac takes up way too much real estate when all I want to see is which of my contacts are online. At least let me reduce the size of the interface elements so I can get back to the same window size as I’ve been using the last couple of years in Skype for Mac.
Hello Skype!
When the first 5.0 beta came out I was so disappointed about the new UI. Directly went back to 2.8. Since then I’ve been following the discussion on this blog and I was glad to see so many other users articulating what I was feeling.
Until now I didn’t make my voice heard, because I thought these voices were loud enough. How can you not hear us? There are more people out there like me who didn’t post on this blog, but who would agree to all the complaints put forward.
Now you give us this marketing talk about who your users are, about majorities and segments and about Chinese grandmothers. Are you serious? Chinese grandmothers with Macs? Is that the 5.0 target audience?
Listen to us!
Do I really need to repeat this?
1. It’s too big.
2. Give us an optional view mode with separate windows for contacts, video and chat.
What you seem to fail to understand is that screen real estate is the single most expensive resource you can consume. Don’t believe me? Go look at what it costs to get a bigger monitor.
No, it’s not all about multitasking. Wasting screen real estate makes everything harder. Nobody uses a computer for just one thing any more, and those of us who need to be on Skype while we’re dong something else may well not be multitasking at all.
You appear to suffer from the same problem as Linden Lab did when they developed their new and improved client for Second Life: they asked a professional design consultant what they should do, instead of asking people who actually use the service. The result was an unusable mess that, among other things, ignored how real people actually got things done in Second Life. I’m one of the lead developers of a third-party client that aims to make things usable again. The irony of the group doing this on Skype, which suffers from the same disease, is palpable.
I’m going back to 2.8, and staying there. As for getting money out of me for anything: forget it until you start listening to users and seeing how they use the service, in stead of telling us how we should be using it.
@peterparkes, about capturing the frustrations: no, you’ve failed.
let me talk about user experience in a 13,3 inch macbook:
I’ve worked with many voip and IM clients, not only with a Mac but also with windows, and I’ve learned some things:
1) a contact visualizer window is not the same as a main window with a visible contact list,
2) when the main window and the call/im windows are fused, no work can be done, since each user wants to do something with the contact list (like inviting someone to the chat/call, opening a new chat/call window, quick switching between chats/calls by just sitching the window or clicking a nicely located tab),
3) sending files is only optimal if you can drag’n drop them (skype 2.8 lets you do this),
4) one window with it’s specific function helps users to be more selective with (in other words: PRIORITIZE!) the tasks to be done.
Don’t you think having a big window with all the app inside will help new users: we live in a modular era for desktop/notebook apps, even in Photoshop (for Mac, at least) each toolbar is independent and can be feely moved/relocated/hidden at the user’s contempt (both for newbies and wizards), why should my dear Skype lose this characteristic?
By having my main window at the left corner on the bottom (with Adium on the top-left corner) i have two compact contactlists, and I can work with their two chat windows and deal with a videcall with ease, specially when I need to swap between them and other apps a lot (and I surely do it, since not all my college colleagues use Skype and I need to work with them).
I’m not telling you to rethink the user interface, or create a contest to better up the monster condensed single futuristic window, WE WANT YOU TO KEEP EVERYTHING AT IT’S PLACE! Yes, one function per window. Nobody complained about the 2.8′s design, and more, we have made you put it back online so people can “downgrade” to it.
You need only to work with the 2.8′s interface. You can tweak it, as long as it doesn’t take more space than needed.
You should benefit of your own work: you have a completely resizeable call window, that works perfectly with group audio calls and single video calls, so why don’t you simply make it hold the group video calls as well? A SIMPLE SEPARATE WINDO THAT CAN GO FULLSCREEN AND STILL LET YOU WORK WITH A CHAT WINDOW OVER IT (I do with with my girlfriend all the time: her video displayed at my screen in fullscreen mode and I can still summon, when needed, the chat window to send her text/files or the main window so I can text someone without losing focus on the video).
I hope I haven’t been too much of an agressor, but you’ve striken me first!
So, how about my design ideas? I am sure that most of the users will approve of it. Even better: let us choose between the “almighty 5.X” interface or the “optimized for excellence at actually working 2.8″ interface at the preferences (any user knows who to cmd+comma…)
after downgrading (a second time) to 2.8 i just can say wow. 2.8 is such a nice piece of software. everything i need in this little of space. skype team – you are awesome. after this 5x nightmare i can see who is online, i can chat in as many windows as i want. no scrolling, no anything – just a useful product. thank you for getting this huge step forward with 2.8. a downgraded happy-again skype user.
Man…. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of anyone hating the Skype 5 interface. Every single person that I know of, loves it. We all rejoiced with the upgrade. Having one window and the simplified UI is just soo much easier and less confusing. I hated the Skype 2 interface of having a window for flipping everything, I already have 10-30 windows open, I don’t need more. I just want to click skype, and have the one window open, not have to keep trying to find the right window. Skype 5 rocks. Don’t change it.
I read a message higher in this list and I totally support it. It goes like this:
Create skype 2.9 to add the new feature, but keep the 2.8 interface. If skype does this, it proves that it has the courage to admit its own mistakes. Why try to make a mac application look like the windows one in the first place… look what happened. when all chat programs are having a standard paradigm with the user list on one side and a some chat windows separate, and this works … why try to change it ?! For the sake of being “inovative” ? this sometimes … fail as you can see. Now admit it and go back to the initial version and add the features in there.
Hello,
Thank you first of all for taking the time to listen to the Skype Mac community. To sum up some points already mentioned, I think there is a general concensus about what would make Skype better:
Make Skype small again, and give me back my screen space. The general idea here is that I want to use skype as a tool along side other windows, but at this point it’s too “fat”, even on a 17 inch macbook pro, and kind of goes against the “multi-tasking” aspect.
1) Eliminate all the white space. It is difficult to use an interface where your eye consistently travels from one element to another, and it eats up a big portion of my screen.
2) The contact list and the “history” bar along the left are extremely unintuitive. I am never sure where I should click to initiate a chat. The way skype had it before was genuinely much more intuitive.
3) Eliminate the repetition, the contact list displays the same buttons for each user you can click on – why? The “add” button appears twice, once in the main bar, and once right below as ‘add contact’.
4) The buttons are grouped oddly: Why are there separate buttons that give me some menu options, and other buttons that give me other menu options (they aren’t grouped logically so why have them at all?) – again, wasting screen real estate.
I am also pretty sure that very few people are fond of the “Avatar view” cover-flow view. It doesn’t give any visibility into all your contacts, (why would I ever click 20 times, rather than just see a clear concise list I can instantly access) and again wastes space.
Unfortunately right now it’s heavy, wasteful of space, and illogically grouped functions make it hard to use.
In our company of 50 people we all tried skype 5, and reverted back to 2.8.
Thank you for your continued support, and we, the community, hope you continue to improve Skype’s UI to be LIGHT, USEFUL, and COMPREHENSIVE.
Cheers
When I downloaded 2.8 the Contacts automatically found my email address book and copied it. I have just downloaded 5X on another laptop and it has not found my email address book and only offers me a way to enter phone numbers in the new contact list. What, if anything, have I done wrong?
It’s amazing that skype is interacting with us like this, amazing in a good way. Companies like Apple never ever respond, which is frustrating even for fanboys like myself.
The main UI thing is that it needs to be possible to have multiple chats in separate windows at once, along with a video or screen sharing. I do not want to have to move the mouse to click anything to see what I am missing. And the main thing that goes a long with that is I want to be able to make those individual windows as small as I would like (within reason) so that I can see as much as possible at one time.
So along with that is, The text input area is 4 lines tall and cannot be made smaller. It should be possible to make it 1 line tall if I want.
There are other things like, Why show a side drawer when there’s only one other person in the chat? One reason is so you can tell somebody is typing, but really there should be some indication of that some place other than the drawer.
Another thing which seems wasteful and annoying is, When I connect back later, I receive all the messages I missed over night. That can be several hundred or more messages, which can be sort of painful. Even worse, skype on my iPhone insists on loading all those messages as well, over the slow 3G network. That needs to be smarter.
Anyway, glad you’re taking the complaints seriously. If 2.8 got deleted I would have been forced to delete the app and find an alternative… but I don’t know any alternatives.
Are you making it so the “Contacts Monitor” is able to NOT ALWAYS be on top??
Am I the only one who read the whole article and felt like that question wasn’t answered? Ok great.. you want to keep your GIANT interface.. fine.. i have a big monitor… but I WANT to use the contacts monitor when other apps are running and I don’t want or need the contact monitor ON TOP of xcode or any other app that im using in the forground.. I also don’t want to hit a keystroke to show and hide it just to see who is online.. I like to click my icon on the dock or hit alt + tab and goto skype.. I just want the option of it not being on top.. its the closest thing to a skype 2.8 layout you have minus being designed in a HUD window, which i like.