This is meant to be an easy to access reference of all the reasons why we don’t like the new Replit UI. If you want to add anything, please join the protest topic. This is not a protest but just information about the protest. It will be a wiki post. I really want to keep this one respectful and easy to read.
Currently, the proposed solution is to add a simple toggle switch, allowing users to choose which UI they use.
| Flaw | Why we don’t like it | Related Posts |
|---|---|---|
| The view code feature is very gray | This is not aesthetically pleasing. | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Repl cover page is huge | It detracts from other essential parts of the UI, such as the comments, navigation, and the various tools for the Repl (open in new tab and the like). | 1 |
| Comments area is smaller | The smaller comments area off to the side makes viewing comments more difficult. I find the comments much harder to use this way and multiple people have said that it discourages them from commenting. | 1, 2, 3 |
| The button to open in workspace is hidden | This is a very useful tool and having it hidden is troublesome. It is a minor and unnecessary inconvenience. | |
| The button to open in workspace does not allow you to open in a new tab | I almost always open links in new tabs. However, the open in workspace button in the new UI somehow overrides all methods of doing this, including CTRL + Click, right clicking, and clicking with the mouse scroll. | |
| The overall page layout | I find the overall page layout to be unintuitive an visually unappealing. | 1 |
| There is little whitespace | Good web developers know the value of whitespace. It makes websites more visually appealing and somehow easier to use. The old UI had this, however, the new UI does not. It’s padding is minimal. | 1 |
| Repl descriptions are summarized | Replit already has a 1,000 character limit on Repl descriptions. This is very hindering when using markdown because it counts the extra markdown characters too. In addition to this, now the description is summarized with a tiny ... that is hardly noticeable. If we are going to have a character limit, can we at least use all the characters within the limit without having that limited too? |
1, 2, 3, 4 |
| “Improved Social Experience” | As has been well established, the new UI hinders comments. Comments are, by definition, the social aspect of the UI. Thus, this is not a social improvement but rather a social degradation. | 1, 2 |
| The side navigation bar hides | The side navigation bar (the one with the create Repl, etc. on it) automatically hides with the new UI. I can unhide it, but every time I refresh the page, it rehides again. This is troublesome and annoying. |
Also, the other UI was simply amazing and personally I think it needed few revisions.
To the Replit staff:
Thank you for fixing a few of the initial flaws (such as not using the template icon on the cover page).
Just addressing what Replit has done.
