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Comment on Bad UX is keeping the majority of people away from Lemmy

Look I don’t have any data to back it up, only my experience and many others (eg. lemmy.ca/comment/14524858)

I’m also not going to go try and dig up all the evidence to try and prove this to you. I am a IT professional and have been part of developing many web apps that see tens of thousands of users per day. We would do AB testing to see what works for users and what gets a better click through rate etc.

As soon as a user needs to think, they drop off like crazy, that’s just a fact you can look up good UX design. It’s also a fact that joining lemmy requires a lot of thinking and tweaking etc. to get to a good place.

I’ve been using lemmy for months now, and I’m still not happy with the UI even after tweaking and trying many different things.

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nutomic@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
A/B testing is not really possible in a decentralized system like this, it would require all instance admins to collaborate for collecting results, and would make deployment much more complicated. Not to forget that there simply arent enough development resources to implement it. That said if you see anything that can be improved, you’re welcome to make a pull request. Its standard Typescript wit TailwindCSS and Inferno, nothing complicated.

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- AnonomousWolf@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  You don’t have to AB test all instances, we can do smaller tests.
  
  But yea that’s complicated and takes effort, instead we should at least follow good UX design principles for the default UX
  
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  - nutomic@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Like I said you’re welcome to make pull requests. Lemmy is not a corporation employing multiple designers, but an open source project run by volunteers. So if you want to see something done, it’s best to do it yourself.
    
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jasep@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

I don’t have any data to back it up

That was my point. A number of times in this thread, you’ve stated your opinion as “a fact” or expressed it as obviously correct. It’s possible to get your point across without the condescension and acknowledging it’s your opinion.

I agree that the nature of federation on Lemmy and other federated social networks is complicated. Resolving that is no easy task. However, your stance in this post seems to be the burden of choosing your instance should be removed or streamlined by randomization. I personally disagree - while there is a hurdle to having to choose an instance and that is a barrier to entry, it’s also valuable in them learning that this isn’t just another platform under a single umbrella.

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- AnonomousWolf@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  My opinion as a IT professional who’s been involved with UX & UI for 12 years. Just google ‘Good UX principles’ and you’ll see Lemmy breaks so many of them.
  
  I’m sorry but you’re wrong, Lemmy breaks basic UX principles the UX is bad on multiple levels, that’s just the reality, all I’m saying is we should do something about it.
  
  I don’t have the answer to a perfect solution, but something needs to be done to smooth out the process of joining and getting used to the platform.
  
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  - jasep@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Why are you passing off the onus of proof to me or others in this thread? It’s your argument.
    
    Just google ‘Good UX principles’ and you’ll see Lemmy breaks so many of them
    
    No thanks, I’m also a decades long IT Professional and I’m not going to do that. It’s your argument so your burden of proof.
    
    Lemmy breaks basic UX principles the UX is bad on multiple levels
    
    Again, please feel free to cite specific examples.
    
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    AnonomousWolf@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Fine, here is how Lemmy breaks the six of the 7 UX principles
    
    User-Centricity – Lemmy often prioritizes federation and technical features over intuitive user experience. The interface can feel clunky, and onboarding isn’t always smooth for new users unfamiliar with the federated model.
    
    Consistency – The UI varies significantly across different Lemmy instances, which can create an inconsistent experience. Some instances modify themes or layouts, making navigation different depending on where you are.
    
    Hierarchy – Unlike Reddit, Lemmy’s ranking algorithms sometimes don’t surface the most relevant or popular posts effectively. Sorting by hot, top, or new doesn’t always work intuitively, leading to lower-quality content appearing before high-quality discussions.
    
    Context – Lemmy’s UI sometimes fails to provide clear context, If a post originates from another instance, clicking on it might not always take you where you expect. Sometimes, users have to manually navigate to the original instance to see all interactions, which breaks contextual continuity.
    
    User Control – Here it’s great, users have a lot of control, it might just cost effort to figure out
    
    Accessibility – Lemmy’s UI and design choices can be less accessible, with contrast issues, and mobile usability problems compared to mainstream platforms. Many non tech savvy people are overwhelmed and won’t stay.
    
    Usability – Lemmy can be confusing for new users, especially those unfamiliar with federated platforms. The sign-up process, navigation, and feature discoverability could be much smoother.
    
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