The new "sidebar" navigation sucks.

Just thought I would chime in here with my comments/impressions. 

I personally like the fact that the top of my interface isn't cluttered with ALL the apps I'm connected to. As system/realm Admin all our apps previously spanned the entire top section. I will say that for most of our users, they currently interact with a single app, so they aren't moving between apps. We do share data between apps, but that information is presented via connected tables.

The left nav does take up some real estate but I just size it down or close it altogether. I have spent some time creating dashboards that incorporate buttons (or links) to the table(s) directly, so I can hide the left nav entirely.

I do have to say, that while I like the look and feel of the new dashboard and forms, they take up a ton of space and create "forced" size options which means I either have long/skinny buttons, or short/tall buttons. Additionally, the additional amount of "white space" built into the dashboard and forms, has caused me to split out the fields/data/reports/buttons in such a way that it does require more "clicks" to see all the objects since they are now on multiple tabs/section where previously they could all fit on a single page/pane.

We are rather new in our app build outs, so re-working our interfaces, while it did take some time, probably isn't anything compared to those with larger/multiple apps.

If the top nav old structure came back I would totally throw my vote towards the ability to "pin" or de-select which apps/tables would show across the top bar as I really don't want to go back to seeing everything.

Hey Folks! 

Sam Trachy here from Office Hours. My experience with new nav has been very positive, so I'm both surprised and curious to hear about the specific challenges you folks are facing.  I'd love to help in any way so please feel free to join my Office Hours if you're interested in continuing the conversation.  

Sam Trachy | Host of Quickbase Office Hours

I've been using it since it was in beta and I like it.  I switched our team over to it and everyone is fine with it.   

In my opinion, the interface looks cleaner and less cluttered now.   I don't think it takes any longer to find apps and tables than it did before once you're used to the new location.    I really don't understand all the hostility over this change.

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to take a moment to sincerely apologize for my previous comments in this thread. 

I understand that some of the statements I made, particularly toward Sam, were harsh and not in line with the respectful tone I always aim to uphold within our community. Sam, I want to apologize directly to you. You're an important member of this community, and I deeply regret the way I addressed your concerns. For those that know me well, I would hope you agree my comments don't represent the way I am with customers.

I appreciate all your feedback above and will do better in the future. There’s clearly frustration among some of our Quickbase customers regarding New Nav, and I completely understand how disruptive this change has felt. My comment, "You need to accept this," was both insensitive and unhelpful, and for that, I am truly sorry. I realize now how much more damaging that statement was than I had initially intended, and I regret it. I messed up.

I want to assure everyone that we are listening. Our teams are actively working behind the scenes to address the concerns you've raised and provide additional support to make the transition to New Nav smoother for all users, not just builders. This change has a significant impact on end users, and I now see that I should have been more empathetic and proactive in my response as your Community Manager.

I've already reached out to Sam privately to offer my personal apology, but I wanted to make sure everyone here knows that we are committed to improving our communication and support moving forward. Thank you all for your patience, your candid feedback, and for being a part of The Qrew. We appreciate each of you, and we’re here to support you through these changes.

Much respect and appreciation,
Ben

Thanks for raising an excellent point Sam. If anyone would like to meet, I'd really like to see for myself over a video call what's being described above.

Well, anyone except Sam. He has no interest. Anyone else wants to go through this, I'd like to connect. Feel free to email me at bsimon@quickbase.com and we can get this dialogue going.

So a few things...

1. It sucks that not everyone loves New Nav, or some of the other new features we have recently released. During our EmpowerPro keynote last week, we spoke about Quickbase needing to make more of an emphasis on fit and finish with released features. Would suggest anyone who missed it check it out here (go to the 41:00 minute mark to see what I'm referencing, an interview with MarkShnier__You . 

2. What I am seeing a lot of above is general dislike of a new feature. What I would love to see more of is specificity into what parts of New Nav are causing the most frustration. From following the thread, it sounds like Performance (speed), Convenience (more clicking needed), and loss of real estate are driving the frustration. What else am I missing? I'd love to see people detailing this out.

3. What I would encourage folks to do when sharing here is to be more descriptive of the problems they're hearing about, or experiencing themselves. While it may seem helpful to add "Yes, me too! I too have the same problem." or "Yes, I agree with everything you said", if that's all the substance you are offering in a discussion, Quickbase can't do much with it other than acknowledge some members of the community are voicing their displeasure in a public community forum.

4. I'd love to see this space be used in a way that could resemble the following..."Hi Everyone, Here are the top three reasons why my end users are struggling with the new navigation. I've submitted ideas in the Product Feedback portal for all three, see links below. If you agree with me, you should absolutely go into that Product Feedback idea and vote it up, prioritize it, and leave any comments if I left anything important out of my suggestion. And lastly, our community manager would hate it if I didn't mention that before you click on any of the below links, make sure you are already signed into product feedback, otherwise the link won't take you there. He would sure love to fix that problem, because it also "sucks", but is being super patient with the vendor."

5. I mention all this because I care about a few things.

• This community. Kind of have to say that because it's my job, but I sincerely do care about The Qrew. It sucks that people are frustrated, and I want to offer a way through the frustration. New Nav isn't going away. You need to accept this. 
• Quickbase. Our product. I want to see it be the best app development platform on the planet. That requires an ethos of constant improvement which I believe exists here.

6. Let's be respectful. If you're going to start a thread with this title, do yourself a favor and go do something else. Literally anything else. And it has nothing to do with feelings being hurt or any of that. It's about what I wrote in #4 and #5 and my job just gets a lot harder when the start of a conversation comes from this level of discourse. 

I agree with a LOT of people here; I tried for 4 days utilizing the "new style" and it is very dysfunctional.  

I'm glad there is a way to go back to the current version.  I hope this option stays and there is no 100% push to every user with the new style in January.

I can sense a major backlash in that decision already.  Let people continue to choose which style works for them; that would be the BEST decision.

Hi, Kristina from the Quickbase Product team here. Thank you for your feedback on the new navigation.

We understand that adapting to change can take time, but we're confident this update will provide a smoother and more efficient experience for you. We’ve ensured full parity with the legacy navigation, so all functionality remains intact. The new layout is designed to make it easier to find what you need, jump between apps and tables, and navigate faster overall.

If you're finding that this experience currently falls short, we would love to connect with you so that we can better understand why. Please DM me and we can chat! Also ben_simon and MariaPeralta are here to listen to you as well!

Agreed. New Sidebar Navigation is awful. My users are complaining about it and reverted back to the Top Navigation. Hopefully Quickbase will change their mind and allow users to use the old navigation for a while.