It looks like roughly half of your issues have to do with non-intuitiveness/lack of documentation, another third or so with the (still relatively) new design, and the remainder are also really useful feedback. Here’s some other threads related to those topics where you might want to join the discussion:
What should be offered for newbee documentation?
Feedback related to the new design plus several others with “new design” in the subject.
Point-by-point responses, with issues I personally agree with in bold. [I’m not on the development team, just a long-time user with too much free time.]
1) Clicking on graph to get to goal page is non-intuitive
(“Goal page” is the place where you go when you click on the graph.) Even several months into the new design, I still sometimes click on the goal name when I’m trying to get to the graph, and I’m always annoyed to have it toggle to description again. The behavior I’d expect is for clicking the graph to enlarge it (with fancy zooming, once that’s implemented) and for clicking the goal name to go to the goal page.
2) Link from gallery to dashboard but not vice versa
I’m guessing the rationale was to keep the dashboard “clean” looking, but there’s no reason this couldn’t be another line at the bottom. That’s a more standard “toggle layout” setup. (It also could then be removed from the dropdown, which is a weird place for that link. The options could then be new goal, account, payments, reminders, log out. This makes it clearer that each is a type of settings page.)
Unrelated: I see there’s a link to archived goals from both now. Thanks for fixing that!
- Unclear purpose of the Gallery
I don’t use the gallery much (if at all) these days, but it used to be the primary point of contact before the dashboard was invented. I expect there are some users who still prefer it, but that might be a good topic for exploration.
4a) Dashboard doesn’t show descriptions
These are available by clicking the goal name, but that’s pretty non-intuitive (see #1). There’s been a lot of discussion around this and this is the result so far. There’s probably still room for improvement.
4b) Gallery isn’t pretty
Agreed! The biggest place this probably matters (given that most users probably primarily use the dashboard) is on the “featured” page, which uses the same layout but doesn’t even show a description. Nothing about that page is particularly engaging.
5) Description for description is unclear
As above, “goal page” is the page where you go if you click on the graph. I agree with the point though, particularly since only a certain number of characters will be visible - that information should be provided so people can choose well. For @David: If you’re unhappy with the description you chose, you can edit it by going to the goal page and clicking it at the top, between the URL and the graph image.
- Goal names can’t have spaces
This is because they also set the URL for the goal page. Underscores or hyphens are an alternative.
7) Goal names in caps on dashboard, in lowercase in gallery
There’s been a lot of discussion about capitalization in the new design, and this is one of several cases where the resolution seems to be “users will adapt their behavior” - but there’s no documentation to get them through that process.
8a) More space needed between goal name and deadline in dashboard view
I think this is due to space restrictions in mobile view, and is ultimately another case where users are expected to adapt.
8b) More space needed between checkmark and end of foreshortened comment
- Dashboard and Gallery are non-descriptive terms
Closely related to #3.
10) Clicking username to get to dashboard is non-intuitive.
I always have to think about this for a half-second. The layout of the top bar makes my brain assume the username and dropdown icon are connected and that clicking either will drop down the menu.
11) Goal image on the dashboard has legacy hovertext that’s confusing
The text here uses terminology from the language of “lanes” that’s confusing (and soon to be phased out). It’s also overly dense and mostly duplicated on the dashboard itself. Possible alternate suggestion: “click to go to goal page” (see #1)
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No way to change username
This is slightly annoying but not uncommon as sites go. @David, Beeminder has a much more involved support team (as it seems you’ve found already) than pretty much any other site I use, and I consider that a feature. So generally I’m not bothered by anything that helps users find out how awesome it is to interact with a friendly person on the other side of the screen. It’d be good to be clear about the fact it can’t be changed at account creation, though. -
No way to find out what goal type is after creation.
@David, Can you give a bit more information about what your use case is? Generally I don’t have trouble remembering what I wanted to achieve with a goal.
14) Meaning of colors is unclear.
This is a big issue that’s been discussed before, and I know it’s one of @dreev’s goals to revamp these in the relatively near future.
- Suggestion: Icons for goals
16) Documentation for Newbees is out of date
Specifically: It’s pre-new design and pre-Beemium, and refers to lots of concepts that are planned for phasing out soon. I’d say it’s still better than nothing, but not by much. Also, the blog post is hard to even find! (It’s buried in the FAQ, which are pretty obtuse as it is.)
- Start of day issues
I’d argue that midnight is a reasonable default - lots of folks go to bed before then, and it is the standard division between days in nearly every context. @david, if you’d like to change the setting for an individual goal, it’s on the goal page under the “settings” tab. If you want to change all goals at once, that’s accessible under the account dropdown menu, under “reminders.”
18) No way to customize icon by username.
I’d just assumed this was a customizable image and that I’d never gotten around to it! Yes, if there’s going to be an image at all, it should be customizable. Otherwise, just make the name the dropdown (see #10).
19) Dropdown menu does not collapse when user clicks outside menu
20a) No UI for goal order customization.
This is in the works, but I’m not sure how high of a priority it is. In the meantime there’s something that can be done with tagging, but it’s all manual at this point and I can never remember how to do it. Maybe someone else will jump in and explain.
20b) Settings for goal sort order don’t stick
I believe this is a known bug.
21a) Changing a comment in data reloads graph unnecessarily
21b) Clicking “update” seems unnecessary when only changing comment
Personally I prefer having clear confirmation of when data has or has not been updated.
22a) Showing more data in the dashboard would be preferable
Much of this is available via the goal page, but there’s work to be done still in making the goal page itself more intuitive/accessible.
22b) Lots of unused white space in dashboard
I think this is at least partially restricted by mobile design.
- Deadline/pledge text on dashboard is unclear
I can’t think of a clear way to improve this, but it’s definitely another case of “documentation needed.”
24a) Weekly datapoints are difficult to implement
One way to do this would be to give yourself a week of buffer and always maintain that. That takes a bit of finesse, which is another case of “documentation needed.”
24b) Temporary points of “not on track” aren’t really "derailing"
This is a fundamental philosophical conflict, I’m afraid! Beeminder is about keeping on track every single day of the journey to a goal. That’s one of the reasons weight, bodyfat, and other “outcome” measures are tricky to beemind (another case of "documentation needed) - they’re things you don’t have direct control over. For “outcome” goals, in some cases something like stickK is a better option. There’s a lot of discussion on this topic on the forums under the “akrasia” topic, as well as on the blog.
25) More space for fine print
I can’t think of a good reason for this not to be an auto-scaling box that displays everything, especially because there’s no other display for fine print (a separate issue related to the redesign which has been discussed a fair bit).
26) Can’t display dates in any format other than American
27) Credit card errors are unclear/non-descriptive.
If it doesn’t make sense to put this info in the error itself, perhaps in a followup email?
- Dashboard display implies limit on comment length
I haven’t run into an actual limit so far, but it’s true that I have to go to the goal page to see the longer comments.
29a) The learning period on Beeminder encourages tinkering with goals vs. set-and-forget
To some extent this is by design. But I’d agree that little about the site makes clear that there will be a learning curve and that tinkering (subject to the akrasia horizon) is expected behavior. Another call for more documentation.
29b) Graphs take forever to load.
A known bug. See this thread for more info on known bugs, and particularly the linked comment if you’re encountering slow-loading graphs.
30) When user experience isn’t as expected, commitments don’t feel real and derailments are frustrating.
@David, I hope that support has helped make this right for you in whatever form that looks like! Your point is absolutely crucial.