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Re: New Interface Sidebar

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Chris_Luc
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

I'm afraid I don't love the new lefthand sidebar menu which is due to be rolled out next week. It takes up valuable space which would be better used for interface elements and data. The reduction in available space means that we'd need to redesign some interfaces, as data and field names are now truncated and don't display correctly.

Perhaps it could be adjusted so the sidebar rolls out when the user hovers over the far left of the screen, or similar?

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Accepted Solutions
Chris_Luc
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

In case anyone hasn't spotted it - Airtable have now added an option to collapse the sidebar: https://community.airtable.com/t5/announcements/introducing-new-ways-to-harness-the-power-of-ai-buil...

See Solution in Thread

18 Replies 18
Tristan-ARG
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

Agree to this +1
maybe there can a way to swith back to the previous design?

BjornAir
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Going to have to agree on this as well - for users who are using smaller screens, this side bar is a downgrade to the space designers need.   It would be great if we could please have the option to switch between different sidebars before this is released to all users.

Joe_Levy
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

Please allow us to hide that sidebar, it takes up 15-20% of valuable work space - for no added value!

kendallodom
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

Agreed! Can we please revert? Not only does it take up valuable space for smaller screens, when we already have a high number of fields needed in some of our grid views, but also:

  • The white labels at the top looked much cleaner, now our sidebar is teal with black font which is difficult to read and not as UX friendly. I understand that the sidebar is teal because our base is set to teal, but I need to teal on for the "color box feature" inside the pop out views, and even setting our base to grey did not really help. 
  • I've already completed ALL of our initial enablement videos and documentation with the old layout, and now all of them are outdated
  • I would argue that, for users using only one interface (our use case) this is actually less helpful than the top nav. 

 

Please let us know if we can turn this off, thanks!

RonniEloff_VKDe
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

Adding my two cents into this.  I don't like the side bar, especially trying to figure out where the dang Edit is for the interface I am working on.  More so, it looks ugly when you get a lot of interfaces.  I make my own custom interface for what to include which interfaces to access for the team.  Now it shows EVERYTHING including dashboards that I really have no need to be in the daily view.

It was bad enough to mess with the workflow (which did not improve my workflow) but to take up so much space it's unnecessary.

Gina_Fernandez
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

What brain trust thought it was a good idea to steal valuable screen space and how do we revert to the original layout or at least close the side view like in the main data table views? I have multiple people in the office ranting at me right now because we all work with smaller screens and I'm the one that had us start using Airtable.

I have to agree, this is a disaster.  There has to be a way to at least use the suggestion made by Chris_Luc and only have the sidebar appear when the person using the interface hovers over the far left.

nottsmike
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Not a fan of the sidebar. Its taking up value space, my interfaces look rubbish now and its harder to use as we have to scroll on everything and cant see what we need on one screen. If it pops up over the top of the interface not affecting the interface, when you hover to the side with your mouse that would be fine. As is, this is a terrible change.

Chris_Luc
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

Airtable have now addressed this in their announcement post.

"To start with, we are actively working to make the left navigation collapsible. Please keep your eyes out for that update coming soon."

https://community.airtable.com/t5/announcements/introducing-new-ways-to-harness-the-power-of-ai-buil...

Sabrina_Hoeke1
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

I absolutely hate this. There doesn't seem to be a way to collapse and space was already precious before this showed up. Please revert ASAP. Huge fail. 

WOOOHOOO... thank you for posting this!!

Open links on a new tab!

Bid_CRM_System
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

I am usually a fan of the Airtable design changes, however, in this case I feel as if they created a solution in search of a problem.  I had no issue at all with the prior design or functionality.  In fact, the latest changes have now exposed interfaces that I would rather everyone else not see and have to sift through, not to mention the valuable real estate this change takes up with no apparent up side.  I am clearly missing the advantages this was supposed to bring to us; can an Airtable designer respond as to why this is a direction best suited for us and the product?

RonniEloff_VKDe
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

Adding even more to this 

The Add Elements Dialog is NOT movable.  This really creates 2 problems, - not being able to access the bottom of the design space, and not being able to design the area that is behind the Dialog, especially when it is Expanded

interface usability.jpg

 

Grady_Wills
5 - Automation Enthusiast
5 - Automation Enthusiast

Agree with this, super annoying! Created a solution to something that was NOT a problem.

aaaaaaa
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

Why does airtable always do bad things?

Austin_Analyst
4 - Data Explorer
4 - Data Explorer

My organization is in the middle of a transition to a new ticketing system in Airtable and this interface sidebar has derailed this massive project. Not only do we need to reformat interfaces due to less horizontal space, this has caused an issue with the separation of our departments and is a navigational nightmare for front-end users. If this was only available for creators that would be one thing but since this has been rolled out to editors, we are facing significant push back. Many of our workflows are currently managed through Outlook and Airtable will replace these but this new panel things halted adoption which is saying something considering that the alternative is Outlook....

Chris_Luc
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

In case anyone hasn't spotted it - Airtable have now added an option to collapse the sidebar: https://community.airtable.com/t5/announcements/introducing-new-ways-to-harness-the-power-of-ai-buil...