There has been an overwhelming reaction to our latest release and we acknowledge that much of it was negative. Since then, we’ve been listening to you, our passionate users who have cared enough to give us feedback, and for that we are extremely grateful. We've combed through the discourse, gathered a lot of great suggestions, and we plan to implement many of them in the very near future.Currently there are 3 main areas we are actively working on to improve our user experience:
1. Topic/Thread User Interface (UI):
“The user interface was one of the main areas of contention. Wasted space, reduced visibility of content, and features make the app difficult to use.”
To answer this issue, there will be an overhaul of our content card UI (the display of topics/threads). The upcoming interface is designed to:
Expect to see the above changes by the end of January on Android and shortly thereafter on iOS. However improving our UI will be an ongoing process so it won’t just stop there. The above fixes may still be tweaked based on your feedback even after release.
After initial UI fixes are live, we will also work on providing an optional “compact” card UI mode so that seasoned forum users can quickly glance through more content. We plan on rolling out this feature in the February/March timeframe.
2. Forum Navigation:
“Forum Browse is gone! They expect us to view nothing but trending and recommended content now!”
The forum browse navigation was a big departure from past versions and was not obvious to many users to the point they thought we took it away. To fix this, we will improve the sub-forum browsing experience and redesign the visual cues to make finding forum browse easier. Fixes in this area include:
We think the new implementation will significantly simplify the sub-forum browsing experience. The timetable for this updated forum navigation experience will also be 3rd week of February on Android and iOS shortly thereafter.
Additional UI and Feature fixes
“It doesn’t make sense that my subscribed content is located in the hard to find drop-down navigation”
“Forum home screens make it hard to see all of my content”
“What do these tab icons mean? They don’t represent each function well at all”
Based directly off your feedback on various parts of the UI, beginning in January, these additional changes to various parts of the UI are officially on the roadmap and should roll out within the next few updates:
We are constantly trying to make Tapatalk a better product for our users and while we may not get it right from time to time, it doesn’t change our mission to improve for you. Your feedback keeps us on track and moving forward, we appreciate that greatly and will continue to listen.
Thank you for your passion, patience, and we look forward to continue working together with you to make Tapatalk better.
We will have renewed focus on our beta groups as well. Please check our stickies or keep an eye on this thread to learn how to join our iOS testflight team and Android Beta Community. More updates to come as they develop...
Source: https://support.tapatalk.com/threads/upcoming-updates-to-tapatalk-based-on-your-feedback.27809/1. Topic/Thread User Interface (UI):
“The user interface was one of the main areas of contention. Wasted space, reduced visibility of content, and features make the app difficult to use.”
To answer this issue, there will be an overhaul of our content card UI (the display of topics/threads). The upcoming interface is designed to:
- Improve readability and status (read vs unread)
- A cleaner look that removes wasted screen real estate. (goodbye blue/grey bars! more viewable topics)
- The new cards will also allow you to instantly interact with each post, including marking posts as read or subscribed.
Expect to see the above changes by the end of January on Android and shortly thereafter on iOS. However improving our UI will be an ongoing process so it won’t just stop there. The above fixes may still be tweaked based on your feedback even after release.
After initial UI fixes are live, we will also work on providing an optional “compact” card UI mode so that seasoned forum users can quickly glance through more content. We plan on rolling out this feature in the February/March timeframe.
2. Forum Navigation:
“Forum Browse is gone! They expect us to view nothing but trending and recommended content now!”
The forum browse navigation was a big departure from past versions and was not obvious to many users to the point they thought we took it away. To fix this, we will improve the sub-forum browsing experience and redesign the visual cues to make finding forum browse easier. Fixes in this area include:
- Ability to navigate to any sub-forum from anywhere in the forum
- A layout that provides more of a full screen navigation experience
- A “vertical breadcrumb” interface so you know exactly where you are in the forum hierarchy at all times
- Accomplish both of the above with the minimal amount of clicks.
We think the new implementation will significantly simplify the sub-forum browsing experience. The timetable for this updated forum navigation experience will also be 3rd week of February on Android and iOS shortly thereafter.
Additional UI and Feature fixes
“It doesn’t make sense that my subscribed content is located in the hard to find drop-down navigation”
“Forum home screens make it hard to see all of my content”
“What do these tab icons mean? They don’t represent each function well at all”
Based directly off your feedback on various parts of the UI, beginning in January, these additional changes to various parts of the UI are officially on the roadmap and should roll out within the next few updates:
- A longer preview of content in Feed including PMs/Conversations
- Improved forum listing view in Profile tab that is more compact
- Subscribed sub-forums will now be displayed in your subscribed tab instead of in the dropdown navigation
- Optimizing Home Screen forum cover image to take less space
- Updated tab icons to help you more quickly recognize content and actions
- Cleaning up other areas that include icons and navigation that were confusing
We are constantly trying to make Tapatalk a better product for our users and while we may not get it right from time to time, it doesn’t change our mission to improve for you. Your feedback keeps us on track and moving forward, we appreciate that greatly and will continue to listen.
Thank you for your passion, patience, and we look forward to continue working together with you to make Tapatalk better.
We will have renewed focus on our beta groups as well. Please check our stickies or keep an eye on this thread to learn how to join our iOS testflight team and Android Beta Community. More updates to come as they develop...
