Yesterday, I installed Ghost version 5.69.0 and noticed a significant update to the Settings UI. I’d like to share my candid thoughts on this latest update.
Initial Impression
At first glance, I was impressed. It’s great to see a UI update after such a long time.
(As I started exploring the options…)
Current Impression
However, my initial enthusiasm quickly turned to disappointment. The new UI seems overly complex, with everything crammed onto a single page, making it appear cluttered and confusing.
Honestly, the previous UI/UX was the best I had encountered in my entire journey with Ghost. If it’s already challenging for experienced users like me, I can only imagine the confusion it might cause for first-time users, especially those seeking a simple UI/UX.
I understand that this may not make a significant impact or resonate with anyone, but this is simply a notification for the Ghost team. Two of my Ghost clients have already reached out to me, inquiring about this UI/UX update.
Actually the new styles are very impressive, but there is a problem with the user experience. In point of my view, this UI should be changed and more user friendly to new users and non tech savoy users.
Ghost CMS is very popular for its simplicity and its user friendliness. Hope this may be fixed with future updates.
I liked the interface at first. After a while I got used to it.
But I think a selector between the previous interface and the new one would be better. It would help users to have a smoother transition.
I am on the other side of the fence on this. The new UI is much more efficient, The old version required toggling back and forth way to many times. The new version lets one see everything by scrolling instead of clicking around. Much easier to setup a new instance checking settings easily.
I disagree with the notion the old version was easier for new users but I am happy to defer to the opinion of actual new users which leads me to my complaint.
Was there discussion with users about the upcoming changes?
Was a beta offered for feedback?
Was there a warning that the change was coming?
Perhaps the answer is yes to all of those questions and the process occurred prior to my return to the Ghost scene. Since my return it seems most things with Ghost management operated in silo without connection to users. The way certain issues are handled by Core staff suggested there is some unfortunate “head in sand” going on.
I do appreciate how Ghost has evolved over the years and I do appreciate the effort that went into the UI update.