Discord's New Desktop UI

[videogamesm12]

Discord is changing the way their app looks on the desktop. Setting the experiment "2024-05_desktop_visual_refresh" to Treatment 1 will enable a new look that aims to more closely resemble the mobile UI redesign that was carelessly shoved down the throats of users earlier last year.



As you can see, it's a fairly drastic change. Other changes not shown or not noticeable in the screenshot above include the ability to resize the left sidebar, two new unfinished work-in-progress dark themes (named "Darker" and "Midnight"), a noticeable increase in profile picture size that is disproportionate to the text size, and the inclusion of the "X is typing..." text in the same box as the textbox where you type your messages. Given the incomplete and unpolished state of the redesign and how recently they started working on this (May 2024 if the experiment string is to be believed), I reckon that this won't be pushed into the mainstream until much later on in the year or maybe even the beginning of next year.

What do you think about it? I personally don't like the direction it's going but I'm interesting to know what others think.

 

[shdwo]

If i'm being entirely honest, this theme looks way better than the current UI. It's also important to note that whatever colour inconsistencies might occur during the experiment aren't likely to follow through into actual release.

 

[videogamesm12]

It's also important to note that whatever colour inconsistencies might occur during the experiment aren't likely to follow through into actual release.

This is to be expected and it doesn't just apply to colors - it seems that some icons are going to be resized as well but currently aren't. I'd like to wait for the redesign to evolve enough before deciding how I feel about it in general because as of right now there are some UI elements that are inconsistent with the new look they're going for and this is very much a work in progress. I do have to admit that I dig the Midnight theme - my biggest gripe with the desktop look has always been a lack of a color scheme equivalent to the AMOLED/Midnight dark theme that has been on the mobile version since like early 2021.

 

[Telesphoreo]

half of the time people just want to change the UI for the sake of change and the devs got bored

 

[Telesphoreo]

Welp, this UI is now active for me on my Mac. Haven't tested to see if the Windows desktop app has gotten this UI as well, but I assume so. I'm not exactly against it. The problem is the spacing needs to be adjusted. I have no idea why the message box is so big now, but it's not a big deal. I think there needs to be more padding above it. The server list is more cramped and smaller. I would go back to the old one. I think the mismatch here looks kind of goofy if I'm being honest.


Certainly not as bad as some of the previous Discord UI changes, but still kind of meh

 

[Tizz]

the spacing needs to be adjusted. I have no idea why the message box is so big now

It looks like it's the current fashion, some justify it as "it's touch screen friendly". Have you seen how uselessly tall is the title bar in apps like Zoom or the Office/365 suite?

 

[Telesphoreo]

It looks like it's the current fashion, some justify it as "it's touch screen friendly". Have you seen how uselessly tall is the title bar in apps like Zoom or the Office/365 suite?

Touch screen friendly yet this is the desktop app and the mobile app didn't get a redesign. Doubt it.

 

[videogamesm12]

The experiment remains the same but now the interface differs depending on the treatment you are given. There are four modes, half of which are just the other two with an option to collapse the sidebar entirely, a feature I personally welcome for something like direct messages. Here's what the new UI looks like as of right now.



The most significant difference between the two other modes is how the chat message box looks. They moved the attachment, gift nitro, GIF, stickers, and apps buttons to a new row along with the typing indicator. This was apparently significant enough of a change to warrant the two different modes I mentioned earlier. I prefer the legacy look because it looks better to have them all in one box instead of this weird segregated solution.




Personally, I don't like the direction this is going design-wise. The existing user interface is a great traditional look that while missing some features like a proper AMOLED theme, is still completely usable and looks perfectly fine on both smaller and larger screens alike. This, on the other hand, is excessively bulky even on a screen like my laptop's HiDPI screen. This design philosophy of "bigger is better" has always been the kind of shit that I've vehemently despised when it comes to UI design because it's completely unnecessary. Just make something that looks good regardless of scaling and build off of that. You're not going to be making any progress if you keep reinventing the wheel.

It looks like it's the current fashion, some justify it as "it's touch screen friendly".

If it's supposed to be following this trend, then it's a massive disaster waiting to happen. The touch screen friendly stuff should be kept far away from the desktop environment.

 

[windows9x_]

discord doing unnecessary shit.

 

[Telesphoreo]

The experiment remains the same but now the interface differs depending on the treatment you are given. There are four modes, half of which are just the other two with an option to collapse the sidebar entirely, a feature I personally welcome for something like direct messages. Here's what the new UI looks like as of right now.

View attachment 521

The most significant difference between the two other modes is how the chat message box looks. They moved the attachment, gift nitro, GIF, stickers, and apps buttons to a new row along with the typing indicator. This was apparently significant enough of a change to warrant the two different modes I mentioned earlier. I prefer the legacy look because it looks better to have them all in one box instead of this weird segregated solution.

View attachment 522
View attachment 523

Personally, I don't like the direction this is going design-wise. The existing user interface is a great traditional look that while missing some features like a proper AMOLED theme, is still completely usable and looks perfectly fine on both smaller and larger screens alike. This, on the other hand, is excessively bulky even on a screen like my laptop's HiDPI screen. This design philosophy of "bigger is better" has always been the kind of shit that I've vehemently despised when it comes to UI design because it's completely unnecessary. Just make something that looks good regardless of scaling and build off of that. You're not going to be making any progress if you keep reinventing the wheel.


If it's supposed to be following this trend, then it's a massive disaster waiting to happen. The touch screen friendly stuff should be kept far away from the desktop environment.

Useless on desktop. They need to fix the message box on mobile. Half of it is useless buttons. Who is gifting Nitro as often as sending a message?