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I just got a big surprise :-((

This looks like someone is trying very hard to drive reviewers away

  • difficult to identify the post in question (is it the Q or the A?)
  • "link" to see post in context is not there any more
  • screen real estate wasted

New Review UI

To elaborate (see @terdon's comment):

  • identify post: the "banner" marked red (I don't have a better name for this region) at the top shows very prominently infos about the question (which is totally irrelevant when reviewing an answer)

banner

  • link: where? I have been trying to find it just now for several minutes
  • real estate:
    • the "actions" window covers the place where the link to the post in question used to be
    • I am not able any more to see the answer and the question at the same time

Remark: Sorry to have dumped my initial anger here - I could have found that meta post myself :-)) where I in the meantime have posted an answer influenced by @Glorfindel's admonition of constructivity.

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    Could you explain the issues a bit more? How is it difficult to identify the post? I see "Review the following answer" (emphasis mine) in big letters at the top. The link is still there, you can click on the answer and that will take you to the page. In addition, we now have all the context right there in the review! You can click on the "Question" link to see the question and all answers can be shown inline, it's much better! Dunno what you mean about wasted screen real estate.
    – terdon
    Feb 17, 2021 at 9:59
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    You used to be about to see the question by just simply scrolling down, now an additional click is required, and the clicks quickly add up if you are doing a number of reviews (especially across different sites). Feb 17, 2021 at 11:32
  • @terdon I have addressed the points in your comment.
    – guntbert
    Feb 17, 2021 at 18:26
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    I do agree with you on your initial points. The mix of radio buttons with submit/skip is silly. Would have been nice to have seen an announcement here, a few days prior, that AU was going to be a guinea pig for this. Implementation comes off as an edict from on-high without communicating the change clearly. :-/ Feb 17, 2021 at 19:14

2 Answers 2

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What's going on is described here on Meta Stack Exchange: Visual design changes to the review queues. That is also the place to leave feedback. They've already improved quite a lot of things reported by the community in the first round (Close/Reopen review queues on Meta Stack Exchange/Meta Stack Overflow) so perhaps they will take your criticism as well, as long as you post it in a constructive way.

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    Thank you for the pointer and for the reminder about "constructive" - I definitely will not post there now - I am too angry :-))
    – guntbert
    Feb 16, 2021 at 21:55
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    Pointless clicks are required. Once an edit has been done, there is only one radio button available, which must be clicked before being able to click "submit". Utterly pointless! UI/UX improvements are meant to make things easier, and not require even more effort and induce RSI. Feb 17, 2021 at 7:18
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    @Greenonline It's still a bit early, since I am still trying to get familiar with the new review UI, but I am not sure that this extra click you mention is entirely pointless. There have been quite a few times that I have misclicked in a review or I have pressed a button and immediately after I have regretted my decision, because I realized that it wasn't the best one for the case. Until now, I think the new UI helps me think one more time before my final review decision (it could be just because it's a new UI - time will tell). Feb 17, 2021 at 11:11
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    @BeastOfCaerbannog - but in that case, it is the incorrect UI element and it should be a checkbox and not a radio button. If only one option (in a radio button set) is available, then it should be selected by default (that's basic UI design law - or at least it used to be). Besides, UI improvements should improve efficiency, not reduce it and slow the user down. Feb 17, 2021 at 11:24
  • @Greenonline I suppose you are correct in that design aspect. Feb 17, 2021 at 11:30
  • @Greenonline it probably depends on your workflow, but I find this much, much more efficient since I can now see all the details here and no longer need to load the original page to see the context.
    – terdon
    Feb 18, 2021 at 12:19
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I'll post an answer since it's hard to do in comments. I will be using this review item as an example: https://askubuntu.com/review/low-quality-posts/1123857

screenshot of review task



Now, on to your specific points.

  1. identify post: the banner at the top shows very prominently infos about the question (which is totally irrelevant when reviewing an answer)

    I honestly don't understand this. The banner clearly states answer:

    enter image description here

    And the same information is further reinforced. In total, there are three places where the system is telling you it is an answer:

    enter image description here

    I really don't understand what else is missing here.

  2. link: where? I have been trying to find it just now for several minutes

    The question title is a link:

    enter image description here

    Now, this takes you to the question page and does not immediately scroll to the answer. If that's what you meant, I do agree that it should be improved. However, I find that with the new interface you don't need to actually go to the question since everything is already here. In any case, the old system also took you to the question and not the specific answer, if I remember correctly, right?

  3. real estate:

    the "actions" window covers the place where the link to the post in question used to be

    This one I don't get at all. The link to the question is still there, as explained above, and now I have the actions in a nice clear box easy to access and clearly visible. Removing it would just leave empty screen. Why?

    I am not able any more to see the answer and the question at the same time

    Yes, OK. I don't particularly miss that myself. For one thing, that was only possible when both the question and the answer were both tiny enough to fit in one screen. in most cases, the old system wouldn't let you see both at the same time without scrolling anyway.

    However, this does seem to contradict your initial complaint about having too much information about the question which you said is "totally irrelevant when reviewing an answer". You seem to be both wanting more from the question and less.

    Personally, I find that in the vast majority of cases I can either review the answer without even checking the question (link only, clearly bad etc), or I can just read the question once and that's enough to make a judgement on the answer. Since they usually don't fit in one screen anyway, the new interface makes it much easier to consult the question while reviewing the answer.

So, in all, I just don't see most of the problems you mention, myself. This seems like a clear improvement which has fixed many of the long standing issues with the review.

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  • Thx for taking the time - My 1st point seems to meet a vocabulary problem, which I hopefully have clarified with my new edit.
    – guntbert
    Feb 17, 2021 at 20:41
  • "In any case, the old system also took you to the question and not the specific answer, if I remember correctly, right?" I don't think so. IIRC this was one way to identify audits - click the link and if the target post doesn't match the review post, it's an audit. meta.askubuntu.com/a/17299/158442
    – muru
    Feb 18, 2021 at 2:55
  • @guntbert I guess it's a personal thing. I just don't find the layout confusing at all. It is immediately obvious to me that it is an answer and not a question.
    – terdon
    Feb 18, 2021 at 10:00
  • @muru no, the link on the right side takes/took you immediately to the relevant post and it does/did so in a new tab.
    – guntbert
    Feb 18, 2021 at 18:37

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