My Stance (And Proposition) On The Sidebar.

Hallo People. 

Just today, I logged onto chess.com and hovered over my Green Pawn. What happened, you may ask? I was met with this textbox, saying 'This Menu Has Moved'. Take a look at it for yourself - 

At first sight, I was confused as to why I had gotten this. Then, realization set in; I had received the new sidebar update :0. When I saw this for the next few times, I was slightly outraged as it made it feel like a tutorial, something that really sparked me to make this forum.

Over the previous weeks, I had heard rumours of this update and numerous people actually getting it, not being in Beta (and being in Beta also). Many people didn't like it (including myself). 

Everything wrong in the Update - 

• To start off, if you've been an active member of chess.com previous to this update, you have hovered over the Green Pawn at the top right of the screen to check for notifications. Chess.com has moved this near the bottom-left of the screen, which has 3 key problems. 

1. Your muscle memory has been reset. Because of this change, the hovering over the green pawn simply doesn't work anymore, and forces you to rewire and go to the bottom. 

2. Switching tabs is now harder. This may be a minor problem to some people, but to others, it is not. When your notifications were at the top of the screen, it was easier to click on a notification and switch to other tabs, as both are near the other tabs. This made working on other stuff easier, and more efficient. 

3. Your profile, Messages, and Notifications have been separated. This just removes some empty space, and having them all in one tab was much better, letting you navigate quicker and alternating between the 3, because notifications were all there along with Messages, and your profile, instead of you having to click on them to see them. 

• That last point perfectly segways into my next point; You have to click on the Notifications button to see your notifications. Previously, you hovered over the Green Pawn to see all your notifications relating to clubs, forums/threads you follow, Friend requests, etc. etc. This is less efficient than it previously was, thus unnecessary. 
• Messages and Chats have merged together. There are a few problems with this, the main one being that they are under the same icon; The messages icon. This can mislead many people, because Messages are usually for important things, while chats are for, well, chatting. They should not be merged together (In my opinion, but I can see why you'd do that), and definitely not under the same icon. 
• There is a lot more space filled up. This might just be me being a perfectionist, however I simply do not appreciate the taking up of space of this new update. 
• The adding of the 'Dumbell' icon. This one was previously under the learn section, and worked well there. You're still learning, no reason to add another section for it. 

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So, now you know the issues (and my stance); How to fix it? 

I witnessed many people give feedback on this new update. Many liked it, and many did not. I'm not asking for the new sidebar to be removed, because I know many people had to take a lot of time to program this, and I do not want their efforts to be wasted. 

Here's my proposition - Give the people an option to have the new sidebar, or keep the old one. Maybe add it in interface settings? 

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have a great rest of your day! : ) - Alvand.

i got the update like 3 weeks ago but i didnt sign up for beta testing

The structure is clear, with a logical flow of points outlining the issues with the update. The writer highlights three main problems, providing specific reasons for their dissatisfaction. The use of bullet points to list issues makes it easy for readers to follow along and digest the information quickly.

However, there are a few areas where the text could be improved:

1. Clarity and Breavity: Some sentences could be tightened for clarity. For instance, instead of "The merging of Messages and Chats into the same icon can mislead many people," it could be simplified to "Merging Messages and Chats into the same icon can be misleading."

2. Tone Consistency: The initial excitement about the update shifts to frustration rather quickly. Maintaining a consistent tone throughout would strengthen the overall message. Perhaps starting with more measured skepticism instead of outright frustration could balance it better.

3. Proofreading: A few minor grammatical tweaks would enhance readability. For example, "And many did not" could be rephrased for smoother integration into the preceding sentence.

4. Suggestions for Improvement: The proposal at the end is a great way to conclude the review, but it could benefit from more detail on how the options could be implemented or what the ideal settings might look like.

bruh

I actually prefer it now I've gotten used to it. I signed up for beta, and I've had it since November. I can understand your complaints, but personally, I think it is a change for the better, however unnecessary it was...

Yea, I got the update yesterday to.

The site doesn't keep two versions of the same feature long term. It requires double the work to keep features updated and tested. The old code will be removed at some point.

I personally hated it at first, but then eventually thought it was a much better change

Same.

Wouldn't you say it takes a lot more work to constantly change the UI?

To verbose just say it sucks.

It's not constantly being charged.

Yes it is. Chess.com changes it too often. Just keep it! I do not see what was wrong with the other version

There are changes in other parts of the site, more often, but the UI overall doesn't change that often. Pretty sure this menu change was the first major change to that feature since your account was created.

The site has a lot of features, and there are going to be changes to individual features, over time. Sites that don't change, stagnate.

I do not understand why chess.com did this major interface change. There is no need for it.

*cough* (they should put it back to where it was) *cough*