What's up with this new desktop UI?

[tetre]

Device

PC

Operating System

Windows 10

I don't know where else to post this, but the new desktop UI is terrible. I'm running version 1.2.7.1277.g2b3ce637 and have tried the methods to revert the UI I've found elsewhere in the community (like changing prefs file, which I had to dig for), but none have worked.

The UI is just the complete opposite of what I'd want on desktop- very noncompact, difficult for no reason, and generally looks to be modeled more for phones than for a desktop.

If anyone knows a way to revert the update, please let me know.

[tetre]

Hey folks,

If you need a familiar experience to help you get started with the new Your Library sidebar, here's how to get it as close as possible to the old sidebar that previously only showed playlists:

• In the left "Your Library" sidebar, click on the "Playlists" filter at the top.

• Then, in the sort options drop down menu select "Custom Order". You will then see your previous playlist order and be able to move your playlists and folders like before.

• Your currently chosen filters and sort options will be remembered across restarts of the desktop app.

• If you would like to only see text in the Your Library sidebar (no art covers), go to the Spotify app Settings ➜ Library ➜ and turn on "Use compact library layout".

• Flexible Sizing: You can drag the Your Library sidebar to different sizes. Fully expand the sidebar by clicking the arrow button at the top, and fully collapse the sidebar by clicking on the "Your Library" heading to see only art covers.

• At the top, you can scroll through the different filters with your mouse scroll wheel for faster navigation when the sidebar is set to a smaller size. 

Hopefully this info helps!

Check out my help guide for more help:

Desktop: New Your Library sidebar

[o__v__o]

Spotify doesn't understand consent!

[spogebob]

and these ppl always say "your feedback is very important to us" 🤣

[spogebob]

i guess its not all that bad because spotify is for listening to things in the background and you arent constantly looking at it all the time...but it is a shame that i have to look at that atrocious design everytime i want to change playlists or something

[spogebob]

definitely made the spotify experience worse for me tho.

[spogebob]

i think one reason they did this is because app and web designers nowadays cant get enough of those sweet rounded corners. rounded corners all over the place. but sadly... putting rounded corners everywhere doesnt always automatically make it more appealing...this is one of those cases

[spogebob]

nothing against rounded corners of course.  but some people need to lay off those things!

[48i_be_the_wubs]

I've had issues with Spotify (specifically the web player) since around 2015, when they shifted the layout from being very PC friendly to a more mobile friendly version (My artists haven't been listed alphabetically since because spotify took that feature away!). This being said, I've been using it for a very long time now and, while it's had some very bad iterations, this is the worst it's ever been. This new layout seems like it was made by a child. Consolidating the entirety of your entire library to a single, small tab? Insane! Awful decision! Not to mention how it makes everything look worse than it did before, and forces you to minimize album art if you even want to look at your library. I really do wish there was any alternative to Spotify, something with as in depth and vast a catalogue, because I would use it in a heartbeat. Spotify is just awful. Please, revert this update. It looks absolutely awful, and makes searching through my very large library next to impossible. Again, this is one of the worst updates Spotify has ever put out.

[Fabiandoz]

It's really upsetting that we never get the option to opt in for the new UI, it's just thrown into our faces involuntarily. I do not like the new UI and want to revert back, but even switching to older versions of Spotify doesn't work now.

[iseer]

UI is REALLY NOT GREAT on desktop for many valid reasons already listed. The minimum size when shrinking the left sidebar is way to large. You should be able to make it as small as possible before it changes to the album artwork. Please revert, although truth be told there have been several regressive updates for a while. Probably time to search for an alternative player.

[username145632]

the new interface for spotify on PC is too clunky, and inconvenient, the old one was pretty much perfect in my opinion, and i think it would be a good idea to revert or have options for the menu interface

[killenjoy]

i second this, i restarted my pc today and when spotify opened it looked absolutely awful. it looks like something you would install from the microsoft app store. i really hope they undo this, or at least find a way to make it look less messy

[skruzo]

I would love to have the option to opt-out of the new UI. I find it very clunky, inefficient with space, and it is actively undoing the organization/sorting I've done for my music library.

Vertical Space

I make extensive use of playlist folders in my library, and the new UI causes the playlist/folder list to take up far more room than it used to. I can now only see about half of the playlists on screen at a time, vertically, because each now has to have its own album art connected to it, which playlist folders do not get. Additionally, if I shrink the horizontal size of the playlist menu, it collapses entirely, showing only icons, which again all look the same because playlist folders do not get icons.

Changing to Compact Library View does not help because now my library panel also includes every single artist and album I've saved. I vastly preferred those things to have their own menu section, like it was before, and to just have playlists live in the playlist menu. Now it feels like a chore to find what I'm looking for.

Sorting Woes

For some reason it seems to have been decided that the default sorting method should be recently played when it comes to organizing playlists themselves, and I cannot get it to stay set to Custom. I have playlist organized into a specific order within my different folders, I would like to continue using that order. Now I have to manually set it back to "Custom" every time I open a playlist folder. If I back out of that folder and re-enter it, it returns to "Recent", rendering custom almost completely useless since it's always reverting.

Opt-Out

Please give us the option to opt-out of this new UI. As someone who specifically enjoys manually organizing and sorting my library, this new UI is entirely preventing me from being able to do that, in addition to being far more inconvenient to use.

[Strawjab]

It's **bleep**ing horrid

shows 1 playlist on the side, you have to zoom out it zooms out everything

why did it bulk the playlists? to show icons - wth

give me the paycheck of whomever made**bleep**

[skruzo]

Copying what I wrote in another discussion about this.

I would love to have the option to opt-out of the new UI. I find it very clunky, inefficient with space, and it is actively undoing the organization/sorting I've done for my music library.

Vertical Space

I make extensive use of playlist folders in my library, and the new UI causes the playlist/folder list to take up far more room than it used to. I can now only see about half of the playlists on screen at a time, vertically, because each now has to have its own album art connected to it, which playlist folders do not get. Additionally, if I shrink the horizontal size of the playlist menu, it collapses entirely, showing only icons, which again all look the same because playlist folders do not get icons.

Changing to Compact Library View does not help because now my library panel also includes every single artist and album I've saved. I vastly preferred those things to have their own menu section, like it was before, and to just have playlists live in the playlist menu. Now it feels like a chore to find what I'm looking for.

Sorting Woes

For some reason it seems to have been decided that the default sorting method should be recently played when it comes to organizing playlists themselves, and I cannot get it to stay set to Custom. I have playlist organized into a specific order within my different folders, I would like to continue using that order. Now I have to manually set it back to "Custom" every time I open a playlist folder. If I back out of that folder and re-enter it, it returns to "Recent", rendering custom almost completely useless since it's always reverting.

Opt-Out

Please give us the option to opt-out of this new UI. As someone who specifically enjoys manually organizing and sorting my library, this new UI is entirely preventing me from being able to do that, in addition to being far more inconvenient to use.

[KENDUONG]

Hello, Community Manager
May I like to ask if I could opt out of this new desktop interface because it isn't something that I am a fan of. I've read a few comments that has got this new menu ui, get opt out into the old layout and wondered if I could get this too. I am not sure how they did so I am trying to leave a reply hoping to recieve an update regarding this issue so that I can opt back out.

Thank you.

[avalando_bombas]

TEXTO **bleep** PARA LOS HISPANOHABLANTES:
La nueva versión desktop 2023 es poco intuitiva, molesta, cuesta navegar fluidamente, la experiencia en las playlists personales es confusa y la imagen del disco se superpone sobre las playlists. Cuando se extienda la biblioteca uno se confunde las listas con lo que hay en el home, la jerarquía de los artes de tapa es similar, generando complicaciones que antes no teníamos. En este caso, no siento que deba acostumbrarme al nuevo diseño, por que se parece más a la versión mobile y no es lo que busco en una desktop app. A los UX/UI designers que plantearon/hicieron esta actualización: entiendo su búsqueda, pero están pensando en nuevos usuarios y olvidándose de los usuarios más antiguos que mantienen una suscripción mensual.
Gracias y espero que los nuevos features desaparezcan rápidamente. 

[lewinskig]

New UI is horrible. I can't see all my albums anymore on one screen. The sceen is split vertiaclly in two and it pisses me off. I want to brows my albums and you are showing me only half - I can't close the right pannel. Who ever thought of this should be fired. 

[orbitutmost]

Hi! Is there anywhere besides this thread where we can give update feedback? Maybe a dedicated link for a "desktop UI update feedback"?

If not, it would be greatly helpful if, when Spotify decides to include us in beta tests, we were given the following;
>> a very clear notification/popup/alert that the content change we are seeing is a beta test, and not a confirmed permanent feature. This would avoid the "they've messed up permanently the platform I liked, guess I have to leave and find something new" impulse many seem to be experiencing.

>> A very clear link / form to provide feedback on the update in client. This should be something we can minimize and return to easily once we have evaluated the test feature.

>> An ability to opt-out of this specific feature test and to return to the platform as normal. We are not always in a position / place to be beta testers on a platform we love as it was.

Thanks so much, hopefully this feedback makes it somewhere useful!

[#21]

After the newest update, I haven't been able to take my playlists out of their folders. How should I do this now. Im on desktop app.

[user-removed]

Is this just a thread where feedback goes to die?

I have the feeling Spotify is dead-set on just moving away from folders - first they remove the ability to play folders on Mobile, which is also one of the highest voted ideas (why you need an idea for a past feature is beyond me) and is still not implemented, now I need to right-click on the folder to be able to play it.

Why does everything have to be a button, Spotify? Why can't I just have some empty space on the app where I can click around with nothing happening? Now, if I click on the folder it just shifts my library with the content of that folder; if I click on it again, it gives me the ability to rename it...

Honestly getting tired of bad design ideas and seriously considering an alternative provider at this point.