HubSpot Ideas

VelocityOption

Workflow UI Design - "Show Details" NEEDS To Be Made Optional

Hey fellow automation-heads.

I posted a thread complaining (and warning) about the direction of workflow UI changes around this time last year (on a different client-account, figured I would finally make a personal account here):
Why does the workflows interface keep getting worse?

The thread picked up a bit of traction and generated feedback from some prominent users about beta changes that were being proposed.

Well, today, I logged in to tend to some workflows, and was met with this:

Workflow View.jpg

When did we elect to abandon efficient language and return to hieroglyphics? Looking at this wall, I felt like I had just entered the tomb of the Pharaoh from Yu-Gi-Oh... did ancient Egyptian gods take over HubSpot's UI design?


I have said this before, and I'll say it again - as automation professionals, we do not have TIME to be MANUALLY clicking on 100 separate workflow actions to access and review information.

This is not just some subjective complaint about font selection.

This is a CRIPPLING USABILITY FLAW, and it needs to be made into an OPTIONAL VIEW ... IMMEDIATELY.

There is NO justification that can be provided for having made this change. This does not benefit anyone who actually uses the tool.

I am not prepared to lose dozens if not hundreds of hours beseeching the eye of horus to bestow me with the sagely wisdom of the automation contents I set up half a year ago.

Please make this an optional view filter. Yesterday.

0 Upvotes
3 Replies
MeganLegge
HubSpot Product Team

Hi @VelocityOption 

This new zoom out view is a change we very recently made, in direct follow up to feedback from many customers that when they zoom out to try and get a cohesive view of an entire, large workflow, it's very difficult to distinguish which actions are which. It's obvious it doesn't work for you, and some specific details on why not would be the most helpful in order for us to consider the feedback. Do you not like the look of the cards? Is there detail you expect to be on the card at that zoom level that isn't present? As I said last year I am happy to make time to chat with you further on a call. If you'd like to do that this time, please just let me know.

Best,

Megan Legge

VelocityOption
Member

Hi @MeganLegge,

Appreciate the response and clarification very much.

I reached out to support at the end of last week (as this seemed highly urgent to me), and they shared a critical functionality of the latest change:

"Do you mind trying to click on the + icon on the left-hand side of the screen (see screenshot)

Once you click on that, and zoom in a little bit, this will allow you to see the branch details under each branch name - it would have to be on 60% or higher in order to see this."

So to anyone else who may end up Googling or otherwise searching for information on how to expand the “Show Details” panel in HubSpot workflow views, that’s how you do it now.



With that piece of information, the latest update is far less egregious than my initial reaction would suggest - because the functionality to “bulk view” properties is still present (huge wave of relief from this - sincerely thrilled to still be able to do workflow updates efficiently, lol).

 

So a followup piece of feedback to consider then would be around how these updates are being deployed. I would really suggest having some sort of forced-click tutorial for major changes like this… not something that can just be closed and dismissed automatically out of instinct, but an update window that says “hey, we made a significant change to the UI, here’s a 2-3 click walkthrough of how it works”.

 

I guess I’m a living example of why that’s important… due to the nature of my particular workflows, I’m perpetually in a 50% or farther zoomed out view… so to me, the new functionality wasn’t conveyed in any way, and there was very little chance that I would have discovered that zooming-in to 60% would restore the properties to their original view. So in my eyes, it was, “oh no, a massive tech platform has once again made a random arbitrary change, and I’ll probably be screaming into the void about how inefficient this has become for larger workflows now”. Fortunately, it seems that won't be the case!

To close off, the new functionality is actually very helpful since our precious property info is still visible! Likely great for reducing interface lag for very large workflows as well. While the current implementation works (once you know about the zoom functionality), I could envision an alternate method as simply having a “Collapse Details” option under the “View” tab, which could either be checked or unchecked at any level of zoom. That way a user could simply toggle the option on or off whenever needed.

 

Very large wall of text. but hope that helps clarify where the “red flag” originated from on my end. As always your responsiveness is highly appreciated, and really what separates HubSpot from other platforms - cheers! 🙂

MeganLegge
HubSpot Product Team

Hello again,

Thank you for the update! I'm really glad to hear your particular needs are still being met and there may be times when the new zoom in view could actually be helpful for you. Making this more of a mode that can be turned on/off instead of tied to a zoom level is a cool idea I will take back to the team. We always communicate product changes and those specific details about how it works (eg. the 60% threshold) in our in-app product updates section. That said, I know there are a ton of product updates so these are very hard to stay up to date with. I completely hear you on the in-app onboarding. It's definitely a fine line we try to walk, because we know those "interruptions" can get annoying, but we do want to help guide people, so I'll take your suggestions into consideration. 

Take care,

Megan