Where is Jolla heading?

Also see

https://together.jolla.com/question/192071/make-sailfish-ui-consistent-and-easy-again-please/

With regards to the UI I wrote there:

It seems to me there's nobody responsible @Jolla for UI and visual design at the moment. I don't feel the visions of a master mind behind all this.

So you are not the only one with these feelings, unfortunately.

While indeed in the past there was a main designer and the UI might have been overall more consistent, it always seemed to me the "grand vision" was a bit disconnected from what people actually do on their devices and how they expect them to behave.

On the other hand now it seems to me that user feedback is finally being taken into account and the UI is being adjusted to be less elegant but more usable.

@sepuka It's of course a personal preference, but I like the new top menu. Now it's:

• Swipe vertical = always available option (apps, settings in top menu)
• Swipe horizontal = what's going on/running (open apps, notifications, feeds)

I don't understand why there's always the comparison with Android (I've used Android as well). MeeGo Harmattan also had a drop down menu which could be activated at any time. Instead of a swipe down it was necessary to click on the upper regions of the display - but otherwise it was very similar to Sailfish 3. There were also shortcuts and instead of 'ambiences' it was called 'profiles' on the N9.

I have same feelings. Sailfish 3 needs some rework as also gallery application. I'm currently quite mad for this "transition to easier use/learn for new users". Simply actions is; If you like sailfish user interface you probably have motivation to learn whole sailfish operating system. If you do not like sailfish, you just use android or ios. Sailfish can't be fits everyone as also same goes other operating system.

So afterall there is no reason to change sailfish for new users. That's fact.

I just mention one thing more; if the attitude is "because people not want change user interface or just any ways want keep current style" Basically that means Innovations can't be exsist, because people are so retarded that they not think that sometimes change is good thing or alternatively they do not have imagination to think that "there is better ways to do same things" Cherry in cake, that's so funny that even most of time changes not recuire a lot of learning so no need to put a lot of effort for it.

Sorry for bad english as also poor spelling but I believe you get my speech correctly. Sure I could just think more and type more correcly but that would takes much longer to write this all speech

@MartinK I don't feel it got "more usable" - and that's exactly the point. Gestures in general are "more usable" than buttons on a device that's meant to be used on the go, while walking, on a moving bus etc. Sailfish more or less invented the gesture based UI - and now that others finally follow, Jolla goes back to UI paradigms that were part of Windows 3.11 like the [X] in the upper right corner to close a - well - window. That just doesn't make any sense on a mobile device.

Also, while I don't fundamentally oppose the new top menu (I just never use it, the old "swipe to events view and pull down" is hard coded forever in my muscle memory), the fact that they totally ruined the "swipe down to close" by banning it to the outer edge of the screen leaves me speechless. A gesture is superior to a button because it doesn't matter much where you perform it. Sailfish has always stretched this to its limits by distinguishing between in-screen gestures and edge swipes, but that still worked somehow. Now, for one of the most often used gestures, I have to aim carefully and still get it wrong every other try, opening a menu I never need. (I mean, come on, how often a day do you switch off Wifi?)

A vision would be: Make it easy to use when you move around. (Jolla now lacks such a vision.) The implementation could then be: Let's try gestures. Iterations would have to find easy to use solutions for issues that people have with that but still stay faithful to the original vision.

Now, there's nothing. Recent iterations don't work, new implementations break the original vision, a new vision is nowhere to be seen. It's a Frankenstein UI now, put together from leftovers of dead SF1 and parts that escaped from a laboratory in Transylvania too early.

The whole thing, as the OP said, needs direction. A distinct set of UI elements that make the vision come true. Also, strict UI guidelines as a prerequisite for apps to be published in Harbour.