Is the 2021 dark live view on Shopify right for you?

KatieKoo
Tourist
9 0 15

The new 'Dark' view is terrific. I was a massive critic of when it was changed last year. Hats off to whoever came up with this....it looks great. 

 

Screenshot 2021-11-24 at 17.01.59.png

 

 

Replies 52 (52)

KatieKoo
Tourist
9 0 15

Even the globe view looks good. 

 

Screenshot 2021-11-24 at 17.09.20.png

noristudio
Visitor
1 0 3

I don't like it either. It takes time to load and it looks messy. 

BradSCJB
Explorer
81 0 157

So what changes were made?

BradSCJB
Explorer
81 0 157

So I just got the updated live view.

 

Much better than the update last year. MUCH MUCH better.

 

But I am scratching my head. Why...WHY are you guys doing this right before the biggest sale weekend of the year (BFCM)?!?! You guys should have launched this weeks ago to let everyone get their feet wet with it. Not just cram it down our throats right before BFCM. Last year was a TOTAL dumpster fire. I figured you guys would have learned from that.

BradSCJB
Explorer
81 0 157

Here is some feedback....make the stats panel on the right so you don't have to scroll it. I don't have a 300 inch monitor. Even on the full screen mode with my resolution set to 1920x1080, I have to scroll to see all the stats. Maybe make it responsive to whatever resolution is being displayed? Just a thought.

Decorfaure
Explorer
52 0 81

Compltely agree! Even I am not able to see all the stats without scrolling down which is so frustrating! I really liked the previous simple view. I don't understand the need to fix something which wasn't broken! Seriously, shopify stop making unnecessary changes!

Ofcoinscrystals
Tourist
10 0 21

My thoughts exactly! Who comes up with these release dates? BFCM live view revision.  Is this now a thing?

sallyridgway108
Excursionist
18 0 21

I have low vision and cant see a thing!!!!!!!

WHY is my map Black on dark grey!!!!!!!!!! 

 

This is terrible!!

Terrible

terrible

terrible

What are you thinking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

Zaheera1
Tourist
3 0 16

Totally agree. I can’t even keep track anymore. It’s absolutely useless this new version. They should have the decency to at least notify us of the change. I remembered complaining about the last change and they never did anything about it all. Looks like Shopify just do as they please 😡

BradSCJB
Explorer
81 0 157

More constructive feedback...

 

Get rid of this "Top Products" section - its useless. I can run a report to see that if I am really interested. Bring back the page view tracking.

 

As some are not happy with the new color layout, I like it much better than the blinding white screen.

Tumilu
Excursionist
28 1 41

This update makes me unhappy. 😞

 

I still cannot view my own country on zoom and am forced to see half the Europe (and my international sales are like 5% of revenue), so that makes the map completely irrelevant.

 

And most importantly.. why did you make it BLACK (on Android at least)?! It's so aggressive and completely doesn't match the rest of UI. I hate it 😞

Decorfaure
Explorer
52 0 81

https://chng.it/9BCS46Bjsn

 

Please sign the petition to change it to old format

Zaheera1
Tourist
3 0 16

Omg why, my screen is all black, why do you keep making these changes. We just get used to one setting and then you decide to change it

ChasingRainbow
Tourist
8 0 32

I hate it!! It’s absolutely awful. Why oh why did they take away the live page views section too?? The live view for me is pretty much useless now, I loved seeing the bars rise up when someone was on my store and then seeing it change to an active cart was exciting! Now they’ve ruined that as you can only see it when it goes straight to an active cart! No idea why they would take that off! Please change it back or at least give us the option to have either one! 

Tumilu
Excursionist
28 1 41
Yeah, and you'd think what they did one year ago, also just before BF, was
bad enough, eh?

They just cannot help themselves but mess things up more and more...
Blindly tweaking settings instead of, oh I don't know, researching and
consulting with their clients.

How they think this UI is an improvement over the past one (which was
already worse than the one before) is totally beyond me...

If that is not a definition of going downhill, I don't know what is. 😉
sallyridgway108
Excursionist
18 0 21

Why is it black on Dark Grey???????????????

What are you thinking??????????????

 

This is disgraceful and discriminates against those who are vision impaired.

Not Happy!

fabrics
Excursionist
20 0 33

I think it is way to dark very hard to look at.  This is the second time you have made changes right before a big sale.  I would like to know what you people are really thinking.  Do you not have something better to do?   Not sure why I am putting anything here because it really doesn't do any good other than get it out of my system.  

 

brewshop
Visitor
2 0 11

Screen Shot 2021-11-24 at 4.42.20 PM.png

 

Not loving this new live view.

stitchrock
Excursionist
11 0 92

This is better than last year’s change, but it

1) is not easy to read in all black

2) we literally just want to know what product pages are getting viewed and from what city/state

3) the changes are getting made 2 days before the biggest shopping weekend AGAIN??!!  This is so irresponsible and inconsiderate.

earthfairy
Tourist
8 0 21

Honestly, it really does feel like Shopify giving the finger to all its customers. How could they deliberately do this at this time of year AGAIN? People went beserk about the dark screen last year, and purely for accessibility reasons I'm sure they will have to change it back AGAIN. Is someone at Shopify on a personal mission to stuff this up for us? Don't they get feedback prior to just launching us into this abyss? I can't work out if its careless, or agressive.

scherfd
Tourist
5 0 17

What is this? A scrollable live view? With no live page view? What is wrong with these people at Shopify that they can't help themselves to constantly change the live view for the worse. Leave it alone!

Decorfaure
Explorer
52 0 81

https://chng.it/9BCS46Bjsn

 

Please sign the petition to change it to old format.

brewshop
Visitor
2 0 11

Glad you like it. I personally can't stand this new live view. The map wastes so much space (and the globe just looks dopey). Plus, I feel like the dark view doesn't work at all with the rest of the backend experience. Really wish they wouldn't make a change every Black Friday with something that makes getting work done more difficult right now. I love experimentation, but I'm frustrated that switching back to the original view doesn't seem like an option.

ChasingRainbow
Tourist
8 0 32

@brewshop I’m glad I’m not the only one! I also hate that they have removed the live page views section! Can’t believe they done that, absolutely fuming! 

chathamgardens
Visitor
1 0 12

I also can't believe the live views are gone.   I also don't like that I now have to scroll down to see the active cart/checkout status.  It all fit on my screen before the update.  Now the most useful data is separated by info I don't really use.   "Most popular product" is not something I need to see in real time, all the time.

Finally, if you like dark mode that's great,  but I prefer the old mode.  Usually dark mode is an option, not the only option.

ChasingRainbow
Tourist
8 0 32

@chathamgardens @Totally agree! It used to all fit on my screen too, now it doesn’t. So frustrating! I can’t believe or understand why they would remove the live views?! Like you say we don’t need the top product, I wouldn’t even want to see the customers section either! I really hope they change it back and fast!! But somehow I can’t see them doing that or listening to us 😩😖😣

welcomebrand
Shopify Partner
72 1 109

I honestly don't understand how a billion dollar company are making such a hash of this.

 

Someone in a decision making capacity is obviously super committed to this map and globe view despite it offering next to no useful information and forcing the actual useful information into tiny panels or off screen on the app.

 

It's a bit more colourful than the last version but I honestly don't get why you'd make a tool like this and hide the actual data people use it for.

 

 

KatieKoo
Tourist
9 0 15

When you say 'old' mode, do you mean the one that has been on for only the last 12 months...the one that replaced a dark mode? The was pandemonium last year when the light grey was introduced.   

starchaser888
Excursionist
43 1 24

I hate it. Hard to see all the black with my vision. Can't find anything useful about it. No longer use it as the information is useless info. i finally got use to last years change and they go a make it worse. I could see people and if they added to their cart. Now Io have to scroll constantly to see anything so no longer bother it's a piece of junk and we should have the option of which to use so we can pick the one that works best for us. People aren't all the same.

ChasingRainbow
Tourist
8 0 32

I really was hoping they would have changed it back by now! No such luck! Doesn’t seem like they are listening to any of us. Not having the live page views makes it totally useless for us, why can’t they see that? 
Please put that back on Shopify!!

calmseas
Tourist
4 0 7

I like that the map is back.  But why is it dark?  This makes it very hard to see.  I don't understand why we can't have a nice, clean, light background.

Decorfaure
Explorer
52 0 81

https://chng.it/9BCS46Bjsn


Please sign the petition to change it to old format

earthfairy
Tourist
8 0 21

I would have liked to have signed but keep getting an error message that says "There was an error submitting your signature". I've tried both in Chrome and in Edge, not sure why it is accepting it.

peekas_boutique
Tourist
4 0 9

I haven't even had much of a chance to look at it to know if I like it. HOWEVER, WHY do they keep doing this right before the biggest sale weekend of the year!? I've spent days/weeks preparing for my sale, only to have Shopify, for the second year in a row, pull this crap. Really fed up with it. 

PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6274 573 1318

@KatieKoo wrote:

The new 'Dark' view is terrific. I was a massive critic of when it was changed last year. Hats off to whoever came up with this....it looks great. 

 



@peekas_boutique wrote:

I haven't even had much of a chance to look at it to know if I like it. HOWEVER, WHY do they keep doing this right before the biggest sale weekend of the year!? I've spent days/weeks preparing for my sale, only to have Shopify, for the second year in a row, pull this crap. Really fed up with it. 


Daily workflow features should not be messed with zero lead up, especially immediately prior to high activity events without forewarning.

 

While new features have to come out at some point changes like this need to be rolled out with a healthy timeline and communication , or done as an opt-in/opt-out so close to BFCM and other sensitive sales days so that merchants are the ones that choose time of the workflow disruption.

 

This has become a weird pattern of behavior.

Should merchants just expect workflow disruptions immediately before BFCM every year?

So the only way to be prepared is checking shopifys tools up to and including working on thanksgiving night to find the gotchas?

Seems like a good way to generate grievance and a general sentiment of annoyance with the platform instead of reliability as business backbone.

 

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PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6274 573 1318

Relevant changelog https://changelog.shopify.com/posts/more-real-time-insights-with-live-view 

 

If you want the non-globe flat map view there is a toggle in the lower left.

I have not found direct url link to use to try and bypass the performance hog view which can literally freeze low end hardware, insane.

 

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/reports-and-analytics/shopify-reports/live-view 

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Sharon_B
Pathfinder
104 1 36

I swear Shopify changes things on the site so they take less bandwidth, and the easiest way to do that is to change things so no one wants to use them. Live view seems to be a perfect example of that mentality. Can't think of any other reasonable explanation. (And "live" is a complete misnomer at this point.)

BRoNH
Visitor
1 0 5

New look and live feature cut is very disappointing. Hello Shopify, we are paying you good money.

Ant_S
Tourist
3 0 11

I just want to throw my thoughts in here.

 

It sucks..

 

Live view does NOT need stats that are available elsewhere. It is a LIVE view, we want to see current activity on our websites, this includes:

- Number of people online

- Location of people online

- Current page view activity

- Current cart/checkout activity

- Total sales/sessions

 

We do not need the other crap that has been added, that info is available elsewhere.

Removing the current page view activity has actually really messed up my workflow and will cause me problems.

 

I suspect the people responsible for building this new live view do not actually use Shopify on a day-to-day basis to actually sell products, which is why an important feature has been removed without much thought for the people that use it everyday.

PaulNewton
Shopify Partner
6274 573 1318

@Ant_S wrote:

Live view does NOT need stats that are available elsewhere. It is a LIVE view, we want to see current activity on our websites, this includes:

- Number of people online

- Location of people online

- Current page view activity

- Current cart/checkout activity

- Total sales/sessions

 


@Paul_Davis wrote:

I use live view for 3 bits of information
1. popup showing location and contents viewed when customer changes page.  GONE
2. page views per minute for last 10 minutes. GONE
3. current baskets, checkouts, sales.  HIDDEN OFF BOTTOM OF PAGE.
Live view is no longer any use for me.


Seems a fundamental problem with the globe view is it's being accidently shaped toward presenting a stores activity through a rose colored lens of optimism instead of diagnostic utility through stats relevant to each merchants business. 

If your store is humming along perfectly and raking in visitors and cash then the things about live view make sense as it's a cherry feature like a cash-register cha-ching , or having the shopify order counter display ; a cute flex that doesn't have to tell the whole story because big number == good.

You can see this in the logic gap between the customer behavior "Checking Out" and "Completed".  Metrics like bounce rates should be priority info on display , as when it's high from locations this can indicates critical problems like translations, lack of currency, bad marketing,etc. Or inverting the whole Idea and not showing where people are coming from but where in the store they are going to.

 

If the are actually moving towards improving things so in the future it will have the stats talked about in this thread or can operate with reports then that's great, however dropping it on peoples head during times of known business stress is a huge negative multiplier.

Even a week of forewarning would give merchants opportunity to possibly create/get apps or services to replace it with the features they need, or to get feedback or improve shopify's communication.

Personally I'd rather them just have specific api for it so merchants could literally customize/configure it how they want like a report or a theme /shrug.

 

I suspect the people responsible for building this new live view do not actually use Shopify on a day-to-day basis to actually sell products, which is why an important feature has been removed without much thought for the people that use it everyday.


Even if they use it, last I checked there were only ~3-5 shopify "shopify" stores, their goals the last two years with the "live" view seem to not align with merchant goals or expectations.

An large assumption given the behavior, and by choosing "cool" aesthetics over utility, the globe-view priority is for marketing shopify itself as a brand feature and it can be done un-intentionally.

It looks good up on a big screen, or on a live stream, in marketing videos, and landing pages to get people to sign up to use shopify because "cool". And because of that whenever it's seen then what it's showing has to be "optimistic".

 

 

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Paul_Davis
Shopify Partner
46 1 33

This is a joke.  The new view is such a resource hog I cannot use it.


It seems a bit of a coincidence that Shopify always does this leading up to Black Friday.  Does Black Friday cause so much data usage in live view that it pushes Shopify over data usage boundaries and it costs them money?  Is this why they make sure lots of us stop using this screen on that day to save some money at the expense of its customers.

I use live view for 3 bits of information

1. popup showing location and contents viewed when customer changes page.  GONE
2. page views per minute for last 10 minutes. GONE
3. current baskets, checkouts, sales.  HIDDEN OFF BOTTOM OF PAGE.

Live view is no longer any use for me.

Last year when this sh*t happened I was going to change platforms but I just did not have the time to invest to move however this year I do have the time.

Enough is enough.

atelierelle
Visitor
1 0 4

well, even though I like the dark mode, I am afraid that this new life view page does not really show the data we want! Where is the live tracking? Why does this feature have to be cut, but other information that is easily found on the stats dashboard page is there. Like what's the point of a live view like this? very diappointed.

 

I don't care if this is itroduced just before BF, because I really don't like the sale craziness and won't be taking part of it as a merchant. But I understand why everyone who actually wanted to use the live tracking this upcoming weekend is so upset.

scherfd
Tourist
5 0 17

What is this? A live dashboard that needs to be scrolled? With no live page view? What is wrong with these people at Shopify that they can't help themselves to constantly change the live view for the worse. Leave it alone!

njp15914
Tourist
7 0 8

I really don't understand why we're here again with this issue.  A live view without showing the live page count is useless.  Also, I have no need for top locations or top products on the live page view.  Like others have mentioned, this is available in other areas of the dashboard.

 

Please change it back and don't take months like it took to get the map view last time.

 

Getting sick of dealing with this every year on the biggest sales weekend of the year.

 

Is Shopify that clueless?

CHDAB
Visitor
2 0 10

We are so, so, soooo dissatisfied with Shopify's Live View Updates we can't even put words to it !

The BEST view was the old Blue Live View with the Page Views in the Last 10 Minutes, Event log, Active User, Active Carts, Checkouts and Purchases (with the cool wavy effects).

 

A Live View with no Page View Activity in the last 10 minutes is inconceivable ! Do we need to make our own Dashboard pulling data from Google Analytics now? Seriously Shopify why do you insist on worsening your product?

Why don't they just put 3 buttons where you can switch between layouts, add just a dark mode button and call it a day?

I am more than convinced that if they did this, they would see that most users prefer the first old Blue Themed Live View. Just split test it and let the results speak for themselves instead of obligating users to a new Layout that doesn't appeal to the majority !

Shopify isn't the cheapest alternative on the market, nor the one with the most features so if they keep on worsening their User Experience like this and keep on ignoring the feedbacks, they will see their value decrease sharply since newer and more innovative solutions are entering the E-commerce market.

Please Shopify do the right thing and let users choose what works best for them !!

Floranoctemshop
Excursionist
18 0 13

It would be nice if they could make a dark mode/light mode toggle.

 

Some people struggle to see light text on dark backgrounds, to the point where it can trigger migraines. Having an option to choose between light or dark mode would be beneficial.

coolers
Tourist
3 0 14

Com'on Man!

 

Please put live page views back!

 

We now have to scroll to see cart activity or occupy entire screen vertically!  Please condense.  Waste of a lot of desktop screen space above and below the globe!

 

Dark could be ok but we can't make out the states and where the presence is!  

 

 

Somojo
Visitor
1 0 1

Oh boy! The powers that be who overlook and sign off these changes clearly have no fkn idea....

calmseas
Tourist
4 0 7

I prefer the lighter version but can live with the dark version.  However, the shopping cart status has been removed.  I very much miss that.  I feel like I'm flying half-blind.