I’d like to submit some feedback regarding the recent UI changes for the Shopify web client. While some of these changes have been positive, one of them, the change to the responsive layout, has been very detrimental to our workflow and I would like to provide some input.
The workflow that I’m speaking of is dealing with orders in the Web client (specifically, in Firefox), navigating through them, and using the information from the order page to perform other tasks. We work from two windows simultaneously: one window about 1/3 of the screen width, in which we display Shopify, and a second window occupying the other 2/3 of the screen, which is used for our other tasks.
Firstly, we appreciate the addition of the “up” and “down” order navigation buttons in a reduced-width window. Previously, these buttons disappeared when the Shopify window was reduced in width, but having them back makes things much easier, so thanks for that.
However, the issue that we’re running into now is that the format of the reduced-width window has changed and now displays less information at once.
Previously, in our 1/3-width Shopify window, we were able to see all the information we needed at once. Order information, payment information, notes/additional details, customer and addressing information, and timeline were all visible with little to no scrolling or interaction. There were essentially two “columns” of information visible at once, similar to what you see in the maximized window but with less dead space. This was ideal for our workflow because we need to see all of that information simultaneously and at a glance.
The recent changes have made it so that, in windows from approximately 1/3 to 2/3 of the screen width, only one “column” is shown, and even more inconveniently, some of the most important information (such as the customer address/shipping information) is buried near the bottom of the column. This means that we repeatedly have to scroll up and down multiple times where before we could see all of that information on one screen. This is time-consuming and increases the possibility for human error.
If there’s no chance of this change being reverted, would there be the possibility of choosing which information to display by default on the order page, and/or to reorder or resize the information “widgets” so that we could access the most important ones more easily?
If you have any suggestions for workarounds (besides setting up an additional computer monitor) I would be happy to hear those as well.
Thanks for your time.