I know there’s a similar question already out there relating to Brave’s UI, but I have a question about the timeline of a “redesign”/“GUI change” which has a comment within it relating to the adopted GUI.
I more than understand the move to Chromium and I think it’s a great move for Brave as it’s as performant (if not more so) than its nearest rivals - however I can’t help but feel that the UI was a little bit of an afterthought (and again - I can appreciate that, there are other more significant priorities) - However, given Microsoft are obviously building their Chromium version of Edge, which currently has an Edge x Chrome style, although the settings menus are pure Edge (based on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UlabG27pXU) - it would also be nice to see Brave standout a bit more, in the sea of “Chrome Copies”
So my question(s):
Is there a plan for what Brave will look like in the future? (by this, I mainly mean a mockup)
Is there a timeline for those UI changes? I’m aware of the item on the roadmap however, “Beyond” feels a little open ended - there’s also nothing obvious in the project to denote an overall UI/UX change away from the “Chrome” design/theme
I’m no browser engineer, so I’ve no idea how much work goes into this particular subject? It would be good to have some insight
@willstocks_tech Ross here from Product. First off, just wanted to say thanks for taking the time share thoughts. Caring about Brave is awesome and we appreciate it.
The sentiment is shared among the product and design team as well. We’re working hard to overhaul. If you download the Nightly build, you can see the beginnings of the change in settings. Categorically speaking:
We keep those internal in most cases. Design has a tendency to be very subjective and divisive so we don’t typically share outwardly in advance.
Rewards is the priority ATM. Visual polish will come in time but making sure Rewards is a good experience is #1 and so that makes it harder to commit to concrete UI milestones in the immediate future.
Lastly, to put in perspective (this is a little dramatic) but work on the new Brave Core began in earnest in Sep 2018 so it is really less than 6 months work time on basically a fresh slate. Google employs 72 thousand people and our team is 100ish right now.
The intent is to define our aesthetic though and if you have any ideas while using Brave please do share them. Insightful, practical feedback is always welcome.
Thanks for the update - honestly this provides some really great and useful insight into the direction of Brave
I have just downloaded and installed the latest nightly and I must say, I am honestly loving the new settings UI/UX! The changes are relatively subtle, yet super clean and a really nice touch!
Now you’ve mentioned it - I completely understand that Rewards is the priority and that makes sense. I think it can be quite hard for a newcomer (such as myself) to distinguish what exactly the short-term vs long-term plan is for Brave. For the average user, they might visit Community and get overwhelmed by all of the varying options and discussions (as well as differing levels of technicality). Some might also visit the roadmap on GitHub, again likely not going to be an average user.
I’ve asked a couple of questions over the past… few weeks to a month and I’ve managed to build a better idea of what the actual on-going development tasks are, their priorities and general schedules - something that’s otherwise been quite hard to distinguish.
I think it’s really great what you guys have done with Brave, especially considering the team size (as you mentioned)
Thank you once again for your response @rossmoody - it has been really helpful/insightful and I now have a better understanding of what’s to come in Brave!
- there’s also nothing obvious in the project to denote an overall UI/UX change away from the “Chrome” design/theme
