The new UI for Assistant is worse in every measurable way

mspgrunt

Information density is far less. There is so much wasted space and way too much padding between text and UI elements.
My folders (previously tags) being collapsed by default every time I view? 👎️
How much smaller the model select window is? 👎️
How model selection is also collapsed by default? 👎️
Folders replacing tags is a huge downgrade. 👎️The tagging feature was far better. It crucially allowed you to include threads in MULTIPLE TAGS! Being forced to choose just one place for a thread to live hurts retrieval of cross-domain knowledge.
The chat 'bubble' is obtrusive. It blocks thread content, is MUCH larger than the simple same-color 'line' that was available before, and this is not collapsible. I am using ublocks 'zap' filter to remove the element when reading threads and refreshing the page if I have something additional to ask because of how much of a visual annoyance this is. God does it get in the way. 👎️

Please allow opt-in to the previous UI and usage, like how one can still use old.reddit.com
If this really is the way of the future, please then

Allow for putting threads into multiple 'folders'
Make the chat bubble collapsible
Allow for a 'compact' or 'cozy' view. With compact resulting in less padding in the sidebar
Make the model select view expandable, all the way to the top, like how the chat bubble can expand
Add an 'expand all' and 'collapse all' toggle for the Folders sidebar, and for the model select

I am a happy user of Kagi, but I may downgrade to search only and leverage a different subscription for AI usage if revisions are not had. I am finding the new UI is unfortunately giving me a lot of friction.

Paul

I have to agree on most of these points and second the suggested changes.

I also want to add:

The first thing I noticed is that the "new chat" textfield moved up and it's harder to reach on a mobile device with one hand.
The models as one list was great to compare models across different providers. This is way harder now that the items are bigger and grouped into collapsed tabs.

Comparing the overall look&feel between the designs: The old one was great to open quick chats and felt "efficient" to use. The new one just looks like any other chatbot out there with no obvious differentiating features...

fxgn

Paul The first thing I noticed is that the "new chat" textfield moved up and it's harder to reach on a mobile device with one hand.

This is the main one for me. It really should be moved back down on mobile devices. Every single other chat ui does that for a reason.

Umbrella5565

The new one just looks like any other chatbot out there with no obvious differentiating features...

It really feels like 'ChatGPT at home". I liked Kagi Assistant because it was trying something new, you could use custom styles, and it was trying to be unique. This is an unnecessary redesign that doesn't offer any improvement over the prior.

I am a happy user of Kagi, but I may downgrade to search only and leverage a different subscription for AI usage if revisions are not had. I am finding the new UI is unfortunately giving me a lot of friction.

Please let us opt-in to either layout if you insist on this. I've been a Kagi-evangelical since the beginning and even bumped my plan when I started using the Assistant. The unique UX was a major selling point of that, I would say even more so than the integration with Kagi Search and selection of LLMs.

Soma2501

Umbrella5565 I really hope they dont mindlessly make changes to be more similar to these other ai platforms. I would prefer they only take what works/the good parts and preferably posting it here as a potential change for us to vote on

justadreamer

fr if kagi will make us use the worse asisstant ui, than what does that tell us about the state of the company? i will than cancel my sub

art

The folders are really a step back in keeping the overview. As mentioned above, I also had multiple tags for a thread, which helps me keep track of different projects. Now I have folders with >100 entries, and the info I need is difficult to find. Tags, in addition to folders and/or subfolders, would help organise the threads.

paper

I agree with OP, and I registered here just to say how much I dislike the new UI.

👎️ I miss tags the most, they were the most useful for long threads and for filtering. 🖕

👎️ No more dividers like "Yesterday", "7 days ago" etc.

👎️ No way to see the response info on old threads.

Also, the folder/thread tree view sometimes bugs out and adds some extra item for a second after returning to the tab with Kagi Assistant. And search feels weird.

Actually, the whole thing just feels jank.

Pleonasm

Is the new Assistant primarily a cosmetic revision, or has the underlying functionality been improved in an attempt to deliver higher-quality answers?

Mislav

Pleonasm This is just the first step in many more to come and a foundation for all the changes we want to make. There are already internal builds being worked on with much more advanced functionality, search improvements, mobile apps etc. We'll update you as soon as we have concrete info to share.

lukewiebe

Is there an option to revert back to the old UI? I chose to try the new UI and I'd like to go back.

Pleonasm

Mislav This is just the first step in many more to come and a foundation for all the changes we want to make. There are already internal builds being worked on with much more advanced functionality, search improvements, mobile apps etc.

The Kagi documentation notes: "We continue to relentlessly focus on the core search experience and build thoughtfully integrated features on top of it." However, from my perspective, Kagi is instead relentlessly focusing on everything other than the "core search experience."

Perhaps Kagi could place a moratorium on enhancing AI features and use that time and those resources to address the numerous deficiencies and defects in the "core search experience" that have accumulated in this forum? I suspect that most Kagi users became customers because of the search, and thus focusing on search enhancements seems to be a straightforward strategy for success, no?

Jobby

Mislav

I am absolutely devastated that my CSS styling has now disappeared!
Among some other stuff, especially the tag feature!!!!

I really don't understand why this has happened?

CozyWhiteBear

The worst part for me is that it feels slower and more clunky.
Snappiness was the main reason I started paying for Kagi and if that change will transfer to the search engine, I will seriously consider switching back.
I think that's not just a feeling but also a functionality because I noticed that sometimes the chosen LLM does not switch to the one used in chat. It's double annoying that all provider "folders" inside the bubble are collapsed.

Mislav

CozyWhiteBear We're now doing a ton of imports so snappiness should improve very soon, the load on the DB is large. We're listening to all feedback, bear with us for a day or two until we sort these annoyances. The LLM switch is a real bug and I'm notifying the team now

nicole5978

CozyWhiteBear sometimes the chosen LLM does not switch to the one used in chat.

Hey there, do you have an example of this occurring?

CozyWhiteBear

Mislav Thanks for reply!
From my feeling it's less on the backend (so database), more on the frontend side.

lukewiebe

Mislav I appreciate that the new assistant is still early stages. I do hope the team will focus on responsiveness and load times — the old assistant UI was really snappy and I think it’s reasonable to expect the new one to feel just as fast. Overall, Kagi’s web UIs are very high quality, and we just want the new assistant to match that standard.

That said, would it be possible to keep the old UI around as a toggle in settings, just until the new version is fully ready?

CozyWhiteBear

nicole5978 I managed to replicate it.
For clarity I'm writing LLMs names, instead of descriptions, so it will be Grok and K2.

Open new conversation and choose LLM (Grok).
Write something and hit enter.
While it's writing a response, switch to another conversation with another LLM (K2) - it switches the LLM in textbox to K2.
Switch back (before it finishes). The selected LLM is still K2.
Wait for it to finish writing - still K2.
Type something. The request goes to K2 instead of Grok.
Example:
https://assistant.kagi.com/share/f5dbeba1-4916-4b62-a1ec-6d365260259f

I do it occasionally, because K2.6 responses are good but it's super slow.

ps.
Also, I had to click share 2 times because the first time there was no link in the sharing popup.

EffortsFrom

@Mislav @Vlad Thanks for updating that there is more work in progress, but as a long time user what I feel most disturbed by is the seeming lack of relatively basic QA. Not edge cases, but things like the botched migration from tags to folders that become obvious pretty quickly. That makes me lose confidence in relying on Assistant as a tool to manage my threads/content (which it had been).

justadreamer

how can they just whimsically tell us that the thing we use and we pay for will be something we don't want and it will happen forcefully in a week? and they aren't addressing our other issues

maybe just delay the forcefull transition a little longer so i have the time to understand this f up

Dorstlesser

My folders (previously tags) being collapsed by default every time I view?

I think this is a good default, but having an option to keep selected folders uncollapsed seems nice.. Sharing search history with anyone who can see my screen should not be the default. [edit] However I just notice that my search history is still in plain sight below the folders. OK Kagi, I have a hard time coming up with a use-case for folders; they don't allow you to keep threads private and they remove organization functionality offered by tags.

How much smaller the model select window is?

Not noticeable for me. However I'm surprised the select window doesn't start with an overview of favorite or most used models. The distinction between 'assistants', 'custom' and 'models' seems arbitrary.

How model selection is also collapsed by default?

Model selection wasn't ergonomic and still isn't, imho.

Folders replacing tags is a huge downgrade.

100% agree. Folders are nice, but are not a replacement for tags when a thread can only be in one folder. Just allow threads to be in multiple folders. It's not an actual folder as in a file system anyway, just a frontend view on a tag group....

The chat 'bubble' is obtrusive. It blocks thread content,

Maybe it takes up too much screen space, but it definitely helps locate the input line, which is a welcome improvement for me personally.

Allow for a 'compact' or 'cozy' view. With compact resulting in less padding in the sidebar

This is always a very-nice-to-have. Personally I would welcome the ability to horizontally scale the output area more; I understand there's diminished returns in terms of ergnomics, but it's still pretty narrow. It would be especially baller to be able to divide the output window in two columns in wide-enough windows, like academic papers. Oh boy, a tantalizing prospect.

Oh and while we're on the topic: justified text option, pretty please? /bats_lashes <3. And to those who think that is a freakish request I say: No! You are the freak.

Add an 'expand all' and 'collapse all' toggle for the Folders sidebar, and for the model select

Yeah, no argument here!