New kagi layout harder on the eyes, harder to intuitively read

petterroea

Kagi changed it's layout. Here's an example:

Here's an example of how kagi used to look:

I appreciate trying out new things, but I would like to argue that the new design is harder to read UX-wise. A lot of the UX cues I have learned to rely on to quickly guide my attention to the correct place are gone, and this made my experience somewhat uncomfortable. WIth the new layout, text seems more "bunched together" and it's slightly harder to quickly skim the results.

The search bar being a different color in the old layout was useful in intuitively guiding the eyes down to the search results quickly when switching focus to kagi. The underline and old margins also helped separate different results, and the titles from the results.

I may adjust to this, my first impression is at least that the new layout is more messy and has less visual cues to help quickly skim the page - it looks more like a document and less like a search results page now.

eve221

Agree, it would be nice to at least have an option in the settings to change it back to the older layout.

val

Additionally, the background is lighter and link text gone from white to purple, which lowers the contrast

kagiuser00

I completely agree, especially about the search bar contrast and text color.

It is especially frustrating that Kagi changed the default state to look so similar to the clicked state with no notice. This caught me multiple times, thinking I had already read/clicked things I hadn't. Please don't establish patterns/meaning from colors, then change them suddenly. Users shouldn't have to re-learn the meaning of text colors.

Kagi needs to change the text back to the white or offer a one-click toggle to do so. Realistically, this should have gone the opposite way (opt-in to the purple). I've temporarily changed from "Royal Blue" to "Moon Dark" to fix this, but I prefer the blue theme.

In the future, please offer a preview, then make it opt-in, and only force it once a majority of users have switched and the concerns posted on the forum have been resolved. Kagi is supposed to be a professional tool, treat it like one.

Some other things i've noticed/would like to see:

There should also be an account-level option to disable the animations, without having to set reduce-motion or fight with my browser settings.
The settings page seems to "flash" white before turning dark when set to system default with system set to dark. Setting to dark in Kagi settings seems to fix this, but it should work both ways without the flash.
In general, the "flash" before content load is annoying on settings. This didn't happen or wasn't as noticeable before.

Edit: Looks like someone else has made a thread for this and they've gotten the old CSS rules: https://kagifeedback.org/d/3777-royal-blue-link-colors-indistinguishable

val

kagiuser00 make it opt-in, and only force it once a majority of users have switched

To be fair, this is never going to happen as most people stick to the default. In order to make progress, designers need to make tough decisions like changing the behavior for most people.

svenstaro

I agree. I preferred the old layout. I find the new layout to be too low contrast. The header isn't clearly distinguished anymore from the content that I'm looking at. The link color are harder on the eyes. Overall, I feel less efficient with the new colors and layout.
The old layout clearly communicated "this is content and up here's the header with controls". Thew new layout looks "muddy" for lack of a better description.

Fell

I understand Kagi wants to kove forward, so keeping the old Design around probably isn't desired.

However, I propose a "high contrast" option to improve readability.

Dexwell

The new settings are an improvement, but the main search results page is worse than the old one. I also preferred the landing page with the stars; it was unique and added character. Now Kagi visually seems like just a Google ripoff with a different logo.. Why change a winning formula? I would also like an option to revert.

Magnolia5363

Kagi team,
I agree with pretty much everyone in this thread. The settings page seems like the only improvement made in this redesign, everything else is a downgrade. A redesign is probably the last thing I felt Kagi needed.

These comments specifically match my feelings exactly :

It is especially frustrating that Kagi changed the default state to look so similar to the clicked state with no notice. This caught me multiple times, thinking I had already read/clicked things I hadn't. Please don't establish patterns/meaning from colors, then change them suddenly.

In the future, please offer a preview, then make it opt-in ... Kagi is supposed to be a professional tool, treat it like one.

the new design is harder to read UX-wise. A lot of the UX cues I have learned to rely on to quickly guide my attention to the correct place are gone ... The search bar being a different color in the old layout was useful in intuitively guiding the eyes down to the search results quickly when switching focus to kagi. The underline and old margins also helped separate different results, and the titles from the results.

The header isn't clearly distinguished anymore from the content that I'm looking at. The link color are harder on the eyes. Overall, I feel less efficient with the new colors and layout.

The new settings are an improvement, but the main search results page is worse than the old one.

I also preferred the landing page with the stars; it was unique and added character. Now Kagi visually seems like just a Google ripoff with a different logo.. Why change a winning formula? I would also like an option to revert.

Speaking of Google ripoff, the lowercase g logo is, in my opinion, an unwise design choice. I like the dog, I liked the stars, and I don't like when designers sterilize away any sense of character from something.

Vee

I don't really have much to add to this, but I want to add my voice to the "lower contrast makes everything harder to read" crowd. Everything takes about twice as long to read through as a result, which has seriously reduced how productive Kagi makes me. Previously it felt like a power tool, with how quickly I could find relevant and useful information, but now (even with the better search results) I feel like it's not much better than the competition. I know that Kagi likes to pride itself on how fast it is, so could you take into account reading speed as well? :-)

lelovsky

Yes, please, add the option to go back to the old style. It's such a downgrade from what has already worked. I don't think I would pay subscribtion if I was greeted by the new design those couple months ago. Otherwise - I love the search engine, I don't want to switch just because of looks.

hugsun

My main complaint is that the background is much too bright, it's one of the brightest dark mode backgrounds I've seen. I do also share many of the complaints in this thread regarding readability and contrast.

I can not live with this new theme.

wcw

The blacker bar at the top of the old design (holding the entry box and the media filters) was helpful in preventing the results page feel like it was floating in a void. Right now, without that top bar, it feels like everything could slide any direction. More is more in this case. I want a big, solid visual anchor on the page, preferably the old one.

petterroea

I just realized that link colors are so similar it's impossible to see if a link has already been visited or not. This is also a problem. I thought all links were visited for a second. Very confusing.

Again, some of this confusion may be due to my learned expectations to the kagi experience and can be adjusted to, but contrasts and lack of margins make things harder to understand. Well chosen visual elements that only exist for one reason(like the underlined link titles) and well chosen contrasts are important to an intuitive and effective web page.

Also please consider that even if some change is possible to adjust to, for regular users, each new update with new changes causes a little bit of friction. Even if a new user might be okay with a user interface, you are slowly eroding the "feeling of ease" from your regulars and giving them a bit of frustration every time their brain needs to re-learn how to use kagi by muscle memory.

petterroea

I do not think Kagi should make the old design opt-in. That's just a recipe for technical debt. But please be a bit more careful with redesigns. I strongly believe Kagi already looks good, there is no reason to spend engineering money on fixing what ain't broke.

sefidel

Not much to add here, but I must say that the dimensions of old search bar was just perfect, and the lack of colour difference in header and content makes it pretty uncomfortable.

spork

I'd also like to throw my vote in on the over-brightness of the new dark mode background color and on the lack of contrast between visited and non-visited links. Sooo much purple. I can no longer tell at a glance which pages I've already visited.