Shawn Cao:👏😍

Shawn Cao: I can see some improvement although I think the charts elements could be revisited with more roundy objects. I saw a competitor of yours, Graphy.ai that has way more features but has almost managed to achieve the good GUI I am talking about. Anyway I appreciate your efforts ;) and Columns is way more customizable

Shawn Cao: Hey Shawn, we appreciate the upgrade you provided. We assure you that you are now even closer to having this feature request fulfilled. However, I believe there is still some potential for improvement in terms of achieving an "easy to operate" mode. Allow me to provide some examples to enhance your comprehension.

Suppose we add an arrow to a simple X-Y straight line plot. Clicking the arrow lets you change its color and other settings in the "Arrow Settings" section. Similarly, when we click on the X/Y axes, “Line/Area Settings” opens. Unfortunately, it is not possible to alter the color of either the X or Y axis under “Line/Area Settings”. This is where "difficulty to operate" comes in.

In order to modify the color of the axes, we have to click on the individual X and Y buttons located below. Please check the attached screenshots. If we have the ability to easily modify the colors in the "Line/Area Settings," it will greatly enhance our operational efficiency.

I would like to know your opinion on this idea.

andreafonsmorti@gmail.com: Thanks for your comment.

could you elaborate a bit on this "with more roundy objects" with an example, please?

Graphy has a good looking, what are the top things you like about it?

Swapnendu Chatterjee: Easy operation is equally important as Good looking IMO.

Thanks for your example, one principle in my mind is to not dump all settings in one place so it won't look overwhelming. However, clicking a "metric" line has the intention of updating that specific metric, I agree with you on this specific idea.

Shawn Cao: Thanks for all of your work, but there's still LOTS of room for improvement. Are you working with a dedicated professional designer, or making decisions about visual design yourself?

Brandon Zylstra: we don't have a dedicated professional designer onboard yet, actively looking though, do you know someone good?

Shawn Cao: I think there is misunderstanding. Diane means for easy learnig curve. Not everyone is techesavy. For her graphy.new seems easy to operate. Whereas Columns needs attention due to its more ability to control at granular levels.

When I was first using ur platform I faced many problems to draw simple x-y strtaight line graph. I mailed you then you replied & then problem resolved. Even I have some initial problems just to simply change the color of the columns you attched here: https://columns.ai/snap/kRtNX6r3LXeU6E. After some fight with myself with the system I was able to change the color.

If we 'users' criticize any advanced software (columns AI) just by comparing them with some normal software (graphy.new) then we are definitely not doing the right thing. In my personal mail to you, I have addressed the issue that ur platform is slightly different from Excel we use in our every day life to draw diagrams.

For example, MATLAB is 5th generation software, more complicated in nature. It includes biological modelling, image processing, Simulink etc. But the software is still very easy to use because of its simple intuitive user interface. You just need to know the language, but you don't need any learning curve to operate the software.

Whereas Columns AI is no doubt very intellectual softaware & I love the way ur platform yet to deliver more sophistication with time, but requires a lot of effort to operate the platform (my personal opinion). Diane may feel the same way we think. It's NEVER about the dull themes which are really good for nothing but pieces of garbage.

It's all about how easy to operate any platform. Hope you understand what we are trying to tell. If you need our feedback we are ready to deliver.

Swapnendu Chatterjee: Dr. Swapnendu, thank you so much for the detailed input. Indeed, I'm 100% with you on the "easy to operate" side, and that part will be a big portion of our focus.

As I have claimed Columns as "Canva for data", it should be as intuitive as Canva to build data stories, :)

We keep learning the best way to reorganize/redesign UX, and user flow, then apply those learnings to the software, so please keep delivering your feedback, I appreciate it very much!

When you have time, please check out the new Theme Selection feature, it's a new feature at a very early stage, but I'm eager to hear the feedback, here is the doc page to start - https://docs.columns.ai/docs/tutorial/design/theme

Swapnendu Chatterjee: Yes, :)

Gspace: as I replied to Diane DEFORES, will a list of pre-built (beautiful) themes for selection helpful?

Shawn Cao: Ahah, that's funny how Swapnendu Chatterjee made it so more deep that it was 🤣

I agree with the need/desire for better UX/UI that would help us easily work with Columns.

But my initial message was much more front-end oriented, and I really like the solution of themes you came up with 🙂

Maybe add some shadows to make it more modern & premium looking ?

Glad that you're listening to feedbacks!

Thank You!

Diane DEFORES: of course, I appreciate feedback very much!

Do you have an example to illustrate what parts you want to see the "shadows"?

Shawn Cao: 🙂

Just look at what graphy does, a sublte shadow around the whole bloc goes a long way, their font is also more readable, you need to make the text bold and be aware of contrast...

Search on Google or ChatGPT for some guide about the principles of a good UX/UI, you'll find good resources to guide you into making Columns look more pro!

Maybe you can take a little course 🙂 I wan imagine transitioning from back end developpement to frontend is quite a gymnastic ahah

Diane DEFORES: Thanks!