New Netflix Interface is terrible!

[Patrick_H]

Just started up Netflix on my PS3 last night. Hate, hate, hate it. It's a case of style over substance. It looks pretty but it forces me to spend more time browsing (and it seems the company wants me doing just that).

Am I alone on this?

[Thrik]

Uh oh. I only just got into using Netflix (on my PS3) a couple of weeks ago and was really liking it. What's changed?

[Grinwhrl]

I like it (PS4), but I have to agree, searching for stuff can be tedious over time. First time I have used it on a console so I'm not sure what changed but even on my pc, I dislike that interface even more.

Edited November 16, 2013 by Dark

[Minos]

I like the old one better because it kinda looked like browsing dvds at a movie rental store or something I guess it's just a matter of time until we get used to the new one though.

[Thrik]

I guess I'll see what I think when I get chance to hit the TV tomorrow.

 

One thing that has irritated me about Netflix on the PS3 is the fact that you can't easily just view everything, or even a whole category. It only shows 75 from a category and there's no way to view more. Unless more categories appear (sometimes it adds things like 'visually striking horror'), you have to 100% rely on search or recommendations to find stuff. There's no way for me to just see a list of every horror film, or every US TV show, etc.

 

If they've fixed that I'll be happy. Probably not, lol.

[Patrick_H]

From Engadget...just found this quote by the director of the new interface design, Chris Jaffe: "What we saw was a mismatch in how Netflix worked relative to how regular TV works, where you just turn it on and things are happening."

This was actually why I ditched cable TV for Netflix. I liked the "video store shelf" like format. It showed me more video titles on screen at one time, speeding my search process. Then I read why it was changed:

"Jaffe explained that one of the first things Netflix did away with was the old, movie-poster shaped title cards - they just weren't a good fit for today's widescreen HDTVs."

Oh boohoo! Vertical images on a horizontal screen! The horror! He seems completely unaware that westerners tend to read left to right, and then top to bottom. The previous UI allowed you to highlight a title on the left and read the description on the right. Now I have to:

Look at the bottom of the screen.

Scroll left or right to highlight a title.

Look up to the top of the screen to read the description.

Get distracted by an enormous slide show to the right of the description.

Go back down to the bottom to highlight a new title. Disorienting!

Seeing the new interface boot up, we're inclined to agree: the queue is now displayed with shorter (but wider) tiles that span across the lower third of the 10-foot display. The selected title headlines the horizontal scroll with a brief description of the program and three splash images, rotating every few seconds to foster a more dynamic experience."

How the hell is a rotating slide show of random images from a film supposed to convince me in any meaningful way that I should watch a video??? That's a really shallow basis for a viewer to commit to viewing.

Rant! Rant! Incompetence!