More than ever in the time of COVID, Slack is a valuable tool for communication at work. As with any work tool, small changes usually do not go unnoticed as users keep themselves busy with the things they are used to. That’s why some of the most recent Slack updates, at least on Android, are absolute torture because subtle adjustments to fonts, spacing and notifications leave us puzzled.
Rolled out January, Slack for Android made the font and, more specifically, the space between lines and words very annoying. In older versions of the app, Slack left the spacing between different messages mostly uniform, keeping information fairly dense. After a later update was printed, the spacing changed, which increased the size of the sender’s name and pushed the message itself closer to it. After the first message and subsequent messages left an abnormally larger gap.
It’s definitely a small adjustment, but one that has not gone unnoticed. On a Twitter thread, some users have asked for the change to be reversed or at least optional, but Slack confirm it was not an optional change. They did accept feedback, but nothing seemed to change. After a few weeks, it still irritates me daily, and if we look at the comparison below, our very own Abner Li aptly called it ‘density hell’, as it literally cuts off two messages on my Fold 2.
Slap v20 compared to Slack v21
Unfortunately, though, it does not look like Slack’s journey to destroy his own Android app ends there. Today, another update to users begins, changing the layout of notifications. Previously, notifications for incoming messages showed the departure first and the messages below with the profile picture of the sender on the right.
Now Slack displays notifications on Android with generic icons for room types on the left, group profile photos for DMs, with message content on the right, with completely different layouts for users’ names and messages. This is quite a shocking change.
It is noteworthy that the change in notification design is currently limited to the beta channel, but there is no reason to believe that it will not come to the general release track soon. They do not seem to be listening to feedback anyway.
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