New editor less user friendly than old

Alan Nazarelli

I am finally being forced to use the new editor since as of July 2024, I will no longer be able to use the old editor on the app on my mobile devices.

I am very disappointed. New versions are generally better than previous ones but not in this case. From a usability/UX standpoint, it takes many more clicks to do anything on a map part than it used to. Yes, there are keyboard shortcuts you can memorize but that defeats the whole purpose of a visual tool. I am really struggling with this. Its not a question of getting used to a new way, its just that the new way is less intuitive than the old. Gone also is the nice yellow notepad which made notes so readable. The black icons stand out less than the previous ones, among many other aspects that are frustrating. Yes, it seems I can continue to use the legacy editor but will not be able to access maps created with this on my mobile. I have been using MindMeister extensively for the last four years. Anyone else share my POV? Can someone at Meister Labs explain the reason for the recent change? It would be great if you continued to give us a choice. Best, Alan

Alan Nazarelli

Alan here again-I meant to add, with all my gripes above, one nice thing about the new editor is the ease with which a map part can be converted to a task-really elegant and user friendly. Didn't mean to be all negative😊

Cornelia Patscheider

Hi @Alan Nazarelli ,

thank you for the feedback. I know that the new editor is a big change, and there are definitely things that most users like you notice quite away, like the way you need to do more clicks in general to get things done, or how easy it is to create tasks from any idea.

What is changing? Starting July 1, 2024, the MindMeister mobile apps will no longer support creating, editing, or viewing legacy mind maps. This means that any mind maps in the old MindMeister editor will not be accessible in the iOS app and will only be available via web browser.

The mobile apps will exclusively support mind maps created using the new editor.

If you’d like to continue accessing legacy maps in the mobile app, you can switch them to the new editor in the desktop web browser.

What is the reason for this change? To streamline development and improve user experience, going forward MindMeister mobile apps will only support the new editor. Maintaining both the new and legacy editors within the app slows down the introduction of new features. For more information and details, please visit our Help Center here.

Alan Nazarelli

Thank you for your response Cornella. I understand the logic. It's not an issue to adopting to the change, but the issues my team and I are having with the new editor. For example, when I create a map on the desktop app using new editor and open it on the Android app on my phone or tablet, in some cases, the first word of the text on a map part does not show.

More importantly, we are a market research firm and have been using maps created in the legacy editor to share our analysis and strategic recommendations from research data with clients for the last four years. We have been able to do so with great looking impactful maps using legacy. These maps look nowhere nearly as impactful in the new editor. My question therefore is-do you plan to do away with the legacy editor in the near future? If so, we would not renew our annual plan and seek an alternative.

Again, it's not an issue of my team and I not wanting to adopt to change, as much as you are asking us to switch to a version that is less usable and impactful. New software versions are usually enhancements over previous versions, but in this case, I am sorry to say, that's not the case. Please let me know what the company's plans are relative to the legacy editor and your timetable for discontinuing the legacy editor altogether. Thanks, Alan

Cornelia Patscheider

Hi @Alan Nazarelli,

thanks for the detailed information. I totally understand your points.

Unfortunately, at this point of time, there is no information available what will happen with the legacy editor in the future. Currently, the web version still supports legacy editor and legacy mind maps.

You mentioned that the mind maps are less usable and impactful with the new editor. If you have any ideas how to improve this, feel free to create feature ideas in the community here to let us know how it can be improved.

Alan Nazarelli

Thanks for your response Cornellia. I am always happy to provide ideas and have done so in the past. However, the issue my team and I are having cannot be resolved with new features suggestions. It's that the mobile version of the new editor is so "glitchy" (we use both the Android version for both phone and tablet here). I mentioned words being dropped from a map name randomly in my previous comment. Also, the edit function for a map branch does not work sometimes on the new mobile editor. We are having to put up with this as we have standardized so many processes in our business around your products. Surprised that these problems that should be "table stakes" by now, given how long you had had the new editor, are showing up as we start to move our maps to the new editor. Not sure what else we can do here in the short term. I have verified that users have the latest version on their devices.

Cornelia Patscheider

Hi @Alan Nazarelli ,

thanks for the info! I see what you mean, it is hard to make a feature request out of this. These issues are certainly not the quality that we want to provide, and the editor should definitely not be glitchy. I am sorry you had to struggle with this!