

New Dropbox Homepage - pearkes
https://www.dropbox.com/?home

======
tannerc
Looks great, absolutely. My concern is why websites like this tend to "hide"
or de-value the login link.

I regularly have to access the Dropbox website, but with every change they
make the login button seems to get smaller and smaller. I get that they're a
business and need new customers, but it feels like existing customers "just
aren't that important."

~~~
timdorr
Because that's not the primary access point. You normally log in through the
app. For cases where you want to use the website, the app provides you a link
to it that automatically logs you in.

It's de-valued because the majority of people that see this page are looking
to sign up, learn more about Dropbox, or download the app. This page is
optimized for those common use cases.

~~~
freehunter
There's a perfectly valid use case for using the Dropbox site to get to your
files. A huge benefit of Dropbox is the ability to access your files anywhere,
including a computer that does not or even cannot have the client installed.
I'm thinking of a library machine at your university, your grandmother's
computer, a friend's computer where you don't want to sign them out of their
own desktop client, a work laptop where you're not allowed to install your own
software, etc.

~~~
oatmealsnap
yea, and it's pretty clear where to log in.

~~~
tannerc
Certainly is. The problem is that the link seems to get smaller and more
hidden with each update.

Even without seeing the numbers I think it's obvious why they're doing it, I'm
just wondering: is there a better way to callout the login for existing users
without interfering too much with the process for potential customers?

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cpursley
The download button is where the signin button should be. Having login in the
upper righthand corner is a long seated UX pattern - there is very little
logic to messing with it. Now every time I go to signin, I'm going to
accidentally download dropbox.

This is going to confuse the hell out of non-technical people like my dad, a
dropbox user, but not a very patient one. I'm sure I'll get a confused call
from him in a few days... Plus, I'll have to go into his downloads folder
several times a year to remove all the dropbox install files that were
inadvertently downloaded.

~~~
Cthulhu_
I don't want to judge your dad, but does he actually read links before
clicking them?

~~~
cpursley
That's a good point, a lot of people don't. That's why its prudent to use good
UX patterns.

Everybody knows that signin is the upper righthand corner.

Breaking the mold to progress a pattern or for a specific project is fine, but
the login? There's 0 reasons for this.

~~~
lelandbatey
Wait, what?

You have literally three links on that page. Each at MAX two words.

If there's a person who wouldn't even read a total of five words when they see
a new interface then I really don't want them to be my customer. They sound
like far more trouble than they're worth.

~~~
richforrester
How about instead of looking at the people who take exception to the position
of the download link in the right top, we look at why you're so dead set on
having it there?

That's the same kind of logic.

People who expect the login link at that spot might as well reverse that
attitude on you, and think to themselves: "if there's a person who insists on
putting the download link where the login button usually resides, then I
really don't want to be their customer. They sound like far more trouble then
they're worth."

I guess the both of you will be happy, but also, the both of you will miss
out.

Not a great attitude in business or UI design.

------
zeitg3ist
Note for "international" users (including myself): set English from the
language chooser. Otherwise, it'll just show the (translated) old version. If
you're logged in, you should also open the site in incognito mode (or log out,
eh).

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loupeabody
Looks great! Considering how the concept of a web + desktop app can confuse
some less savvy users of the internet, these animations do a great job of
conveying what Dropbox does. They're concise, expressive, and apparently very
efficient in terms of performance. (frame data says the animations ran
consistently ~60fps)

I haven't got the chance to see how the site looks on mobile, however. Anyone
seen this on a phone or tablet?

~~~
scrapcode
On my S3 [http://dropbox.com](http://dropbox.com) redirects to
[https://www.dropbox.com/login?display=desktop](https://www.dropbox.com/login?display=desktop)
\--
[https://www.dropbox.com/?display=desktop](https://www.dropbox.com/?display=desktop),
however, does display this new lander and it works just fine. Animations and
everything. Looks great to me.

~~~
lostlogin
Thank you. I was trying to avoid being the who asks what's different. iPhone 4
IOS6 redirects me too (and I couldn't tell as my HN app doesn't display the
URL) I see the new and like it now.

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aviswanathan
I'm sometimes a skeptic of flat design, but the flattened Dropbox icon looks
awesome on the new site.

~~~
loupeabody
Not entirely flat design on the new homepage (the buttons have form), but the
new wiki design[0] does seem almost entirely flat without bandwagoning.
Confusingly, the old logo is still present in the new wiki.

[0][http://new.dropboxwiki.com/](http://new.dropboxwiki.com/)

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post_break
Instead of a home page I want to see a status page with actual updates that
happen when an outage occurs. Dropbox has the worst response time of any host
I know, and their reactions are lethargic at best. When my contract is up I'm
moving to something else.

~~~
flurian
have you considered that maybe when dropbox SREs get paged they get busy
fixing the site, not updating the status page?

~~~
post_break
It takes 10 seconds to tweet "Experiencing and issue" and then another 10
seconds to explain why after they figure it out. It's not rocket science.

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Justin_Time
Great job! Small nitpick that's bothering me: The 'Sign up' & 'Download' text
inside the bottom buttons is not vertically centered. (This is on Chrome
27.0.1453.110)

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namank
Interesting. My question is why is this setup like a landing page of a pre-
funding startup?

Or am I missing something?

~~~
untog
What do you mean by that, exactly? That it looks simple?

~~~
namank
It's aimed at displaying value propositions to a new user - something that
startups usually focus on. I suppose Dropbox must be looking to expand their
market share.

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nhangen
This is nothing special. Just a few animations and sketched graphics.

Edit: curious why the downvotes? Usually we hold ourselves to high standards
on this board. We bash all the little guys, but Dropbox doesn't have to be
held accountable to inspiring design?

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cpr
It's probably a coincidence, since they'd have to have started the redesign a
while back, but I wonder if we'll start seeing a bunch of "super-sparse"
design now that iOS7 is out.

~~~
glomph
"super-sparse" was a bandwagon joined by apple, not the other way around...

~~~
markdennis
A bandwagon joined by Apple, sure, but one that now has considerably more
momentum & exposure because of their joining.

~~~
freehunter
I've been seeing it massively for much longer than the past couple of weeks.
Think of things like Flat UI for Bootstrap.

