Freesound Forums

On search result page, is there a reason we can't just download directly from there? Intuitively, download icon would do just that — download the track. Instead, it shows me a list of users who have historically downloaded it, which is of no use to me.

i really like the old ui better. why is every website going away from visually simple to visually busy?

Im sorry but im not a fan of this new style, I like more the old style. Sorry again

Please do not turn this website into modernistic ugly website. Current design is classical and it should stay that way. Again please do not change the design of this website.

People, it's too late. They've made their choice and committed.

Yes, we will not be able to keep the old design once the new one is finally released. The new UI brings many new functionalities (https://freesound.org/help/faq/#what-are-the-new-features-brought-by-the-new-user-interface) and prepares Freesound for the future. I hope that with time you'll get used to it and enjoy using Freesound as always.

Also if you have suggestions for making the new UI better don't hesitate to post them here. Thanks!

frederic.font wrote:
... if you have suggestions for making the new UI better don't hesitate to post them here ...

Hmm that is a good suggestion indeed, sometimes the player controls might obscure relevant parts of the spectrogram. In waveform view this is less of a problem because that area is typically empty. We'll think about this, thanks!

Hi Frederic,

In the old UI i could delete an empty pack in my home page. It was shown as 'Non visible packs'
Where can i find find it in the new UI?

Hi Frederic,

Now when I look at my followers I see the alphabetical. Is it possible to make a key that I can list them from New to Old?
I know this is not a UI thing but anyway.

Thank you

Initially I was sceptical but I've started to warm to it

I've tried using the new ui for a little while and I really don't like the way it looks, it feels too flat and boring and I know this is a bit of a cliche thing to complain about but it reeks of oversimplification.

The old ui is one of my favorite website uis in its styling, it has this really nice welcoming and elegant and easy on the eyes somewhat shaded look to it with gradients, subtle drop shadows, depth, small borders around stuff, small bevels on things, etc. All applied tastefully especially with the beveling.

I understand and support improving the site functionality and layout, but why throw the great look of the old ui away in favor of a "modernized style?" The elegant pixelshell look and feel of the old design could totally work with the new layout. At least try to experiment with themes with one that emulates the pixelshell look, sort of like what wikipedia did when it changed it's ui but with themes instead of multiple uis.

Another related thing I really like about the old UI is how it has square profile pictures instead of circular profile pictures, square profile pictures are better than forced circular profile pictures because you're able to fully use the image space instead of being constrained to only around 78% of it, I've seen awesome profile picture designs on sites with square profile pictures that only work with the complete freedom given by square unbeveled profile pictures like in the old design. Making profile pictures square would only have a positive impact, as people who want circular profile pictures could either edit the image or you could have a check box when adding a profile picture that edits the image to be circular when the avatar is applied or toggles if it is shown as circular on the website itself

One more thing I would like to add is that in light mode the waveforms are a bit harder to read without the completely black background that was present behind waveforms in the old design.

Aside from the "modernized style" and circular profile pictures, the new ui seems cool in my opinion, although some parts of it seem a bit too large when in the old ui the same information was conveyed but smaller while fitting more items. I like the idea of a spectrogram view.

Sorry if this is a bit wordy

its good but i like the old one more, can you make a toggle to use one or the other?

who asked for this?

I love this redesign. As a screen reader user, being able to navigate sounds by heading, and play/pause being a button are great changes.
There are a few accessibility issues, though:
1. The user menu that expands things like your profile, manage sounds, etc. shows up as an unlabeled graphic (at least on Chrome/here).
2. When viewing sound details page (e.g., https://freesound.org/people/Omar%20Alvarado/sounds/251548/), the "find similar sounds" and "bookmark this sound" buttons don't have text labels, but only the title attribute, which means they appear to be unlabeled unless one explicitly tabs through them.
(edit)
3. Just noticed that the quote and reply and edit post links on the forum have the same "problem" as the buttons; they appear to be unlabeled unless one tabs through them.

Some wishes, though:
1. It would be nice if the play/pause and stop buttons came after the heading, not before. It would make much more sense for me to jump to the title of the sound and then jump to the button to play it instead of going in reverse to find the play button, IMO.
2. It would be nice if sound info in search results or latest sound on the home page were a list (<ul>, or <dd>, etc.). Things like uploader, pack, geolocation, license, description. It would be nice to be able to jump to the list item's quickly.
Thank you for the effort once more, it's lovely to see the changes, hopefully we can make things even better.

Hey ya! As a screen reader much like Ns Studios above, I have commentary on the new UI. The two of us actually worked together to see if there were any last accessibility feedbacks that needed to be brought to light.
Below is an assortment of things I've noticed. I won't mention the pointers from above since that would be repeating what has already been documented quite well
Check boxes don't exactly show as checkboxes, not sure how to best explain this one. I have to use my screen reader's virtual cursor to zoom into the element otherwise it's a clickable element. This means screen reader users don't immediately know the state of the check box. This applies to any check boxes whether you're selecting sounds to manage, or adjusting settings in your account.
The playback timer behaves strangely when playing a sound. Before with the old UI, a screen reader user could see the time elapsed/time remaining quite effortlessly. Here, the cursor seems to jump around when playing a sound making it very difficult to stay locked onto and see the timer as it updates. In addition, the timer also doesn't seem to reflect the time remaining or time played when a sound is paused it only presents what seems to be the sound length. This last statement is not true for files that are being described.
A few hours ago not long before Ns Studios posted the banner menu looked neat and organized with the sounds, tags, map and other such options included in the main menu. Now, these options appear persistently along with the menu. You can still click the menu and get more options but I'm wondering why the change? Why not have a sound menu that when clicked opens revealing your options packs, tags, random sound and map? Could potentially do the same for the help and forums have a support icon that when clicked reveals those choices along with whatever else you wanted to put there.
When adding files to upload, the file added last still has it's filename in the filename box.
The rating controls aren't labeled. They simply show up as clickable elements with no meaningful text attached to them.
Overall, this UI is probably the best User experience for screen readers using freesound, and I'm very excited to see where this goes.
But I have one last question. Years ago just before Freesound 2 launched when the site went down, there was a little under construction page complete with I believe this sound: https://freesound.org/people/Pooleside/sounds/21310/
Any chance we'll see this return during the migration period?
Best,
A happy freesound user/contributor.

Accessibility-wise, the dark mode can be a barrier for people with certain vision/sensory processing issues. The super black with the super white/red/green contrast is harsh. All white on the other hand can be harsh in terms of brightness, so choosing a dark mode that is more muted and less contrasting could be a better solution. for example, a dark grey with off-white text, and image colours that are less saturated and less extreme against the background (but still immediately discernible from it) will help create a more accessible space for many users without compromising anything for others.

Hi,

In the new ui and also in the old, certain sounds don't play completly. For example, if the entire file is for 202 minutes, I encountered a problem with the player for this. For example, if the file is at 202 minutes in duration, certain files played just for 1 hour, very strange. Another user can confirm this problem with an ios device, thanks!

I was critical at first but started to warm to it

I actually like the "similar sounds" feature of the new UI, and the larger interface makes it easier to activate sounds, though I'd agree the smaller icons of the old interface allowed me to fit more per page.

But here is where my comment is a different comment from all the others...

I sometimes use the webpage as a looping sample playing instrument while making free improv music in modern dance classes. What I would love would be a volume slider on each sound to allow me to mix them in real time. I know this is a real stretch, but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Thank you, and I really appreciate all you do for the sound community!

Mobiarte