Drew DeVault, founder of a GitHub competitor, critiques GitHub's new notifications UI as a step backward in usability. The old UI allowed efficient scanning with grouped-by-repo notifications, predictable mouse movement, and a simple workflow. The new UI scatters information across wide whitespace, hides action buttons until hover, removes grouping by repository, and introduces real-time updates that cause notifications to disappear mid-workflow. The sticky header consumes 14% of vertical space, and custom filters appear to silently fail. DeVault argues that once a feature reaches this stage of rollout, negative feedback rarely stops it.
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