Update coming up: improved UI/UX & Image Gallery

Since November 2023, when we released Macula’s early Beta we’ve been getting some extra valuable feedback (thank you, all the early testers!). With all these new insights in mind, we put together some major UI/UX improvements that are coming out with the next Macula update, along with some much-requested new features 🤫🎯

Here’s a sneak peek at what to expect.

“If you want to create a great product, you have to start by understanding the people who will use it.” — Don Norman, Co-founder and Principal of Nielson Norman Group

What we’ve learned so far: from MVP to early Beta

Macula desktop app has been in the works for almost a year now, and our ongoing goal is to make it super user-friendly while bringing you all the perks coming with the cutting-edge technology we use under the hood.

With the first batch of our brave beta testers (aka closed-beta heroes!), we conducted rigorous tests, giving us much-needed insides to improve. Overall, here’s what was causing problems for most of early Macula users:

• The file publishing flow was not intuitive enough and left some of you confused
• IPFS terms like “pining” for the files added to more confusion
• Choosing a license type for the files while publishing/sharing needed more context. It’s tricky to choose a license based on abbreviation when you don’t really know what it stands for. Makes sense — now we have it covered: you can check what are the currently available license types here.

Some screens from the early beta version — Old UI

Iterate & improve

Since the year started we’ve been laser-focused on improving Macula based on what we learned from your feedback and now happy to share that the new major update is underway.

What to expect:

• A fresh look a.k.a new UI
• Navigation improvements + more tooltips
• Shortcut for publishing files
• Image presets for formats
• Gallery view for your images

Here’s a sneak pick of what it’s going to look like:

New version — New UI and quick publish shortcut with presets

New version — Gallery view for images

But please don’t stop here — starting next week, you’ll be able to test the new version yourself. If you have a Macula account, you’ll get an email from us once the new version is out ✅🛫

What’s next

Macula’s cycle of ideate — design — prototype — and test continues. And testing with more users like you — creators looking to improve the workflow while safeguarding their work — makes all the difference.

If you want to become a tester, or just share some thoughts, please reach out to us: join our Discord, reach out on X/Twitter, or simply email us to hey <at> macula.link.

To see what’s already in the works, you can always check Macula feature roadmap. That’s also where the functionality requests and suggestions we get from you will appear.

Thanks for being with us. Let’s keep making Macula better together 🙌