Like many Mac users, I was greatly disappointed to read that 1Password is moving to Electron. I firmly believe that Electron is a bad framework for app development, and the 1Password 8 beta does not change this opinion. I’ve compiled a list of issues, as I see them. Some are endemic to Electron, while others are simply stylistic choices by the dev team. I will try to omit complaints that are purely personal preference, such as specific color usage. The lack of rubberband/elastic scrolling is jarring and unpleasant. There isn’t enough visual feedback that the window is out of focus. In particular, the “New Item” toolbar button should fade to a lighter blue when unfocused. Many interactions in the app do not have the animations they should, including list expansions, menu displays, checkbox toggling, and modal dialogue appear/disappear. Unnecessary reliance on modal dialogues is antithetical to native Mac app development. In particular, the “Preferences” and “About” windows should be … well, windows, not modal dialogues. It is unusual for a Mac app to have the “About” page be part of the preferences dialogue. When unfocused, 1PW 8 lacks hover states. In order to copy a field when the app is unfocused, you have to click into the window, then click the field again. 1PW 7 only requires a single click and properly displays hover state when unfocused. 1PW 8 no longer shows the number of items in a tag/category. There is seemingly no longer an easy way to mark or unmark an item as a favorite. The account name at the top of the sidebar has a disclosure triangle in the down position, indicating that clicking it will collapse the sidebar entries for that account. Instead, clicking it brings up a popover menu with various actions. (I don’t know whether this behavior is different when you have more than one account. My point is that this behavior is unusual for this type of UI element.) The app uses almost 2x the memory footprint of 1PW 7 and 10x(!) the idle CPU usage. The app is noticeably slower. Scrolling a long list introduces a delay in displaying icons that is not present in 1PW 7. Additionally, there is flicker and occasional slow loading when changing filters, vaults, and tags. (1PW 7 also has flicker at times, notably when changing login items. It’s far more prominent in 8, however.) There’s too much list padding. With windows of identical dimensions, 1PW 7 shows me 10.5 items; 1PW 8 shows me only 7.5. Are these things ultimately minor? Yeah. Complaining about a preferences window becoming a modal dialogue is about as first-world a problem as you can get. At the same time, I’m paying money for this, and now it feels like I’m going to spend money on a downgrade. 1Password 8 is probably the most native-feeling and best Electron app I’ve used, but that’s like saying the McDonald’s by Disneyland is the best McDonald’s I’ve eaten at. I’ve been a 1Password user for years (I started with 1Password 3) and always held the app up as the only app I unreservedly considered worth a subscription. Now it’s pretty likely I’ll move to something else. 1Password Version: 80200056 Extension Version: Not Provided OS Version: macOS 11.5.1

I uninstalled 1p7 the day the mac beta came out and forced myself to use 1p8. Today I just reinstalled 1p7 and went back. Holy S***. You almost instantly forget just how much better 1p7 is. I challenge a single dev working at 1P to truthfully tell me 1p8 is better in ANY way. I honestly would love to hear a single feature that's better. It's jaw dropping the difference when you use 1p8 for a few days and then switch back. Also side note, god damn did I miss 1Pmini. <3 my baby is BACK!

@tiltowaitt thank you for that detailed list! Much of the fit and finish is still to come, and I know in particular we've been investigating some performance issues recently. @blankspace here's a thread: https://twitter.com/4german/status/1425466303423434764 My favorite new feature day to day is vault collections. I can keep the stuff I use the most in a collection and not have to see all the stuff I share with my parents that I rarely use. The quick access (mini) feature in 1Password 8 is still really new, so we've got plenty on our list there.

I challenge a single dev working at 1P to truthfully tell me 1p8 is better in ANY way. I honestly would love to hear a single feature that's better. It's jaw dropping the difference when you use 1p8 for a few days and then switch back. After using 1P8 for a while (well, this entire year) I would never go back to version 7. It just feels outdated and slow. There are too many features to list but my top 3: Greatly improved item editing experience File attachments that can be added to any item now Item location bar that shows the people that have to this item

And another feature that was added to the nightly build today: https://twitter.com/roustem/status/1428136972095213573?s=20

I would add that Quick Access is shaping up to be a big power boost. I am already loving it even without everything being wired up yet.

Former Member

4 years ago

1Password 8 - Non-native feel

Like many Mac users, I was greatly disappointed to read that 1Password is moving to Electron. I firmly believe that Electron is a bad framework for app development, and the 1Password 8 beta does not change this opinion. I’ve compiled a list of issues, as I see them. Some are endemic to Electron, while others are simply stylistic choices by the dev team. I will try to omit complaints that are purely personal preference, such as specific color usage.

The lack of rubberband/elastic scrolling is jarring and unpleasant.
There isn’t enough visual feedback that the window is out of focus. In particular, the “New Item” toolbar button should fade to a lighter blue when unfocused.
Many interactions in the app do not have the animations they should, including list expansions, menu displays, checkbox toggling, and modal dialogue appear/disappear.
Unnecessary reliance on modal dialogues is antithetical to native Mac app development. In particular, the “Preferences” and “About” windows should be … well, windows, not modal dialogues.
It is unusual for a Mac app to have the “About” page be part of the preferences dialogue.
When unfocused, 1PW 8 lacks hover states. In order to copy a field when the app is unfocused, you have to click into the window, then click the field again. 1PW 7 only requires a single click and properly displays hover state when unfocused.
1PW 8 no longer shows the number of items in a tag/category.
There is seemingly no longer an easy way to mark or unmark an item as a favorite.
The account name at the top of the sidebar has a disclosure triangle in the down position, indicating that clicking it will collapse the sidebar entries for that account. Instead, clicking it brings up a popover menu with various actions. (I don’t know whether this behavior is different when you have more than one account. My point is that this behavior is unusual for this type of UI element.)
The app uses almost 2x the memory footprint of 1PW 7 and 10x(!) the idle CPU usage.
The app is noticeably slower. Scrolling a long list introduces a delay in displaying icons that is not present in 1PW 7. Additionally, there is flicker and occasional slow loading when changing filters, vaults, and tags. (1PW 7 also has flicker at times, notably when changing login items. It’s far more prominent in 8, however.)
There’s too much list padding. With windows of identical dimensions, 1PW 7 shows me 10.5 items; 1PW 8 shows me only 7.5.

Are these things ultimately minor? Yeah. Complaining about a preferences window becoming a modal dialogue is about as first-world a problem as you can get. At the same time, I’m paying money for this, and now it feels like I’m going to spend money on a downgrade.

1Password 8 is probably the most native-feeling and best Electron app I’ve used, but that’s like saying the McDonald’s by Disneyland is the best McDonald’s I’ve eaten at. I’ve been a 1Password user for years (I started with 1Password 3) and always held the app up as the only app I unreservedly considered worth a subscription. Now it’s pretty likely I’ll move to something else.

1Password Version: 80200056
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 11.5.1

betas

127 Replies

Former Member
4 years ago
rctneil
Absolutely agree about preferences dialog and the X.
The elastic scrolling is also a big thing on a Mac. Not just the existence of it, but how it looks and feels too.

1P_Ben
It is true that Apple does have the X to the right in the Home app, but I'm not sure using a first gen Mac Catalyst app and one of their worst efforts as the bar for good software design is the best way to go.

I think looking at Catalyst apps like Messages, Maps and Music is a better idea, since they are more recent and modern.
1P_Ben
1Password Team
4 years ago
:+1: :)

Ben
viswiz
Super Contributor
4 years ago
1P_Ben yes, Apple doesn't always follow its own design guidelines especially for homekit. But in most cases their preferences dialogs are windows with stop lights like the one of the Finder:

... or Terminal:

1Password should respect this macOS feature / design principle!
1P_Ben
1Password Team
4 years ago
viswiz

Thanks for adding your perspective. Our design team is taking another look at where it is appropriate to use modals vs windows. Stoplights are for windows, and an 'X' in the upper right is for modals (which are more analogous to tabs than windows) even in Apple's own apps. Apple doesn't make extensive use of modals, but where they do, the 'X' is top right (as illustrated in the Home.app, seen above).

Ben

ref: dev/content/design#2179
viswiz
Super Contributor
4 years ago
+1 for rctneil 's comment on the 'X' top right window corner. It's really driving me nuts ;) Top left traffic light controls should be the only way to go.

The following windows have the same problem. So please fix them as well and all other sub windows I haven't found yet:
* Create a Collection...
* Manage Accounts...
* Set Up Another Device...

By the way. Why is every single word uppercase? 8-)
1P_Ben
1Password Team
4 years ago
rctneil

I've filed an issue for further investigation on this subject, but it seems to me that even in Apple's own apps that use modals the 'X' is on the right. 🤔

Ben
1P_Ben
1Password Team
4 years ago

I do not recall anywhere near as much criticism about the user interface/look/feel of previous macOS clients (not to say there weren't other criticisms obviously).

This is anecdotal, and much of the discussion is probably lost at this point (I did find one example, here), but when we launched 1Password 7 a lot of people absolutely hated mini. I'd would say the percentage of feedback we got about it was near the same level as the feedback we've had about our use of Electron.

v6:

v7.0:

But we listened to all of the feedback, made improvements where feasible, and now mini is something we're getting a lot of love for. Here's how it looks today:

I'm sure we didn't make everyone happy, and in the end some folks still preferred the v6 look. Overall it seems to me that we improved the experience. I believe we have done and will continue to do so with v8 as well.

Ben
rctneil
Super Contributor
4 years ago
One thing that's been bugging me about 1Password 8. I know the Preferences dialog is not a native window. Would prefer it to be but I get the feeling I am fighting a losing battle over this so i'm over asking for it anymore! :-)

BUT.... You've stated before that you would prefer each app to feel "at home" on each platform. If so, please move the preferences window "X" or close button to the left hand side on Mac. It drives me insane! Even better, remove it altogether and just put preferences in a native Mac window. (ok, that's the last one, I promise!!!!)

Neil
gussic
Super Contributor
4 years ago
1P_Ben

Thank you for the reply.

...best toolset currently available to meet our goals.

I appreciate that - but this is the exact issue, Electron is not the best toolset to meet your goals if it is to have a great, native feeling macOS experience. I'm right have met your goals in terms of reducing development time, complexity etc, but it just absolutely sucks from an end-user perspective.

That doesn't diminish that 1Password 8 is a huge improvement in a number of areas, including many that were frequent requests from customers.

I don't disagree at all - I probably didn't make my point particularly well. Any suggestion that 1P7 didn't work well for Windows users is just patently false, it worked incredibly well. That's not to take anything away from the fact that 1P8 is a huge improvement for Windows users (and it really is) but why does that have to come at the expense of severely hampering the macOS user experience? You've taken a huge step forward with Windows but to do so you've taken about 10 giant sized steps back for macOS users. Can you understand why there are a lot of us who are very angry, and feel let down?

I do not recall anywhere near as much criticism about the user interface/look/feel of previous macOS clients (not to say there weren't other criticisms obviously).
1P_Ben
1Password Team
4 years ago
gussic

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts on this topic.

Part of the initial argument as to why you swapped to electron in the first place was because you wanted to ship by September, and that was an important deadline to meet.

Deadline or not, we made our decisions based on what we believe is best toolset currently available to meet our goals. A deadline was one small factor among many.

Some Windows users may not have liked it, but i know a lot of windows users who did like it and thought it worked incredibly well.

Certainly. 1Password 7 for Windows works and is liked by many. That doesn't diminish that 1Password 8 is a huge improvement in a number of areas, including many that were frequent requests from customers. The majority of our Windows users writing in about it agree.

I hope that helps clarify our stance a little. Either way your voice has been added to a report we have filed requesting alternative front-end tooling.

Ben

ref: dev/core/core#9286