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
@cyberskier I completely agree about the menus. They should extend past the application window. I have heard that it's not possible to do with Electron, but not sure. If so it's yet another reason to abandon the idea of using Electron and move to SwiftUI like a proper Mac app.
Former Member
4 years ago
One other item for consideration for tweaking — the "New Item" menu. When the app window is smaller, the New Item menu gets cut off and requires scrolling, which isn't immediately apparent (i..e. someone might think they're viewing the entire list, and not know they can scroll to see more options). In previous versions, I believe the New Item menu could extend past the main app window. This also has the effect of making the app feel like a web view.
Lextar
Occasional Contributor
4 years ago
I think Reeder for macOS has a rather nice preferences window with a custom style similar to 1Password, but the "X" on the left side of the title bar:
1P_Ben
1Password Team
4 years ago
@tomjepp

You're absolutely right that modals are less common on macOS, and where they do exist, the UI isn't entirely consistent. As I say, our design folks are going to take another pass through the app to evaluate where we're using modals, and to see which of those makes sense and which we might consider making a window.

Thanks for the continued feedback on this.

Ben
Former Member
4 years ago
That Home app is majorly inconsistent in itself - some of the modals are iOS style with Cancel and Confirm or similar actions at the top of the window, one specific modal uses the X icon. I'd say it's not a good example of Apple design language. Other Apple Catalyst apps are similarly inconsistent, even within the same app. The home app uses mostly this style:

More traditional desktop apps seem to either use a very minimal preferences modal, or a full traditional preferences window.

An example of a very minimalist Apple preferences modal:

I don't think this is great for more than a few checkboxes though.
1P_Ben
1Password Team
4 years ago
Our design team is going to take a holistic look at our use of modals vs windows and see if there are areas where we've used one but the other makes more sense. As far as the design of the modals go, we're following the conventions established by Apple. I don't think it would necessarily be difficult to change it, but I'm also not sure there is agreement that we should go against what Apple does in order to have a more Apple feel. 🙃 We'll see. Not much is written in stone.

Ben
Former Member
4 years ago
Like how hard is it in Electron to be like ifMacOS -> Left for this X? It seems less of a matter that 1Password can't and more an issue that they refuse to out of principal. We will adapt to their design rather than them adapting to the OS design, darn it!
1P_Ben
1Password Team
4 years ago
Thanks, Lextar. I've added your voice to the ticket we're tracking this feedback on.

Ben
Lextar
Occasional Contributor
4 years ago
Every single time I try to close 1Password's preferences, I first start to move the mouse to the left and then remember that the "X" is on the right side of the dialog.

PLEASE, use the default macOS close button on the left side as every other native macOS does. No, the Home app is not a good example of a native macOS app...

Have a look at the macOS Human Interface Guidelines at https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/macos/app-architecture/preferences/

Preferences Windows
A preferences window is a modeless dialog that’s used to adjust an app’s preferences. Typically, a preferences window contains a toolbar that includes buttons for switching between groups of related settings, which are displayed in a view beneath the toolbar. These groupings are known as preference panes.

The HIG also includes a (slightly outdated) screenshot of a typical macOS preferences window.
rctneil
Super Contributor
4 years ago
I was just coming back on here to comment that, the Home app is Apple's first attempt at a Catalyst app and the X at the top right most likely came over from iOS. The Home app is a terrible example of a good Mac citizen to be honest. If I were a Mac dev, I would not be taking design inspiration from that app whatsoever.

I still maintain that the X should be at the top left on Mac platforms and even better, be a proper Mac Preferences window with icon tabs across the top and native stoplight controls top left.