I’m just going to say it. The 4.1.2 interface is ugly!

[DR.J56]

I skipped from DOS to Win95. WOW what a difference! I was personally VERY happy.

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[mpellerito]

If you think the 4.1.2 Sync 4 UI is ugly, you should see the latest UI for the market leading purveyor of Electronic Medical Records (trust me, your health system uses this piece of garbage). I won’t name the company because they’re privately owned and very adverse to negative comments, but the UI literally looks like cutting edge early 1990s Netscape Navigator. Trust me, there are many worse UIs in critical applications than the latest Sync 4 UI.

Similarly many of the health insurance companies I worked with over the past number of years still use a system which looks like MS DOS. Some are starting to make updates, but I always thought it was amazing they were still typing in commands without mouse clicking. But I guess the view was if it works and it's not broke don't fix it.

 

[KevinS]

One of the disappointments for me is the lack of any ability to customize the calm screen. The current one reminds me of looking at the rear of a Kia EV6!

 

[Valkyrie]

For those who were wondering how bad Windows 2.1 was:

FORMAT C:

 

[Guss-E 2021]

When I saw the design I actually sent an email to some people at Ford... This is what I said (in part because there were other things discussed as well):

Team,

... some of the basic UI blunders in the recent 4.1.2 release.

In the below image you’ll notice the following:

• The 3 leftmost icons on the top bar are not the same color as the 2 rightmost icons. They should all be the same color. They should be colored in accordance with the drive mode and light/dark settings, just like the other icons within the UI. They should not be white when using dark mode.
• The home and settings icons are solid fill icons, meaning the icon is colored throughout. The camera icon, and by nature the Ford logo, are outline icons. There should be consistency here.
• The home icon takes you to an app tray, there’s nothing “home” about this location. The home icon is supposed to be used to return “home” where you would normally keep the screen for viewing. This should be an app tray icon.
• Using a switch icon (double toggle) for settings is a strange choice as well. Maybe a cogwheel would be better, just like all modern devices use.
• Putting the profile button on the furthest right corner is not what anyone expects. The clock should be moved back to the far right corner, just like Android, iPhones, Tablets, TVs, Windows, MacOS and every other device with a UI

In the below imagine you’ll notice that the volume label is on the power button. In UI design you NEVER put 2 different call to actions on a singular button. This is a power button, it is not a volume button. While I understand that “volume” is likely referencing the wheel, this is not the place to put it, since this is actually on top of a button that serves another purpose. Put the volume label to the upper right above the wheel where there’s no button.

Sincerely,
Todd"

I received a response from the Sr. Product Manager:

"...Thank you very much for sending us very detailed feedback on some of the UI changes that were implemented recently. The Team has sent your feedback to the appropriate parties here at Ford and they are investigating."

Fantastic @DevSecOps! And thank you (I agree with everything you pointed out). Baffles me that a billion dollar corp like Ford is not capable of hiring competent software engineers or people capable of discerning who is a competent software engineer.

I've said it before but perhaps Ford should just hand all of this over to Google. Google is not perfect but it is more nimble when it comes to correcting issues.

 

[satchel prefect]

Add me to the camp of normies that recognizes the inconsistencies, but probably would not have noticed if no one had pointed them out. I happened to notice the volume level display at one point, but again, I didn't find it objectionable as it is presented consistently with temp settings, etc.

In fact, I'm not sure how the volume level display is even useful. Displaying that number seems only to invite criticism, such as when Ioniq 5 drivers question why the first 70% of their digital volume display is nearly inaudible. Call me old school, but CCW->quiet, CW->loud is good enough for me. Thank goodness we have that dial to begin with.

Anyhow, as far as I'm concerned, it's a win that they didn't drop the ball on functionality for all the tap controlled stuff.

As for removing the informative task tiles though: I'm in the camp that believes that was a loss of functionality, and I'm not sure the whole thing is a net improvement. I look at tire pressure every time I drive; not so with the camera, seat heaters, or climate control temp.

 

[AhardFSU]

Fantastic @DevSecOps! And thank you (I agree with everything you pointed out). Baffles me that a billion dollar corp like Ford is not capable of hiring competent software engineers or people capable of discerning who is a competent software engineer.

I've said it before but perhaps Ford should just hand all of this over to Google. Google is not perfect but it is more nimble when it comes to correcting issues.

Wasn’t that former Apple guy, Darren Palmer supposed to over the software team. I agree with everything DevOps said.

 

[Jimrpa]

TWO GIGS OF DISK SPACE IN 1988 ??????

Pretty sure that grab was from someone running it in a VM

 

[Jimrpa]

One of the disappointments for me is the lack of any ability to customize the calm screen. The current one reminds me of looking at the rear of a Kia EV6!

Yes, I’d like the ability to add “widgets” to the calm screen. For example, it would be nice if I could have a navigation widget and a media widget on the calm screen so that I could see the map and what’s playing. Oh, and a tire pressure widget would be helpful. And, of course, if people didn’t want anything, no widgets.

 

[Jimrpa]

When I saw the design I actually sent an email to some people at Ford... This is what I said (in part because there were other things discussed as well):

Team,

... some of the basic UI blunders in the recent 4.1.2 release.

In the below image you’ll notice the following:

• The 3 leftmost icons on the top bar are not the same color as the 2 rightmost icons. They should all be the same color. They should be colored in accordance with the drive mode and light/dark settings, just like the other icons within the UI. They should not be white when using dark mode.
• The home and settings icons are solid fill icons, meaning the icon is colored throughout. The camera icon, and by nature the Ford logo, are outline icons. There should be consistency here.
• The home icon takes you to an app tray, there’s nothing “home” about this location. The home icon is supposed to be used to return “home” where you would normally keep the screen for viewing. This should be an app tray icon.
• Using a switch icon (double toggle) for settings is a strange choice as well. Maybe a cogwheel would be better, just like all modern devices use.
• Putting the profile button on the furthest right corner is not what anyone expects. The clock should be moved back to the far right corner, just like Android, iPhones, Tablets, TVs, Windows, MacOS and every other device with a UI

In the below imagine you’ll notice that the volume label is on the power button. In UI design you NEVER put 2 different call to actions on a singular button. This is a power button, it is not a volume button. While I understand that “volume” is likely referencing the wheel, this is not the place to put it, since this is actually on top of a button that serves another purpose. Put the volume label to the upper right above the wheel where there’s no button.

Sincerely,
Todd"

I received a response from the Sr. Product Manager:

"...Thank you very much for sending us very detailed feedback on some of the UI changes that were implemented recently. The Team has sent your feedback to the appropriate parties here at Ford and they are investigating."

Thanks for taking the time, and you hit all the highlights of the UI flaws that I’ve noticed. To be honest, I really wonder if there’s a UI standards guide of some form for Sync 4? For example, the “windowing” in the system behaves very inconsistently. Why does an entire overlay window have to be presented whenever voice commands are used?

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Wasn’t that former Apple guy, Darren Palmer supposed to over the software team. I agree with everything DevOps said.

No. Darren Palmer is not a former Apple guy. The person you’re thinking of is Doug Fields. Darren Palmer actually reports to Mr. Fields last I heard.

 

[Jimrpa]

Before…”Give us a camera button….give us a camera button!”

After….”WTF….these buttons are ugly!”. ??

I’ve never wanted a camera button. ? I’m not sure what’s wrong with everyone else’s cars, but my cameras come on automagically, whenever they’re needed. About the only time I need to fire them up manually is to show someone why it’s impossible to develop a practical Tesla-style monitoring system with the current cameras and configuration (amazing how many people forget that our mirrors retract when parked ?)

 

[Jimrpa]

Fantastic @DevSecOps! And thank you (I agree with everything you pointed out). Baffles me that a billion dollar corp like Ford is not capable of hiring competent software engineers or people capable of discerning who is a competent software engineer.

I've said it before but perhaps Ford should just hand all of this over to Google. Google is not perfect but it is more nimble when it comes to correcting issues.

Ugh, please NOT google. They change stuff at random and drop things abruptly when they get bored with it.

 

[Jimrpa]

Add me to the camp of normies that recognizes the inconsistencies, but probably would not have noticed if no one had pointed them out. I happened to notice the volume level display at one point, but again, I didn't find it objectionable as it is presented consistently with temp settings, etc.

In fact, I'm not sure how the volume level display is even useful. Displaying that number seems only to invite criticism, such as when Ioniq 5 drivers question why the first 70% of their digital volume display is nearly inaudible. Call me old school, but CCW->quiet, CW->loud is good enough for me. Thank goodness we have that dial to begin with.

Anyhow, as far as I'm concerned, it's a win that they didn't drop the ball on functionality for all the tap controlled stuff.

As for removing the informative task tiles though: I'm in the camp that believes that was a loss of functionality, and I'm not sure the whole thing is a net improvement. I look at tire pressure every time I drive; not so with the camera, seat heaters, or climate control temp.

Well, I for one, want to be able to turn it up to ELEVEN! ????
That’s why we have numbers ?

 

[hack-e]

I too thought the styling was poor, but I didn't bother mentioning it in the forums here as the overall function of the UI is so much better, IMHO.

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