Electrum New UX/UI.

[Delta_Freak]

I want to discuss the topic of the new design for Electrum Wallet.
I think this design is outdated.
I suggest developers create a public address with money from which to pay designers .
What do you think about it ?
Is it necessary at all?

[1715589886]

1715589886

[1715589886]

1715589886

[NeuroticFish]

I want to discuss the topic of the new design for Electrum Wallet.
I think this design is outdated.
I suggest developers create a public address with money from which to pay designers .
What do you think about it ?
Is it necessary at all?

There were small discussions here and there from people wanting UI/UX changes, but again, small ones.
From what I remember the problem is that the UI/UX is too heavily tied with the underlying code, so first of all a huge refactoring/rewrite is needed in order to get to a decoupled UI that can be customized/rewritten by a designer.

So the first discussion is not about paying a designer - somebody may be doing it even for free if it's decoupled - the biggest problem is the changes in the code, which I guess nobody is too keen to make.
Then, a second discussion will be about UI/UX and has to be done carefully. I have quite an experience with designers doing things look nice and lack usefulness. If not done with extreme care, a new nice UI done by somebody not "dreaming" all the functionalities of Electrum may actually harm the product.

[nc50lc]

I suggest developers create a public address with money from which to pay designers .

Electrum core developers are just volunteers and doing it for free
so if money will be involved, it's up to the users who want an specific update or feature to offer a bounty.

Is it necessary at all?

For the desktop version (Qt), not much. It looks good actually.
For the Android version (Kivi), yeah, it could use some improvement (but I'm not using it).

[Charles-Tim]

What do you think about it ?
Is it necessary at all?

I am not disputing that to be necessary, but the kind of wallets we are having that have good UI can not be compared with Electrum, most of the wallets have a single address generated, many belongs to centralized exchanges and looking for more ways noncustodial wallets can be linked with their exchanges, many are close source, most do not have replace-by-fee and coin control.

This makes UI not necessary for electrum because an experienced bitcoin user will surely have a reason not to make use of many other wallets. But if latest modern UI is used, it may attract newbies to use Electrum, but for people like me, a good design is not what I need to hold my money, the functionality and the ease of use is what I mostly needed, and Electrum offers that.

Electrum UI is not even that bad, you may think it is not modern enough, but the UI is also not old type too, but I think Electrum developers are more after wallet functionality than the appearance. Functionality is more important.

[PawGo]

I want to discuss the topic of the new design for Electrum Wallet.
I think this design is outdated.

I do not have any opinion about Desktop UI, as for me it is fine. But android application looks like from previous era - it is just ugly. Fresh look would make it much more popular I think. I appreciate features which are there, but it is really hard to say it is user-friendly. Most people would like to keep it simple, like in (for example) Blue Wallet.

[Delta_Freak]

I want to discuss the topic of the new design for Electrum Wallet.
I think this design is outdated.
I suggest developers create a public address with money from which to pay designers .
What do you think about it ?
Is it necessary at all?

There were small discussions here and there from people wanting UI/UX changes, but again, small ones.
From what I remember the problem is that the UI/UX is too heavily tied with the underlying code, so first of all a huge refactoring/rewrite is needed in order to get to a decoupled UI that can be customized/rewritten by a designer.

So the first discussion is not about paying a designer - somebody may be doing it even for free if it's decoupled - the biggest problem is the changes in the code, which I guess nobody is too keen to make.

It's very bad if the problem lies so deep.
Maybe then it will be possible to spend this money to pay programmers.
I like electrum and I use almost all its features.
But the design of the Android app repels many People.
It just upsets me.

[NeuroticFish]

But the design of the Android app repels many People.
It just upsets me.

My words were about Electrum for PC. I don't know what's the status of Electrum for Android since I don't use it because it doesn't work with hardware wallet.
So Electrum for Android may need something more than just fancier UI.

[bitmover]

I want to discuss the topic of the new design for Electrum Wallet.
I think this design is outdated.
I suggest developers create a public address with money from which to pay designers .
What do you think about it ?
Is it necessary at all?

Beautiful UI are not really important for electrum imo

You don't need Fanny features in electrum such as wallet charts showing how price history and things like that.
There are many wallets that do that, and also naby different portfolio trackers around.

When someone uses electrum, the goal is just to control bitcoin and its private keys.
Features like a better lightning network experience are much better.

[DaveF]

The mobile version could use an update to the UI, but it does work perfectly so you have to balance the time and effort you need to put in to redoing a working product to make a slicker nicer interface vs. adding features and better coding and general bugfixes and other things to it and the desktop version. Features and fixes are more important.

It's also, not like they have a product they are selling. It's all free and open source, there is nothing stopping you or anyone else from going out and making the UI changes and putting them out there. You don't need permission from anyone, that is the joy of open source. Then the developers have the option of merging it or not. Make it good enough and have enough people like it and support it and I can see it getting merged.

-Dave

[Lucius]

It's very bad if the problem lies so deep.
Maybe then it will be possible to spend this money to pay programmers.
I like electrum and I use almost all its features.
But the design of the Android app repels many People.
It just upsets me.

I use the mobile version of Electrum from time to time and what is important to me is its functionality and that it has regular updates like the desktop version. A new generation of young people who put design first, and only then functionality and safety, often find themselves in trouble because of this.

In addition, Electrum developers are not very active on this forum, so this is the wrong address for such questions.

[Charles-Tim]

So Electrum for Android may need something more than just fancier UI.

That is not wrong at all, it would be good if it can be connected to hardware wallet.

I am using both mobile and desktop Electrum, what I am missing more on mobile Electrum is fee customisation and coin control (I know it has address freeze), especially fee customisation, the fee estimation algorithm is not working the way I want it to work, I do have the option to click on 'advance payment option' while making use of desktop Electrum and able to customise the feerate to 1 sat/vbyte when the mempool is not congested.

The desktop Electrum is having more features than mobile Electrum, but I have found it simple to use, I just like the fact that it remain open source, unlike many other wallets.

[nc50lc]

-snip- especially fee customisation, the fee estimation algorithm is not working the way I want it to work, I do have the option to click on 'advance payment option' while making use of desktop Electrum and able to customise the feerate to 1 sat/vbyte when the mempool is not congested.

The workaround in the Android version is to switch to "static" fee slider (click the current Target's value to switch between the three).
That way, you can set it to 1, 2, 5, 10~ sat/vB even without the advanced payment options.

[pooya87]

I suggest developers create a public address with money from which to pay designers .

Usually the problem that open source developers face is not money but instead is lack of time. The main developers are usually busy coding more important parts like LN these days.
However, you still can offer a bounty for grabs if you want to put your own money in. Just create a new issue on Electrum's github repository and offer the bounty. If someone grabbed it you could place the amount with an escrow until the feature is finished.

[Pmalek]

I would take an outdated and ugly-looking user interface but a safe, effective, and bug-free wallet over a good-looking, beautifully-designed but unsafe and filled with bugs piece of software any day of the week. And that's what Electrum provides in its desktop version. It works as advertised and doesn't cause me any headache.

I don't use the Android version because it lacks coin control options.

Although I did struggle to customize the fees a few weeks ago on the desktop client. It was really weird. I tried spending many UTXOs at 1.1 sat/vByte and despite entering 1.1 sat/vByte, the software broadcasted the transaction at 1.4 or 1.5 (can't exactly remember it now). I noticed the difference during the creation stage, but since it didn't matter much, I just went ahead and broadcasted the higher fee one. Could this be the result of the server settings of the node I was connected to? The server doesn't accept 1.1 sat/vByte transactions, so it just bumped the fees to the minimum allowed? I somehow doubt that was the problem and I would have probably seen an error message. Anyone? 

[Delta_Freak]

I would take an outdated and ugly-looking user interface but a safe, effective, and bug-free wallet over a good-looking, beautifully-designed but unsafe and filled with bugs piece of software any day of the week. And that's what Electrum provides in its desktop version. It works as advertised and doesn't cause me any headache. 

I'm not suggesting making the app less secure or functional.
I'm just offering to make the mobile version more beautiful. Although I would also like to add an encryption/decryption function for message in mobile version.

[Cricktor]

Although I did struggle to customize the fees a few weeks ago on the desktop client. It was really weird. I tried spending many UTXOs at 1.1 sat/vByte and despite entering 1.1 sat/vByte, the software broadcasted the transaction at 1.4 or 1.5 (can't exactly remember it now). I noticed the difference during the creation stage, but since it didn't matter much, I just went ahead and broadcasted the higher fee one. Could this be the result of the server settings of the node I was connected to? The server doesn't accept 1.1 sat/vByte transactions, so it just bumped the fees to the minimum allowed? I somehow doubt that was the problem and I would have probably seen an error message. Anyone? 

I would find it odd, if a connected Electrum server (I usually use my own) would bump my preset fee value. That's not happening in your case, I assume. You likely had the local Electrum option "Enable output value rounding" checked and active (see Preferences > Transactions tab).

[Charles-Tim]

The workaround in the Android version is to switch to "static" fee slider (click the current Target's value to switch between the three).
That way, you can set it to 1, 2, 5, 10~ sat/vB even without the advanced payment options.

Lucius commented that he do use mobile Electrum wallet, probably he should understand what I meant if he is paying with lowest feerate when the mempool is not congested at all. I prefer to make bitcoin transaction on Sundays, because highest fee priority can come down to 1 sat/vbyte.

I use 1 sat/vbyte mostly on Sundays recently, there are times I will just want to use mobile Electrum directly, but the low fee priority which is estimated to be confirmed within the next 25 blocks, is not estimated accurately, it was around 3 sat/vbyte the time before the last time I tried it, it was around 2 sat/vbyte (slightly higher but not up to 3 sat/vbyte) the last Sunday, I had to open my desktop Electrum to set the fee to 1 sat/vbyte this last Sunday. The fee was estimated to be little, but mempool was indicating it to be littler which was 1 sat/vbyte for high fee priority.

I'm not suggesting making the app less secure or functional.
I'm just offering to make the mobile version more beautiful. Although I would also like to add an encryption/decryption function for message in mobile version.

Follow the advice above, you can contribute to Electrum UI looking better, it is open source.

[Lucius]

@Charles-Tim, it's true that you can't always rely on the algorithm that calculates the fee when it comes to Electrum, I think there was a discussion on that topic in the past. For this reason, I always use other sources to look at the actual state of the mempool and accordingly set the fee that suits me best at that moment.

Currently, mempool.space has all fees at 1-4 sat/vB, and Electrum (mobile) shows different suggestions in relation to which method of determining the fees you choose. This can confuse some users, especially the way it changes between the 3 options (nowhere does it say "click this to change fee setup option").

[o_e_l_e_o]

Could this be the result of the server settings of the node I was connected to?

No, your client would simply return an error if the main server you were connected to was rejecting your transaction. And the fee must have been bumped before you signed it and tried to send it to the server in question, so there would be no opportunity for the server to learn of your low fee and bump it prior to this. Electrum will quite happily let you create and sign a transaction with a fee below 1 sat/vbyte, simply showing you warning that you are below the default relay fee.

What is more likely is that you have output value rounding enabled under Tools -> Preferences as Cricktor has said above, which resulted in your change output(s) being slightly reduced to match the precision of your other output(s), with the extra few sats being added to your fee.

[Pmalek]

You likely had the local Electrum option "Enable output value rounding" checked and active (see Preferences > Transactions tab).

I did make the transaction on a different laptop than the one I originally use for my crypto so maybe there was an option in the settings that I didn't pay close attention to.  I am going to check if that is the case on my Electrum wallet later today. Thanks for the suggestion!

Btw, is "Enable output value rounding" enabled by default or not? I don't think I enabled it myself since I don't know what it does.

No, your client would simply return an error if the main server you were connected to was rejecting your transaction.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

And the fee must have been bumped before you signed it and tried to send it to the server in question, so there would be no opportunity for the server to learn of your low fee and bump it prior to this.

That's correct. As soon as I added my fee of 1.1 sat/vByte and wanted to preview my entries, the fees got bumped.