How could Xero improve the homepage?

I've been working on Xero for 11 years now. When I used to 'sell' Xero to potential clients - it was inevitably the simplicity that made them convert. Most of my clients are very unhappy with the changes and some have considered unsubscribing due to not having the option to revert back to the old layout. This was very unnecessary. Really very disappointed. And I may now lose clients because of it too.

I am not happy with the new layout at all. I use Xero for 9 companies and each company has multiple bank accounts. It's not easy to move them where I want. We can not move things around the way we want like you claim based on the sizes available. Also I do not like the the bar graphs that have a pop up when you cross over them. They get in the way. The drafts being at the bottom of the box are smaller and are not as easy to find/notice. Several of the companies I use it for will no longer allow me to switch back to the old system. Please allow us to continue with the old system. The only thing I'd change with the old is the blue bar across the top staying stationary as you scroll down. This would allow us to click the home button again easily and see what company we are in when we use it for multiple companies.

@Kelly Munro This new homepage update is such a huge step backwards. It really is very inferior to the previous layout - from a usability point in particular. You have received loads of feedback (many many comments below) on how bad this update is - it really should be possible for your users to choose the old layout while you work on improvements.

@ Kelly Munro I have observed this week that several of my clients’ accounts have been moved to the beta version without their consent and with no option to revert to the previous interface. This is unacceptable. Clients pay for their subscriptions and should retain control over when—if ever—they transition to a beta environment. Forcing this change removes their choice and disrupts their workflows. I am requesting that this issue be addressed urgently and that an option to revert be reinstated.

Well appreciate this. Didn't ask for the pretty, Cluttered mess every time I look at it. Don't need it, don't want it and would appreciate the option not to have that sh..t forced upon me. You have done this just so you can justify the next price rise, What are we Children? that it has to be colourful. considering I'm paying for this experience every month.. I m not a happy camper

So cluttered. How about slightly differnet colours/shades for each type. IE Bank vs AR vs AP vs invoice payments etc

Stop changing things, there was nothing wrong with the old layout. I sometimes feel you have to change things to keep your staff/designers employed.

Change for change's sake. The old dashboard had the bank accounts on the left, everything else on the right. Logical. Now you have to scroll down all the bank accounts to find anything else, and, as someone ele has noted, the bank accounts all look the same so now you have to "look" instead of "feel".

But having used Xero since 2011 I am accustomed to their completely out of touch attitude to what matters to their actual customer base. Did anyone ask for a new dashboard? I sincerely doubt it, but no doubt a bright spark has landed in Xero Product right out of uni, knowing absolutely nothing about running a business, but everything about trying to make an impression on their new boss.

My main compalints about a new dashboard:

1) Too Much Clutter: my eyes hurt when I look at Xero new dashboard.
2) Changing the look of the dashboard in January is just mean, it slows me down.
3) Common tasks require more time.

Concur. Feels like too much going on and hard to see important info.

Also not a fan of the widgets moving depending on screen size. I put them in an order where I know where to look for what and then when I change browser window, they change order/location. Seems more helpful to keep where users put them.

The new dashboard looks good on the surface (full width page, sleek/modern looking cards. However it has zero visual hierarchy.

I have 11 bank accounts and all the cards on the screen look identical and so cluttered. There's no spacing or logical grouping of cards which makes it extremely hard to read.

Totally agree, the new layout is so over the top.

A lot of us using Xero are regular people trying to run our business in which we pay a premium price.
That in which we do not mind as the interface is incredibly easy to move around, however the new interface is far from that. 

It is cluttered, even with removing the features that are not relative to our business, it is overwhelming and unnecessary. 

YES!!!! My brain hurts as soon as I open Xero new homepage. Please give us open to keep the old

Totally agree with all of Perry's points. It's as if Xero is making change for the sake of making change, not because there was anything wrong about the existing home page. I would like the existing home page to have an option of making the graphs smaller, not larger, or supressing them altogether. Please do not make us all go to the new home page on Feb 14.

Martin

The amount of available screen real estate isn't at all the issue here. It's the design. It's unreadable, overwhelming, poorly thought out.

* You can't re-arrange things in a sane way because it keeps auto-shuffling everything else around. It's like trying to move app icons around on an iPhone - a usability nightmare.
* The individual widget boxes are white on a blue that's practically white. There is no clear delineation between the two like there was before (old layout the boxes were outlined). This makes everything appear to mush together.
* The old layout had useful graphs for account balances so you could see at a glance if the balances over time. I found this very useful. That's simply gone in the new one.
* Cash In and Cash Out should be configurable so you can change the timeframe. Six month rolling balances are utterly useless to me. All I want to see is year to date and maybe comparison with same months last year. (This was the same in the old layout, but at least it wasn't gigantic
* The old invoices widget showed Drafts, Awaiting Payment, and Overdue all next to each other. Now they're spread around all over the widget. Why? Also, you should be able to customize what's shown here. We don't "Approve" invoices so that item is not something we care about at all. The invoice is made, it's sent out, that's it.

I am using a screen that's 2560x1440 pixels. Hardly low resolution, yet two widgets are off the bottom of my screen because they're so huge.

This is about bad ux, not screen real estate.

Just a thought: Xero has different subscription options which give access to different functions according to the subscription rate. Would it be possible to offer "different" screens linked to the subscription too? That way, small and micro businesses could have a more functional, less overwhelming, summary homepage whilst larger organisations could have the all singing, all dancing one that contains more information than a micro business or simple self-employed person needs?

Adam Willemse suggests that part of the issue is people who don't want to "treat themselves to screen real estate" or are working for stingy companies. If only that was the case.

Happy to see I am not alone - spent time trying to "adapt" and can't do it -

DON'T LIKE - sorry please leave old one as option.....

The 'old' dashboard was great...the new version is atrocious. So busy and cluttered. My eyes are confused! I have multiple accounts and this is making life more difficult. Please listen to your users and return to the previous dashboard. I miss it and switch back constantly.....the opportunity to do that is running out...crying out loud!

I am fairly new to Xero.

The new layout is awful.

What is really concerning me is the lack of response from Kelly Munro/Xero. Are Xero really this bad for listening to customer feedback? All these comments and NO RESPONSE. What is the point of having a community manager who does not respond.

I am getting the impression this will be forced upon users and all this 'share your ideas' and 'we want your feedback' is lip service.

Frustrating

The new dashboard is an assault on my eyes. I hate it. If I am forced to use it on Feb 16th as advertised at the top in a panel that I cannot dismiss, I will move from Xero to a different platform.