How could Xero improve the homepage?

Further to my comment back in January requesting we have the ability to change the size of the wigets, I am currently trying to train an employee to do the reconcilliations etc on Xero while I am on leave for a month. My employee is finding the home page very intimidating and in your face. Her comment was "it's very big and messy, isn't it!". She also doesn't need the peripheral widgets telling her how the business if going etc. If she can get confident using Xero I can see if we can delete that from her login down the track. A nice ordered list, like the old Home page would be heaps better for her.
I'd hate to be on the Spectrum and having to deal with that home page, it could almost be called discriminating.
Just thought you'd like some feedback from someone who has never used or seen Xero before - I don't think she would purchase it she needed an accounting system down the track.

"I'm unsure whether the product team at Xero are being deliberately opaque, or whether efficiency and usability of UI is just something Xero product management doesn't understand"

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Thanks for the update Kelly, but I'd also like to reiterate what others have noted. The proposed solution to follow the existing widget capabilities of smaller/large sizes does not meet the requirement people are requesting.

Specifically, most people are asking to make some widgets smaller, and/or have a "compact" view with less white space, smaller fonts, etc. (that should naturally flow from having a smaller sized widget), and/or (as in my case) having widgets like Chart of Accounts full height (i.e. taller/longer, not wider, spanning multiple rows in the grid) so that all accounts are shown.

I'm unsure whether the product team at Xero are being deliberately opaque, or whether efficiency and usability of UI is just something Xero product management doesn't understand - but overall, the handling of the new homepage design, technical implementation, and roll-out is not giving Xero a good look.

(The resizing will work in the same way as what has been provided with the Cash in and out, and Chart of accounts watch list widget.) PLEASE DONT! That is not resizing - you have large or xx large.
You need to have it that the widget box can just be dragged to whatever size we require. Similar to eg. attachment in bills - you can drag the box bigger and zoom in/out. Since we can already do this, I am sure you would be able to use the same function for the widgets. And make the widgets the same - say all squares.
I spent a while with a Xero case rep trying to help me out with the homepage, as now a lot of confidential info was on display. Trying to work out squares vs rectangles was a drama. I ended up having to add unused bank accounts or make new blank bank accounts to fill up the top section and have my widgets that I use down the bottom. So now I have to scroll down to see the widgets I need. Pretty silly, but it is the only way to have a homepage and be able to hide info.

To be honest, I love the new layout. In fact, I'd like to see the ability to make the widgets even smaller so I can get more onto a page, in particular the bank account tiles - I still think there is too much white space. We have lots of bank and card accounts and being able to see them all in one screen view is great, I can't tell you how many hours i've spent scrolling up and down finding accounts. Also, another feature I have seen on other systems is to have a toggle to show/hide certain balances. This could be a sub menu off the dashboard page where you can assign which tile balance will be hidden when you toggle the view/hide button. Also you should be able to set default position as show or hide, so whenever you go to dashboard, it is defaulted to hide mode (meaning all your tiles are there but balances are hidden on those tiles you have chosen to hide)

Hi - I would appreciate if the user could scale the tiles on the homepage. These tiles are quite large - having the option to scale them smaller there would be more information on the home screen.
My suggestion - scalable tiles please
thanks

Just been forced to the 'new' home page. I now have to remove all widgets, have nothing on the homepage, then go find everything. As all widgets and their XXXL font are now a confidential issue. All our tradies can now see how much the company has or owes! Anyone got suggestions for another accounting package?

This (attached) is the only way I can have the new dashboard/home screen. By removing all widgets so staff cant see bank account of other sensitive figures just by walking past.

I have had to change my login link to land me on the bank accounts screen instead as this shows the classic look of the bank accounts that used to be on the dashboard.

Please either allow us to use the old layout or the flexibility to seriously reduce the size of the widgets. Sometimes I have people working behind me that can easily see a client's most confidential information when I am logged in (I have access to a number of of clients Xero accounts, and I work at their various offices) I would suggest in future before making a permanent switch, Xero actually gets feedback from their customers in advance and then make a final decision? The flexibility to switch back would be a great gesture of goodwill until we have the freedom to reduce the size of the widgets. I am very seriously concerned about confidentiality given the huge size of these new widgets.

I would rather have a list of outstanding invoices on the dashboard instead of a graph with the totals owed. (same layout as the recently paid invoices list which i have removed completely as its not necessary)

I feel that this is in an attempt to be similar to the other do-it-yourself accounting software..please don't let that happen. I recommend Xero all the time to people when they struggle with QBO - and I'm not a fan of their new layout - I don't want them to come to Xero and see essentially the same look.

I feel that this is in an attempt to be similar to the other do-it-yourself accounting software..please don't let that happen. I recommend Xero all the time to people when they struggle with QBO - and I'm not a fan of their new layout - I don't want them to come to Xero and see essentially the same look.

I completely agree - also, it would be great to have half sized widgets for invoices owed and bills to pay making them the same size as the bank account/VAT widgets by removing the bar chart - I like to see the totals owed/due but the bar charts for me are not necessary.

A "condensed" view would be handy too - the widgets have a lot of white space, for those of us checking things on the go with a smaller laptop screen that means a lot of scrolling up and down just to get some basic information.

Couldn't agree more- I have deleted some data from the homepage simply because I couldn't resize the widgets. The previous homepage was- and just my opinion- far easier to use and more visually appealing

I want to see all the boxes on the home page and some of them are too big. Can you add some resizing tools to shrink down the cash in and out, invoices owed, bills to pay boxes to the smaller size so I can see them all at a glance please?

Yes definitely, its showing too much confidential info on the main page. We have visitors frequently - staff & customers, so the enlarged widgets is not good.

The below pink boxes should not be so large and bold, either ability to shrink the text or boxes smaller be great. These would draw my attention from a short distance (grey boxes are just confidential)

Feedback below suggests I'm not the only one struggling with the clutter the new widgets create. They are too big and not easily customised meaning you have scoll down the page to see what you can already see in the classic version. The graphs are great visually but do they have to be that big with so much high value homepage space around them. The task widget is great but I have removed it just to clean the homepage up. With 4 bank accounts it doesnt leave a lot of space for the other important stuff. Someone suggested below being able to put all bank accounts into a folder on the homepage like on the iphone - you could still see the bank account name and the balance but much smaller.
IDK its just an idea

Ability to resize widgets (vertical size, at least)

Hi Kelly, just to follow-up on a comment I've seen made several times in your responses. Specifically this:

"[...] changes to the 'Cash in and out' and 'Chart of accounts' widgets so when customising your view you'll now have the options to 'Make larger' or 'Make smaller'."

This option doesn't really address the main feedback point - at least from my perspective. These options simply "stretch" the widget from 1 to 2 columns, and back again.

With the chart of accounts widget, they do not change the height, and consequently do not get rid of the scrollbar, and still prevent us from seeing the full list easily.

In respect to those widgets with graphs, they simply stretch the graph. If 6 months data is shown in 1 column view, then 6 months is still shown in 2 column view - it would be much better if the additional real estate was also used to increase the actual data shown (e.g. 6 months when the widget is 1 column width, 12 months when the widget is 2 columns wide).

I do appreciate the feedback and updates, but it really does sound in many cases that the product team are really missing the crux of our feedback points, and do not seem to be addressing the underlying usability problems.

If you are not going to give us the option of staying with the old layout which I much prefer, please let us make the widgets smaller. I extremely dislike the new layout, so big and in you face it's horrid. Definately not made by an everyday user.