How could Xero improve the homepage?

Creeping featurism.

As someone just starting to use Xero, I have to say, this kind of change was an *overwhelmingly* bad idea to roll out at the advent of US tax season. Whoever thought making a massive (and objectively inferior) change to the main interface when everyone is going to be rushing to meet deadlines and working on automatic pilot was a good idea should be sacked. Business 102 is "don't "fix" anything while stepping into in the midst of your highest caseload era."

Did you make sure your practice company and tutorials and articles were ready to teach new users/customers using this shiny new interface?

This new homepage is, as many of these comments I've read attest, a nightmare scene of white space and thin boxes. There's no clear division. It looks like it was designed by AI, and not by a person who actually has and uses their eyes. Get a way to at least add some unique background colors...some way to break up the information....something.

It's also a security nightmare. That is a LOT of sensitive data to have up on the home screen at all times by default, which several others have mentioned.

i create lots of "draft" emails so i can add multiple items and invoice once a month, can we create a "drafts" widget, or make it easier to get to draft invoices?

I just put the following helpdesk request through

The new homepage is visually overwhelming for me and significantly increases cognitive load. I can currently switch back, but I don’t know how long that option will remain. Is it possible to keep the previous version without being forced onto the new layout?

Maybe if more people request it we might get an option to keep it

I would like to share feedback regarding the new homepage layout.

While I appreciate that updates aim to improve functionality and modernise the interface, I experienced the new layout as visually overwhelming and cognitively heavier than the previous version.

Some specific observations:

Increased visual amplitude
The larger card sizes, expanded whitespace, and increased typography scale make the dashboard feel more dominant and “loud” compared to the previous compact layout.

Greater visual emphasis on charts
The taller and more prominent graphs draw strong attention, even when I simply want to access operational data quickly. This shifts the tone from a bookkeeping workspace to a performance dashboard.

Reduced spatial familiarity
The previous layout allowed for stable spatial memory. I knew exactly where key information was located. The new arrangement requires relearning navigation patterns, which increases cognitive effort.

Scanning effort
The increased spacing between elements requires more eye travel and scanning distance, which can feel fatiguing during daily accounting tasks.

Lack of compact mode
It would be highly beneficial to offer:
– A compact or reduced-density view
– A “bookkeeper” or operational mode versus an executive dashboard mode
– Greater control over card size and visual intensity

For users who work in accounting daily, predictability and visual calm are important for efficiency. The new layout may work well for high-level overview, but for operational users it increases cognitive load.

I would strongly encourage the option of a density toggle or minimal mode to improve accessibility for users who are sensitive to visual overstimulation.

Opening it for the first time created a stress response in me.

I got rid of most of it and tried to recreate the previous layout which is possible in a limited capacity.

No link to create new invoice..cluttered...advertising is not appropriate, greedy and cheapens your platform

https://www.infusionaccountingsoftware.com/

I am fed up with XERO

Directors seem to have lost their way and have forgotten about us, the user forgetting about the updates needed by us.

Definitely, the management and Directors have been captured by the software developers and lost their focus on supporting their customers.

Having so much commercially sensitive information on the home screen is crazy!

Tim - have a look at Infusion software https://www.infusionaccountingsoftware.com/

Graet suport and solid sohtwere

New design not great. Bank feeds not working again. I switch between old and new. new design appears not to show anything about feeds not working. Why do I always need to contact tech support for bank feeds. Please fix the feeds!

The new home page is overly busy, widgets are badly organised and messy with no logic to where they are placed - it was fine as it was before.

@Andrew G - That is really interesting. I am actively looking at alternatives. Just need to work out how to transfer enough history

@Andrew G - I found this a really interesting read, thank you. Its nice to note that investment managers are seeing our pains as clearly Xero is not.

For those interested in a investor's point of view, given some of the sentiment in this thread, Morningstar has published a somewhat interesting analysis.

https://www.morningstar.com.au/stocks/asx-listed-software-provider-joins-global-sell-off

The bit the resonates (for me) with the sentiment expressed in this thread is this...

"Xero’s nearly tripled its total expenditure on product design and development. However, we see little evidence of returns on these investments. Xero today operates mostly in the same markets as it did a decade ago. Therefore, we believe investments in country-specific adaptations of its products do little to explain the 10-fold increase in total expenditure on product design and development over the period. We also don’t see compelling evidence of returns on investment into new features and functionalities. New Zealand, Xero’s most mature market, should reflect increased average revenue per user, or ARPU, if new features and functionalities were valued by customers. Instead, the New Zealand market has only seen low-single-digit growth in ARPU over the past decade, leading us to believe Xero’s small and midsize enterprise, or SME, customers value simplicity, not features and functionalities."

Of course you could read this several ways, but combined with their radio silence in this forum, from my point-of-view I've lost all confidence in their ability in regards to (a) product management, (b) technical/IT implementation, and (c) community management.

The new dashboard should be their biggest hot potato, but instead we see it left to fester and go cold having being dropped on the floor.

Yeah all support do is gaslight you. But then so do management. Apparently we are all the problem.

On top of that, they close ideas here as well as support whether they are addressed or not. I have had to keep lodging complaints about it but I keep getting told no, they wont do it. Doesn't matter if it is still a problem, closing ideas on the product ideas portal leads other users to think that everything is fine when its not, so yeah, multi level gaslighting.

@Perry Paolantonio You’re 💯 right. Maybe if we all contact support they won’t be able to ignore us the way they’re ignoring this thread. It’s pretty ridiculous to tell people to post product ideas here when they can’t even be bothered to respond to people who’ve taken the time to engage with my original post.

Tried that and got called back and told that it was me not understanding how to tailor the front page. So I asked him to talk me through it (I have been using Xero on 4 entities for 15 years). After going round in circles for a while he admitted it could not be done and said he would escalate it. My feeling is that that is the other way they can stop responding; by escalating. There is only one solution that they will listen to and that is to move platforms but of course they have you by the short and curlies because most platforms you move to will not import and retrospectively reconcile your history. So the upshot is they don't actually have to take any notice.

In this post covid world, it seems the customer is always wrong, has to put up with what they are given and are privileged to be allowed to take the time of a supplier to talk to them. What happened to TQM and BS5750 and ISO 9001?

" Is there a better way to be heard."

Maybe. I have found in the past that constant hectoring via the technical support channels will eventually get some results. I suspect that if everyone here who has commented did that, it might get some attention. The main thing is to not go away. With technical support, the reps are incentivized to close out their tickets and will try to do so. Don't let them. Continue to ask for it to be escalated (use that word) to their supervisor, and keep the line of communication open. It seems like they may *have* to respond to you because every time I've talked to support, they always got the last word (I believe their system probably makes them respond until the customer stops responding or the ticket is closed).

I'll add that I would normally think this is a terrible thing to do to the poor support reps, who are often first-tier support and deal with a lot already. But it may be the only way to get Xero's attention.

This feedback portal is a black hole into which ideas get crushed into oblivion.

This is an idea I have been following called 'Homepage - Simplify Layout'. There are many users all saying the same thing to put it back how it was. Xero doesnt appear to be responding to any. Is there a better way to be heard.

whitespace and fonts - quit trying to be like quickbooks. give us the charts if you want, but don't add whitespace and make it harder to read fonts.

"It’s worth noting that currently you can "Customise" the homepage to remove widgets that you don’t want to see and simplify your view. "

As a user managing multiple bank accounts, I don't actually want to remove those other widgets, I just don't want to be forced to view them all at the same time. And if I am, goodness there must be a layout that isn't so cluttered.