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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    I clicked the kebab menu on the song and selected "Go to Album" on the next song that played, because it was a 30 year re-release from a band I love. All good so far. I then clicked on 1 of the 2 kebab menu's on the page so I can add this album to my library. And guess what? Google has removed the "Add to Library" entry from the kebab menu for the album. And what does "Pin to Listen Again" even do? If I could add it to my Library I'd obviously want to listen to it again.

    #ux #ui

    2/11

    Screenshot of the YouTube Music UI, missing a feature that previously existed.
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Replies

  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    Ok fine. What if I click the 2nd kebab menu on the song that's actually playing from this album. What will I see then?

    Do I want to "Play Next" the song I'm currently listening to? Do I want to "Save to Library" this individual song instead of the whole album? Do I want to "Go to Album" for the current song that I'm already on the Album view for?

    There are so many bad UI/UX decisions already made here. 2 kebab menus in a single view? That's a no no. What is the context differentiation?

    3/11

    Image attached toot
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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    At this point, out of morbid curiosity, I wanted to see how else this could suck. What happens when you squish the window vertically with the super huge kebab menu open? Well obviously it just clips the menu and offers no way to get to the copious other items.

    As a junior engineer I would get dinged in peer reviews if I added a text entry field and didn't specify a maximum length or ellipsize the text if the user put too much text in it. The window would have to respect resizing.

    #ux #ui

    4/11

    Another screenshot of how bad the UI for YouTube Music sucks.
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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    I would painstakingly make sure pop up menus would appear either above, below or left/right depending on the window position and size. It would have to respect monitor/screen position. This is basic stuff, this shouldn't be hard. Yet here we are.

    Getting back to YouTube music...

    I use a Firefox based browser because we learned in the late 90's early 00's what having a monoculture for web rendering engines does to software.

    Let's go to my library and see if I can find the "Listen Again" thing.

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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    Ahh...I see that there are entries that don't even render because I'm not using a Chrome based browser. Perfect.

    Where is the "Listen Again" entry? I have no idea. I still can't find it.

    #ux #ui

    6/11

    A screenshot of the YouTube Music UI with missing elements because I'm using Firefox.
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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    Ok fine. Well since I'm on my Library page, let me listen to some songs I've saved. Great. Let's see if on this view I can save the current song to my "Listen Again" list.

    Damn. It looks like that isn't an option for songs in my library. At least Google is consistent at being inconsistent.

    Everyone can laugh all they want at me complaining about this, but this is a serious problem. How much of your life do you want to waste navigating shitty UI? For me, the answer is very little time.

    7/11

    Another screenshot of how much the YouTube Music UI sucks.
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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    We only get so many trips around the sun on this little blue marble, and I'd rather use that time for things that I value. I'm half tempted to drive to Mountain View, find the YouTube Music team, and force them to navigate this hellscape of a UI. Or just explain the design choices. Even that would be satisfying.

    As end users we get so conditioned to just accepting things that suck. Is your program not responding? Just restart it. Or maybe restart your device.

    #ux #ui

    8/11

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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    And this is just one example. I'm not specifically picking on YouTube Music out of nowhere. Most UI nowadays follows this trend of sucking. It's user hostile. Why do people accept this? Well...because they have no choice. Eat up and shut up.

    The only weapon we have is to just say no and not use it. Unfortunately because I have kids that are glued to YouTube, and because I don't want them seeing ads all day, I pay for this. If not for that, I wouldn't.

    #ux #ui

    9/11

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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    I own a standalone MP3 player that has all of my CD's ripped to it in Ogg Vorbis format. I don't use my phone to listen to music anymore, because the YouTube Music app will insert random songs into album playlists that I've manually created.

    And btw, YouTube Music is just one example. I have a million more I could share, but I'll cut it off here.

    Dark patterns don't have to be the norm. We can do better. Use software that respects the user.

    #ux #ui

    10/11

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  • Ben Footebenpocalypse@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM

    All this being said, I never wanted to be a UI/UX advocate. My passion is in touching the low level hardware, yet here we are.

    Anyways, I've been unemployed since the end of February so if anyone is looking for a hardcore software/hardware nerd - I'm your guy. I've been at this for over 20 years and am looking for a new gig. I've worked remotely for the last 9 years, and am open to travel if necessary. I've seen and done it all.

    Here is my cv: bengineeri.ng/files/BFoote-Res

    #getfedihired

    11/11

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