💬 New Trakt Feedback

[justin]

Change is a process. Trakt v1 started in 2010 and was written in PHP. By the end of 2014, the site basically became unusable due to the architecture and how the site was hosted. We were already working on a complete rewrite for v2 in Ruby on Rails. Plans accelerated (v1 was crashing daily) and we had to launch v2 way ahead of schedule, missing a ton of features and with bad performance.

Over the next few months, we worked to implement and improve the site a ton. It wasn’t a fun couple of months for me personally, based on community reactions and unconstructive feedback (that’s putting in nicely ). But we worked through it and v2 became a strong baseline for the next decade.

We’re in a different place today. New Trakt (codename v3) does not have feature parity with v2, Kevin made that clear in many of his posts. However, v2 still exists and can be used while v3 matures. The 2014 transition didn’t have that luxury.

I am the primary developer on v2 and while in maintenance mode, that means I’ll continue making bug fixes and performance updates. It also means that v2 won’t get any major new features. I have some personal obligations in December and January, so my time and responses will be limited.

We’ll address all the pain points with v3. It will be a process, a multiple month or maybe year process. My suggestion is to think of “scenarios” rather than just “features”. A lot of features are missing in v3, but if we think in “scenarios” that helps us develop and prioritize the features for v3. Some features will be ported over, others will be simplified, others might be new concepts, some might be dropped.

Trakt has real people working behind the scenes, we aren’t just outsourcing things to AI (except community sentiments ). We are working around the clock (we’re all in different time zones after all) and putting in the daily effort. The new design takes center stage, but there is so much more going on behind the scenes. The v3 platform is globally distributed, localized, and built to scale.

Sean is working with the design team to revamp the desktop mode, since you’re right it was developed as mobile/tv first without desktop getting the love. List management will be back. Stats will be back.

All I ask is to be respectful with your comments and check in over the next year to see if your must have scenarios have made it to v3 yet.

[scottkuhl (Scott)]

My concern is the old site will be turned off before the critical features I need are available. They are not numerous, but they are critical to me. I posted them earlier and created separate topics.

I don’t see a topic specific for tracking the new version here in forums. Maybe I am missing it, but this would be EXTREMELY helpful.

Forum Suggestion

May I suggest a top level category of V3. Sub categories for product roadmap / announcements, new feature requests, bug and finally missing features.

We can clearly vote on V3 topics and track progress that way.

I am no stranger to software development and how new versions make users nervous and excited. My forum suggestion I think would go a very long way to helping with the transition.

[Ergiler]

I may be doing it wrong but the filters…
Old compared to the new one has ton of them while the new one has some basics only. Well on the old one its called advanced filters and I dont see it in the new one but lets take the options old vs new:

New one (single funnel): Genre, Availability, Decade, Ratings, and switches for “Ignore watched” and “Ignore Watchlisted”
Old one advanced filter (double funnel): Streaming service, Title and description filter, genre, certifications, languages, countries, studios, precise year slider for min and max, runtime slider from min to max in minutes, site ratings, votes.
Old one normal filter (eye icon): Fade and Hide options for: Watched, Library, Watchlisted, Listed, Rated. All also come with the “Not” option.

So overall when I am searching for action Indian movie from 2015-2020 that I didnt watch or have on any of the lists I am able to find it in the old one fine but not in the new one, also India has multiple languages which I can select. So overall from all that stuff the new filter would allow me to sort the movies to 2010 decade and action.

Oh and if there is filter like that in the new one I couldnt find it.

As I see it personally new one looks better, I like the new design BUT it is too minimalistic and missing some stuff old one has. Idk if I want to mark movie as watched new one takes 2 clicks while old one takes 1. then there is the filter and movie/show page misses stuff like add to collection, I have no idea how to play trailer and to see the same amount of information I need to scroll more on the new one - seeing page with movie lists is way better on new one tho, more covers to see even if I need more clicking.

I personally like the new design but it misses the features like filter that I use to find new stuff.

Edit: Talking about website in Chrome

[miigssantos (Nuno Santos)]

The new Trakt design is an eyesore. I had a quick browse and closed the tab immediately - I have no interest in this unnecessary overhaul.

As a VIP member for the past 5 years (and supporter for the next 2), I sincerely hope the classic Trakt isn’t discontinued.

It might be time to start looking for an alternative, as the service seems to be going downhill fast.

This is very disappointing!

[Astranora (Andy A.)]

@kcador

We are looking at ways to improve the mark as collected. We want to make sure users mark real collected items and not use the Library as another list.

Such arrogance to not let users use features in a way that’s convenient to them.

What is it with developers insisting users use their product in their own vision even if it isn’t hurting anyone.

[Astranora (Andy A.)]

The issue is that barely anyone has asked for this overhaul that is not beneficial for the user.

This is a UI visual overhaul. And if it isn’t, it should be.

I’ve yet to see a post that lists the more benefits than downsides for the user…And that’s what I am, a user. I shouldn’t be expected to care for the technical side.

The fact that you can’t promise we won’t loose features while doubling the price is why some of us are rightfully upset.

[Silrog]

I totally get that you can’t make any promises about whatever features will remain and how Trakt v3 will look like at the end.

But a more reassuring message than constantly preaching to us about change or telling us that Trakt V2 isn’t gone yet? That should be achievable.

What baffles me is the demand to respect your team. Not that I disagree that some comments lacked in respect, that’s true.
But respect isn’t a one way street. And it’s just as true that your team and multiple of its decisions in the past year represent a lack of respect for your paying customers. And so far I haven’t registered a serious attempt to improve in that regard.

I occasionally read that it’s appreciated how much we care about Trakt. But I neither feel or see this appreciation in action. We just sometimes get reports after a change became the new reality, with some barebone explanation that it was necessary.
By this point I wonder why there even is a forum left, it feels like both sides are just wasting their time here.

[jluftman (Jim Luftman)]

Calendar needs a “jump to” date.

Also would like monthly view, not weekly.

[deemur]

Kudos @justin - this messaging was much better, this put my mind at rest a bit. I’m still gonna reserve judgement on where we go from here - I was honest when I said I was sad at the prospect of leaving.

Think it would be good to get some information about the reasons for the redesign, Kevin has touched on it but I’m not sure it’s been fully explained. Would help to bring people onboard with your journey.

Respectfully - I do think a lot of these negative reactions could have been avoided by how the changes were initially communicated. If the team is honest and heartfelt and clear about what the changes are and why they are being made, like you have been, then I think you’ll get more positive and useful feedback in return. Not everyone’s going to be happy - but if they feel like there are being listened to - at least that’s something.

I.e. now I feel like I’m more inclined to share feedback about what I would want and need from a future platform - a week a go this felt exhausting and pointless and I just wanted to go.

[johnny_poncho]

@justin Thanks for putting things into perspective. As I said earlier I still would prefer Trakt Classic, but let’s hope there’s real effort in getting all scenarios as you call them into New Trakt before a potential, hopefully far off discontinuation of Classic.

I think this

@scottkuhl

May I suggest a top level category of V3. Sub categories for product roadmap / announcements, new feature requests, bug and finally missing features.

is a great suggestion, which would make it easier to follow what’s going on (most important would be the sub category for missing features imho).

[ukbootlegs]

You need to be able to say when watched coz if it’s assumed to be now, your year in review will be skewed

[huckleberryhurren (Huckleberry)]

The calendar is my most used feature but seems to be mostly missing in the new version. I like to be able to go to specific dates [a whole month at a time] in the past to see what was aired at that time. In particular I make a lot of use of this with my lists. For example, I have a list of classic western TV shows from the 1950s onwards and I like to look back and see what aired when, in relation to other shows. For example I like to look back at October 1961 and see what specific episodes aired in that month and watch them in order. This is easy in Classic Trakt but as far as I can see is impossible in the new version. That’s very disappointing and I hope that this functionality comes back because if Classic Trakt disappears and I can’t do this in New Trakt then I’ll have to move on.

[CajunRob]

@justin

We’ll address all the pain points with v3. It will be a process, a multiple month or maybe year process. My suggestion is to think of “scenarios” rather than just “features”. A lot of features are missing in v3, but if we think in “scenarios” that helps us develop and prioritize the features for v3. Some features will be ported over, others will be simplified, others might be new concepts, some might be dropped.

While change and improvement is awesome, it would also be helpful and a lot more transparent if you started out this progression and change with detailing which “scenarios” / features that we currently pay for are being dropped.

After all let’s bring up the sore subject we have stuck here while seeing a quadrupling in price for many. I don’t feel it’s unreasonable to know the actual road plan at this point to decide whether it is time to jump ship.

Also knowing a calendar of sorts for when features will be ported over to V3 would probably assist in having people continue testing what is in reality a very early Beta. The larger a Beta program the better it will serve to keep paying customers happy as it can be shaped to be what WE the paying customers desire. Not being run as just a free testing pool for your visions.

[sueconnor38 (Koalas)]

Bring back the OLD TRAKT - the “am I human” which has to be done EVERY time you want to do something on Trakt is crazy. Most annoying useless feature.

[Aardworm]

Search function is almost unnoticable on such spacy layout.… Keep the purple outline mabye?

[Parzival (Mītobōru)]

I am the primary developer on v2 and while in maintenance mode, that means I’ll continue making bug fixes and performance updates. It also means that v2 won’t get any major new features.

Hi @justin

It is nice to see that you are still somewhat involved at trakt but your comment actually rather strengthened my concerns about V3 as you call it. I’d call it the Trakt Lite Lie but well…

In your statement you confirmed my fear that you’re not involved in the development of the new version anymore - and it shows. The new project is all over the place and lightyears away from being a polished finished feature rich project. And while I understand that you might want to explore new endeavors I am angry about the lack of communication and preparation into this transition.

There’s also just no base to support any of the new development. As a consumer I don’t care what the code involves to make it future proof. You sell me a product and that product has to have a well designed functional interface and should be feature rich. Both of which Trakt lite lacks massively. On top we don’t get any involvement, hollow communication and no progress. Lite is in development for a very long time now and it is more than barebone!

Infinite Backlog (gaming site) does all of this a million times better and shows me how to do a transition like this the right way. Their Beta 2.0 is for paying members only, offers more features than the OG site, has an even more beautiful interface and is developed with the community in mind by a team of 2! You on the other hand raised prices to pay for more staff that do your community a disservice and are releasing a product that throws Trakt back to 2010 feature wise. That can’t be your idea of how this is supposed to be rolled out.

Also you got a perfectly fine working v2. So why not develop v3 to an actual product first before throwing it into you paying customers faces who pay for a product that has nothing in common with what v3 offers?

This then feels deliberate. It feels like a shift in management and customer orientation and right now the VIPs who made you are a burden for you because you think you can gain bigger revenue with less effort and less product and therefore less maintenance and development costs as well. At least that’s what it feels like and I’d bet I’m not far off.

[dollas_mike (Mike)]

Can I also rate a new movie 3.5?

[mwaseem220 (Waseem)]

Hi,

My killer features at the moment that keep me switching to the new-UI:

1. Next episode button (and also next button for films for collections by trakt is quite handy too)
2. Each media having links to useful sites e.g. Wikipedia, imdb, to name a few.

[webflx]

I just wanted to share some feedback about the new Trakt redesign. While I appreciate the effort to modernize and improve the platform, I genuinely think the old Trakt web already works really well. It’s clean, functional, and familiar. Everything we need from a tracking site.

If anything, I’d suggest keeping the current Trakt exactly as it is and maybe just borrow a few small UI elements from the new version (like subtle visual polish or layout refinements). But the overall design, structure, and user flow of the old site should stay.

The old saying applies here: “Why fix what isn’t broken?” The current Trakt might looks modern, is ultra-fast, reliable, and easy to use. That’s what long-time users appreciate most.

Please consider maintaining the old version or at least giving users the option to stick with it forever. Many of us have been using Trakt for years and love it just the way it is.

Thanks for listening!

[Dsnake1]

So, I was pretty unhappily surprised when I went to Trakt on a desktop I hadn’t before and, after logging in, was subjected to what felt like a tablet app on my desktop.

I’ve given it some time and actually tried it, but I still switched it back on my desktop. My phone, maybe, we’ll see.

I like the Continue Watching and the History and how it feels generally on my phone. It feels a little clunky on desktop, like how Windows 8.1 felt after Windows 7. I know desktops are likely a shrinking share of the devices that access the site, but it doesn’t feel like a desktop site. It feels like a mobile-focused site where desktop is an afterthought.

Oh, and I’d like the Lists tab a lot, at least, I’d like it if lists hadn’t largely put behind a massive paywall. It looks nice, although it doesn’t look like I can manage lists from there yet.

Now, as for bigger overall problems:

• There’s no option to set a show or movie as watched at a specific time. It’s either check in or watch now. It’s a pain to have to jump back to the old version of the site to add a few episodes of a show because I didn’t have my phone in my hand or whatnot.
• I wish I could reorganize the homepage (or maybe I can if I pay? Idk.) to put Start Watching down further. It is a lot less useful now that I have really, really limited list options.
• Why can’t we rate in half-stars? I have no problem switching to 5 graphical stars if we can do half-stars.
• Not being able to get to play history easily from an episode/show/movie pages is frustrating.
• I’d really like to be able to view seasons of a show and episodes in those seasons vertically. It’s not so bad with 8-episode seasons, but even 20+ episode seasons gets tedious. It’s functionally unusable for shows with long seasons, like The Daily Show or other shows with annualized seasons and multiple episodes per week.

I’d say the biggest thing it’s missing for me is stats. No Last 30 Days, no snapshot overview of total time tracked, no graphical representations of activity. And I’m ni longer VIP, but I don’t see any links that would take me to Month in Review, Year in Review, All Time Stats, etc. Those were the primary reason I subscribed previously.

Overall, I feel like Lite is missing a bunch of visibility and is a lot harder to navigate when doing deeper dives and heavier work on the site. It’s also missing the functionality I listed above. I don’t mind it for checking in on my phone, although there’s no reason I’d prefer it. But I won’t be using it on a desktop, at least for a good while.

And frankly, I know I’m old-guard, and don’t take this personally, but it’s clear with the decisions Trakt had made lately that old-guard folks aren’t the priority (and that’s fine, tbh. We didn’t pay as much as others due to legacy pricing, we’re probably less-likely to stick around during price hikes, and we’re certainly less likely to resubscribe than others you may have lost), but I really struggle with the mobile-first design choices. I know it’s about a unified platform, but it almost always results in worse functionality. Reddit did it, Microsoft is doing it with OWA and attempting to replace existing desktop apps with OWA skins, and now we’re seeing Trakt do it, too.