why is (almost) every single streaming service unable to provide a decent UI / UX?

[alex.magnus]

I'm pretty sure that netflix might have some patents on some of the stuff but I honestly can't wrap my head around some features missing or absurd behaviour:

- disney plus where is my "go to the next episode button"
- hulu why to go to the next episode I have to click on an actual thumbnail of the next episode
- amazon why is it so painful to actually manage languages preferences

and the list goes on and on... honestly this is almost like console makers removing folders at the start of a new generation: some of this things should be obvious and you should have them and honestly they should be copying netflix UI as much as possible...
skipping the previous episodes summary should be a default tbh (although netflix might have a patent there?) and same applies to opening credits and definitely closing credits (looking at you disney plus)

what really I can't understand how it is possible that companies that are worth billions and have seen competitors in this space for years are not able to understand or design a decent UI / UX

 

[defaltoption]

Amazon is the absolute worse, hulu nearly as bad because its way over designed.

Disney's is aesthetically nice but sucks to use. Netflix is the best by far, too bad they charge extra for 4k in 2020. Nobody's perfect.

 

[entremet]

This is why I use the Apple TV app all in one thing--Netflix is the only annoying holdout.

The worse is HBO Now, though.

But I agree.

 

[Berordn]

disney plus actually has the next episode button, but it almost never pops up because when the button feels like appearing it's always in somewhere in the middle of the credits... and since everything has its localization credits too, that's way longer than most people are probably interested in waiting

a bunch of stuff that should be classified as a series also isn't, so it just never pops up because for whatever reason "forky asks as question" isn't a series, but 8 completely independent shorts

 

[Ravelle]

Netflix is as terrible if not worse than the other ones, constantly changing thumbnails, shuffling categories your continue watching list gets lost in the mess, Watch it again that never goes away. until recently having big loud autoplaying previews for shows. There's no simple way to keep things organised or have a front hub for stuff, it's a carousel nightmare.

 

[RastaMentality]

Hulu is absolute garbage. When browsing on the mobile app, you can only see one show while scrolling.

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On the TV apps, you can only see one show and its poster/description at a time with just 2 more shows below with only their names.

It's like their engineering team was vehemently opposed to the grid that's in virtually every other streaming service app.

Also, Keep Watching is buried and hidden to the right on the menu bar because apparently they hate users binging their shows.

 

[Space Lion]

What's wrong with Netflix?

 

[opus]

I worked at HBO as a UX Designer through the transition to WarnerMedia, including working on early features for HBO Max.

Trust me, it ain't designers and engineers that are the problem here. At lot of the things you're asking for here, my team pitched (and sometimes designed and prototyped) long before Netflix shipped them. We couldn't get traction for most of it, because of legacy contracts, provider partner concerns, the business choosing to focus on acquisition over features, and so on.

It's never just as simple as "copying Netflix' UI". And that assumes there aren't problems with the Netflix experience in its own right.

 

[Darknight]

Does Amazon still list each season of a show as it's own thing? That was the absolute worse organization I've seen on any streaming service.

 

[Stinkles]

Remember HD-DVD had a consistent, intuitive UI?

 

[Deleted member 11985]

The only problem I've ever had with streaming services is when they don't count an episode that I watch as finished, so the continue button doesn't work, and I have to manually pick the next episode out from the list. Hulu seems to be the worst offender of that, but it happens on every streaming service from time to time.

Besides that, I never understood all the nit-picky concerns about any single UI. They're all different, but they all allow me to continue watching a series within like 3 clicks of starting up the app. What more do I need?

 

[Deleted member 32822]

Hulu's is the worst. It's so over the top and gaudy.

 

[mrmoose]

Amazon is the worst because there's no way to find anything on the service. They add stuff pretty much every day, they have this huge back catalog of classic anime, and you just can't find it unless you already know it's there.

Like I can forgive minor UI annoyances, but not being able to list the content you have is egregious.

 

[androvsky]

Does Amazon still list each season of a show as it's own thing? That was the absolute worse organization I've seen on any streaming service.

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As of a few weeks ago, yes, at least on the PS4 and Roku. It's just so hilariously bad, and as a bonus, the 4K version of shows like Grand Tour are also listed separately. There's parts of the UI where seasons are listed together, but it's still a gigantic mess when searching for something.

Try looking for anything Top Gear and enjoy getting dozens of UK and US seasons in seemingly random order as a result (along with all the semi-related shows too).

 

[Dalek]

I can't believe that Amazon's UI is still being used after all these years.

But no one- NO ONE is worse than Hulu. I mean-what the fuck? That must be a result of sunk cost fallacy. They spent so much money revamping that UI for no other reason than aesthetics and they refuse to change it. On top of that- it's nearly impossible to use with the AppleTV remote. My god.

 

[Stinkles]

What's wrong with Netflix?

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Which version!? They've mostly narrowed it down but I believe they still test various new schemes on different platforms. I am pretty happy with most of them now but Disney Plus has the simplest only because it has the least content.

I also hate the "no trailers" rule on netflix and really enjoy Prime VR on Quest.

 

[Darknight]

As of a few weeks ago, yes, at least on the PS4 and Roku. It's just so hilariously bad, and as a bonus, the 4K version of shows like Grand Tour are also listed separately. There's parts of the UI where seasons are listed together, but it's still a gigantic mess when searching for something.

Try looking for anything Top Gear and enjoy getting dozens of UK and US seasons in seemingly random order as a result (along with all the semi-related shows too).

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That's just mind boggling that it's still like that. I stopped using Amazon for streaming because of that. It was just too painful to navigate to find things when you had to find things by seasons instead of simply by a show.

 

[Dalek]

As of a few weeks ago, yes, at least on the PS4 and Roku. It's just so hilariously bad, and as a bonus, the 4K version of shows like Grand Tour are also listed separately. There's parts of the UI where seasons are listed together, but it's still a gigantic mess when searching for something.

Try looking for anything Top Gear and enjoy getting dozens of UK and US seasons in seemingly random order as a result (along with all the semi-related shows too).

Click to shrink...

The absolute worst was trying to browse Doctor Who on Prime Video. Every season was it's own listing AS WELL as the various David Tennant Specials and Christmas Specials and Anniversary Specials. There was no way to watch it in chronological order.

You would have to watch Season 4 then back out and search for the Season 4 Christmas Special by it's episode name. Then back out and search for the various specials by name. Then back out and search for Season 5. etc etc.

 

[hiredhand]

I hate that you have to use outside websites to keep track of the soon leaving content on Netflix. How hard would it be to add a "Leaving Soon" category to the main page?

Of course, not advertising the leaving content is probably intentional to not draw user attention to the fact that most content actually leaves the service at some point.

 

[carlsojo]

Disney + is fucking awful.

Any streaming service where episodes are listed left to right instead of vertically in a list - WHY?

 

[Darknight]

I can't believe that Amazon's UI is still being used after all these years.

But no one- NO ONE is worse than Hulu. I mean-what the fuck? That must be a result of sunk cost fallacy. They spent so much money revamping that UI for no other reason than aesthetics and they refuse to change it. On top of that- it's nearly impossible to use with the AppleTV remote. My god.

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I can't say Hulu is worse when they at least group everything under each show unlike Amazon.

 

[Virtua Saturn]

I ask this question all the time. It there a patent on good design that no one can copy or sonething?

 

[oofouchugh]

Because they spend more time trying to optimize feeding you the content they want to feed you than they do trying to build a service for you to use how you want.

 

[Dalek]

I can't say Hulu is worse when they at least group everything under each show unlike Amazon.

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That's true and a fair point. IT's just that their interface itself is just a nightmare. It's like if the interface consisted of a movie poster and you have to scroll down and click on the small list of actor and producer credits to go to each episode.

 

[TheAbsolution]

Prime Video is still built like it's still meant for singularly purchased content and that's its primary issue. It's absolutely atrocious for finding content.
They really need to separate that shit into its own website so that they can organize the content more organically and the way that people binge watch shows and movies now.

 

[Flex1212]

This is a good topic. Netflix is def the easiest to use and the best designed. The others all leave me wanting to throw the fucking controller out the window in order to find the next episode.

 

[androvsky]

The absolute worst was trying to browse Doctor Who on Prime Video. Every season was it's own listing AS WELL as the various David Tennant Specials and Christmas Specials and Anniversary Specials. There was no way to watch it in chronological order.

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Yeah, Doctor Who must be a nightmare. I binged it on Netflix just before it moved and didn't even realize many of the specials were specials because Netflix just had them in the right place in the viewing order. Anyone trying to do that with Amazon is going to need a guide to even find the special episodes.

 

[Possum Armada]

Part of the issue is that every platform has slightly different remotes, file systems, platform requirements etc.

 

[Darknight]

Any streaming service where episodes are listed left to right instead of vertically in a list - WHY?

Click to shrink...

Netflix still does this in some of their interfaces.

 

[ara]

It's amazing how bad Prime Video and HBO Nordic are

 

[StudioTan]

I'm in Canada so the one's I've used are Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ and Criteron. Amazon Prime easily the worst. It's just a terrible UI and I can't believe how hard it us to use. Disney+ was OK but missing some obvious features like easily getting back to stuff you were watching. Criteron was pretty decent actually. It was great for discovering stuff which is a big part of the appeal of the service.

Netflix is the best. I understand they still have a problem with hiding content but if want to dive down into it it's not that hard to find everything and mostly it's very easy to start watching stuff and pick back up where you were without much trouble.

EDIT: Oh and I forgot to mention, the Prime app on the Xbox doesn't keep the controller active so it goes to sleep every 10 minutes which means that when I'm using headphones to watch the sound shuts off when the controller goes to sleep. Super frustrating!

 

[Dalek]

Yeah, Doctor Who must be a nightmare. I binged it on Netflix just before it moved and didn't even realize many of the specials were specials because Netflix just had them in the right place in the viewing order. Anyone trying to do that with Amazon is going to need a guide to even find the special episodes.

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I just realized that the UI will still be the same because you can still purchase content on Prime even if it's not streaming. Also - keep in mind that these are screenshots from the desktop version-the AppleTV version is even more labyrinthine.

Here's the final episodes of Doctor Who Season 4 on Prime's UI

Naturally you would assume the next episode would be the first episode of Season 5:

If you click that it takes you to the first episode of Season 5:

The problem is that there are 5(!) specials that you need to watch before this - let alone that all the Christmas Specials that take place at the end of each season are instead all grouped together under "Season 0" - and they're not even in chronological order there-look at the dates!

 

[Deleted member 31104]

Prime Video is still built like it's still meant for singularly purchased content and that's its primary issue. It's absolutely atrocious for finding content.
They really need to separate that shit into its own website so that they can organize the content more organically and the way that people binge watch shows and movies now.

Click to shrink...

Yes no one isn't saying it's not shit but to be fair to the folks who designed it it was obviously designed as a storefront rather than a subscription service. Of course why it hasn't been nuked and rebuilt for purpose is my main gripe

it's stuff like Disney plus which really should be done better but I suppose it's early days and it does have some features which are there but are just clunky like the delayed next episode button which you'd think they will resolve relatively quickly

 

[TheMadTitan]

The only people who get solid UI experiences are those who use Plex.

 

[Deleted member 11637]

Hulu is absolute garbage. When browsing on the mobile app, you can only see one show while scrolling.



On the TV apps, you can only see one show and its poster/description at a time with just 2 more shows below with only their names.

It's like their engineering team was vehemently opposed to the grid that's in virtually every other streaming service app.

Also, Keep Watching is buried and hidden to the right on the menu bar because apparently they hate users binging their shows.

Click to shrink...

Hulu's "new" interface is trash compared to the old grid. You know there was some corporate meeting where it was decided a "New!" layout would result in some tiny incremental increase in new users.

Dense grids of rectangles with proper category and search options are the only way you should design a streaming app. Stop trying to build a better mousetrap.

 

[Deleted member 1003]

Disney+ is slow and I wish I had the ability to turn on subtitles while watching.

 

[Deepwater]

Because it's very difficult to balance a consistent UI experience across a million different platforms.

If you could only access Netflix on your desktop browser, I guarantee you would have a completely different experience because it's not trying to keep in lock step with a mobile phone, a tablet, and several form factors of TVs

 

[RastaMentality]

The only people who get solid UI experiences are those who use Plex.

Click to shrink...

Plex's video player is unfortunately a buggy mess on the Apple TV. the site is probably great though because everything else in the app is.

 

[mrmoose]

Disney+ is slow and I wish I had the ability to turn on subtitles while watching.

Click to shrink...

If you pause it, can't you toggle subtitles?

 

[androvsky]

The only people who get solid UI experiences are those who use Plex.

Click to shrink...

For the most part, it's pretty good. My biggest problem with Plex is it doesn't maintain audio/subtitle settings between episodes, so watching an anime DVD I ripped I get to go in and fix the language for every episode. The best part is jumping between series, because most of them have a separate subtitle track for sign translations for the dub and full dialog subtitles, and they're both labeled simply as "English". And which is listed first varies from series to series. So setting a universal preference wouldn't work, and I want to be able to choose sub or dub depending on circumstances so I like to keep both.

Plus they refuse to handle TV show extras, fortunately the TV scraper they use has finally relented and started allowing DVD extras in season 0. It still ends up missing a lot of stuff that I have to put in an custom media folder.

 

[UshiromiyaEva]

It would be hard to top Amazon's obnoxious prime video carousel, but yeah I've yet to use any streaming media service that I would consider 'perfect'

 

[louiedog]

I once didn't finish a movie because Amazon lost my place and their FF/RW is so bad.

The HBO app on both devices I've used it on is so slow and clunky. I gave up on it a long time ago, so maybe it works now, but in the past you couldn't add shows to your watch list so that they'd populate when new episodes came out. That sure would be handy on a network that does weekly releases. Of course they still try to make me watch ads for their other shows before each episode so maybe it's just a way to get people to browse more.

 

[sfedai0]

I dont sub to Prime but when I did, besides the horrible UI, they just love to lump in non Prime stuff. So devious of them to try to trick people in to buying the next season or sequel.

 

[Darknight]

The only people who get solid UI experiences are those who use Plex.

Click to shrink...

Plex's UI is inflexible though. I'd say Kodi is better since you can taylor it to your desire and isn't fixed in one design.

 

[Darknight]

For the most part, it's pretty good. My biggest problem with Plex is it doesn't maintain audio/subtitle settings between episodes, so watching an anime DVD I ripped I get to go in and fix the language for every episode. The best part is jumping between series, because most of them have a separate subtitle track for sign translations for the dub and full dialog subtitles, and they're both labeled simply as "English". And which is listed first varies from series to series. So setting a universal preference wouldn't work, and I want to be able to choose sub or dub depending on circumstances so I like to keep both.

Plus they refuse to handle TV show extras, fortunately the TV scraper they use has finally relented and started allowing DVD extras in season 0. It still ends up missing a lot of stuff that I have to put in an custom media folder.

Click to shrink...

If you're willing to put the work in, you can go fix this at the file level. It doesn't take too much effort but you might find it a bit tedious. You can get MKVToolNix, load up the file and select which audio and subtitle tracks you want to be default. It's just seconds to do and when you save it out, since it's not encoding anything, it spits out a new file immediately.

 

[ChrisR]

Signed up for Netflix again on Saturday. It's still so fucking awful. On my phone

Can't get rid of the previews
Doesn't give me an option to only have my single account, skipping the "User Selection" screen
Still asks if I'm still there, even after only like 90 mins of continuous viewing.

Guess I gotta get in, watch the shit I want to watch and get out ASAP.

 

[Darknight]

Signed up for Netflix again on Saturday. It's still so fucking awful. On my phone

Can't get rid of the previews
Doesn't give me an option to only have my single account, skipping the "User Selection" screen
Still asks if I'm still there, even after only like 90 mins of continuous viewing.

Guess I gotta get in, watch the shit I want to watch and get out ASAP.

Click to shrink...

You can get rid of the previews now. It's an account setting.

 

[TrademarkTM]

the amazing thing about amazon's is I don't think it's been updated at all in years

I would probably use it more if it was better. It is by far the worst one

 

[Big-E]

I honestly prefer Amazon to the rest. I love the IMDB X-ray thing where it gives you the name of the actors in each scene and random trivia.

 

[androvsky]

If you're willing to put the work in, you can go fix this at the file level. It doesn't take too much effort but you might find it a bit tedious. You can get MKVToolNix, load up the file and select which audio and subtitle tracks you want to be default. It's just seconds to do and when you save it out, since it's not encoding anything, it spits out a new file immediately.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I know. Works great until my wife wants to have the dub of a show running in the background, or I decide I want to try the Japanese audio of Cowboy Bebop, or something like that. Honestly we don't watch a lot of anime very much any more and this Plex issue is part of it, so maybe it would be worth doing. But I'd have to do it for nearly 200 series. It's so frustrating because Plex already does this for multi-file movies.