2024 W9 - Slim the product!

Humberto

Every week I post about one thing that happened at Rows. We're building in public!

A quick one.

Last week we shipped a slimming down of our side bar.

We did it because spreadsheets are all about focusing on the data. It makes sense to give more space to your analysis and reports rather than some config panel.

Now with 20% less side-panel!

The sidebar is an element used for .. just about everything: our loginless tour, our data onboarding, data explorer, Charts configuration, AI Analyst✨. You name it! And it was getting in the way of some users, especially on lower resolution screens, which are still quite common in the Windows world, and on external displays too.

The team, starting with me, think a lot about what it means to be a spreadsheet user. That *has to* have consequences in how you design your product, empty screens (empty states), loading elements, etc.

In 2024 we want to push a lot of work on this front. Making things more spreadsheetsy:

your analysis first!
navigation speed;
information density options;
easy, contextual CTAs (more speed when picking variables and actions 😉!).
and ever better shortcuts.
(and, remember, less of the opposite).

See you next week!

Humberto