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Preview New QuickBase UI code name

  • 1.  Preview New QuickBase UI code name

     
    Posted 06-30-2016 23:07

    QB Email received titled Exclusive Look: Preview the New QuickBase Experience

    Product Announcement

    Preview New QuickBase UI

    Watch as we announce the next iteration of the QuickBase user interface, codenamed Mercury, at our recent user conference.

    Features:

    • Productivity
    • Cross-device consistency
    • Simplicity

    Having been with QB during the last major UI change is there any way (or will you be) setting up a preview of site in current and new as was done last time. There where a few of the changes that required modification to roles, pages and even forms. Need ample time to review !!!



  • 2.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 06-30-2016 23:21
    I understand that QuickBase has a plan to gently transition which will be announced in the Fall.  We are all eager to try it out on our own apps, but their cake is not yet baked.


  • 3.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 05-25-2017 20:45
    The direction of Mercury has pivoted to be a new platform initially targeted at New Builders.  Quick Base (with a space) will continue to be strongly resourced for enhancements and the Road Map for QuickBase was outlined at EMPOWER.
    http://www.quickbase.com/quickbase-blog/empower2017-whats-new-in-quick-base


  • 4.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 05-25-2017 20:48
    Mark, Are you participating in the Beta Program for Mercury?

    Thanks,
    Gaurav


  • 5.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 05-25-2017 20:50
    There will be a new Beta round in a few week and yes, I will participate.


  • 6.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 05-25-2017 20:52
    Great! By the way, I have just registered for this. Let's see now.


  • 7.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 08-11-2017 14:53
    Can anyone provide an update on the status of the new UI beta testing process? It seems to me that the Mercury UI has been pushed off multiple times. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll ever see it in production.


  • 8.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 08-11-2017 15:05
    There were some presentations at the last in power conference which explain this better than I can, but the directions from Mercury has changed.

    Mercury will be a brand new product targeted for new applications and it's initial focus will be on applications such is handling trouble tickets. Any app where somebody raises an issue and it has to be processed through to completion.

    Mercury is not intended as a new UI for existing applications and there will be no concept of a conversion tool.

    Mercury will be targeted at new app builders to improve the chance of success. QuickBase has found that many first time users try to develop an app and give up. So from a marketing perspective it makes the people at QuickBase crazy that they lose these opportunities to grow their seat count. Hence the new direction for mercury to have a very simplified at building experience. But the initial features for mercury will be much more limited to what we see now in the very mature functionality of Quickbase classic

    So it is full speed ahead on development for QuickBase classic, the version of QuickBase we all use today. You have no doubt notice me the frequency of updates of late, and that is evidence of the engineering investment that QuickBase continues and will continue to put into the original QuickBase product.

    At this time, nobody, including people at Quick Base themselves, really know whether there will be a convergence of Mercury with classic Quick Base sometime in the future.

    Having said that I seem to recall the EMPOWER slides talked about some kind a beta testing in the fall and general availability in the first or second quarter of 2018.


  • 9.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 08-11-2017 21:00
    Thank you for the update. This does not reflect well on QB's ability to manage and deliver on their own roadmap. A year ago, they believed they could migrate existing QB apps to Mercury gradually, starting with the simplest ones. Clearly, they since figured out they would never be able to migrate more complex apps, and abandoned that strategy altogether and will now have two (seemingly) incompatible products instead). The concern is that this is their own platform-- how can they be this unsure how a new feature will work?


  • 10.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 08-12-2017 01:36
    This was never a new feature or a new UI. It was a new Architecture platform.

    I believe that Rick Willet, the new CEO, got in there with fresh eyes, benefit of the engineering team now better understanding what would be involved in a migration, and realized that forcing a generally happy customer base through a difficult forced migration was not a viable business plan to grow the business.

    So yes they certainly did a pivot in their strategy and I for one as a developer and I'm delighted. The Quick Base we know and love will continue to get regular enhancements for the forseeable future and Quick Base can experiment with the new product to see if they can get growth in their user licenses with it.

    Some of the enhancements for Mercury will be useful as infrastructure for QuickBase classic as well. An example of this would be the whole area of governance and management of users, which is very important to getting more acceptance from IT Managers at large companies. . These enhancements are common to both platforms but only need to be developed once.


  • 11.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 08-12-2017 03:12
    This was never...a new UI."

    Gideon Ansell, Quick Base Director of User Experience, called it "a new UI" at least 5 times at the Empower 2016 Product Keynote. It was absolutely clear that QB intended to change out the UI with the goal of "your same apps running in the new interface" (Gideon's words). He repeatedly says the current "classic" UI is problematic due to inconsistency across devices, it's slow, it's too complex, it doesn't show enough data on screen, and it's not adept at localization (And he's right on all counts). You can watch the video if you don't believe me, skip to 37 minutes in:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMxu_Hs-f0I">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMxu_Hs-f0I">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMxu_Hs-f0I

    So rewriting history that Quickbase users are perfectly happy with a UI from 2012 staying on for the foreseeable future, and this pivot will all work out great for everybody with two different architectures, is just pure spin.


  • 12.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 08-12-2017 11:56
    The reality is that there was no feasible way to migrate apps from the current Architecture to the new Architecture. That was not known or at least not comprehended by senior management at the time, hence the Pivot.

    So in that sense, you are quite right. Their Plan A did not work, so they moved on to Plan B. Plan B will be much more incremental.

    Continue to improve Quick Base Classic.

    Roll out Mercury by prioritizing features one by one, until at some point it becomes practical for developer to have a real choice as to which platform to use for developing a brand new application which needs most of the features that QuickBase now has.

    Maybe sometime in the future those three platforms will converge, who knows.


  • 13.  RE: Preview New QuickBase UI code name

    Posted 08-12-2017 22:36
    typo correction
    Maybe sometime in the future those two platforms will converge, who knows.