Why Did They Do It to Skype Usability in the Latest Versions (2015)?

If you are a Skype user, then you know its design was considerably changed couple of month ago. I am using it from my PC, so I am writing about my experience from that particular angle.

The things I don’t like (and don’t understand) are, similar to those that my business partner (web designer) has, who sometimes uses it from his smartphone. The fact that I am not the only to dislike the changes gives me more confidence in sharing my point of new.

Okay the things I hate about the new Skype usability are as follows:

1. Tiny box for typing messages.

I presume this change is better for mobile users, but do hate when I can’t see much of the text I type, especially if I write long messages.

2. Huge smiles.

Well, I presume this design initiative again springs from the way they communicate via mobile devices. The tendency, I believe, is shortening of text messages and stressing emotions. I think we don’t share information with each other today, do not discuss and analyze via messengers, we share emotions we feel about a certain things.

3. Default cursor location

This innovation is the least user-friendly from my prospective. As you switch from one talker to another one, Skype allocates typing cursor into the Search box. What the heck? If I click on John Smith’s contact window, then there is a very high likelihood I want to send a message to him, not to search for somebody else. This is very irritating. Correct me if I am wrong.

The last update happened not so long time ago. I updated the software immediately because I was hoping to get a better Skype. But they just added a huge dark box when you mouse over the smile that shows even a bigger version of it. The dark box preview is probably 20-30% bigger the smile that you see in a popup window. Was it really so necessary?

I am almost sure the Skype’s UX team did an analysis before they developed and applied these changes and I’d really like to know the reasons for such changes.

Most of the time, I use Skype for chatting and do calls pretty seldom. You are welcome to share your own experience using new Skype and messengers’ usability tendencies in general.

P.S.: I finished the article and then tried to stretch the messaging window and it worked! I’m waiting for them to fix cursor issue shortly as well.