As we work to make Yapp better, we’ve decided to make a big change to the way that theming works.
We’re saying goodnight to our current theme library starting November 30th and switching over to a more modern and technically-efficient system, which incorporates our newest Basic theme in light and dark.
The new styling tool will sit at the top of the editor screen. If you want to change your color or style (Light or Dark), you can click to expand and see a variety of colors.
With this new design, our users will have a (literal) rainbow of color options to choose from, plus additional opportunities to customize. If the color you want isn’t an option, we’ll be able to easily work with you to add it. New features — including a more DIY cover page and the template pages you’ve been asking for, among other new things — will be seamless additions.
Some of our users have already been using the styling tool rather than the theme library. For our longtime users, the old themes will remain available until November 30, when we switch things over. If you don’t move your account to the new look before November 30, your theme will change to the Basic style in a color that matches the previous look.
We hope you’ll check out the new style tool and give us your feedback! If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us via email.
Ay, ay ay….can’t believe it! The switch is making me nervous! I
created an app for my church which included schedules, activities,
comments between members, and even added our church directory to it
which hosts over a hundred members and their contact information. It was
a lot of work to do and a hard sale to my Elders in the church. I sent
out to a few members to have them try it out and they love it. They love
the look of it. I am even scheduling a day to let all members have
access to it…but now…I’m not sure. It looks so…and i hate to say
it but..Cheezy! I’m really hoping that whatever is coming later on will
be a big change. It looks so classy now and professional. So much so
that I even created one to present to our city council with hopes of
having our residents be more in contact with each other and be more
involved in the community. I would feel embarrased to present them
something with such simple colors and layout. I don’t even have the
option to go from circular to square for Cover. My logo no longer fits
because of that. I’m trying to be optimistic and patient….but
frustration is winning!
The playful themes is what sets Yapp apart. Less vs more choices is always a bad idea. I wish you would have taken a poll of your users before you set to make things “better” and you might have discovered that most do not like the change you made to your themes. Now the Yapp is dull. In trying to make it better, you just made it less inviting.
Hi Karen,
Thanks so much for giving us your feedback. I can say that I too am sad to let the theme library go but we have been polling our users for months and running A/B tests and it seems that the theme library was not a feature that was valued by a majority. That said, we really do value the feedback of all of our users immensely (not just the majority) but sometimes as a small team we need to make tough decisions to help us improve Yapp. As new versions of iOS and Android devices came out (with different size screens and resolutions), some of the old themes became much harder to scale and keep up to the standard that we would like. Also, in the coming months we are releasing new template pages and having one base theme that users can further customize will help us release those new pages quicker with higher quality.
The new theme system you see is just the first step. We will be adding ways to customize the theme and the cover and that will hopefully make Yapp fun for you again. I hope you stick with us in this transition.
All the best,
–Maria
CEO & Co-Founder
I have been an avid user of Yapp and was using it for designing various
apps in the past. The new theme, which Yapp is trying to switch over to,
came as a surprise to me. The whole fun quotient of the app is taken
away with this new basic theme making the Yapp that we designed plain
and unattractive. I really didn’t understand the need of doing so when
basic theme was already there in old theme version. Let user decide what
theme they need rather than forcing them to choose a basic theme.
Disappointed with the move.
Hi Sumit,
First of all, thank you for being such an avid user and I am so sorry we have disappointed you. Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback. Please see above my response to Karen to hopefully give more context as to why we are proposing to make the switch and why it’s costly and difficult to keep the old theme library. Hopefully, the new changes that will be coming in the next months will make Yapp fun again for you.
Best,
–Maria
CEO & Co-Founder