There is no way in the new world to achieve this order:
And… I had differing orders depending on the type of device I was using, of which this is just one preference.
And… I had differing orders depending on the type of device I was using, of which this is just one preference.
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This I totally get - that the left hand navigation provided way more direct access to personal content that was customizable. Having it be customizable per device vs account based also allowed a flexibility no longer available (Roku in living room with one library order - and thus Home Screen order - and a different one in the kids room).
Now all of that, at best, is under sub-menus and is the same across all clients - including mobile clients - because it’s account based now.
It 100% makes Plex feel less of our own space because of it.
I kinda went through this a year or so ago already so maybe that’s part of it for myself being resigned already. Plex was so reliable and customer\user oriented and community engaged it felt like it was “ours”. We built entire media systems around it. Then they adjusted to a new business model and these personal setups don’t feel like “ours” anymore. I think folks being upset is justified.
I also think it won’t go very far to keep up for weeks on end with the emotional pleas or vague “it sucks” … they just tune it out if there’s nothing specific or actionable. Then if someone does say something useful in the topic it won’t get seen because the reps muted the topics that seem like just venting.
If a rep asks “why was the left hand navigation better” and the response is “it just was” that’s not something they can take back to whichever manager will need to be persuaded to change their decision (and the higher up it goes the harder that’ll be).
Your specific examples of the filters being wonky to navigate is good and wanting to be able to replicate that direct custom navigation is a good point to make too. But… this thread has become mostly emotional venting so who knows if any reps see it or if they’ve muted it.
I type\talk a bunch and I’m just a guy with my own perspectives and time on my hands so not saying anything right or wrong here or that anybody isn’t valid in being upset or that Plex has handled things well… just trying to get some of these suggestions, which seem like good ideas, some effective traction simply based on some of my own experiences. 
I have a lot of money invested in this hobby. Plex is (I believe) the only monetized company involved in my software daisy chain, and unfortunately it sits as the front end interface, representing me to my users. The “experience” as it were is purely in their hands.
It is definitely feeling less and less like my space. I don’t think I’m alone. The moment someone steps in and does it better, they’re in trouble.
They need to make money. I get that. But they’re shifting away from how they got here to do it. Probably not a smart move.
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Just spent several hours reading angry comments on the forums. Am I correct that there is not an official place to make feature requests/bug fixes?
You mean other than the forums? No.
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OK thank you. I may do some forum searching to try to find out if what I want to mention has been brought up. Speaking of navigation and UI, how bout these forums.
Plex Forum or Plex Reddit pages for support. Plex and the other media management ecosystems like Emby and Jellyfin are all web forum community-based platformed for bug and issue resolution support. Plex, despite being the one with major venture capital investment, does not have a solid foundation for bug reporting/UI feedback other than the official forum. Internally perhaps, but not here for us average users to know what’s been looked at, and it will only be listed as fixed when Release Notes are added per client or server updates.
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Absolutely brutal to navigate, even for me, been a member since 2012, and I have never seen a more poorly designed and prohibitive interface, never mind any of my family members, they are completely lost in this garbage, just please roll it back before everyone moves to EMBY or something they can understand.
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I took another look at Emby (downloaded), and I still come back to Plex.
I’ve gotten use to the new UI (as I have with streamers who have also adopted the Top Menu), and after awhile have gotten used to it (I actually find it a bit jarring when using Plex on Apple TV which still has the old UI as released,. They have a preview of the New UI there as well).
What I don’t like is the current Roku App Preview with its “new and improved navigation” that mixes the Top Menu with a horizontal one, but if this becomes the standard, I’ll get used to that as well since the time spent on the UI is minimul compared to the time spent watching the media.
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Ironically, Emby is also top nav. I’d be over there more if they handled transcoding as well. I figure if I’m going to have to deal with top nav, I might as well do it bloat free.
My comments on the redesign:
Accessibility is an issue, It used to be very easy for my mother to find her playlist items. I am now having to try to walk her through the process of finding it on the screen over the phone. Suggested fix: allow us to pin playlist to the Home Screen.
Collections: I spend a lot of time curating collections that are not just not there. Suggested fix: revert whatever ill-advised merge that eliminated the display of collections.
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New and improved navigation is Live:
I think the top menu is never going to be more intuitive than the way it was on the left. All of the supposed benefits of the new menu could be realized with a floating left panel menu. To reduce screen real estate it could auto hide and then you could let people who don’t care about that pin the menu. Everybody is happy again.
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For the love of all that is good and shiny, please give us back the sidebar!
Whomever is designing these new UI elements either isn’t actually testing them, or there is some kind of CO leak in the QA and UX departments that appears to be causing delusional thinking - they honestly aren’t an improvement, and don’t come close to the navigation experience offered by the sidebar.
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I’ve spotted a bug that I wanted to report - it is a collections ‘view’ issue with build 9.0.31 prod and I’m not sure this is the best place to report it, but anyway…..it occurs with collections with 2 or more rows and after going into the movie and coming back out, the screen looks normal briefly, then either disappears or has a large ‘block’ of video missing. I have 2 videos of the problem (it presents differently with 2 rows vs 3 or more), but MP4 looks not allowed to upload here. The issue is consistent and reproduceable and does not occur with collections of only 1 row. I’m happy to submit the video examples if someone has a good method to do so.
I disagree on the improved aspect.
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Thanks reporting @tech603 we are aware of this issue.
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Yeah, being ignored and talked past by the Plex employees feels great. I’m glad I gave you guys money.
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That’s what they excel at
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To be fair it’s definitely improved from initial release. And a lot of the navigation and UI elements fit better now (glad they removed the iphone notch dropdown menu for libraries). The lag/sluggishness seems mostly gone now. I’m actually starting to like the minimalist/sleek design the more I use it.
Not trying to invalidate your dislike of the app though, just saying it’s definitely better than what it was before.
