Update: 32 new avatars available! 😍

Thanks for giving us more information, Laurie.

I acknowledge why they decided to remove backgrounds, even though I don't agree with some of the reasons. Things like streaks (don't worry, I understand why you made that change) and getting energy points to unlock backgrounds were always a motivation for me to keep learning rather than a distraction. Those kinds of things bring excitement to learning new things. Honestly, I think all these changes to the website are more way more distracting than cool backgrounds.

Thanks for always trying to improve Khan Academy and letting us give our feedback, although sometimes I wish that we could give our opinion before it was too late to change. 

Have a great day,

Lucy 

I as an experienced programmer in the computer programming section of Khan Academy understand how it would be a lot of work to recreate the whole streak system in the new GO programming language because you need to keep track of lots of data and constantly be monitoring it for change and updating that data and then the display for it is a lot. But even though I am not familiar with the GO language, I do not think it could be too complex to add background images in the new language. To draw the background all they would need to do is something like this

$.getJSON("https://www.khanacademy.org/api/internal/user/profile?username="+name+"&format=pretty&callback=?", function(data) {

document.getElementsByClassName('user-info')[0].style.backgroundImage = "url("+data.backgroundSrc+")";

});

If adding image backgrounds is too hard, I know for sure that it would be incredibly simple to switch the white background to black (or other dark color) with one line of CSS. Although plain black isn't as nice as the background images, it would be a way better design and just plain white. 

I never thought that the background images were distracting from learning. In fact, I think the big white area is worse for learning as it's really distracting because it's an eyesore. A darker color is needed to provide contrast and a more professional look.

(Yes, the background area is actually really light gray and not white, but it still doesn't provide enough contrast)

I would much prefer 1 new OG stile evolvable avatar to eight or even 20 of the new ones. I like avatars that take some time to earn and ones that can level up.  I would have much more interest in an avatar like aquiline if you didn't just get them for free. I think KA should work on making a new evolvable avatar or two, some avatar level-ups for 500k ep called something like final so we have more to look forward to, and avatars for other things like top hotlist project, or a golden Winston avatar that evolves the more golden Winstons you get, and some more avatars that are difficult to obtain. And should definitely not work on taking features away that we already have, and ignore the Khan Academy community.

One thing you could do is one month in the coding contest section, have an avatar-making contest where the 3 best avatars from each skill group are chosen to have their avatars as real ones. That way you could get avatars directly from KA users. 

In short, I think you should add more hard to earn avatars (In the old style if you can) instead of more free ones, Bring back backgrounds and listen to the KA community, and if you can that avatar contest I mentioned in the paragraph before would be really cool.

Sincerely a distressed but hopeful KA community member 

-RazzRack

I think that we should have a contest where the citizens of Khan Academy (I know, kind of cringe) could vote together on what avatars, background, or whatsoever they could have. If we all voted together, then we could decide the majority.

Laurie @KA

Is there any specific reason Khan Academy decided not for us to have backgrounds?

Laurie @KA

If it the background was though to be a distraction, this is worse. Nobody likes going to their profile to wince. I know its going to be hard for me to get to my courses now because I have to wince and get out of my own profile asap. I know you might see that as a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

Thank you for talking to us and listing to our feedback, I hate being ignored when it comes site problems.

I think the change is upsetting more people than it is helping them, reading through this(I know its only a fraction of the millions who use KA, but I feel like we represent what the general attitude is) I haven't seen anyone who thinks the change is helpful, and the majority thinks the avatars don't fit. KA is known for what is was. I don't mind saying I am a teenager, and all the changes don't appeal one bit, it seems like KA is turning to focus on a more elementary crowd and moving away from professional UI.

Any good developer(in fact, my dad does computer programming and for a living, so I have first-hand info on what its like) know that a key part of any website is the UI, what the user see and how he uses your product. An unappealing site will push users away. We, the users, want a site thats not hard to use, we want a reason to be proud of our profiles, we don't want to be like:"I want to get in and out of my profile asap, it hurts my eyes and its just a blank page." In other words, this new layout is not easy to use and is causing more discontent then satisfaction. At least make a dark theme for KA?

-Rant aside,

PinnTech,

A disappointed and eyesore  yet thankful KA user of 2 years

Even in Dark mode it looks bad.

The background turns brown.  Now my avatar is swimming in muddy waters instead of soaring through the cosmos.

To be frank, the new avatars to seem counter-intuitive *and* counter-productive. I am not sure how these avatars are...beneficial? They look hand drawn. They look 2D, like pieces of paper. Do you want to site to look like it was done by an 8-year-old? 

If so, might as well add comic sans...then you will really scare people away...

Additionally, the style looks...like it is from the 1990's? Am I the only one getting that vibe? That is too young for a throwback, and to old to look modern...lose-lose.

Is the motive to appeal to Elementary students? Why on the planet? They cannot even comment, and most of the material is over there heads. With the amount of college material, I would recommend making the website look as professional as possible, while still fun enough for a 10-year-old.

Honestly, I do not care if you add avatars. Please, please, please do not take the old ones away, as you all but implied!

As for the backgrounds, I like the white to be honest. Looks weird, but I look lightmodes :D I do not see the point in removing them, however...maybe just set the default to white?

Homeschoolers, I feel safe to say, generally have a negative view on change. I would try to limit it. Do you want this to turn into Duolingo, which changes massively every two months?  The frequent change literally made me sick to me stomach. I did not even want to use the website. I have not for months. I understand the Python to Go, however.

Forgive me for being harsh. KA is a wonderful website with wonderful people behind it sacrificing massive amounts of time to educate. I commend that mission. I want to thank each and every one of the staff and guardians for keeping this place safe for everyone.

I also am incredibly grateful of the appeal to homeschoolers, that I honestly doubt you completely understand. Us homeschoolers are an interesting part of society :D

Timothy, 11th grade Ohioan

     As many other people in the Khan community have also commented about, I too am not a fan of the new background changes. I like the avatars, but I liked the galaxy background and I was working towards 1 million points so that I could complete that set.

     As Laurie wrote, the change was made as a result of the code migration project, which has not only claimed the backgrounds as victims, The scorestreaks are also gone now, but I don't dislike the project's attempts to make the site a more productive and efficient place. It is inevitable that whenever updates or changes are made, some things are lost, but many good things are also gained. I think that although the backgrounds will be missed, they may not be gone forever, because after the project is finished, maybe they will be implemented in the future. If the project has room for it, I would be behind the attempt to keep the backgrounds; but, if they are what stand in the way of making the site a better place, a few visual pieces aren't really that important. So, basically what I want to say is that although I enjoyed the backgrounds and working towards them after I achieved all the avatars, I won't be angry if they are being traded for a more efficient Khan.

Wow my first message was harsh. I apologize. I did not mind the style on the pages, just not particularly a fan of it in avatars, however, adding things is not likely going to be a problem. Given the amount of stuff taken away, additions would likely be welcomed Taking away, changing and replacing are the things I would avoid, to clarify.

Timothy

I go to public school, and I still don't like the new change. Timothy #Aviconazul, that just means that it's not only homeschoolers who dislike the change. I miss the backgrounds, and they seriously do look boring.

Hello! I just wanted to say that I like the new avatars because I think they're cute. However, I had a goal of getting all the backgrounds, and now I'm stuck with a (boring ngl) gray background. I was hoping that KA would add new backgrounds instead of taking them away. Now there are just tooo much bright colors :/ (When i first noticed the background disappearence, my eyes were like 'x_x RIP' lol-) I even tried putting high-contrast mode on, and if anything, that makes it look worse. I do understand the reasoning behind it, but still... :(

#BringBackgroundsBack

#PleaseStopKillingOurEyes (lol)

#FrozenPicBecauseWhyNot

#IRanOutOfHashtags '-'

*internal screaming because i was so close to getting the final background*

So the reason for removing backgrounds is to make the change to Go be more smooth, right? I wonder how a bunch of avatars help out the change... to me it looks like a trade. Treasured backgrounds for minor avatars.

I don't want to write much because my point has already been driven in by multiple people, but you need to bring back the backgrounds.

The backgrounds were an important part of the profile, and now that they're gone, the profile is too bright to look at (at least for me)

One more thing, I am concerned about the ultimate avatars for the future. If you continue to do this coding Migration, then does that mean, everything that doesn't fit the new style such as old spice man and the ultimates will be terminated? I really hope it does not happen.

Maybe you could instead of making it only white, you could at least add an option to make the background a nice dark grey? I feel it is highly needed.

I personally don't understand why backgrounds were removed. I enjoyed the challenge of gaining enough energy points to unlock them, and the avatars. I find that taking away avatars and backgrounds that you're able to level up isn't helping, but hurting the community, especially for younger learners who need an extra incentive.

I understand how these new avatars "match KA more" but they only give appeal to younger learners, whereas much of the older users are against them. I believe that if you add avatars that are made by KA users, such as the primavera avatars, it will give a greater appeal to use them. Also, when I joined, the avatars that you could level up had the most appeal to me. Now that more "free" avatars are added, it gives kids less incentive to learn. I would much prefer 1 new original style, evolvable avatar to any of the new ones.

Lastly, why were backgrounds removed? I found that, like the avatars, it was a fun challenge to try and get more of. Now, our profiles have too much white and grey, making it harder on the eyes of those who are light sensitive. I don't understand how the backgrounds were a "distraction of the Learner home". The learner home should be aesthetically pleasing, and customizable, because it's the "hub" of our KA experience. If you want less distractions, please get rid of, or at least lessen the amount of new avatars. I feel like they disrupt a T&T section when I see them. 

I have read all 46 comments on this article (at least, when this was posted) and all of them are against the removal of backgrounds, and most of them are against the new avatars. Why won't you listen when we are all united under one request? It is one wish we make! Will KA start radically changing repeatedly now? I for one, don't like radical, regular change, and I'm sure that most of KA's users don't either.

Please listen to KA's cry: Bring the backgrounds back!

EDIT: Jeez, my message was harsh. I do apologize for that and even if backgrounds aren't added, I will continue to use KA. But, like many people have said, KA is not just used by elementary school students. Please keep that in mind when changing the style. 

I completely agree with @Hydra and @Leviathan.

Khan academy is a learning platform for kids, for K-I-D-S.

As nice as could be to remove backgrounds for a more professional appeal, Kids now, are not only going to respond to this website as just another boring learning site, but they will feel dissatisfied and unmotivated because they have no purpose to strive for energy points, therefore defeating the purpose of learning new things.

The avatars are moderately acceptable, but to give us a new display of "personality" (avatars) just to replace the wider array of personalities (backgrounds), almost changes the entire viewpoint of Khan Academy and what it was meant to be.

All in all, I totally see where Khan Academy was going with this concept, and I respect it completely. It just doesn't match the platform itself, and it seems very bland now. For Kids, you can't take away a big part of our creative side just to become more professionally intriguing. Unfortunately if this stays, a lot of kids might feel less mentally stimulated and lose their motive to creatively learn.

And Rest in Peace to the people working hard to get all the backgrounds x(

As a junior in high school, I am very hurt when you say Khan Academy is for kids.  While losing the backgrounds does make KA seem a bit less exciting, they do provide alot of useful information for struggling or curious students like me.  Also, I do not think a "kid" would be interested in taking college level math or science.

Maybe kids was a bit derogatory, but the implication was that the age ranges anywhere from 6 - 24 with the exception of a few adults. But interestingly enough there are a good portion of younger kids who either love more difficult-to-grasp concepts such as calculus or college level physics and so on or they just have an involuntary bond with those concepts. I have a cousin who just turned 11 years of age who is already beyond trigonometry and some other subjects like AP biology, history, and I believe AP mathematics. In my eyes I see that as a kid who has found their interest, because just like many others people, you need a motivation to do things. And maybe that's just it, the original creativity that was within Khan Academy lead some people, whether kids, juniors, or even adults to feel a substantially bigger motive than they might feel now.

Why is this new style so important that backgrounds have to be removed because of it? The backgrounds are important to the users. The backgrounds are one of the features on KA  that keeps users motivated to learn. It doesn't seem like there's much motivation anymore, with the backgrounds taken away and the new avatars being free. Even Hopper was harder to earn before.

The problems with the removal of backgrounds:

1.  The profiles are plain without them,
2. The gray is hard on the eyes,
3. The profiles are less customizable,
4.  There's less motivation.

var draw = function(){
  if (background==="lightgray"){
    distraction++;
  }
}

Here is what I think about the new update.

1. I think the new avatars look low quality compared to the old ones. (No offense to the people who made them.)
2. Many people spent lots of time getting the last background and even more tried to get it.
3. Now there is way too much white in our profiles.
4. We had more possible combinations for our profile. If you had 3 backgrounds and 70 avatars, you had 210 different profiles you could make. Now we can have a max of 102, so you are limiting how much we can express ourselves.
5. If backgrounds are so distracting, why not remove avatars as well?!?!

To conclude, bring back the backgrounds!!!

Khan designers,

I think (and every comment I've read so far agrees) that taking away the backgrounds was a very unnecessary decision. Can you imagine any person ever in the world ever saying this? 

"Oh, yes, thank you, I would rather have a plain white uniform background that hurts about 50% of the population's eyes, takes away contrast, and makes the whole page looked rushed and partially not loaded, than a choice between 5 simple, darker backgrounds that didn't hurt peoples eyes, looked good, and separated the profile information from the learning page".

No. I can't either.

Now, to pick apart your 2 different posts explaining the seemingly logical reasons for taking away the backgrounds.

In your first post, you stated that you had "simplified the profile background and amped up the personality on the characters themselves to provide a more enjoyable and streamlined experience". First of all, good job using the word simplified. Although I would've called it oversimplified. Secondly, nobody I have yet to meet thinks that taking away the backgrounds is an "enjoyable" feature of the new update. The rest of the comments says it all. 

In your second post, you stated that the off-white background was "reducing the distraction of the Learner home, giving it a more open feel and providing a greater contrast and focus for the colorful avatars".  First thing wrong with this, it provides no contrast. Off-white does not contrast white and pastel colors. Light doesn't contrast light. That's just not how it works. However, a darker color, such as the one from the previous backgrounds? That would have contrasted everything so much better.

The new avatars are great, but I think that having the old backgrounds would have made them so much better.

Well, I think it's safe to say that we are getting more distracted now, with these current problems as opposed to the original layout.

First the Streak Counter, now the 1,000,000 point background I worked hard to get.. 

I understand simplifying code, but both were terrible decisions as clearly evidenced by the feedback of your users. 

Maybe getting that feedback BEFORE these decisions would produce better results in the future?

the backgrounds = help

So... these new avatars. First, (I don't like them) but second, please don't remove the old avatars... I feel like that's where this is headed.

(and yeah I'm with the people complaining about the new lack of a background- I liked mine)

Look I am going to be blunt here, plain and blunt....

This new change, is well lets be honest here, disgusting.... I use dark mode on everything that allows it.... I dont like heaps of white so I liked being able to change the theme to dark so it was easier on my eyes and you have now gone and disable that!!! U say you took it all down to make the change to GO easier but u have literally just gone and taken away, what 6,7 backgrounds and added 32 avatars, 32!!!!!! 


Surely as a site with so many user you would add what users like and fix what users dislike.... Here I see the opposite... The amount of people I have talked to and seen who are against this change is crazy... Im sure other people will agree with me when I say we would rather have the new avatars taken away in exchange to have the themes and backgrounds!!

This change has really frustrated me to the point where I think that my time using KA is up and ill just go find a different site....

Sincerely, Sam Graz

An ex-KA user....

Laurie @KA

Third, on the new light background. This is was chosen as the profile background color with the goal of reducing the distraction of the Learner home, giving it a more open feel and providing a greater contrast and focus for the colorful avatars. In general, the team wants as little as possible to distract students from learning, and the Learner home is where their assignments live and where the vast majority start working from.

The team has a point with the learner home. If we really are here to learn we wouldn't really mind about our profile and it's looks as long as its decent, working and navigable. We would put more value towards the content and the community, and focus on learning. Minimizing / removing distractions would help us with that, but we also need something to help us keep interested and motivated. Both of them need to be balanced. You guys are aware of that already.

The new avatars are okay in my opinion. They match the new style but they look ordinary, like there's not much story in them unlike the other avatars. Also kind of disappointed that none of them is smiling, but oh well. Thank you for them.

The previous backgrounds could have been kept. And like what fly6guys commented, we could have had more possible combinations. Then again, it's just a profile.

The new background could have been much better, just as most of us said. It has already brought attention to itself instead of not distracting. The contrast with the new background and the avatars isn't great. The orange and blue versions' peak of the Sneak Peak avatar says so too.

I have some questions about this:

Laurie @KA

We found that, even though some people loved the different profile backgrounds, very few learners were engaging with them.

Who were the ones included in the data you used to tell that?

What do you mean by engaging? How did you tell if we engaged with it? Didn't we just pick a background and if we're okay with it we just it leave it be? Some of us don't even have to if we were okay with the default. Of course we would engage with it less.

I hope KA doesn't oversimplify the site. All the best to the team in rebuilding it. It must be a lot of work. Thank you for continuing to operate Khan Academy! And for listening to us.

I find it easy to forget that KA is supposed to supplement learning, not an only educational resource, a game nor a social platform. I think what you did with the badges is fair. It's sad but it was actually getting out of hand. All we wanted were badges and points. That could be why we're complaining about it, as we were used to getting all these rewards and achievements. We keep asking for more. Our expectations grew higher.

It throws me back to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK6OXORykws haha

Despite that, there are still people who treat / put these things in good use. That's likely what you want us to do. "Not too much, not too little."

KA is also free and run by donations. It's amazing. However, that shouldn't stop the team from doing their best which I guess is what they are doing.

I am not used to the white backgrounds and probably never will be, I need the backgrounds back.

please bring the backgrounds back.

_ In my eyes, I truly feel this UI change was not beneficial for the management's popularity.

About avatar changes:

I do agree with Quinn Hardbrook on the avatars, they do seem only to appeal to much younger users, I know you're going with new KA reps, but I'm not sure everybody will like this, and by everybody, I mostly mean KA veterans, but in all honesty it looks like a step down, in overall quality, pretty dramatically, talk about providing a greater contrast and focus for the colorful avatars, they sure stick out all right, they just don't seem as lovable or memorable as our Hopper or Winston, now they're all just cookie cutter, they're all the same in a way, the old avatars had such a wide variety of creatures.

About the background changes:

"We found that, even though some people loved the different profile backgrounds, very few learners were engaging with them. This made it a logical choice for simplifying as part of this project."

I don't feel it's simplifying, it's just getting rid of them entirely, I also feel like you guys used the wrong words in this statement, "logically", it doesn't sound logical to me at all, it's like saying:

"Fire alarms let us know our building is engulfed in flames, but if little to no people use the fire alarm regularly, just get rid of it, it's taking up space on the wall."

And if "very few learners were engaging with them", why were they so big a distraction, it's reason enough to take them down, if anything, I think the white backgrounds are way more distracting, they seem so out of place after getting used to the original backgrounds.

I think the backgrounds gave users something to work for, regarding energy points, continue to learn, work up points, get your reward: a cool new background, but if you want users to focus on the new avatars based on your new KA reps (which don't require energy points to earn or change) instead of avatars like, Leafers, Starky, OJ Squid (which do require energy points or change), what is the point in having energy points at all, are you going to remove those too!? This goes back to Learning Streaks, one of the best ways to get people to learn more and keep up their streak, people would keep out thousand day streaks, looking for the next thing to learn, and now, it's gone.

I don't see at all how "simplification", enhances or benefits the user experience, in any way... at all, or if that's even your intention.