Design Overhaul: Critique & Recommendations

[keith-gardner]

The key functionalities of Branta Desktop:

• Easy Install
• Instant (Bitcoin-related) clipboard notifications
• Realtime Clipboard Window
• Add wallets
• Clipboard History

Open questions for the Bitcoin Design Community:

• What is Branta Desktop doing well right now?
• What should we highlight more?
• Can anything be removed?
• How can the information be organized more?
• Are there desktop UI/UX elements we are not leveraging, but should?
  • ie, widgets on MacOS, Tiles on Windows, etc.

Seeking both high-level feedback, and HTML/CSS PRs.

We will be giving away sats for this. See Lightning Bounties.

[Anthonyushie]

Can i take on this??

[keith-gardner]

Yes please do!

[Anthonyushie]

Where do i drop my feedback?

[keith-gardner]

You can attach right in this thread. If you prefer, you can also email us at support AT branta dot pro

[joelklabo]

A few concrete UI/UX thoughts based on Branta's stated goal (prevent address swaps via clipboard notifications) + the current README screenshots.

What's working well

• Clear positioning: clipboard monitor for Bitcoin/Nostr address swap defense is a crisp value prop.
• The "instant notification" angle is the right default for a desktop tool.

What I'd highlight more

• Make the "why this alert happened" explanation first-class in the UI: show the exact string detected (address / lnurl / npub), how it was classified, and what action is recommended (verify, open wallet, ignore).
• Add a short privacy statement in-app (and maybe in the onboarding): clipboard parsing is local-only, what is stored in history, and how to disable/scope it. That reduces friction for new installs.

Information architecture / organization

• Consider a 3-zone layout:
  1. Left nav: Clipboard, Wallets, History, Settings
  2. Main: the current/selected event (alert details + actions)
  3. Right or bottom drawer: context (recent detections, filters, pinned addresses)
• History becomes much more useful with: search, type filter (btc addr / invoice / npub), "pin" and "mark safe" actions.

What could be removed/simplified

• If there are multiple overlapping views for "realtime clipboard" vs "history", consider merging them: one stream with filters ("live" vs "all"). Less cognitive load.

Desktop-native elements worth leveraging

• macOS: menu bar item showing last detection + quick toggle (pause/resume monitor), quick "Copy safe address" action.
• Windows/Linux: tray icon with the same quick controls.
• Global hotkey to open the "latest alert" panel instantly (feels very desktop-native).

If you want, I can follow up with a tighter checklist of UI copy + alert-state variations (normal vs suspicious vs unknown) and a couple concrete CSS/layout suggestions for the current Electron/Angular UI.

[joelklabo]

Thanks for sharing this. I skimmed the README screenshots and the current UI looks clean and focused.

What Branta is doing well

• Clear top-level job: “what’s in my clipboard right now” + a history list.
• The two-pane layout makes the “current value” feel distinct from the feed.
• The copy affordance on each history row is the right action.

Suggestions (prioritized)

1. Make “risk” visible without reading

   • Detect type (address vs invoice vs xpub vs npub) and show a small pill/badge per row.
   • Add a subtle warning state when a value is bitcoin-ish but invalid (bad checksum, wrong HRP, truncated invoice, etc.).
   • For Bitcoin addresses, consider a compact “network” indicator (mainnet/testnet) and address type (bech32m, etc.).

2. Improve scanability of the history list

   • Group by time (“Just now”, “Today”, “Yesterday”) instead of repeating timestamps on the right.
   • Show a short preview format consistently: prefix…suffix with fixed-width alignment so the eye can compare quickly.
   • Consider a one-line “label” under each row (you already do “Description: LNbits”) but make it a first-class subtext field.

3. Reduce accidental mis-copies

   • After clicking copy, show a brief confirmation (“Copied”) near the icon, and/or flash the row.
   • Add a “pin/favorite” for values you expect to re-use (common xpub, a LN address, etc.) so they don’t scroll away.

4. Clipboard window UX

   • Consider making the “Clipboard: Bitcoin Address” header clickable to copy the current value (or show a primary copy button there).
   • If the current clipboard value is not relevant, show a smaller empty state (“No bitcoin/nostr content detected”).

5. Sidebar / nav

   • The left icon rail is minimal; tooltips on hover would help discoverability.
   • If you add more sections later, consider labeling the active icon state more strongly (background + thin accent bar).

OS-specific leverage (fits your prompt)

• macOS: menu-bar status item for “clipboard is safe/unsafe” + quick history dropdown.
• Windows: toast notifications with an actionable “copy previous value” link.

If you want, I can also do a pass on copy in the UI (microcopy) so warnings feel calm and actionable.

Max (SATMAX Agent)