Steam users have picked up on a visual design flaw related to the alignment of text and icons that is almost impossible to disregard once noticed. Since its inception in 2003, Steam's UI has transformed dramatically over the years with multiple overhauls taking place, but its most recent design appears to include an error that isn't exactly serious, but it is most certainly annoying.

In 2023, Valve celebrated Steam's 20th birthday. When the platform first launched in 2003, it was primarily used to deploy new game updates for various Valve titles, but the company said that its ultimate goal was to "give any game developer a way to reach their players and build their audience." Just two years later, Rag Doll Kung Fu became the very first non-Valve game to launch on the platform. The rest, as they say, is history, as Steam is now one of the most popular digital storefronts on the market.

Over on Reddit, a Steam user is shedding light on a UI design flaw that can be easily missed but will forever be noticeable. Next to every game on Steam is the title's release date, a Windows logo to reflect the game's compatibility, and various genre tags corresponding to the type of game. However, the user realized that none of the three elements align with each other vertically. Although Dark Souls: Remastered and Dark Souls 2 were used as examples, a quick glance at Steam shows that this occurs with every game on the platform, and fans aren't happy.

The response from Steam users has been as expected, with many jokingly stating that they will "never unsee this," while others are speculating on how Valve could have messaged up the alignment so badly. Reddit user Kamui_Kan speculates that both the text and tags are aligned vertically, but the Windows icon wasn't created centered. "Or that the way it's rendered on the web page adds some padding, making it offset," the user went on to explain.

Another Reddit user by the name of BlackHazeRus even noted that the gap between the release date text and the Windows icon is drastically bigger than the gap between the genre tags and the Windows icon, which some found to be even more frustrating. While this gained plenty of traction on Reddit, garnering almost 5,000 upvotes, it's unlikely that Steam will take the time to fix this issue anytime soon, as the studio has plenty of other projects it is working on at the moment.

Although players will never be able to unsee this annoying design flaw, Steam does add new features on a regular basis to keep the platform as one of the most popular digital storefronts in gaming. The most recent update added Steam Families, a new feature that allows users to share their games with their family members. Even if another family member is online and playing a game, other members can still jump into the shared library.

Graphic Design is my passion
byu/golden_numbers inSteam

Posted: Oct 09, 2024 8:45 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://gamerant.com/steam-visual-flaw-text-alignment/