Currently, when using the Transfer feature in Astar Portal to move assets from the Astar Native environment to the EVM environment, simply entering an EVM address in the To field causes the UI to recognize the address format as an EVM address and display the Ethereum icon.
While this design may appear seamless and user-friendly, the lack of additional explanations can create confusion. Users may wonder whether this process involves inter-chain (cross-chain) asset transfers, akin to a bridge, or if such transfers should be conducted under the Cross-chain Transfer (XCM) tab instead of the Transfer tab.
Moreover, the presence of a Bridge option in the left-side menu adds to the ambiguity. It could lead users to mistakenly believe that they must select a specific bridge to proceed with the transfer.
To address these issues, I propose an enhancement to the UI. When the To field and From field indicate different chains, the system should automatically provide a clear message explaining that the asset transfer involves inter-chain movement without any problem. This would help users better understand the process and navigate the platform with confidence.
We have become so accustomed to using the portal that it can be difficult to notice these points. What you are saying is true. In fact, for first-time users (without reading the official manual), this portal can be quite confusing. Conversely, for those who have a certain understanding of the Astar and Polkadot ecosystems, it makes sense. As of now, it is designed for users with high technical skills and IT literacy.
Since the world of blockchain is still complex for the general public, there is room to consider how to make improvements.
As for the UI change proposal, I believe guiding users through a wizard format for each case of operation might be clearer and result in fewer mistakes. In other words, instead of having users understand and select operations in their heads, it would be more effective to implement a system where users can achieve their tasks by answering a few questions about what they want to do (similar to the current dApp Staking Vote). This is in my opinion.
I fully agree with this observation. Adding a clear message that will explain in detail the nature of inter-chain asset transfer would improve the user’s perception and reduce any potential confusion. It is very important to communicate upfront with the users in case they are moving their assets between different environments since this ensures seamlessness and transparency in the experience.
Besides this, other broader improvements are plausible both at the UI and UX levels in Astar Portal. Place contextual tooltips, for example, to improve differentiation between Transfer and Cross-chain Transfer tabs; also, let the selection of transfer methods-be it via the Bridge menu-be more intuitive in order to take the experience to the next level. More intuitive design and consistent guidance throughout the portal make users feel oriented and confident during the navigation flow.
Great observation and hopefully something that can be updated.
After using the portal for a while I completely forgot about this. But Yes! definitely confused the first few times I went through this, especially the EVM back to Native.
I also agree with you and really appreciated to have it shared.
It is amazing that our community is caring what is missing for new users. We had a previous UX discussion here just for reference. Thanks @tksarah for your suggestions too but we may not allocate resource for big changes. Thank you also @Matt for your suggestions too.
The core team is small and the portal development is not the main scope, while I totally understand that Astar interoperable solution we made 2 years ago was too early to the market to adopt. We have XCM as transfer, rather than bridge since it was the way we wanted to push the feature that is more than bridge. However I would not mind moving XCM to bridge section now when we have time. Confusingly we have two VMs and have transfer interoperable. Technically, this is not a bridge and is correct to be where it is now.
With limited time we can allocate to portal development, as I promised to previous discussion, we will change the placeholder message as below so users can understand they can put EVM address/Astar Native address in the field.
Destination Address ----> 0x...(EVM) or Astar Native addresses
We are not going to remove Bridge option from left sidebar, since this is more for users to bring assets to Astar, it is important actions we must be offering them at first view. We could add one banner for EVM <> Native in the bridge page, this will avoid a UX dead-end who wanted to find how to bring ASTR to EVM from Native, but came to bridge page. Thank you for noticing, actually this will make a smooth experience.
So to conclude, I promise to update the portal
Change the message for input field placeholder
Add ASTR transfer EVM<> Native on bridge page
Apologies not fully being aligned with your suggestion but those small kaizen will indeed make UX better.
Please feel free to share what you think, we can add small kaizens for better UX but big contractual change is not planned unless it impacts on TVL. Thanks a lot for great contributions!
