Okay, this is going to be a long post.
I’ve just enabled the beta features, and it feels like everything is just… out of proportion. Some buttons are the right size, but many are too big or small.
For example, here is the movement snap section:
Old:
New:
Everything has been inflated, and the space doesn’t feel like it has been used efficiently. Meanwhile, here’s the more options button for the test button:
It’s only a few pixels big, I wish I was joking. Also, here’s the more options button for the part button compared:
The old one is much easier to click, whereas you have to consciously aim for the new one.
Another issue is the topbar itself.
The old one feels very clean, with all the important buttons on one nice line at the top of the screen. The new one segments everything into messy clumps at different heights, whilst also managing to remove some useful shortcuts like undo, redo and new.
There are also some other missing buttons, like Game Settings, Collision Groups, Run Script, and (probably) more.
It also looks like the very top buttons (file, edit etc.) are being expanded even more from the screenshots given in the original post, meaning the topbar will take up even more space.
There are also, confusingly, two plugin buttons on the new topbar which both serve different purposes. The larger plugin button is missing on the screenshots in the original post, but this will only make things even more confusing as the entire plugin toolbar will presumably have changed.
Finally, it now seems impossible to unpin the ribbon.
My question is, and I know this is a bit late, but why can’t we have something like this?
As far as I’m aware, this would keep all of the functionality of the new UI but compacts it down into one much more aesthetically pleasing bar. Here’s a list of what I’ve changed:
- The main topbar buttons have been shrunk horizontally as I don’t see a need for them to be as wide as they are.
- The ‘file’ button is kept in a similar location to the old one, as it is already in an intuitive location. As a result, the testing options have been shifted right to allow it to fit in.
- The ‘view’ and ‘window’ buttons of the new topbar are replaced by a single ‘view’ button on the normal topbar here, as they serve a similar purpose (and the old topbar managed make it work). The menu would probably still, however, be split into window and view categories to differentiate the functionalities.
- The ‘edit’ button is gone as the menu it shows can be accessed simply by right-clicking.
- The ‘help’ button has been replaced by an
? icon next to the notifications button.
- These changes have allowed everything to be kept at the same level rather than using the current ‘multi-layered’ system, meaning this bar is much more space-efficient, and the style is kept consistent.
Anyway, there are some things that I think the UI has done well:
The new UI and Script menus are very nice, and I like the fact they stay on the topbar consistently as opposed to magically disappearing when they aren’t needed - especially for the UI one.
This point will seem slightly contradictory to what I said earlier, but I like the new window options.
To clarify, I’m not talking about the UI itself here and how it is accessed, but rather the categorization of windows into multiple sections like ‘Debug’ and ‘3D’, andhow the most useful/miscellaneous windows are kept at the top, so that they can be reached in minimum clicks.
In conclusion, I think that the new UI is… a mixed bag, to say the least, and I unfortunately have to agree with most others here that it isn’t quite ready for release just yet.
tldr; new ui is mid, but could be easily improved
