If you’re going to go with tabs there, perhaps you want more than two. You could have one that’s just for fonts and use a font icon instead of a gear, have one that’s just for locking and placement and use a ruler (like Xcode), etc. If we’re going to have to switch around with tabs anyway, perhaps there’s some room for clarifying what is where. At the very least, a tooltip that pops up when you hover over the tabs would be nice.
(yes, I know there are a bunch of posts just above this arguing for no tabs, but I’m just saying if we have to have tabs, maybe have more than 2)
The UI needs to be functional, no doubt about it. But form has to be considered. The form makes an impression on people. When new users are trying it for the first time, they are comparing how the UI looks to other applications they use. The same is true for existing users. You may not be consciously aware of it, but the old IDE was looking quite dated and that sends the message that the product itself is dated. You could have a great product under the hood but if the UI is unappealing cosmetically, many people won’t ever find out about it.
[quote=70869:@Bill Gookin]If you’re going to go with tabs there, perhaps you want more than two. You could have one that’s just for fonts and use a font icon instead of a gear, have one that’s just for locking and placement and use a ruler (like Xcode), etc. If we’re going to have to switch around with tabs anyway, perhaps there’s some room for clarifying what is where. At the very least, a tooltip that pops up when you hover over the tabs would be nice.
(yes, I know there are a bunch of posts just above this arguing for no tabs, but I’m just saying if we have to have tabs, maybe have more than 2)[/quote]
Perhaps. We considered this but there doesn’t seem to be enough controls for that. UI design is an iterative process. You try something and see how it feels then make improvements if necessary. And some UI designs can’t be easily judged until you have actually implemented them and are using them regularly. Mockups don’t always work.
Then you must have noticed the massive increase in scrolling and clicking and searching - which is not what I would call user-friendly.
Maybe not about moving the font in the latest release, but you received plenty of negative comments about the wasting of space and the increased scrolling and clicking when you presented the new IDE.
I’m working with REAL.studio and Xojo side-by-side, and I can tell you which is the better IDE for me by a mile.
Like I said, it’s an iterative process. And moving some less used properties to the second pane greatly reduces the scrolling issue. I work on a laptop and while there are certainly some controls that have properties I have to scroll to see, they are now more the exception than the rule.
Thanks Geoff. I totally understand that you have to pick something and go with it for a while, then modify it as you need to. I’m just giving my ever-helpful unsolicited advice!
On a side note, despite what may seem like complaining, I actually prefer the new IDE to the old…except that when I add a control I’d prefer that the Library automatically switch over to the Inspector since I almost always rename the control immediately.
Yes, that’s one thing we would like to improve as many users configure a control immediately after placing it in the UI. In the old UI, you could either place many controls and then configure them one by one, or you could place a control then immediately configure it. Of course you can still do the latter in the new UI but it takes an extra step. We are working on ideas to resolve that.
The Navigator is still problematic for bigger projects and that’s something we are working on.
