AC 20 Interface

[Bling Keeta]

I don't know if anyone else shares my view of the new interface. I find it really too subtle, almost GREY instead of sharp black icon lines. There's no borders between different palettes or tool sets. A thin red line would help. For a while I thought my eyesight has gone bad staring at a sea of icons. I would much prefer the look of SketchUp interface.

[Jere]

Bricklyne wrote:
...

Which speaks volumes as to why it's a horrible program for design (from a user-interface point of view), and which in turn boggles the mind as to why the developers of ArchiCAD who pioneered this field would now think it prudent to just "go with the crowd" and do what everyone else is doing.
...

Why did you make this assumption behind their reasoning?

They've given reasoning behind the new look and I accept it. Personally, I find the new look to be much improved. I loathe it now when I have to open up older versions of the software.

[Bricklyne Clarence]

Jere wrote:

Bricklyne wrote:
...

Which speaks volumes as to why it's a horrible program for design (from a user-interface point of view), and which in turn boggles the mind as to why the developers of ArchiCAD who pioneered this field would now think it prudent to just "go with the crowd" and do what everyone else is doing.
...

Why did you make this assumption behind their reasoning?

They've given reasoning behind the new look and I accept it. Personally, I find the new look to be much improved. I loathe it now when I have to open up older versions of the software.

It wasn't an assumption.

It was response to someone else who had given that as possible reason for the switch.

And given that he's more in the know about these matters than I am, I deferred to his postulation or his speculation.

You like it.
I don't.
Different strokes for different folks.

I've given my reasoning for why I think it's regressive and unintuitive, which basically boils down to the fact that it doesn't lend itself to how we, as visual-thinkers and designers, are trained to perceive and process (mostly graphical and visual) information and how we generally think (using the full visual spectrum and palette of visual sensory information).
It feels like their reasoning for the switch was made more for technical reasons (on their end) rather than ergonomic motivations (as evidenced by the fact that people "have to get used to it").
The capability or option to switch back to a legacy interface certainly would have been appreciated.

Again, ....my opinion.

[KeesW]

Bricklyne
Getting used to it.......?
How long did it take you to get used to the version you now like?

I don't find the new interface that intuitive, nor does it save much screen space. However, it might appeal to new users more than existing ones and new users should be encouraged.

I'll give it some time before saying more. I hope that it will grow on me and am willing to persist,

[Bricklyne Clarence]

KeesW wrote:
Bricklyne
Getting used to it.......?
How long did it take you to get used to the version you now like?

I don't find the new interface that intuitive, nor does it save much screen space. However, it might appeal to new users more than existing ones and new users should be encouraged.

I'll give it some time before saying more. I hope that it will grow on me and am willing to persist,

Which is why I stated that my preference would have been for them to retain the option to switch back to the legacy interface if one felt the new one was an impediment to their workflow.
Lots of programs (like AutoCAD, surprisingly enough) allow one to do that.

The one I'm now used to is the same one (more or less; give or take a couple of tweaks and refinements) that they have been using since at least ArchiCAD 9.0, to my best recollection.

That's a long time to get used to an interface and then to have to suddenly untangle from it to switch to something radically different.
Further to which, a lot of the "improvements they made to this new version were not really improvements I felt were needed or warranted (IMHO) inasmuch as other areas where it really needed improvements or could have used some refinement or revisions (dockable and collapsible shelves, tool tabs and even icons, comes to mind; more robust layers interface and control, etc etc).
But feedback seems not so welcome around these parts sooo...

It's more or less a moot point now.

These are just opinions at this point in time so not really much to any of it.

[KeesW]

Bricklyne
One thing that disappoints me with Archicad s that they are preoccupied with creating new features, without ever spending the same amount of time fixing existing deficient ones. Stairs come to mind, but also a refurb of the calculation and schedules. I've been using Archicad since version 5.0 and some of these have never improved.

I don't mind a new interface and only time will tell if it works for us old-timers.