Ribbon or Classic interface: vote here

[Wes Macaulay]

This thread is meant to gauge AUGI users' acceptance of the new Ribbon. The new UI has divided users into those that hate and those that like it (at least a little). AUGI users tend to be more expert than the general public, so I'm betting I'll get mostly negative results. I'd love to hear from Revit Structure and MEP users about their comments on the Ribbon.

We haven't quantified our hate or love for the Ribbon and I figured it's about time to see where we're at.

Vote away.

[Wes Macaulay]

I've lost some productivity from the Ribbon. I don't like the inconsistent tool locations, and the sluggish behaviour when switching tools or panels. Switching between family and project views is much slower than in 2009 -- no doubt because of the change in QATs or whatever else. It looks more modern -- I'll grant you that!

The fact that I can access a few more tools with KB shortcuts offsets somewhat the sluggishness of the Ribbon UI.

[Joef]

I am disappointed with the ribbon but in some respects it is an improvement over the old classic. The worst part of it is that it is sloooow, tools shift around, and many tools are hidden that should be accessible all the time. It feels like a sea anchor. It can be fixed if Autodesk decides to think for itself and not blindly follow some sort of Microsoft dogma about how the ribbon should operate. We'll see if the techies can get the marketing guys out of the way long enough to produce something that works properly.

[funkman]

loss of productivity = disaster

I have no problem with the ribbon idea per se, but not at a loss of producitivty, or more mouse clicks, or greater mouse distances from one button to another, or inconsistent functions on the ribbon functions, or wrongly shaped and sized buttons.

[iankids]

The ribbon is poorly designed and poorly delivered.

Any UI which reduces productivity is a failure of design.

I don't know if the ribbon can work or not. There seems to be a basic disconnect between what most of the users here (and on insidethefactory), have been calling for - persistent icons and the whole concept of a contextual ribbon interface.

Given that it seems to be lighter on resources and faster to use, had 2010 been shipped with the classic UI I, for one, would have been a very happy subscriber.

Given what has gone on however, I think hell is likely to freeze over before Autodesk abandons the ribbon. I can only hope there is a cold snap forecast for hell!

Regards,

Ian

BTW Scott, I understand you are a Revit User, but as I understand it also an employee of Autodesk. As such, I think it was inappropriate for you to vote on this poll, as you can hardly be expected to be unbiased. I note that as at 12:48am 20th June, yours is the only vote which is 100% behind the Ribbon.
http://forums.augi.com/poll.php?do=s...ts&pollid=1703

[Scott D Davis]

BTW Scott, I understand you are a Revit User, but as I understand it also an employee of Autodesk. As such, I think it was inappropriate for you to vote on this poll, as you can hardly be expected to be unbiased. I note that as at 12:48am 20th June, yours is the only vote which is 100% behind the Ribbon.
http://forums.augi.com/poll.php?do=s...ts&pollid=1703

Fine, let me be the lone vote. It's not my "autodesk bias" talking, its my nearly 9 months of using Revit 2010 with the ribbon (in various forms.) I have a hard time using "classic" now as I've become accustom to the new UI.

[iankids]

Fine, let me be the lone vote. It's not my "autodesk bias" talking, its my nearly 9 months of using Revit 2010 with the ribbon (in various forms.) I have a hard time using "classic" now as I've become accustom to the new UI.

Yep, fair enough, I can fully accept that when one has gotten used to an interface that going back to an old one is difficult. But do you really feel that you are now "working faster because of the new interface"?

Regards,

Ian

[Wes Macaulay]

Actually, Ian, there have been a few who say that they are more productive using the Ribbon. But my guess is that they are not power users, or people who hussle their way around the UI. I've noticed that people who have a more plodding method of working in Revit have a greater chance of liking the new UI...

[twiceroadsfool]

I said that i liked it, but that it doesnt make me more productive. Reason being the following:

In its current iteration, im a little slower than i am with the Classic UI. But, i dont think its because of the ribbon (in principle), i think its becasue of the ribbon (in execution).

As has been noted over and over again, the Classic UI had a partial ribbon in the design bar. I think with some heavy rethinking, the ribbon could be more successful and faster than the old UI, just not in its current form. As such, a vote purely *for the classic interface* is a disservice to all of us, in my humle opinion. It would be likened to having voted to stay carb from the earliest inception of FI.

I think the current LAYOUT of the ribbons is terrible, but even that notwithstanding, a few simple UI tweaks could do worlds for Revit:

1. Options to ditch the skins.
2. Options to ditch the rolling/fading transitions
3. Options to resize some of the buttons (maybe a few levels of ribbon sized buttons, and sizeable QAT buttons)
4. Consistancy amongst the various "modes" in revit (Fam Editor, project environment, etc.)
5. Restore some items to persistancy, where they shouldnt be in a ribbon (close hidden windows, amongst other tools).

4 and 5 are even borderline in to the conversation of reorganizing the ribbons, which i wont get in to. Its been beaten to death.

But items 1-3 are simply this: Im not sure the Factory realizes how FAST some of us are used to moving in Revit. We HAUL through that program. When im in Edit Sweep mode, and i finish a path, the Cance/Finish buttons proceed almost to the left of the screen while the ribbons readjust themselves. Im chasing them to the left, while the contextural toolbar reappears and throws them back to the right. It may SEEM fast in the Factory in testing, but its not as fast as we are as users, and thats frustrating. Plus, the ribbons shift and slide and adjust way too slow.

We dont all want fancy transitions and glitzy graphics. I run Windows on classic interface, ALL frills turned off. My mouse is set to move as fast as it goes across the screen. My scroll button moves something like 9-12 lines per roll. I dont want to be enamored by Revits toolbars gliding up and down. Frankly, EVEN in 2009 i wanted to be able to disable the design bars sliding transitions and make it instantaneous.

We want to HAUL ***.

[ws]

FWIW initially I liked the look of the new icons and the idea of updating the interface but once I started using it for real work I found it really was as badly designed and implemented as more experienced users were saying.

It would not be so bad if it had only brought Revit down to the general level of poor interface design exhibited in many applications for the PC, but Joef's analogy of the sea anchor is a good one - it is a real drag on workflow.