Revit Interface

[er.190250]

Hi,

Is there a way to keep the Revit Interface from changing back to the default menu sizes and locations when closing then re-opening Revit?

I.E. When the Basics etc. menu and the Projects browser menu are stretched wider, they return to their default narrow menu when Revit is restarted.

I would like Revit to remember the menu size and location changes I have made.

Thanks,
Eric

[Elmo]

That is the way Revit was designed. It was intentionally done so with the thinking that if you go to another machine you should be able to just work without issues like Autocad where you need to now find your tools which are all over the place.

[Chad Smith]

It was made even worse in 2009, where the design bar when in sketch mode jumps around in all sorts of sizes.
Sometimes it will be large and squash my Project Browser to the very top and other times the sketch design bar is really small and is squashed at the bottom limiting access to the tools.
I hope this gets sorted out soon.

[Dimitri Harvalias]

It was made even worse in 2009, where the design bar when in sketch mode jumps around in all sorts of sizes.
Sometimes it will be large and squash my Project Browser to the very top and other times the sketch design bar is really small and is squashed at the bottom limiting access to the tools.
I hope this gets sorted out soon.

Never seen this happen before, or since, 2009. Can you post a screen capture?

[Chad Smith]

Screenshot attached. I'm forever pulling the divider up or down depending on where it decides to randomly appear.

To add further information, I tried pulling the Project Browser to the side of the Sketch Design Bar, but the Sketch Design Bar continually ends up back at the bottom.
If I turn the regular Design Bar on there are no problems at all, the Design Bar and Sketch Design Bar just trade places. But I don't use the Design Bar and never have since I started on Revit. I've always been a shortcut user.

This inability of the Sketch Design Bar to stick was never an issue until 2009.

[iru69]

There's probably some truth to that when talking about customizing the menus and toolbars, but Eric's talking about the width of the Design Bar and Project Browser... and the same could be said about various dialogs, windows, etc. This was "intentionally" done in the sense of lazy programming and not sweating the details of the UI design in general, not because of some grand unifying UI concept.

That is the way Revit was designed. It was intentionally done so with the thinking that if you go to another machine you should be able to just work without issues like Autocad where you need to now find your tools which are all over the place.

[Dimitri Harvalias]

Chad, I guess I've never seen that behaviour before because I've never stacked the design bar and browser in line that way. I have always used Revit on a laptop and would find it pretty irritating to have to constantly use the 'more tools' approach to working so I always have the browser next to the design bar.

Even with the little quirks (issues, problems, shortcomings... whatever) I happen to find the UI very well thought out. The consistency of the tools and approach play a large part in making Revit very easy to teach and learn.
Is it perfect, no. Could it use tweaks, yes. Do I want a complete overhaul, no way.
My $0.02

[mwiggins121466]

what I find interesting is that it will not remember locations of menus and such but if you stretch across two monitors it will remember the location of the view (window)even if it is off of the screen when you restart.

[iru69]

I agree in large part with this. As I've said many times before elsewhere on this forum, I think the general UI concept is very good and I don't think that concept needs an overhaul. But it's those details that just kill it. It's no different than what we do in architecture.

Even with the little quirks (issues, problems, shortcomings... whatever) I happen to find the UI very well thought out. The consistency of the tools and approach play a large part in making Revit very easy to teach and learn.
Is it perfect, no. Could it use tweaks, yes. Do I want a complete overhaul, no way.

[ron.sanpedro]

what I find interesting is that it will not remember locations of menus and such but if you stretch across two monitors it will remember the location of the view (window)even if it is off of the screen when you restart.

The issue there is that Windows (the OS) manages the size (and location) of Application Windows, so even without any specific application code, the window stays resized. But the location of toolbars and other such within the app is handled, or in the case of Revit not handled, by the app itself.
Oh, and Windows is too stupid to notice that the number or size of the monitors has changed and handle it gracefully. Compare that to OS X, where a laptop can move seamlessly between single and dual monitor configurations with no problems at all.

Gordon