I think it also relating to video examples from other softwares?
Maybe for real all that does not concern the blender but you need to show it somehow, upload to another resource? or make it with hidden tags
But indeed if it need to be cleaned from other software examples, you need to create pinned topic to say that to all
I’m testing the last build, why the checkbox have move to the left? it a worst site than old situation
You can just switch them off in the filters menu -
It’s understandable from a legal point of view and I guess it’s just one of those things one has to accept. I also like coming up with better ideas when it’s possible, but from a practical point of view it’s just not feasible reinventing the wheel every time.
If considerable research and testing is going into packages that proved themselves in high pressure production one can either learn from the existing one’s or try to go down the same road with limited resources - which might lead to a better or worse outcome, but in any case it will take much longer (meanwhile other packages are further evolving). I do hope that not being allowed to post screenshots does not mean that other softwares are not being actively tested and investigated. Else it’d be like building a house without ever seeing one before.
Thanks for the feedback and the work you are doing to make the outliner better, I don’t want to open a debate but I want to quickly explain why looking at other software shouldn’t been taken in the wrong way.
I am also a designer and using references is essential if you want to build anything.
I think knowing what’s out there is important. You can spend 2 months working on a feature that it’s already used by many softwares but that you didn’t know about.
The use of leverage is very important too. Someone already worked on that feature for months, maybe years so if it works why not using that as a starting point and spending 2 months to make it better or adding new things to it.
I think at Pablo Dobarro as an example. The developing of the sculpting area in blender is going really fast. Every features in that area comes from Zbrush. He got inspiration from the best software for sculpting because he knows it works but he also added new things like the pose brush and the simulation brush.
This is just my point of view but I hope it helps 
I think it’s less about referencing other software, it is always healthy to bump ideas off of other software to come up with your own. Blender, after all, is looking for a ton of animators from other software to help with the animation 2020 project. I think it is more about posting material that is potentially copyrighted from other software. We don’t want blender getting into trouble
But I think we should keep the discussion on the outliner for now. We can always make another topic if we want to discuss about this more. Also its not Nathans call, it’s Ton’s.
I (and others) certainly didn’t say that inspiration from other software is bad. Simply no screenshots/videos from other softwares on the Blender websites (devtalk, phabricator, etc.). I take inspiration from multiple sources as I develop, and others do as well as you have pointed out.
But yes, as @Bobo_The_Imp says, let’s just focus on the Outliner here
Today I experimented with the drawing code to increase consistency between UI lists, the file browser, and the outliner.
Also, the new collection button now creates the collection from the selected objects. The context menu has options to create an empty collection, move the selection, or link the selection. The build with this should be available for testing in a few hours!
Those colored lines look like a garland when pushed too far.
I use Maya too and the outliner is super simple, never felt I needed colored lines and stuff.
As long as it’s optional, all good.
The Blender outliner is sort of like the Maya outliner plus the layer system from the channel box combined. As soon as you’d try to put that functionality into the outliner you’d probably need some sort of distinction. Also, as soon as you display non dag objects it just becomes a mess.
Don’t get me wrong, I work with the Maya outliner for 16 years and counting on a daily basis and don’t have any issues with it, but I think the one in Blender has some upsides (mode toggle, setting active cameras, the new modifier drag and drop, being able to set visibility options, etc).
With manual sorting and a way to key object/collection visibility (it’s a bit limited at the moment) I think I’d very much prefer the Blender one. It’s just my personal opinion though, everyone has different preferences.
You’ll just not set any color for your collections 
The outliner in “layer” mode is closer to Maya’s “display layer” editor, which does have color tags. Blender just chooses to merge all those editors into one.
As far as I know you don’t have to use color tags, and when you don’t the lines stay white-ish.
Yeah some sort of auto-sync between object datablock name and mesh datablock name would be super cool. I use linked objects quite a bit so it’s nice having control over which mesh datablock is linked to your object, but still, most of the time my objects are unique and I’d like their mesh name to reflect the object’s name.
The collection system is a replacement for the old layers AND for groups. If you use them as groups, you do want to “bring the children along”. I often link assets from another Blend file by linking the collections. Then I can instance them and move the whole collection instance where I need it.
Groups never had that functionality in Blender, they always were a tagging system. I believe you’re thinking of Maya groups ? (which really designate parent-child relationships… rather misleading when switching to Blender). In any case, the sole fact that we’re having this discussion shows that the whole system should be improved… either by allowing object hierarchies to inherit visibility, or by some other polishing.
Latest changes. The build with these improvements should be live soon, I would love testing on these more complex features to code. https://blender.community/c/graphicall/Qmbbbc/
Also the context menu has options to always make an empty collection, or to link objects if desired.
This has one known issue. The location where the objects are moved to is not always accurate.
You may also notice in the above GIFs that you can set parent without holding shift.
I also made outliner modifier drag&drop more reliable.
Nathan, I have tears of joy from seeing those manual object resorting gifs! No more stupid naming hacks to reorder things. You probably have no idea how many years some of us have been waiting for this in Blender…thanks so much for bringing this goodness
Those are some much needed and welcome changes, thank you @natecraddock . By the way, there’s a quirk with the way the outliner view moves up or down when you close some hierarchies (v 2.83.2). The outliner view will not reposition itself until you move the cursor which will then of course throw you way off and you end up selecting something else you did not intend to.
Is this intended? Let me know if I should make a vieo to make it more clear. Thanks in advance.
One more question, if I set ALT + LMB click as a shortcut to select ALL objects inside a collection, why won’t it work unless I have selected said collection in advance? Is there a way to make it work on the first click and not have to select the collection it prior? It would save quite some time.
I guess you were referencing that GIF.
In this case, I think one would expect the “Collection 2” (and its objects) to be placed into “Collection”.
Do you think that you will find a way to correct this? (the hierarchy / the order of objects)?
Thank you Nathan for this build. I can’t wait to be able to test it.
No, this here is working as intended. Scene Collection is active which is the collection the new collection is inserted to. Had Collection been active, then Collection 2 would be a child of Collection.
First of all, thank you again for all the great work! Really love the progress on this project.
Quick question on the side - is there a way to change the color for active collection highlights in the theme settings? It’s easy to miss.
I think that is a bad idea.
It makes parenting too easy to make by mistake while you just want to reorder objects.
That makes sense for an automatic sorting that user is not supposed to tweak.
But for manual sorting, I think that is annoying , forcing user to be really careful where he have to release mouse button.
Active Collection is indicated by a clearer background of icon collection.
Problem is that color of collection is expressed at same location.
So, when color tags are used, we don’t know what collection is active one.
Instead of just highlighting icon to indicate active collection, maybe you can highlight icon+name of collection.
I have to disagree on this one. It’s pretty common in other softwares, and the main point is making it easier. Reordering a bunch of objects inside a complex hierarchy should be something one can do easily single handed. Wouldn’t want my coffee to get cold just because I need to organize a scene.