Please, I beg you: set the default properties panel tab to RENDER SETTINGS!!! I love everything else, I really do! New icons? Love it! Completely different shortcuts? My workflow has never been faster! Tabbed layout? Well, infinitely better than the confusing 2.79 one! Layers are gone and are now a billion times different? Can’t stop organizing now! But opening up to the properties of the default cube which I will always delete anyways and then switch over to render settings to enable SSR, Bloom, HDRI, and whatnot? Sign me out! I absolutely hate this feature and it makes me cry every time guys, it really does! ;(
Oh, and while you’re looking at this could you please consider having all the panel items collapsed by default? I always go through my properties tabs and collapse everything so I can find options better. It would be so much easier if this was default or a user pref and load option. By load option I mean we should be able to use something like uncheck “Load UI” but instead “Minimize UI.”
The reason why it’s set to the Object Properties by default is because the default Workspace is Layout. This is meant for adding and manipulating basic objects in your scene. Object Properties fit with this, whereas Render Properties don’t.
In a typical workflow, users will first add and manipulate objects, and then later adjust lights, materials and rendering where the Render Properties would make sense. Having the Render Properties visible when you start is like having the Export settings visible as the first thing - it makes little sense from a typical workflow perspective.
If you go to the Shading Workspace, you’ll see that it has the Render Properties visible.
A side benefit of this change is that Blender is slightly more friendly when you open it up. The Render Properties are full of settings that use advanced jargon, whereas anyone understands what location, rotation and scale means. It’s creates a slightly less aggressive impression.
Now, maybe you have a particular workflow where it makes more sense to start with the Render Properties. That’s why we support custom Workspaces and custom startup files. You can change this to fit your own particular workflow.