Preferences redesign

I think having the values aligned to the left makes them easier to read and it looks less chaotic.
Also, what about an option to set the headers as all uppercase? Not just for the preferences but for the whole blender. I think it would make the headers more obvious. Don’t know how much work it would be to implement it as an option though.

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So with the new user prefs how do we change T transparency in UV/img? And how we can change for example color of individual header?

Same as always. In the Theme.

can someone explain to me the meaning of this?

Oh, i see now little Theme space arrow.

Now the games are made … and probably, as usual, will be made a deaf ear … will be written words useless.
But let me say, as a final user experience, with functionality in mind and nothing else …

These old preference panels, maybe they were not perfect, but they were not even that bad … my memory, does not completely store all the features where they are arranged, it stores at most the categories and know where a feature is potentially located …
with these panels, just a glance and I found the functionality that I needed …

Now with the new one, visually I have no imput, and I have to waste time looking for the various categories and sub categories in branches to expand and I can not find ■■■■. how much waste of time.
Congratulations “to modernity and evolution.”
… it happened for the topbar, the no longer tool sidebar, the panels of the properties that have undergone the same end of the new modern (gnome) preference panel … and finally we do not forget the very useful and very functional monochromatic icons.
Long live the Evolution.
Blender is so loved that everything has been done to make it no longer be Blender.

We recall here defunct preference panels. Soon the nostalgia will prevail, and we will ask why, but we will not be able to remember.

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When dragging the preferences window, empty spaces or overlap form between the panels.

The meaning of what?

Yes, there is a bug there, but it’s not actually related to the Preferences - it exists throughout Blender if you resize the window, it will do this until you let go.

Hi William, I apologize if this is the wrong place to ask.

Is there any plans to add an option (or feature) to allow the sub-categories that we open in the preferences to persist? I feel like this is a middle-of-the-road option which will still keep the organization but allow some of us who prefer to have everything already open and would save some of us time (and avoid frustration – especially beginners) looking for that one option hidden somewhere in one of these sub-categories.

Hi William. In my opinion, the preferences window has become much more convenient and readable.
But the resizing of the window and open panels is not remembered and each time you need to open the necessary panels and resize the window for yourself. That would solve the problem of 100,500 clicks. And it will save time.

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Yes, the window size is reset every time you open the Preferences. This was always the case in past too. Ideally it would remember the size you gave it.

The same goes for the panels. Just like panels are stored as open or closed in the Properties, we could do the same for Preferences. The tricky thing is, I suppose, where this gets stored. It makes no real sense to store it in the blend file - makes more sense to store it in the Preferences.

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the meaning that is a work in half, you can do much better, perhaps listening to the perplexities …

there is a need for more columns

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@billrey “Color Picker Type” is inside the menus category. I actually had a hard time trying to find it.

Seems a bit odd to have it there, no? Also the “Region Overlap” kinda feels out of place there as well, imo…

This comes from 2.7x, where these were also grouped with menus.
Do you have a suggestion for a different way to organize these specific preferences?

Uh!? Only Show Splash was near (Interface) Menus, and the separation is bigger than other menu related controls, like 2D Viewports to Rotation Angle. Prompt Quit was clearly marked as Warning in other corner of Interface with the previous layout. Color Picker was in System, a completly different section than Interface. Region Overlap was in System too, under Window Draw Method. Header Position is very recent IIRC, more than Prompt Quit.

More logical places:

  • Color Picker to Editing > Miscellaneous. There seems to be no specific place for color controls. Maybe a new place that can group other similar things will appear, but until then Miscellaneous.

  • Show Splash to Interface > Display (but not inside Information). Because it is a general thing that appears in front of user at first.

  • Region Overlap to Interface > Viewports > 3D Viewports. Because it affects them (view angle changes when toggled). If it ever applies to all kinds, just Interface > Viewports.

  • Header Position to Interface > Display, or Interface > Viewports. Because headers are part of areas that can contain menus, but not always have them and contain more things than menus (and menus appear in other places too).

  • Prompt Quit to Files > Save & Load, full line below Recent Files. Because it affects file saving and (full line, more important than the other toggles because) it can mean data loss.

I’m not sure how people interpret those settings, but for me those are pretty much interface options/customization. Same goes for the language settings. So I guess I’d rename the “Text” panel to something like “Interface Options” and try to organize all those options there. Some of them under sub-panels etc…

Some of those were previously grouped with menus before too. I’ll take another look at them to try and find a better place for those.

Hi, it’s been a few weeks since i’ve downloaded a build of 2.8. And when I opened it this morning and needed to adjust something in the preferences, I am completely lost.

On one hand, I understand, the need for a better sub-organisation. On the other, as many have mentioned,there are too many dropdowns, that need to be expanded and endlessly scroll, while the columns while there is way too much padding, that could be utilised by extra columns.

So, is it better to have one page with quite a few categories that takes a little to get used to or a rudimentary organised dropdown, and expandable tabulation that, while inherently more organised could lead to more confusion as to what is where?

vs

Suggestions

If we are to have tabulations, they should be highlighted easier and they should be grouped into fewer categories, and live underneath the main menu. However, it is essential to think about the default landing page of each category and make the best possible use of this prime real estate with the most essential options. Only of everything doesn’t fit in the primary category do we need to create subcategories that are neatly separated.

Here is an example from Visual Studio Code that I think works quite nicely:

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I’d rather just scan my eyeballs across a few different tabs than play “Guess where the developer thought this option belonged”

Plus having all these tabs and then “General” is a red flag.