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…
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?
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:
I really think that a search tool at the top (like on the IDE gif example), sorting only the matching settings names, would put everyone together though.
I agree. What’s going on with Blender preference window. When Editor layout was changed. We were told that Single column layout will give more screen space. What benefit we are gaining with changing preference window layout. Old preference window was not cluttered. The new one in the name of cleaning up is cluttered and use less. I was searching for turning off auto prospective check box but after a half hour long fight, I gave up. We don’t need such mess. Please bring back old preference window.
No Sir, at it’s current state, Preference Window is a mess. It’s not organised or better than previous. Sorry for being rude here. I have hopes of blender becoming a better software. This layout is not helping blender.
You don’t have to convince me, there have been many of us who have criticized all the changes that have included the new layout of single column. And it is the most voted request about interface/UX in RCS. In the case of preferences the solution is especially bad.
But apparently utility and pragmatism is the last thing that matters at Blender2.8.
Kindda OK with the new layout ( we are almost there ) It adds a lot but introduces a lot of scrolling ( like the Properties Editor which IMO the breakpoints need to be tweaked or at least user settable )
I have 2 small suggestions. one to make the Preferences a little more manageable and two to fix the Theming problem which makes blender difficult to theme.
I feel we can accomplish this by a larger default (at least 2x) horizontal size and adjusting the break points when the items split to multi-column.
Currently the break points are too far apart . Expanding the Preferences horizontally we get …
At this approximate size we can easily fit four across a window that’s around 2.5 times the current default width. I feel even without adjusting the column width we can get 4 with proper break points.
With a four column layout we can see 3 editors at a time … this is a HUGE difference to 3+ pages
A reduction of the column width and adjusting the break points can fix a lot.
BTW this will also fix the other preferences as they fit on one screen with everything expanded.
As most of blender’s theme can be adjusted within the User Interface Section of Themes I suggest adding the Theme Space Settings to this section with possibly an override in the individual sections if a user wants to change any specific setting. This will change the time it takes to theme blender to a couple of minutes from a couple of hours
The theming system itself is outside the scope of the Preferences UI. Could be a lot better, but if we ship with some really nice themes with different brightness, it should be good enough for most users, and alleviate the need for custom theming.
I can look at adjusting the breakpoints in the them. They can be made to fully flow.
However, the width of the breakpoints I can’t really control easily though - it’s handled automatically by the flow layout system. The issue you point out is likely to do with the fact that all the theme panels are being generated, so they all share the same layout flow, meaning that if one theme property has a very long name, it waits until there’s space for this name until it can break into more columns.
Cool … Whenever you have the time … no pressure … we are all just waiting for 2.8
I didn’t mean changing the theming system just one Instance of the Theme Space Settings in the User Interface Section instead of in every Editor Section.
I already see the problem with this solution( At least without a per Section override), cause although most of the colors will be the same per theme, the text colors sometimes need to be different and will require an override in each section.
The width of the column is determined to be when Blender thinks there is enough space for the text + widget. This is automatically calculated. There may be some issues with it, but it’s not a fixed width.
I may not add much to the conversation, but just came here to make some more noise and tell you I’m another person who has to say how terrible the new preferences are.
Before you had everything at a glance, now there’s endless scrolling.
As pointed before EVERY other program has the options more accesible, old users want it this way, and so do I, a relatively new user.
I’m a student and in my uni we’re taught max, but I learned blender next to it and a little more than a year ago barely knew how to model, now I’m using weighted normals, so I’m kind of new even if I do some advanced stuff now. I also prefer the old preferences and T-panel, please, stop changing for the sake of aesthetics and more with usability on mind.
Stop wasting your time on doing a total revamp and instead make better what was already good, in this case, something like this Preferences redesign
Focus more on other areas that need more love such as the outliner.
I don’t comment very often, but I agree with what users like nokipaike or Alberto make a lot of the times here and in many other threads.
I posted this in a different thread as well, its my mockup of how it could be. I see quite some users have that same idea. That is putting all settings/options in the left, but also add a search input per sections. Than each button could be a search function, basically works same as categories in addons (old), so you press it and it will only show that one.
I would than put all the sections in the header so they are always visible. That was why the change was mainly done i believe.
Items with sub settings could be shown when the main one is clicked.
This setup will work nice and prevents never ending scroll effect which is now happening. Its kind of horrible and time consuming now to find a settings or change something.
I could not find anything in the space_userpref.py
Was tweaking with return unit_x * 7; (default is unit_x * 10;) in interface_layout.c and got some very good results…
This already is a huge improvement over the current Preferences. Everything visible when expanded on one page so no scrolling in the regular preferences and a big improvement in the Themes section
Of course I don’t know anything of what I am doing, so if someone can have a look at it that would be great
