Proposed changes to the IDE User Interface

[FourthWorld]

However: the Livecode GUI has not changed much since the 2.6 interface.

I believe it has, but still not enough for my tastes, so I turned it inside out - now my workflow is less like running my app inside the IDE, and more like running the IDE inside my app:

http://fourthworld.net/lc/rg-lc-ide.png

[richmond62]

I just keep things simple:

menuBar.png (7.09 KiB) Viewed 5522 times

[Mag]

However: the Livecode GUI has not changed much since the 2.6 interface.

I don't really think that whether the icons are "modern" (whatever "modern" means - never could work that one out) is important:

what IS important is what one can get done with Livecode.

But then I dress out of second-hand shops because I care more about comfort and warmth than fashion.

Hi Richmond, I understand what you mean. Existing users may not perhaps be interested in a restyling, but the platform must also attract new users.

Furthermore it is also a matter of usability, as just one example, for adults the icon of an envelope can mean "messages", but for young people it only means: "a system that our parents used to communicate".

[richmond62]

It is relatively easy to "hack" the revMenubar and the RevTools with a start-up stack.

[dunbarx]

Richmond.

It is relatively easy to "hack" the revMenubar and the RevTools with a start-up stack.

I just wonder why it was deemed necessary to fix something that was not broken, and so did not need fixing. And why go in a direction that looks like something a high school full of goth teens would sign on to.

It is even worse than windows.

Craig

[richmond62]

go in a direction that looks like something a high school full of goth teens would sign on to

Dunno: I was happy with the Polychromic revMenuBar and was a bit cheesed-off when the mothership decided to
make everything black.

[Mikey]

I personally like the new look, but I also think that sometimes you need to change things up because until you do, you don't know what you're going to discover. Sometimes it's not important, sometimes its a terrible idea, and sometimes, it stokes something else.

[richmond62]

I personally like the new look

One of the reasons I like Linux (apart from the stability and the range of choice) is that one can muck around with
one's interface as much as one likes.

Macintosh and Windows push a "one style fits all" interface . . . which may, actually, suit nobody completely.

A recent move by Livecode has made that more difficult with the IDE as one cannot make
cosmetic changes 'stick' permanently, so one has to patch the IDE every time one opens the thing
which is bothersome to say the least.

[FourthWorld]

I personally like the new look, but I also think that sometimes you need to change things up because until you do, you don't know what you're going to discover. Sometimes it's not important, sometimes its a terrible idea, and sometimes, it stokes something else.

Amen, brother. Can't say enough good things about being able to use plugins as an easy way to explore IDE enhancements and mods. Before I got started with my devolution toolkit many years ago, modding the IDE seemed a massive task. Since then, as you say, I've found that poking around in bits and pieces can yield interesting outcomes. Today my workspace is completely inside-out from what it used to be, in a way that puts the IDE in the back seat and keeps the projects I'm working on front-and-center.