SW08 UI customisation - Matt Writes articles removed?

During my tour of various sites to catch up on whats been happening with SW
since I was on subs, I found Matt no longer has the blog articles he wrote
about the 08 UI up. WTF..

Was he quietly told by SW to take them down? if so that sucks...guess you
have to tow the company line or you lose your priveleged status?

Anyway I was looking for the article about how he rearranged 08 to look
something akin to previous versions or made it more useable.

Does anyone have that page saved that they would share? or perhaps any
useful hints/experience on how they have best customised the new UI for
their own use.

thanks
Neil

 

http://www.develop3d.com/2008/05/ribbon-of-doom.html

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
http://jonbanquer.baywords.com/

 

I guess no matter who asks, Jonboi won't answer a SPECIFIC question.
Some things never change.

gk

 

During my tour of various sites to catch up on whats been happening with SW

http://www.develop3d.com/2008/05/ribbon-of-doom.html

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
http://jonbanquer.baywords.com/

 

Matt had a major meltdown on his blog site. I thought he said that he got
the old articles up again, but not people's comments. Perhaps he didn't get
that article up again. It doesn't appear that Matt is toeing anybody's line.

I don't have any good words to say about the new user interface, but I
haven't spend much time trying to set it up to my liking. I have been
resisting the temptation to turn it into a near-clone of my old interface,
since other people whose opinions I trust say to give it a chance.

Jerry Steiger

 

I am in the camp of "I like the new UI, for the most part."

That being said, here are the reasons. (I don't do swoopy stuff so I can't
talk to that part of it if it's different.) The new UI has made me faster
because of less mouse travel and fewer mouse clicks overall. I use a lot of
hotkeys, and the combination of my standard ones, the new S shortcut bar,
and the flyout context menus, I almost never go to the menus at the top -
only on rare occasion do I need to fly them out. Yes, I have them hidden
and only fly out when needed.

When I first started the SW2008 beta testing and tried the new UI, my first
question was "Where's my stuff??" And that's the first question from people
here. But with one gentleman that doesn't appreciate change, once I spent
20 minutes with him to show him that most of his stuff was at the cursor, by
the end of the day he liked it. I have customized the shortcuts to the way
we do stuff and find that expecially in a sketch, just about everything is
available at the cursor.

So, if you are willing to give some credit to the folks at SW in that they
did actually think about the overall user experience, then it's worth a bit
of time to give a good try to learning what they changed and why. I had the
opportunity to talk with some of them about it and I can tell you that they
do consider the effect on the user. I won't say there aren't any bad
decisions, because there are some I don't agree with. But for the most
part, things were done with the purpose of speeding up the user.

If you wish to try my settings as a starter, let me know and I will send you
my file. It's a good way to start with the way we are using it, look at
what we changed and why, and then decide what you like or dislike.

WT

 

ok I didnt know about the melt down - strange the only articles missing
appear to be the more critical ones about the UI though...

I havent installed 08 yet - going to wait for sp5 - but my first instinct
is to redecorate with all the toolbars I have had for previous installs.
I have always just liked having everything in immediate view rather than
hunting through menus you know...

....so on your recommendation guys ;o) I'll give the std layout a try for a
while and see if it isnt as bad as I expect...gotta admit I'm not very
enthusiastic about it at all though.. (

thanks
Neil

 

thanks Wayne, may well take you up on the offer come install time (sp5)

The prospect of visiting the menus repeatedly doesnt thrill me in the least.

Interesting to note you have been able to circumvent ribbon rage with
hotkeys and shortcut customisation. Was this (hotkeys) the way you worked
previously or have you found this talent for 08? I have pretty much just
used icons/mouse clicks.

Neil

 

Check here: http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://dezignstuff.com ??

 

I have always used hotkeys as it's a guaranteed speed increase. We once had
a user here that said he knew where all his icons were and challenged me to
a contest. Sure, it was a no-brainer for me as how can you possibly
accellerate the mouse toward an icon, decellerate, and click, faster than I
can press a key that is already under my finger? No way.

With the new S hotkey and the new context toolbars that both come up at the
cursor, I only have one toolbar up all the time and that's my macros. I
suppose I could assign all those to hotkeys, but they aren't used enough to
warrant that. I contend that to really improve your speed with SW, you have
to be willing to learn why they did what they did and really give it a
chance and intend to learn it. That means not pinning the menus out and not
just loading all the old toolbars. Try to understand the new methods and
how to use them to become faster.

Yes, I would be happy to talk you through the "Where's my stuff?"

WT

 

Wayne,

I too am a hotkey use,. but still on SW2007.
Could you explain what the S hotkey is?


Aaron R. Friedman
ARF Designs

 

In 2008 they added a pop up menu when you hit the S key. It's got
commands on it based on what type of file you have open and is
customizable as well. Sort of like a command manager but based on what
you're currently working on and pops up in the graphics window where
your cursor is at. It saves on mouse movements if you remember to use it!

 

Wayne, I'll take you up on that offer!

Jerry Steiger
jerrys at tdsway dot com

 

Hi Aaron,

If your interested I have a blog post about the Shortcut Bars ('S'
hotkey). http://theswgeek.com/?p=6

Alex R. Ruiz
http://www.theswgeek.com

 

Done. Sorry I am so late - I was at a COSMOS seminar today and then just
finished cleaning up from our user group meeting. What a great day!

WT

 

....snip
I contend that to really improve your speed with SW, you have

Therein lies the rub. Re-learning what they changed every year or not
getting your money's worth. If I didn't ask for it I'm probably going
to have to be sold on it. And I'm not real keen on relearning till I
know what works and what doesn't.

TOP

 

Fair enough - makes for a tough decision.

WT

 

You don't need to complain about being late; I still haven't tried it out! I
need to refresh myself on editing the registry.

Jerry

 

You don't edit the registry - you use the Copy Settings Wizard. The file I
sent you was the SW file. Just unzip it somewhere, start the Wizard and
choose to Restore settings. It will offer to nake a backup of yours in case
you want to go back, and that's a good idea. If you import everything of
mine, it will change locations to the macros, blocks, etc.

WT

 

So, can you change what key pops up the shortcut bar, or are you stuck
with 'S'?

Aaron R. Friedman