LibreOffice has the Ribbon UI.
The only reason they don’t make it default is to due to the luddites still yelling at clouds while running Windows XP.
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At least Libre gives you an option to keep the “classic” menu and use the ribbon
At the other end of the spectrum, Siemens Xpedition seem to be doing something… odd with their new UI (Luckily this won’t be deployed where I am for some time…)… although this might work, but popout panels can be hit and miss with respect to UX and they have gone all in with that.
Can’t say I’m a fan of that Xpedition UI at all!
According to Wikipedia, “2K: resolution” is a monitor which is about 2K pixels wide. I think that 1920 meets that criterion. Don’t you think?
I cannot see any jaggedness in lines…I do not think I could benefit from making visual elements any smaller. FWIW I do wear eyeglasses which prescription is about 6 months old and I am quite happy with them. I am willing to believe that some “hawkeye” people might be able to benefit from a 4K which is the same size as mine. Also I would have to check…but I don’t think my HDMI output will support 4K resolution.
I look at that display image and shake my head at all of the wasted display area, especially in the lower left. 10 menu items generously and widely spaced in 2 columns. Couldn’t they squeeze them slightly into one column and thus enlarge the available area for viewing the pcb?
You know, you might actually be right. I just googled it and apparently the original meaning was as you just said. It is wrongly used as 1440p, because the overall pixel count of a 1440p screen is 2 times that of a FullHD monitor.
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NO! NO! NO! Just no!
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Excellent example of changing a winning team. The original MS Paint was excellent and loved by all for it’s simplicity and ease-of.use.
Look up “Second System Syndrome”.
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FWIW, I think the interface is fine as it is.
I’ve never been a fan of the Ribbon.
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Personally I think the ribbon is a great improvement over the XP-style toolbars or menus. It was designed to improve “discoverability” - Microsoft noticed that many feature requests from users were for features that already existed, hence a complete rethink and the invention of the ribbon.
The truth is that many major software products have adopted the ribbon, including some geeky stuff like CAD programs, so it looks like the majority of vendors and users think it’s an improvement.
I would love KiCAD to adopt the ribbon interface, but of course it’s never going to happen. For some reason geeks are very resistant to change - probably because we’re all “on the spectrum”. 
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Or because the “ribbon” idea was a failure from the start. “Geeks” are not resistant to change. But normal users are. Why change something that simply works? And don’t get me started on eg, car UIs, which are a horror these days. But geeks love it.
Looking at another aspect, the ribbon will not affect the “job security” of forum contributors. It’s not just a matter of discovering the KiCad command, it’s also one of learning how to use it.
Personally I prefer to conserve my precious screen space and be willing to explore the drop down menus, dialogues and context menus.
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That’s just an assertion. Or perhaps an opinion. The evidence doesn’t back you up - as pointed out earlier in the thread, the ribbon has been adopted by a wide range of major software products.
That doesn’t look like a “failure” to me.
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Yes, exactly. Using KiCAD feels like stepping back in time 30 years. I’d love it to join the 21st century and get a full overhaul of the UI.
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Wow I do not remember ever seeing such an argument on this forum. I think it is hard to argue that companies such as Microsoft DO NOT change their software for the sake of change (not saying that it the only reason.) From their point of view, how can they sell updates if the updates do not change something?
Answer: They sell subscriptions.
But I also think it is hard to assert that the Ribbon was a failure. I think they would have abandoned it by now if it were deemed a failure.
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Kill me. Just kill me now…
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Seth_h’s original comment had been lost on me 'till now. Somehow, through the mists of time, as with the yellow ribbon song, I had forgotten the existence of that clever Microsoft Paper Clip.
An AI powered Paper Clip (especially voice activated) could make all menus redundant. Might even place footprints and autoroute successfully. It would certainly make this forum obsolete.
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I think I remember Clippit. But googling the topic gives me both spellings (Clippit and Clippy). Obnoxious bugger for sure! In the days of Win '98 I had found I could simply delete the Clippit files from the OS and the clip would be gone. I guess the proper way to have done that would be to de-select the “Office Assistant” (was that it?) during install, but you needed to understand that at the time. Using my method, the OS would crash only occasionally…maybe a bit more often then it did anyway.
I think you might get more receptive ears if you could explain how the change would make the software better.
I am willing to believe that commercial software makes many of their changes just for a “fresh look” to justify continued income. IMO this is like styling of automobiles. Occasionally there are improvements, but I think that 95% of it is “freshened” cosmetics with no practical advantage.
When the GUI changes without making things better, it wastes time because we need to forget the old and learn the new. For most of us, that does get more difficult with age. It took me a long time to unlearn the keystroke commands I learned with Microsoft Works circa 1990.
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Don’t forget the expensive training opportunities.
Paid software developers sometimes like to turn th interface upside down because they get bored fixing bugs or for CV development
Well, I would love KiCad to fix/improve many other aspects of KiCad before “moving buttons around”. Time of the developers is precious, and I would rather see it being used on useful things…
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