I am so used to the V5 UI controls, as in: muscle memory, that I find find myself always fighting with the “new and improved” V6 interface.
I think the “new” way to do things is horrible compared to the old one, it takes way more mouseclicks and exact pointing to achieve the things that could be done far easier before.
Can it be made such that a: “Use V5 controls”, could suddenly pop-up in the V6 preferences?
Thank you very much!
Best regards, &c.
PS
I mainly use eeschema, it might have been an improvement further on …
Could you be more specific?
I can switch easily between V5 and V6, and there’s not much difference to me (UI-wise). Probably the biggest visual change is the icon set, which had it’s own reasoning.
UX-wise there’s lot of improvement, especially in the Select/modify area (but things went the right direction, more in line with common software).
Things can be different if you use “Legacy” canvas in V5. But there’s sooo much goodness in the Accelerated canvas I don’t ever consider stepping back. So if you’re used to Legacy, it’s time to drop. You’ll quickly see switching back to Legacy will be painful once you’ll get used to the new way.
V5 used to be: “Point and use”
V6 is: “Point, click to select, then use”, in most cases.
(But not always … )
I’ve been training myself the past months, but the muscle memory is right: “The old way was better”.
(Even if that took 3 to 4 months to acquaint to, it still feels more “natural”)
I have no option to keep on using V5, because of the vastly improved way libraries and footprints now are handled.
I just wish for a check box in the preferences: “Use V5 controls”
Which tool? Schematic capture, or board editor?
The “hover and command” still works for me in V6, if that’s what you’re after.
Unless you’ll provide details on the operation you’re missing, no one will be much of a help.
As I already pointed out: my main usage is eeschema.
It just acts “different” to what I’m used to.
I cannot give any examples, only that I find myself clicking mouse buttons more, and making mistakes I didn’t/wouldn’t make before.
I grabbed a bunch of wires, and all of a sudden, some i/o’s got grounded.
The rule checker though this was allright, the guy that made the pcb layout thought nothing of it, and I am now stuck with 100 pcbs that I can throw away.
To verify I tried the same action in V5.
There the “automatic connection” didn’t occur.
Sure, the rule checker gave errors, as I had imagined.
::
Don’t understand me wrong, it is: “user error”.
I only would like to see “V5-like” controls return to V6.
My first experience with ECAD was a DOS version of Orcad. Hit ‘r’ and a resistor popped up. (C for capacitor). That was fine for the time and my use as a student. Now even after typing ‘resistor’ out I have maybe a hundred choices.
But, I wouldn’t go back to that even if I could. So yeah, menu count and clicks go up with program ability increases. Unavoidable. That said, the developers actually use the program. I don’t do much now, but when I do, I bring up the list of hotkeys and leave it open.
Consider using a virtual machine then. There are people who still use DOS versions of AutoTrax/Easytrax and are happy
Otherwise, the ‘point and use’ UI paradigm had been widely regarded as very non-intuitive by most users and developers. It’s still there, but don’t expect it to behave identically as in old KiCad versions.
It should not be impossible to leave some old code in the new code, for those that might want to use it.
Make it a choice instead of a nondeterministic default.
I really can’t see any problems with that.
Would I be more versed in Java, I could’ve done it myself, I think.
The developers use Kicad and make available the development version so changes don’t happen in a vacuum. The development version was changed so that it can run in parallel with the release version. You can have input BEFORE changes happen and make your voice heard. That’s the only solution I see here.
My point is that you may have valid concerns but they don’t out weigh the group that implements them, especially if you aren’t in the group.
This was actually brought up my byself during development as far as I remember… and the change actually started occurring DURING 5.0…your muscle memory might be for 4.x
Using the selection filter can greatly reduce incorrect selections and too many popups.
I did make a suggestion that certain tools should have different selection filter rules but I don’t think this was implemented. For instance if you select the track tool… you probably only want to select track and vias so it should preload that. etc… if you are in a text mode you probably only want to select text and graphics etc…
The old selection method actually made some things harder to select even if the most common ones were more immediately accessible.
What I like about the V6. UI is the ability to UNDO the last operation by typing Ctrl - Z. This feature also seams to be first-in-last-out stacked, meaning if you type Ctrl - Z three times in a row, it will UNDO the last three operations you did, in the reverse order in which you did them.
UNLESS you’ll be very specific about a particular workflow that was broken to you between V5 and V6, no one will target your particular wish/need/anything with their hints.
Just a generic statement “V5 navigation” is not enough.
Do a screncast showing V5 vs V6… target a specific behavior and describe it step-by-step - then we can discuss. Just a general statement “bring back what worked for me in V5” is not precise enough, if we don’t know what actually worked for you. “Point and use” statement is too general, too.
I Agree with Fred. Minimally you should write a short description about one detail, what you are trying to do, what happens and what you want to happen (how it worked in v5).
I agree with the dislike of v6. It is crude looking compared to v5 - almost cartoon like. Someone mentioned screenshots - well here are two of the same schematic - one using v5 and one using v6. Which one looks more pleasant to the eye?
