AutoCAD 2015 Status Bar Icons

[cad-pe]

How are the Status Bar Icons change to text? Such as the Grid, Snap, etc. icons/

[jdavis417]

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@dgorsman wrote:

Change takes work.

Work takes money.

Doing nothing would cost less than doing something.

Spending money for nothing is not a good business decision.

Ergo, this is not change for the sake of change.

Just because we don't understand or approve of the rationale doesn't make it invalid.

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You are surely trying to be facetious?  I own "The Complete Works of o. henry", so I'm pretty sure that what you've said isn't "irony"! 😉

An ad hoc argument like what you've written would seem to indicate that Autodesk is incapable of a poor "business decision".  You've posted to (and probably read) many more discussions that I have over the years but don't you see a trend in, what I call, "The yearly release-cycle madness"?  I've made quite an investment in my commitment to learning and using Autodesk products over the years and I'm concerned that they are exhibiting a tendency to embrace the idea of "bloatware" by trying to be "all things to all people".  While I feel AutoCAD is most guilty of this, Inventor seems to be following with the same mindset.

An actual innovation is always welcome (to most) existing and enticing to potential new users, but when those of us who are already "on the team" are continually treated like R & D guinea pigs, we're likely to squeak a little every now-and-then!  That being said, I'd encourage everyone to apply to become beta-testers for the next release and to vocally participate in the Labs projects and technologies. 

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." - Sam Walton

Now, since I quoted Sam, I suposed I should offset him with some Samuel... "All generalizations are false, including this one." - Mark Twain

LOL

“They go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent”¦  Owing to past neglect, in the face of the plainest warnings, we have entered upon a period of danger.  The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedience of delays, is coming to its close.  In its place we are entering a period of consequences”¦.  We cannot avoid this period, we are in it now”¦”

Winston Churchill, November 12, 1936

[dbroad]

I agree with Steve.  Disabling the text choice was not a step forward.  Even single character button names would be more distinguishable from on another than those icons.

Single character

ISGOPN3TCYWPQLM - InferSnapGridOrthoPolarosNap3dosnapoTrackduCsdYnlWttPyQpselectioncyLingaM

Two character

[rkmcswain]

Alfred.NESWADBA wrote:
a switch to text would not be possible for a display width of 1920 pixel 😉 Really no space left for switching to text.

Wrong. I'm running C3D 2015 here, and I have every possible status bar option turned on (1920 pixel wide display) and I still have over 450 pixels of open space.

Whether or not every single option will fit every available display really doesn't matter. If I want text labels, I will figure out how to make them and everything else fit on the status bar. And if I can't, then let *ME* choose to switch to icons.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> I'm running C3D 2015 here, and I have every possible status bar option turned on (1920 pixel wide display)

>> and I still have over 450 pixels of open space.

As icons yes, there is some free space, but changing them from icon to text would make most icons twice or three times more wide, then it would not fit any more into the width of the display.

- alfred -

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> Two character

>>

There are more options than you listed, 14 listed, 19 (excluding coordinates) are available. At least the icons from the (2014) right side (like workspace, hw-acceleration) are missing, new icons like Isometric drafting are also missing... and if the buttons are needed as text then you have to turn the ones on the right to text too. Or are we used to icons on the right side so at least icons are ok?

Besides of that, I followed the discussion and thought yet "ok, they are used to text, they want the same again, I can understand them" (I work with icons).

But with that shortening the change is as big as the change to icons. While in 2014 "DUCS" and "DYN" was clearly separated, "DY" is not any more clear. As that is just one example I (personal opinion) don't see that as advantage. Also in 2014 the 2-char options like "QP" "SC" "AM" are not intuitive, so I would not want to have a 2-char limit, I see that as too short.

just my 2c, - alfred -

[rkmcswain]

Alfred.NESWADBA wrote:

....but changing them from icon to text would make most icons twice or three times more wide, then it would not fit any more into the width of the display.

And as I said, let the *user* make that decision.

Personally, I don't need to see things like "Gizmo", "Infer Constraints", "3D Object Snap", "Grid", "Snap", "Dynamic UCS", "Selection Filtering", etc.

I'm sure I can manage it.

[cpadilla]

1

[dbroad]

I want text.  I don't care if they fit on a single row or take two row.  I've got a huge screen.  I don't need every button at all times.  I don't need or want all the new buttons.  That is what check boxes and toolbars are for.  To take away a valued mode just because they might not be able to fit all the buttons is ludicrous.  I've implemented virtually every command in autocad with basically 1 to 2 characters anyway.  If you include numbers, there are 1322 possible combinations of 1 and 2 characters.

[cadextra]

I too would like to see the option of text/icon returned.  We pay enough for the software we should have a say in what works...Have found many 2015 changes odd to say the least.  Would love to see that addressed!!

[romanmatula]

d-a-m-n. another thing they are fu.. up.

bring back those texts !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jsnock]

"we know best, you don't really need text" and "look how pretty it is now".

^^  Amen brother, pretty much sums up Autodesk's design philosiphy since 2000, reminds me so much of the Revit ribbongate from a few years ago...

If we could just get one release cycle dedicated 100% to fixing LONG known bugs and making civil a rock solid production platform, they would go far beyond any new shiny feature they think is going to add or keep customers. Look at the competitors, or even Revit, I can count how many times I've crashed in microstation or Revit on one hand, and they almost all had to do with having a .dwg attached.  Yet I crash daily up to multiple times per hour depending on what I'm doing in Civil3D (esp grading objects!)

[martti.halminen]

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@jsnock wrote:

  Yet I crash daily up to multiple times per hour depending on what I'm doing in Civil3D (esp grading objects!)

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It may not be relevant here, but one trick seldom mentioned in these forums for stability problems might be worth checking: which was the actual operating system version your AutoCAD was built on.

We had a serious stability problem with 64-bit AutoCAD Mechanical 2012 on Windows 7. Setting it to run in compatibility mode for Windows Vista SP2 helped quite a lot.

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[braudpat]

Hello from France

1 - I like then "dbroad" suggestion about the TWO letters Text option (instead of Icons) - Please Autodesk !

2 - As an Alpha & Beta tester, I have asked Autodesk many times to have an option to see BETTER this "famous" Icons :

- The LIGHT Blue used is not very "usable" !

- So please a NEW System variable to set an other color (when the Icon is ON)  : Blue, Red, Green, Purple, Orange, etc ...

And Autodesk don't forget that some ACAD users are sometimes color blind or partially color blind, so !!! - Please Autodesk !

Thks in advance, Patrice

[rkmcswain]

braudpat wrote:

2 - As an Alpha & Beta tester, I have asked Autodesk many times to have an option to see BETTER this "famous" Icons :

Unfortunately, Alpha/Beta is too late to request new features/changes. IMO, the UX, and feature additions, deletions, changes etc. have been locked into place by this point.

[pendean]

If it's not already in the code for R2016, it will most likely be R2017 or R2018 before it is restored. Asking for it this late inthe game for R2016 is pointless.

[nestly2]

Well, we didn't know they were going to remove the text icons and reduce the icon contrasts. There was no way to know this change was coming 2-3 years ago, its never too late to start asking so they at least has it in mind for future development.

[GTisRule]

In the past I've participated in a number of Autodesk "Beta" programs. To me, they're more of a preview of what we're changing, and we really don't give a s**t about your feedback. These icons are insanely annoying, I can't wait for them to change them again in 2016.

I dream of them stop messing with the interface, and rework things like the CUI editor, and known issues that have been around since I've started using AutoCAD in R10 for DOS... (DIMLFAC anyone?)

[pendean]

I believe Autodesk's premier enterprise customers (the ones that pay $millions each year for licensing) get a huge say in what does and does not end up in the product, as well as 'focus' groups that bless the interface etc.

Beta testing at all software (and hardware) companies exist for a single purpose: validate the product is ready for mass distribution with enough things working that it does not inhibit use of the product. You seem to think beta testing is something else altogether: by the time anything hits beta it's never going to change in any significant way.

AutoCAD is not the only game in town: if you hate the product that much then switch, there are many other options out there. It's a free world and we live in a competitive market economy that allows for such freedoms.

[SharkDesign]

I find the icons much more difficult to understand than the text. I never know what I have turned on and off anymore.

[rkmcswain]

jameswillo wrote:

I find the icons much more difficult to understand than the text. I never know what I have turned on and off anymore.

Please submit your feedback here too.