Autodesk Inventor

[#1]

I've been using 2010 for months now, but we're just finally getting all of
(Carchuuung!)
engineering upgraded for daily use. I've steadfastly resisted the strong
(Carchuuung!)
urge to set the interface back to classic, just hanging in there, trying to
(Carchuuung!)
find the logic, and how it's supposed to be better. No luck there, but I'm
(Carchuuung!)
wanting to be able to say I really, honestly tried. Furthermore, as
CAD (Carchuuung!)
administrator here, I feel responsible to know the new stuff.

After months of using it, it still sucks. It took me a while to figure out
exactly (Carchuuung!)
what my big beef is, and why the ribbon bar felt like a giant step
backwards. (Carchuuung!)
It finally hit me.

The ribbon bar is nothing less than the return of the carriage return.
Manual (Carchuuung!)
typewriters have been obsolete for decades now, but Autodesk has
brought (Carchuuung!)
them back. My classic interface was set up so that all the stuff I used
regu- (Carchuuung!)
larly was all kind of grouped so that my workflow kind of naturally moved
in (Carchuuung!)
circles. The end of one cycle of commands was in close proximity to the
beg- (Carchuuung!)
inning of the next. It all happened in the upper left corner of the screen,
and felt (Carchuuung!)
very natural and uninterrupted. Now? there's this "progression" across the
top (Carchuuung!)
of the screen, and when you hit the end (way over in territory that I used
to rese- (Carchuuung!)
rve for commands I rarely used. Then the likely next thing I'm going to do
is (Carchuuung!)
way the heck over on the other side of the monitor.

This sucks, and I have decided that I'm never going to "get used to it", and
some- (Carchuuung!)
how conclude that despite what my instincts, my aching wrist and my
sensibilities (Carchuuung!)
are telling me that it's really a good thing.

Everyone else in the company has, on the first day that 2010 was installed
on their (Carchuuung!)
machines, come and asked me just one question: how to reset the classic
inter- (Carchuuung!)
face. Now that we're all switched over and I'm the only one left, it's time
for (Carchuuung!)
me as well.

Goodbye ribbon bar. I gave you an honest chance. I dislike you no less now
than (Carchuuung!)
when I first saw you.

(Carchuuung!)
Walt

[#2]

What's with the (Carchuuung!) ??
http://imaginit.rand.com/files/The_U_and_I_of_the_new_UI.pdf

[#3]

possibly the sound of a person pushing the typewriter carriage back to
the left?

[#4]

>What's with the (Carchuuung!) ??

You must be a young one.

Love how Walt can put everything into perspective.

[#5]

Now that I actually read his post I understand the (Carchuuung!)
Just started out like another ribbon bashing thread from you old folks so I only read the first few lines.

[#6]

I too gave the ribbon a fair chance, but eventually abandoned it. At first I was frustrated by my inability to find the buttons, but forced myself to continue. In about a month's time, I considered myself "fluent." I didn't have to hunt for buttons, and had no trouble accomplishing my desired tasks. But I still couldn't bring myself to like it. I agree with your thoughts that this interface represents a giant step back in functionality. I finally switched back to the classic interface, and fell in love with Inventor again. I shudder to consider what might happen if 2011 does not have the option of classic interface.

And I'm not an old timer--I'm 25.

[#7]

So Walt, I take it you'll never be updating from Windows XP?

The ribbon is a direct relation to Windows Vista or should I say Windows Office applications. Word, Excel, etc have all gone to these ribbon menus.

Granted, it does some getting used to, but I actually kinda like it now. I don't have to jump all around from menu to menu like I did in Classic view. Every command is basically right there.

The people I've noticed having the most issues are the ones that fight the system (at least here). No matter what it is, the ribbon menu, Solidworks people having to learn Inventor, etc. The more they fight it, the more issues they have with it, the more frustrated they become (ref the "wow, inventor sucks" post).

Out of 30 odd users here, only ONE person is still using the classic menu setup and he's luck to be in Inventor a total of 5 hrs a month.

I'd say get used to it, because from what I've heard, the ability to revert back to the Classic menu is going away in the next release or two.

[#8]

You might say that from the very beginning, that I have been the
Ribbon's biggest detractor. I have publicly railed against changing the
UI in the first place. I screamed and ranted during beta testing, and
screamed very vocally with everyone at Autodesk that I met during AU 2008.

But, no more.

While I'll agree that there are some issues that still need to be fixed,
and there are more mouse clicks for many commands, I must confess that I
have been using it 100% since 2010 RTM shipped.

I had no choice. I'm developing training material for Inventor 2010, and
I have shed the classic interface forever more. I fully understand
everyone's frustrations with the Ribbon, I've had them all myself.
Here's a timeline of my experience with the Ribbon.

Fall 2008: the Ribbon in beta-1 was virtually unusable, broken, and a
waste of time. Beta two and three offered some improvements, but I was
still very disillusioned and wanting to switch back to the classic UI.

Winter 2008: Beta 3 - still working on it with the Ribbon, but
desperately wanting to switch to the classic interface for real
production. When I needed to do real production, I did it in 2009.

Spring 2009: a breath of fresh air, both outside and with the release of
Inventor 2010. The Ribbon still had a few bugs (still has a couple
issues after SP1), but I dubbed it as being usable, and not a
showstopper. I began not only creating courseware with 2010, but was
using it for the occasional design support request from clients.

Summer 2009: still occasionally cursing that missing command, but this
distraction is becoming more and more infrequent. I'm finding that
virtually everything is there, even though it sometimes appears that
it's buried. Overall, I've become very satisfied and familiar with the
Ribbon-it sure took long enough!

Fall 2009: at least my tomatoes have started to bear fruit BEFORE the
leaves start falling this year. Inventor 2010 is doing the same thing
for me. Although most of my customers have switched to Inventor 2010, I
find that going back to support that 2008 or 2009 user makes me feel
like I've stepped into a time warp. The classic UI is ugly, but
functional, but I find that now after many months of enduring the
Ribbon, I've grown to understand and love it.

More than likely, there are very few Inventor users out there on this
newsgroup that are older than I am. I'll be turning 63 in January (no,
I'm not retiring, sorry to dash hopes!). Age is not the determining
factor for loving or hating the Ribbon. It's more like "dating" that
ugly woman or man long enough until you understand the inner beauty. In
Inventor, just like in love, it's a matter of sticking with it until you
find the jewels.

To Autodesk; please keep improving the Ribbon as I know you will. And,
please quit contacting me and asking me to publish a retraction on my
original opinion of the Ribbon

By the way, I have reverted my Microsoft Office back to version 2003
after wasting my time with Office 2007.
--
Dennis Jeffrey, Autodesk Inventor Certified Expert
Autodesk Manufacturing Implementation Certified Expert.
Instructor/Author/Sr. App Engr. Tel. (260) 399-6615
http://teknigroup.com

[#9]

My only issue with the ribbon (other than it wasn't broke; don't fix it) is that I can't customize it at all. Everything that I try won't stick from session to session.

I want to be able to change the starting set of tools for the idw environment. I don't ever use the place views tab because all of those commands are in the RMB. I want idws to default to the annotate tab. I can customize the clasic UI this way. I can't with the ribbon.

[#10]

I do not like the Inventor UI ribbon interface. I have been using it for about a month. Sure I'll keep at it for a while, see if my opinion changes, but so far it's not looking good.