Why do they keep changing the UI!

[Anonymous]

OK, I just finished a 30 day trial of 2012 for Mac and learned to adapt to that user interface. I am currently using 2008 LT. So then I downloaded 2012 LT to try to decide which version we might upgrade to. Can someone please explain to me why Autodesk keeps changing the UI?

First of all that ribbon thing is the stupidest thing anyone ever created. Why complicate things to the point of having to go through multiple steps to get to simple commands that are used constantly? Why hide critical commands behind a teeny tiny symbol? Sheesh!

I was relieved when my pc was switched to a mac so I didn't have to use those Windows programs that had been "upgraded" to have the ribbon.

Then, when I set the UI back to 2008 interface it doesn't show the side panels that I had painfully learned to use, it has stepped back to an earlier version with toolbars that are locked in place at the top and sides. So within a few days I have had to switch around among 4 different UIs.

So please, please, please! Stop "improving" the UI, it just frustrates the user!

[pendean]

You've been out of touch for a very long time: the Ribbon (a Microsoft feature in Office 2007 and Office 2010 and soon to be in Windows 😎 showed up in LT2009 for WIndows, so it's been around for 4-versions, hardly new. You might also want to tap HELP and find that you can set LT2012 to look like your old version: Workspaces, they showed up in LT2008, the one called CLASSIC I believe.

Apple on the other hand have their own strict requirements, so AutoCAD and LT for MAC conform to that Operating System Owner's strict visual requirements too.

Side panels? Do you mean Palettes (surprised you don't know what they are called for such a long time user, Panels are in the Ribbon and not in LT2008)? They are still there in Windows AutoCAD: for MAC AutoCAD, you will need to post in the only MAC forum around which is at http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/AutoCAD-for-Mac/bd-p/520 and find out more on how to use that program and it's many missing features.

Happy Cadding.

[Charles_Shade]

OP could be reffering to Dashboard Panels that are gone in the new releases.

Don't you right click a Toolbar to unlock them?

Or is it a Variable?

Been a while but I thought that was the way to do this.

[pendean]

Dashboard died with LT2008, I think that's the same version it showed up.

LOCKUI command?

I suspect the OP is mostly complaining about not fiding what they want on the MAC version though, but their post is all over the place for me.

[Charles_Shade]

LOCKUI

[Bob_Zurunkle]

OP in the Windows environment, Ribbons are here to stay. You can go back to Classic by selecting AutoCAD Classic from the workspaces list. However, I'd recommend you keep the ribbon so you cane learn how to use it, along with your pulldown menus.

The ribbon can be customized through the CUI. You can come up with your own tabs and panels for it. just think of the different phases of your design work, and which tools you'd like to have available for each phase, and then create a tab for each one. The ribbon "pops" faster than the toolbar flyouts, and you can place your most-used commands near the first of each panel. I have the ribbon, classic menus and toolbars on my interface, because for some things it is quite clunky otherwise. But the Ribbon will be the standard as years pass (it already is in the other autodesk products), so you'd be better off learning to use it.

As for me, command aliases help out greatly...

[pendean]

LT2012 for Windows: turn on MENUBAR is probably all the OP needs.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the input. And yes, I finally remembered about locking and unlocking the toolbars so I could rearrange them.

If it was up to me we wouldn't have waited so long to upgrade, but that is out of my hands and up to the financial committee. We average about 4 years between upgrades so it's usually a big leap, not small steps. I attended AUGI camp in 2008 and was advised to turn off the Classic UI and learn to use the latest update so I did. This is the one with the toolbars/panels/dashboard/palettes whatever you call it grouped down the right side of the window. (See attached jpeg). This may be why learning to use the Mac version was somewhat easy.

So just to get a project done I decided to reset the UI to the "2D Drafting and Annotarion Migrated from 2008" but it doesn't look anything like my version of LT 2008. (See attached-2). It looks more like the 2004 layout with toolbars instead of the panels/dashboard/pallettes. (See attached-3).

So one of my main issues with the ribbon along the top of the screen is that I am on a Mac Pro with the wide screen ratio. Having the ribbon at the top makes the drawing space short and wide, if the tool pallets are on the right side the drawing space in squarer and easier to use. Can I change the orientation to move the ribbon to the side instead of the top?

Just figured this out too, right click in the gray space beside the ribbon and choose Undock. Then you can move the riboon where you want it.

[pendean · Accepted solution]

I use a widescreen 25" monitor, and the Windows LT2012's Ribbon is docked to the right of the AutoCAD screen, ToolPalettes are to the left, and MENUBAR is on at the top.

You can also treat the Ribbon as a ToolPalette (with Auto-hide): right-click over the RIBBON and select UNDOCK, then explore.

LT2008's UI was a failed experiment with the Dashboard: I personally avoided it as did many others, and complained about it too. I suspect that's why it was dropped.

CLASSIC workspace is designed for ALL pre-Ribbon users, there is no 2008 specific variant you can tap: it is generic and 'safe' in nature.

[Anonymous]

I resisted the Dashboard until forced to adapt to it. I didn't love it, but I learned to use it. I prefer to set up my own toolbars organized to my own uses as in earlier versions rather than have them dictated by someone else's organizational scheme. Why is Text under Manage?

The Ribbon seems to slow down my work speed, forcing me to stop and consider what tab a specifc tool might be under. Why not have all the frequently used commands visible and those seldom used nested until needed? Or better yet, have a smart program that gradually moves those commands to the forefront as it learns your habits?

Well, I have 3 weeks left on my trial LT version so let's see how I feel about the ribbon then.

[pendean]

I've always rearranged the screen menus since the dawn of AutoCAD/LT, it takes a couple of hours to put things where I want and need them, once, and then I never look back. If you are on a 4-year cycle, that amount of time is well worth it.

Frequent commands for you are not frequent commands for others: like all software vendors, they take polls, ask users, get feedback, and then guess at the rest. I have re-arranged all of Office 2010's Ribbons as well for example, and will do so in any program that offers it (why I like FOXIT for a PDF reader/markup, which is freeware and customizable with Ribbons).

I must admit I type abbreviations for all commands, and do not hunt-pick except for custom routines that do more than call a single command.

[Charles_Shade]

I spent time over about a week getting the Ribbon to where I wanted it. Unlike Dean I am a one man shop and do not revise multiple seats on a regular basis so I am always rusty in such matters.

As far as how to manipulate the Ribbon and get a handle on what is a Panel, what is a Tab, what is a... that likely took only a couple of hours.

Well spent time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the menubar suggestion.  I didn't know it was possible to have both the ribbon and the menubar.  You may have just saved my sanity.  Autodesk wans to try to get people to use the ribbon, but then they don't put all of the commands in there.  I was having to type in the ones i couldn't find, then wanted to punch the computer when I couldn't remember the name of the command. (search in help is useless).  I have been trying to get used to the ribbon after switching to LT2010 over a year ago, and i so want to go back to using classic mode, but I have a feeling that it will go away in the next release or 2, and i'll be stuck with the ribbon anyway. 

[pendean]

Try this:

Keep the MENUBAR on for "everything", pair down the Ribbon to only have your frequently used items in each tab category (you can always make more tabs if needed). Customize and use the Ribbon as one big organized toolbar with tabs.