Icon Style in Affinity Photo v2 + more...

[fotomak]

Is it only mine impression that the Icon Style in Affinity Photo v2 are not very readable...
If they are also to be "new" then it would be useful to have an option in the Preferences, to be able to change to the set of Icons from version 1 (like existing option to choose monochrome/colour Icons).

Additional very useful quick first summary from Olivio Sarikas here:

 

[fotomak]

Any idea to make possibility to choose V1 Icon Style in v2 ??

[Chris B]

Hey fotomak,

They took me a while to get used to but now I cannot go back. There are currently no plans to change this or to implement a function to revert back to V1.

[joe_l]

28 minutes ago, Chris B said:

There are currently no plans to change this

But making icons understandable / easy readable with the Light UI is on the agenda? E.g. cell strokes at the Table panel.

[hm933]

I have mild vision issues and absolutely deplore the current design trend towards "form over function" when it comes to GUI's and websites in general. There are a bunch of things in the new GUI that make it really hard for people with mild vision problems (which includes many otherwise healthy seniors) to use the product (V1 was bad enough). (In)ability to use the GUI is a make-or-break feature of a product like this. Hoping that some of the serious workflow issues had been addressed in Photo v2, I was considering a more serious trial of v2, but if other people are already complaining about the GUI, I am less inclined to slog thru the process of learning a new GUI and new program. It doesn't help that there's no option to export a document for use in v1. I'll be getting a new computer that will require a Photoshop subscription and sadly, looks like I will have to bite the bullet and pay Adobe.

[hm933]

Here's another example of a GUI that's completely unfriendly to ppl with mild vision problems:

[imagodespira]

@hm933: I use glasses but also cannot separate it, the icons makes no sense in this way they are used. 

In the toolbar i am searching also after 2 weeks the icons i use, some of them are simply not recognizable or visually separable.  

 

@ChrisB: "They took me a while to get used to but now I cannot go back" Really? and no thought of giving the designer a tip to improve something? Do the devs know what the meaning of an icon is?  (Wikipedia: "The icon itself is a quickly comprehensible symbol of a software tool, function"). 

 

 

[Pšenda]

The description of the layers should be used to the organization in layers stack, not to name the type of layers.
Naming the type of layers only enlarges and makes their description less clear and thus complicates the organization of layers with unnecessary information.
The icons are very suitable and handy for expressing the layer type - thanks Serif.
If I have a problem understanding the symbol on the icon, Hint/Tooltip will help - thanks Serif.

[hm933]

@Pšenda

it's not that I don't understand the icons or understand their purpose. I can't see them well enough to tell at a glance what's what - and having to hover over the icon to get the tool tip is a huge time-waster. Same with the lock/unlock icons - it's not that I don't understand what they mean - but they're so small and similar I can't tell the lock from the unlock at a glance.

Please have your designers study this document from W3C, "Accessibility Requirements for People with Low Vision" https://www.w3.org/TR/low-vision-needs/

They needn't adopt all the recommendations in the document, but they are leaving many people behind with their design choices.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, hm933 said:

but they're so small and similar

But then it makes sense to request an enlargement of the icons (or use a larger Scale factor in the OS settings), possibly their modification and easier distinguishable/readability, but definitely not to request the previous one, given the purpose of naming the layers in a completely inappropriate way, when the "type" of the layer will be indicated in its "name".

 

1 hour ago, hm933 said:

but they're so small and similar I can't tell the lock from the unlock at a glance

I don't understand which application you are using, but in my Layers panel, either the lock symbol is included in the layer item, then the layer is locked, or it is not, and then the layer is unlocked. There is no need to recognize the locked/unlocked lock symbol - either it is present or it is not.

 

P.S. It should definitely be required that the icons representing the layer type scale according to the thumbnail size option. It is pointless for them to remain the same size even if the largest thumbnail size is used.

[hm933]

I apologize for not knowing the correct terms for the symbols in the GUI, but I have fiddled enough with the preferences to do all I can (or at least all that's obvious that I can) to support my vision issues. My point is that in general, tiny symbols with low contrast that can't be picked out from the background or easily distinguished from one another are a real problem for folks with vision issues - and this is not just a matter of "getting used to" a new GUI. I think your designers need to have a hard look at the entire product line with this issue in mind.

[Brian_J]

@fotomak and @hm933 I agree. It often takes time to adjust to, and even appreciate, UI changes — I understand that, and I’m getting used to some of the changes — but there are a number of things that make V2 difficult for me to work with. Some UI elements are too small, contrast is poor, etc. The change to the Lock Aspect Ratio icon really surprised me — I could easily recognize it in V1… now I have to stare at it to determine if aspect ratio is locked or not. 

[fotomak]

On 11/22/2022 at 3:50 PM, Chris B said:

Hey fotomak,

They took me a while to get used to but now I cannot go back. There are currently no plans to change this or to implement a function to revert back to V1.

Hi Chris, thanks a lot for your answer.. yes, it takes some time and knowing where, which and what previous icones mean this is not so great challenge... just wanted to know if it would be a big trouble to make possibility to choose icons layout (as it is colour/monochrom or as it is in GIMP..)