Why the face of Visual Studio 2012 is so ugly?Who designed it?

Question

The face of Visual Studio 2012 is too ugly to see.

Did the designing team mean to have a joke with us? 

Or, did the designing team mean to make it to be the "2012" of Visual Studio?

I suggest the face of Visual Studio 2008 to be the Standard face of Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2012 looks like a symbol of the sinking of the fat Microsoft.

Answer 1

Hi liuzan,

I recommend you try the following to change Visual Studio themes.

General: Color theme can help you have the Light or Dark color.

Fonts and Colors can help you change settings for all details. 

You can define your own settings to use Visual Studio.

If you have more suggestion, please submit your suggestion here http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Answer 2

Hi liuzan,

I recommend you try the following to change Visual Studio themes.

General: Color theme can help you have the Light or Dark color.

Fonts and Colors can help you change settings for all details. 

You can define your own settings to use Visual Studio.

If you have more suggestion, please submit your suggestion here http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Where is the theme support? I'm blown away at how terrible it looks. I can't even begin to imagine being stuck looking at that atrocious interface all day. 

Answer 3

Hi,
   Be honest both Light or Dark theme kick my eyes !!! They are frightful, even sometime not readable (ex: font black on on nearly black backcolor...), is there any over theme somewhere we can install ? I'm not designer, I don't have time to spend to customize it myself, just looking for something readable.

I had a look on http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2012/05/08/visual-studio-11-user-interface-updates-coming-in-rc.aspx, but even that I just install RC version my theme still looks like what is define as Beta in the previous link... Any way to change it ?

Please save our eyes, do something quickly...

Rgds Pascal.

Answer 4

I never thought I'd be posting on forum about a topic like this - but I've used VS2012 all day today and it's absolutely horrible. Dark or Light... both are serious disasters. The icons in Solution explorer are such a monumental step backwards in ease of use it's just astounding.

I'm going to eschew 2012 and use 2010 until you get theming worked out - because right now it just makes me angry.

I can live with the all-caps... honestly it's stupid but I can live with it - but designating areas by changing the darkness of grey by 3% is just ridiculous.

Answer 5

OK, I just installed VS 2012 and...

GAWD THIS THING IS UGLY. UGLY. UGLY. Yes, I said UGLY. And not just the ALL CAPS EITHER. The whole monochromatic look-and-feel is, so, 80's. greenscreen-like.

Why did they do this !?! 

Please provide a "VS 2010" theme that restores the ORIGINAL and COLORFUL icons. Heck, I would even settle for a "VS 2005" them as compared to this ugliness.

Answer 6

I agree with everyone here.  This is a joke.  I'll be using VS2010 until VS2013 or greater comes out.  I hate Windows 8 UI and Visual Studio 2012 is trying to be like that.  Terrible.

STOP YOUR FREAKING YELLING AT ME WHILE I AM TRYING TO CODE!!

Answer 7

Hi liuzan,

I recommend you try the following to change Visual Studio themes.

General: Color theme can help you have the Light or Dark color.

Fonts and Colors can help you change settings for all details. 

You can define your own settings to use Visual Studio.

If you have more suggestion, please submit your suggestion here http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

My primary suggestion (there are so many that come to mind with this GAWD-AWFUL UI) is to provide a way to restore the original icon set. Of all the things hideously ugly about this UI, the colorless monochrome icons have to be the worst. I get DOWNRIGHT ANGRY when I look at them. I never knew that a UI could evoke such a visceral response, but this UI disgusts me. Yes, the ALL CAPS are stupid and childish (and, it seems to me since they are so universally reviled by almost EVERYONE the only thing that explains their presence is the hubris and utter disregard for customer wishes displayed by the team responsible for this fright-fest), but, they can be ignored. The ugly icons are everywhere and cannot be avoided and I HATE looking at them. It doesn't even feel like Visual Studio. This represents a major step backwards. Oh, and the lack of macro support is PATHETIC.  So, Microsoft, I hope you are happy with yourself. You screwed Silverlight developers to support the obviously inferior HTML/Javascript dynamic duo and now you've basically screwed all MS developers with this hideous UI. 

Answer 8

I agree this new UI is hideous, and the icons are indeed amongst the biggest problem, as are the lack of good window borders to delineate areas of the screen. When I look at this it's sort of like I'm trying hard to focus to see something that just isn't there - strange but true. With VS2010 there is excellent use of shading, color, gradients, separation and nice detail to the icons, whereas with VS2012 there's just not.

Dude I am seriously pissed off about this and cannot use this due to the serious eye strain it's causing me. I'm staying with VS2010 as long as possible. The problem however is writing apps for WP8 and Win8 may ultimately force me to use this beast. At least I can turn off all the toolbars and such, which kind of makes me reminisce about days gone by and the Turbo and Borland compilers of the 90's which were fantastic in their day. Anyhow hopefully competitor alternatives will emerge soon or better still, Microsoft decides to grace us with a complete VS2010 theme for this loser of a UI.

Oh and regarding this reply: "If you have more suggestion, please submit your suggestion "

Really?? Are you serious??? Because that's what we've all been doing since the beta and our comments seem to have essentially been disregarded. Here see for yourself:

http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/suggestions/2623017-add-some-color-to-visual-studio-11

Unbelievable.

Answer 9

EVENTHTHISFORUMISUNREADABLE.THEFONTHASNOCONTRAST.EVERYTHINGISBORDERLESSANDNOCONTRAST.

YESIDONTUSESEPARATORSANDWRITEINALLCAPS,THAT'STHENEXTLEVELSHITNOWDAYS.

Answer 10

At least there is a way to turn off the all caps.  Someone internally thought it sucked to or this override would not have been added.

1. Launch regedit and navigate toHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\General
2. Create a DWORD value named SuppressUppercaseConversion with value 1.

Answer 11

The UI team should be fired.  Windows 8 sucks and so does Visual Studio.  Same designers?  

I will be skipping Windows 8 and VS 2012.  Hopefully they get it right on the next version.  After two home runs like Windows 7 and VS 2010 - how in the world can you fall so far?

Answer 12

EVENTHTHISFORUMISUNREADABLE.THEFONTHASNOCONTRAST.EVERYTHINGISBORDERLESSANDNOCONTRAST.

YESIDONTUSESEPARATORSANDWRITEINALLCAPS,THAT'STHENEXTLEVELSHITNOWDAYS.

The problem with the design of this forum as well as other recent Microsoft changes including the new Outlook.com, is that the choice of colors (grey tones) doesn't show up well on the more common types of LCD screens, which is EXACTLY the kinds of screens you find on the very market they're trying to target: inexpensive tablets and ultrabooks. So for example, on my lower end TN type displays at work, I too can't quite make out the borders/colors (unless I fuss around a LOT with the gamma, contrast and such), so it looks like crud. On my home computer (24" IPS) and laptop (IPS) I can make out the borders but they still don't look that great. I also find that this difficulty in making out the colors/borders is a good part of the cause of my recent eye strain on these sites. They really need to get off this grey kick soon.

Answer 13

I also agree with all the other developers here. The themes are ugly. Very ugly. As is being monochrome.

Answer 14

Agreed...

These color themes are Ridiculous! Seriously...light or dark...those are our choices?!? Everything runs into each other, there are no clearly marked areas of separation, you have to stare at the icons before you know what the heck they are even for... absolutely terrible UI design! VS2010 was the best UI thus far...WHY the departure from that?? You've made awesome improvements with each version...and now this crap... I don't even want to work in vs2012 and I know there are a LOT of people who feel the same way! Please put vs2010 theme as an option for 2012.

This is pathetic!!!

Answer 15

EVENTHTHISFORUMISUNREADABLE.THEFONTHASNOCONTRAST.EVERYTHINGISBORDERLESSANDNOCONTRAST.

YESIDONTUSESEPARATORSANDWRITEINALLCAPS,THAT'STHENEXTLEVELSHITNOWDAYS.

The problem with the design of this forum as well as other recent Microsoft changes including the new Outlook.com, is that the choice of colors (grey tones) doesn't show up well on the more common types of LCD screens, which is EXACTLY the kinds of screens you find on the very market they're trying to target: inexpensive tablets and ultrabooks. So for example, on my lower end TN type displays at work, I too can't quite make out the borders/colors (unless I fuss around a LOT with the gamma, contrast and such), so it looks like crud. On my home computer (24" IPS) and laptop (IPS) I can make out the borders but they still don't look that great. I also find that this difficulty in making out the colors/borders is a good part of the cause of my recent eye strain on these sites. They really need to get off this grey kick soon.

This fad of overusing grayscale is literally giving me headaches from trying to read under-contrasted text and bacgrounds.

---

Does this cape make my butt look big?

Answer 16

VS2012 might look good on a greyscale monitor, unfortunately mine has colors :(

Answer 17

VS2012 might look good on a greyscale monitor, unfortunately mine has colors :(

The Dark makes my eyes ache because of the contrast and I have problems defining the edges on the Light!

Is Microsoft going to reply to any of these forums? Can we have a theme extension?

Answer 18

The face of Visual Studio 2012 is too ugly to see.

Did the designing team mean to have a joke with us? 

Or, did the designing team mean to make it to be the "2012" of Visual Studio?

I suggest the face of Visual Studio 2008 to be the Standard face of Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2012 looks like a symbol of the sinking of the fat Microsoft.

Ugly is easy word. Totally non productive,  eye overloading white or black background..Come on, this is working tool we use to seat at least 8 X 5 per week. 

Answer 19

Right. Readability of the screen is bad. Is ts not working tool, alas. Probably designers  had a super fine screen to see things which are not distinguishable on our real life development computers.  Add complete style resembles notorious ZUNE 

Answer 20

If you want to modify the built-in colors of the Dark/Light themes you can use this little tool I wrote for Visual Studio 2012 that modifies the Light / Dark themes.

More info here:

[Modify Visual Studio 2012 Dark (and Light) Themes]

[Visual Theme Editor 2012 Source Code]

Answer 21

That works, thanks so much for sharing that one.

barryfz

Answer 22

Pathetic doesn't even start to cover it.  I too will wait for VS 2013.  I tried to use it and just can't.  I'll be using VS2010 for a few years still.

Answer 23

Try this:

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/366ad100-0003-4c9a-81a8-337d4e7ace05

It will let you bring some color back.

Answer 24

for me, it does not mater the looks, what it mater is the functions or how it works.

---

Janitor

Answer 25

I really like the new look of visual studio, I use both the light and dark themes on each computer. It's a slightly more modern look and is in line with trends in UI design.

Things change, tastes change. And people like a new look every now and again. I think if designers pandered to the tastes of the most vocal malcontents, we'd still have windows 95 graphics. I for one, would NOT go back to 2010 UI. I like opening up VS to see the new interface on my new laptop. I even like BOLD !! :P

So good work guys with VS2012.

Answer 26

The issue isn't that they created the light and dark themes, nor that they made the light theme the default. But rather the issue is that they removed the existing well known icons, colors, borders, chrome etc and did not provide an option to restore them (which is mind boggling). I think most people probably have no problem with change so long as we continue to have the option to work as we traditionally have. That being said, since the theme editor has now been made available, I've been able to better tolerate VS2012, and by tolerate I mean physically tolerate in that my eyes are not as strained as before.

However I would like to see the option to use the VS2010 icons which I find quite useful, especially when I'm working with dozens of projects and thousands of files in the solution explorer - makes it easy to quickly select things. Their reasoning for the change is also bizarre: they basically said it was to help decrease our distraction and increase our productivity. I think we're all professionals and know what to focus on and when, period.

Besides by changing the familiar and blurring things together, it's instead resulted in me spending less time in the editor and more time trying to pick out the right darn icon (and it hasn't really subsided since I've been trying to use this since the beta).

Answer 27

Options are always good. I agree that that there should be a clear option to use 'traditional' icons. I also think that newer users will more quickly adapt to the icon set.

I've only just started using 2012 in the past few weeks, and I'm already comfortable with the basics (at least in light). Dark is a little more difficult, though I have always found dark themes slower to use.

I don't have to deal with thousands of files, I have about 200-300 files in my current project. So I haven't yet had that frustrating experience of sifting through a massive solution. I do find a slight difficulty in processing the screen, but it reminds me of the same adjustment that was needed in 3D Studio Max when they changed the interface.

If you put one icon next to it's older equivalent, I think it would be hard to argue that one is more discernible than the other, or doesn't communicate what it's function is. Give it 12 months and see how many people are still complaining, I think that will be the measure.

Answer 28

Thank you very much for so good commenting....... Actually I was getting frustrated by peoples saying so bad words about MS but actually those peoples out there know their job very well and actually they have done a very good designing. The overall concept is genius and I will simply say that they are going hand in hand with latest designing ideas. Actually, this look is very modern look and I agree that guys out there need time to understand the perfection that MS has put into the VS2012. I would love to see this brilliant work in complete windows 8 theme. It will be so nice of them. I am just in love with this new look, this new avatar of VS and actually I love working on this beautiful interface.

BEST OF LUCK MS... KEEP GOING WITH GOOD WORKS......

 

Answer 29

Excuse me,

I do not know if "they are going hand in hand with latest designing ideas", and be honest I do not worry of it... But all I'm concern about, is that I use that tool 8 hours a day, and this interface is just unreadable and going to kill my old eyes. 

Giving us tools to personalize the themes is a good thing, but I do not have time to spent to use them. What I'm looking for is theme that is just readable and ready to use. 

Visual Studio is a Professional working tool. We'd better much more concentrate on the new technologies and functionality rather than spend so much time on the painting !

Rgds.

Pascal.

Answer 30

Please fire your UI designer and go back to your old style. Personally I like the look and feel of 2008. I was going to upgrade from 2008 to 2012 but this UGLY UI is a deal breaker. Microsoft just lost $500 all because of this horrible look and feel.

Answer 31

Every day is a cloudy gray day in Visual Studio 2012.  This is so completey depressing.  Absolutely the worst UI in any application I have ever seen.  There is no way that this UI passes Microsoft's own UI standards.  This is not a accessable design at all.  gray on gray, gray on white, narrow little custom scroll bars that are very hard to follow, that completely ignore the users settings for scrollbar width.  This is a UI that will cause significant repetitive motion disorder in trying to pinpoint mouse pointers. 

I was pushing this for my team.  I'm going to start pushing that we stick with .Net 4.0 and VS 2010 and wait for VS next.

Answer 32

I am stunned, shocked, and much sad by seeing new VS 2012. VS 2010 is attractive, and I have great pleasure whenever I use VS 2010. I agree with others: the UI of VS 2012 looks cheap, and the dark theme is too dark and the light theme is too light. MS should release a patch for VS 2012 and convert this UI to look like VS 2010's UI. I will just use my VS 2010 whenever I can. I don't even like the new logo of VS 2012; the logo of VS 2010 is so nice. We love our VS 2010 --- make VS 2012 to be like VS 2010.

By the way, I believe that Visual Studio 2010 is the most beautiful UI.

Answer 33

I hate this new atrocious UI, and I have spoken to no less than a dozen coworkers, and not a single one of them has anything positive to say about it. Not. A. SINGLE. So, I know I'm not an ahole. I am doing just fine with VS 2010. And yes, bring on improvements, the kind you see going from 2005 to 2008, not this horror.

I want to fire the lead UX designer on the VS team for Microsoft so bad. You've single-handedly ruined a product and causes thousands of hours of loss productivity and potentially more across the world. You should be severely punished. SEVERELY.

 

Answer 34

New bad news !

I just migrate my work station from Win 7 to Win 8, and... TFS 2010 doesn't seems to be compatible with Win 8 ! TFS 2012 is not compatible with VS 2010 Team explorer... So I migrate to VS 2012... And I now finish to kill my eyes with this crap interface...

Rgds 

Pascal.

Answer 35

I hate this new atrocious UI, and I have spoken to no less than a dozen coworkers, and not a single one of them has anything positive to say about it. Not. A. SINGLE. So, I know I'm not an ahole

I don't see how the first statement proves the last.

I want to fire the lead UX designer on the VS team for Microsoft so bad. You've single-handedly ruined a product and causes thousands of hours of loss productivity and potentially more across the world. You should be severely punished. SEVERELY.

Have you heard the phrase, "All problems are management problems?" The lead UX designer didn't get to design exactly what he wanted. The developers didn't get to code exactly what they wanted. They are told what to do and have to do it. This UI is the fault of management decisions thinking that everyone wants their PC to act like a phone or tablet. I can assure you that, in secret, Microsoft developers are as unhappy with the product as are the rest of us. Never blame the developer; they don't get to decide.

Answer 36

"All problems are management problems?" - I agree.

I think most of us agree the UI just plain stinks. Their upper management should speak with whomever is responsible for pushing this and tell them in no uncertain terms: 'You will provide the option for a complete VS2010 theme complete with the original icons, colors, borders, spacing, fonts etc. Case closed, end of story, no discussion, just do it'.

Microsoft: This is one of the most important tools to your success, and so invest the time, invest the money, divert the resources, whatever it takes to get it done and just do it.

This whole thing is just a ridiculous waste of everyone's time.

Answer 37

This is interesting: http://vsip.codeplex.com/

Answer 38

Looks like the GUI designer is a 15 yr old teenager. Come on this must look like a professional tool. Not like a gaming software.

Answer 39

The 2012 themes are GAWD AWFUL, AND I'M GOING BLIND!  I hate working with VS 2012.  I want my VS 2010 themes back.

The theme for MSDN forums isn't so hot either.

---

REvans

Answer 40

Yes, I just don't get the gray one white.  But the gray on white here is better than gray on gray in VS2012.  Microsoft has totally dropped ergonomics and accessibility in favor of their design - and the design isn't good anyway.

Answer 41

Maybe if forum member would change their forum signature to something similar to mine then Microsoft might get the message.

---

Microsoft, if you love developers, you will revert VS 2012 color themes and icons back to those of VS 2010.

Answer 42

Yeah very much agree.

I work with Apple projects a bunch as well as VS.  I thought it would be helpful to upgrade to 2012 and WOW when I opened my solution I was blown away by how ugly the UI is. 

In this day an age when machines boot up in 6 seconds there is no need for ulgy UI's.  I would never let a UI go out that looked this bad. very disappointed....

---

chad

Answer 43

The most horrible design I've ever seen! Making the icons monochrome-like is an absolutely shocking decision, it simply made the product unusable! All my relations with Microsoft are going to be destroyed only because of this. Their time for fixing this incredible offense is very limited from me.

Answer 44

Use the NiceVS extension to be back to VS 2010 theme.

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/a36021f0-770a-4258-854e-724e9d12b8a6

Answer 45

BEWARE!  I tried the NiceVS extension and my AVG Security software flagged it as a virus threat.

Answer 46

Wow!!!

Apparently Microsoft doesn't fire people anymore??

=)

When Windows 3.1 shipped, it had more color schemes than Visual Studio 2012.

Fortunately, for anyone still struggling with the default Light and Dark themes, there is a Theme Editor now which includes a theme called Visual Studio 2010 Blue.

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/366ad100-0003-4c9a-81a8-337d4e7ace05

There is also an Icon patcher

http://vsip.codeplex.com/

so that between these 2, things are more back to normal.

In the olden days, the project manager who approved this change would have been burned at the stake along with his whole family, closest friends, and anyone else unfortunate enough to be remotely associated with him.  =)  We're more liberal these days I guess.  =)

Answer 47

(The samurai would have been kind enough to hand the project manager a towel and a short sword to fall upon).  =)

Answer 48

More proof that usability was handed over to the kindergarten at Microsoft.  "Click here"?  Twice?  Funny thing is that I got introduced to usability with IE 1.0 and usability links on Microsoft.com when Microsoft.com ran on two 60MHZ Pentium servers.  I've continued my study of usability ever since.  Microsoft, on the other hand, has completely dropped their usability team.

Whatever happened to links or buttons that say, "Review install log" or "Installation troubleshooting", or "View the most common installation issues and workarounds."

http://usability.gov/pdfs/chapter10.pdf (PDF File).

This is an amazingly bad message.

Answer 49

Is this thread still going ? Can't someone lock it please. I respect that you might want to complain that the world is changing, and you don't like it. But please if you have a specific issue, post a new thread. The complaining about VS2012 boat has sailed and you missed it. You'll have to take a trip next holidays. Let's get back to work now ;)

Answer 50

This boat may have sailed, but eventually another boat will come, and maybe we can influence that one by telling MS what we don't like about this one.

---

REvans

Answer 51

Is this thread still going ? Can't someone lock it please. I respect that you might want to complain that the world is changing, and you don't like it. But please if you have a specific issue, post a new thread. The complaining about VS2012 boat has sailed and you missed it. You'll have to take a trip next holidays. Let's get back to work now ;)

You can unsubscribe to any threads you don't care to hear from.

Answer 52

People are still posting, because this is still a problem. I need to upgrade from VS2008... Do I suffer through this HORRIBLE interface or do I only upgrade to VS2010 and spend money on aging software and miss any functionality gains... I found this thread looking for possible solutions to make things more visibly distinguishable. If I have to stare at this all day, why cant I have a choice (or voice) in how it looks? It's not about resisting change.... The only way to make something better is to change it.... The problem is that not all change is GOOD or BETTER.  I still have an unresolved question (maybe I missed it).... I fixed CAPS... I used color changer... I installed Nice VS... Is There Any Way To Fix ICONS so they are colored again?

  

Answer 53

@tommie777 - See below link. While it doesn't resolve all iconography issues, at least it helps with the solution explorer icons.

vsip.codeplex.com

Answer 54

u r right

Answer 55

Hi,  I do not like to much the frigging CAPS but my problem is worse: I can't debug anything with this new program.  Have Update 1.  Installed another set of debugging tools to no avail.  

I revert back to 2010 until another version come out.  This one is crappy 100%

Answer 56

Microsoft is not to big to be replaced.

Answer 57

You only can bear it with PRETTY MUCH of humor! The bad "news" is that most of us are using VS in order to be productive ... or at least try to.

I remember a very old joke about Windows 95, as it came out:
Customer: I am looking for a graphic adventure, not too easy.
Sales person: Have you tried Visual Studio 2012?

And one thing that has probably not been said yet:
The UI is SHITTY AND UNPRODUCTIVE! I have tried to get used to it for 6 month now, to no avail.

Answer 58

This is a general new trend for websites and programs.

Light grey on ligther grey on white.

I can't stand it. No contrast, and no clear distinction between the different parts/objects on screen.

Answer 59

@oggologgo: Totally concur.

This grey trend is the result of marketing/design people (who don't even use the product) trying to make programs and websites 'look' neat to the eye. I suspect they think it looks neat because black on white text, dark blue hyperlinks, and other elements which we sensible people deem 'normal', may appear to them as cluttered. So what do they do? They lighten everything, thin out the fonts (i.e. lighter weight font) and add a lot of useless white and grey space, thereby rendering the UI washed out. The result is usability stinks. {Sarcasm begins} So hey let's just make all the text and icons the same color as the background so that it all blends together {Sarcasm ends}. Anyway it's totally developer unfriendly - well at least to this developer.

Also I encourage everyone here to express their opinion on the 'lightweight' view of MSDN (which I also think stinks) which has completely replaced the familiar usable classic view. Here's the link:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/libraryfeedback/thread/bbfb492b-4c85-4e8d-ab44-423c4050089e

Answer 60

It's not just the changed icons and lack of color, its the fact that there is no longer any delineation in the tabs and the title bar is gone. Now there is nothing to indicate which part of the window can be clicked to be dragged and multiple windows on the desktop become an amorphous grey-scale mass. It's not just that the changes are visually unappealing, they introduce usability issues.  These issues cannot be resolved by using the theme editor, because they go far deeper than the color scheme. 

---

Ben

Answer 61

I concur. It is horrible. All caps on the menu is like shouting and yelling at you.

Answer 62

Did they not do ANY A-B testing?  The fact that this thread even exists, or that not one person has a good thing to say about the new monochrome icons, is a pretty clear indication that they just changed it for the sake of changing it.  New Coke, anyone?

See also http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12087949

Answer 63

Visual Studio 2012 has lots of great new features which are mostly time saving, however I agree that MY BABY BROTHER CAN PROGRAM BETTER UI THAN MICROSOFT ITSELF!!! The biggest question of mankind is: WHY CAN'T MICROSOFT PRODUCE THE BEST SOFTWARE FOR ITS OWN OPERATING SYSTEM?  Start from Internet Explorer 10 with the flat buttons and scroll bars like Windows 8, continue to VS 2012, a great UI disappointment when compared to VS 2010, and end in Microsoft Office, whose UI was greatest in MS WORD 2007. This also applies on Windows Vista, which is the OS with the best UI Microsoft has ever launched. However, it seems that starting from 2011, Microsoft stopped wanting to make money and to please users and programmers, and that's when profit-making and user-programmer satisfaction started a steep slope downwards descending to the loo. It seems that Microsoft has lost its pride in its own work.

Answer 64

This is a case of "The Emperor has no Clothes".  The designers said it was cool and the mobile/Win8 team said it was cool and so no one wanted to be uncool so no one in Microsoft management or leadership said the obvious: The emperor has no clothes.  This flat, monochrome, UI is not cool.  I had my last monochrome monitor in 1993 - 256 shades of gray.  Now Microsoft has overridden my purchase of 16 million colors and taken me back to 1993.  Because someone said it was cool and no one had the nerve to stand up and say, "No.  it's not cool."

Answer 65

Wait till you see how crappy Office 2013 looks.

It looks like a lame website from 1994.

Try googling office 2013 looks  and see what the google auto-completes with (horrible, so bad...).

Conversely BING has wonderful things to say when you type office 2013 looks in the search (clean, nice, like 2010 ...). They seem to filter out anything bad about Office 2013.

Answer 66

"Wait till you see how crappy Office 2013 looks. "

Yup, I've seen and I don't like it. I really wonder ultimately what percentage of people will like all these changes to the UI of so many products and services. For me the following exhibit the best UI thus far: Win7, VS2010, Office2010, Hotmail UI (not the outlook.com UI), classic view of MSDN, the way these forums once looked with actual black text and dark blue hyperlinks, verses the current grey theme. I also like websites with actual hyperlinks for navigation rather than huge rectangular blocks,,,, etc...

For tablets and phones this stuff works for me, but for desktops/laptops I'm just not feelin' the love, ya know..?....

I think in general the industry (because to be fair it's not just Microsoft to blame) is opting for the cheap way out. They're making the same UI across all devices/platforms, rather than a UI tailored specifically to each, and thus leveraging the uniqueness of that platform. So what we have here is the least common denominator, and history has shown that this doesn't work (just like design by committee generally yields a cruddy result).

I sincerely hope the industry backtracks and realizes their mistake. Or maybe I'm mistaken and just a dinosaur; one of my colleagues seems to love all this change. Of course he's more of a script kiddie rather than a hardcore zealot programmer.

Tom

 

 

Answer 67

well I think the problem is MS hires too many UI guys. They have the pressure to come up with *BRAND NEW DESIGN* every few years.

We all know how complete new design will hurt eyes and brains. 

Answer 68

The reason behind the UI is truly logical, and it represents Human nature.

Previous UI featured shiny app bars, side bars, shiny toolbars which attracts more attraction of developers then the code window itself.

The new UI focuses on the code window which is most important with easy to access menu and options although less focused but it is with intention and after a lot of research.

Its hard to adapt to change, we are all adept to the same UI pattern for 6 years and now that finally they brought something new, we should accept that with positive attitude.

Answer 69

The reason behind the UI is truly logical, and it represents Human nature.

Previous UI featured shiny app bars, side bars, shiny toolbars which attracts more attraction of developers then the code window itself.

The new UI focuses on the code window which is most important with easy to access menu and options although less focused but it is with intention and after a lot of research.

Its hard to adapt to change, we are all adept to the same UI pattern for 6 years and now that finally they brought something new, we should accept that with positive attitude.

I guess color blindness is a human nature too. 

And I guess for 'after a lot of research' you mean 'after a lot of research' MS decided human nature does not like 'Start' button hence the removal of 'start' button in WIN8. In UX design, a lot of research is usually wrong. All you need is a few people with a special quality called 'taste' to decide what is needed. 

Some UI do not need to change just because UX guys have nothing better to do.  I prefer win2000 UI and I believe that is the most elegant UI MS has ever produced - fast, fluid and useful. 

Answer 70

I have to agree with everyone else here - do NOT like the new UI for VS, at ALL. It is so hard to distinguish between folders, files, various types of code files - ugh! Not cool, at all. I very much liked 2010, but now I am at a new company where they want us to use 2012, and it's absolutely horrible.

I especially don't like the new Team Explorer interface either - so difficult to easily see, at a glance, what code changes have been made.

I'm all for change - but when it comes to a tool, and that's what Visual Studio is for thousands of people, a tool - changes should make it easier and more efficient to use not LESS. PLEASE change it back, or at least restore the appearance of the old icons (or make an add in to do it) and add some different theming.

Seems to me some of the folks in PM or BI got ahold of this or something instead of developers. I can't imagine any group of devs saying, "Yeah, that's awesome! I love it!" >:|

Answer 71

Our team supports 150 web apps in one team project collection in TFS.  We keep them in one collection because we'd have to build a whole new build server box ($$$$) for each team project collection to break that up.  We actually support nearly 400 apps across 3 team project collections with 3 build servers.

Because Team Explorer has functionality added at the end of the list - to get to Create New Project you have to scroll down past 150 existing projects in the scrollable context menu - it is a real pain.  I open the list of team projects, move my mouse cursor to the bottom of the menu so the down arrow shows, and then wait 10 to 15 seconds until the scrolling stops just to get to the menu item for creating a new team project.

Why would you add functionality menu items below data-driven items?  The functions should either be at the top or, even better, in their own menu item, not associated with data driven items.

Try to find Undo on checked out items.  Try to identify which items have pending changes.  Both things can be done but they're completely unintuitive and very hard to find in any usable way.

This thread could go on forever, I think.  At least until VS Next.  Maybe we'll get a new version to fix this by the time the new version of W8 comes out to begin to fix what went wrong there. 

Answer 72

I totally agree and about hating Win 8. I am running Windows 8 with classic Shell and an Apple logo start button. My new start menu is tons better,

Answer 73

I think the this can help, please read the following article and wiki’s. I feel this maybe one of the reasons why everyone here is complaining. I think the bottom line is common sense, humans see in color. Color Vision has been defined by wiki for us. I think the first 1/2 sentence can some up everyone’s problem “Color vision is the ability of an organism or machine to distinguish objects…”. I think the key word is “distinguish”. The lack of color icons (gray icons) leaves the human eye unable to distinguish between items making interface harder (stating it lightly) to use.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_vision

You may be also interested in how the eye works, please read “how do we see color?” by Pantone, the experts in color. They state the following. “The human eye can perceive more variations in warmer colors than cooler ones. This is because almost 2/3 of the cones process the longer light wavelengths (reds, oranges and yellows).”
http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=19357&ca=29

Another topic from wiki, “Variations of gray”. Do you feel the icons fall under the cool gray category?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variations_of_gray#Cool_grays

Maybe we can change the future.

---

phanf

Answer 74

Preacher - meet the choir...

I say that in reference to "Maybe we can change the future."  I just don't think MS is listening here so we're just preaching to the choir - those who are stuck using VS2012 for better or worse.

But, I have to say, you make excellent points.  As someone who first learned of usability from Microsoft 15 years ago, and has studied usability ever since, I think that the use of color documentation makes an excellent point.  Too bad MS forgot everything they once knew and everything they once taught me in regards to usability.

Answer 75

Think of reasons and be patient.

First, they (Microsoft) are changing technology VS based on. It takes time. Painting buttons for VS is least in priorities. It does not look as good as VS10, but I am sure it will come later and better then before.

Second, after working for a day or two I had forgotten how does it look and see just code.

People at Microsoft are not dumb (I know a few) and they have reasons for what is done. If we cannot see it right away, we need to stop and think for a while.

Answer 76

You're right, of course.  If we cannot see the emporer's new clothes, that is our fault.

Answer 77

I am going to upgrade from VS 2012 to VS 2010. 

Answer 78

Another example why commercial, closed source software is broken.

Why always go for these highly stylized, simplified, ugly Bauhaus style icons, they really do not help productivity. You are obviously putting one particular brand of esthetics over usability; the new UI is hard to navigate and confusing; key colors (such as yellow for a folder) cannot just be discarded like that.

Ideally MS would give the user a CHOICE over new vs old icon sets (such as Toad does it) or even better finally allow styling the app via CSS (the way Mozilla applications have been doing it for years) - adding a userChrome.css or a proper Theme builder (including ability to swap out image resources) would alleviate all the pain. As always they are selling the user's helplessness as a feature and then bask in the glory of their unwanted improvements.

It Feels broken. And their hubris "we feel it is important to show everything with the same (read metro) icons" is a typical example for how a big company abuses their power in order to make new "standards" that nobody wants. 3rd, colored icons add depth and recognizability and have a multitude of visual clues; the exercise now is to "train the users" to get used to this poorer, uglier and "streamlined" esthetic, but not to help users or increase productivity but purely to emphasize the brand and force brand compliance. It is very obvious that this is imposed not by a technical restriction but purely one of marketing.

Thank god there are still companies like Stardock who are pushing the envelope of customization and Mozilla who allow full theme-ability with the software that the users want to make their own. Microsoft simply has become too big to give a shit even about their developers.

Answer 79

As opposed to what appears to be almost everyone in this thread, I find VS 2012 absolutely beautiful.  I'm thrilled that MS finally gave the option for a fully dark theme in VS.  I use dark themes in every other editor I use (Eclipse, IntelliJ, Sublime, Vim) and love it.  It is way easier on the eyes to work with all day, and vastly reduces eye strain.

With respect to the comments about the colors not showing up on your monitors, I have never had an issue with VS 2012 on any of my screens.  Both my laptops, my dual monitors on my home desktop, as well as my dual monitors on my work desktop all look great.  I suggest adjusting the settings on your monitor and seeing if that gets you anywhere.

Way to go Microsoft, and whoever on the Visual Studio team made this design choice!  I completely love it!  Keep up the great work with the new UI across all your products!

Answer 80

Consider that the Options dialogue cannot be resized, now consider that this is the same Options dialogue we have seen since Visual Studio version 7, that is 2002 for .net version 1.0.

Answer 81

I guess the ppl at MS thought it would be great to make the IDE look like this and force us to have to find everything again.

Besides the change in the look the performance stinks.

This reminds me of the Delphi 5 IDE, inefficient and crashed all the time.

VS2010 was amsome, worked great and I never had issues.

I am not sure why they do this but I guess they have nothing better to do then destroy a perfectly good IDE.

On the same note they do this with the windows operating system.

It is very much like star trek movies, the odd numbered movies stunk!

Answer 82

Hi liuzan,

I recommend you try the following to change Visual Studio themes.

General: Color theme can help you have the Light or Dark color.

Fonts and Colors can help you change settings for all details. 

You can define your own settings to use Visual Studio.

If you have more suggestion, please submit your suggestion here http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio

Regards,

---

Barry Wang [MSFT]
MSDN Community Support | Feedback to us

Are you kidding me? either choice is like a pike to the eyes.

Whoever made the final decision to run with this without having the  choice to revert should be fired!

Answer 83

I agree with everyone here.  This is a joke.  I'll be using VS2010 until VS2013 or greater comes out.  I hate Windows 8 UI and Visual Studio 2012 is trying to be like that.  Terrible.

STOP YOUR FREAKING YELLING AT ME WHILE I AM TRYING TO CODE!!

The only reason I am using this turd is my company bought it, otherwise i use 2010.

Answer 84

The issue isn't that they created the light and dark themes, nor that they made the light theme the default. But rather the issue is that they removed the existing well known icons, colors, borders, chrome etc and did not provide an option to restore them (which is mind boggling). I think most people probably have no problem with change so long as we continue to have the option to work as we traditionally have. That being said, since the theme editor has now been made available, I've been able to better tolerate VS2012, and by tolerate I mean physically tolerate in that my eyes are not as strained as before.

However I would like to see the option to use the VS2010 icons which I find quite useful, especially when I'm working with dozens of projects and thousands of files in the solution explorer - makes it easy to quickly select things. Their reasoning for the change is also bizarre: they basically said it was to help decrease our distraction and increase our productivity. I think we're all professionals and know what to focus on and when, period.

Besides by changing the familiar and blurring things together, it's instead resulted in me spending less time in the editor and more time trying to pick out the right darn icon (and it hasn't really subsided since I've been trying to use this since the beta).

Agreed

I have been using VS for a long time and all of a sudden they change ever freaken ICON

Please grab shoulders firmly and pull your head out!

Answer 85

do you work for MS?

Answer 86

Excuse me,

I do not know if "they are going hand in hand with latest designing ideas", and be honest I do not worry of it... But all I'm concern about, is that I use that tool 8 hours a day, and this interface is just unreadable and going to kill my old eyes. 

Giving us tools to personalize the themes is a good thing, but I do not have time to spent to use them. What I'm looking for is theme that is just readable and ready to use. 

Visual Studio is a Professional working tool. We'd better much more concentrate on the new technologies and functionality rather than spend so much time on the painting !

Rgds.

Pascal.

only 8 hrs a day, i stare at it for closer to 10 and every moment hurts

perhaps they can make it balck with green letters....

Answer 87

New bad news !

I just migrate my work station from Win 7 to Win 8, and... TFS 2010 doesn't seems to be compatible with Win 8 ! TFS 2012 is not compatible with VS 2010 Team explorer... So I migrate to VS 2012... And I now finish to kill my eyes with this crap interface...

Rgds 

Pascal.

windows 8 is the odd version it is the bad version skip it and go straight to the next one

win8 - ??

win7 - great

vista - turd

xp - rocked

me - stunk

98 - great

95- lots of issues

Answer 88

This is interesting: http://vsip.codeplex.com/

u must have 2010 on the system, i think

Answer 89

Let's talk about UI design.  You can actually start with this horrid web site UI with thin lined grey text on a white background.  It is difficult to read and causes increased eye strain.

In general, I think we need to have a word about the pure stupidity of the 'flat UI'.

‘Flat’ UI design is just plain bad UI design. The use of low-contrast, grey on white/grey, unsaturated colors pretty much goes against every best practice for UI design ever written - including and especially those written by Microsoft itself. It actually makes it more difficult for a user to discern one UI element from another – like driving in fog. This insipid trend that puts form over function also goes against every study that has ever been done on human visual perception and efficient HMI.

It is far easier for a human being to discern color-saturated elements from other elements based upon large variations of hue in a high-contrast display than it is to make the same distinction based upon subtle non-chromatic variations in a low-contrast display. Forcing users to actually read grey text on light backgrounds or look for shapes in low-contrast displays in order to interact with the UI places a higher visual and cognitive strain on the user and increases task duration.

Designing a UI is about function, and making the user’s tasks easier and more efficient – not trying to make a computer screen look like a book or an art project. When you abandon well-researched tenets of visual perception and best practices for UI design in favor of ‘flat UI’, you do a grave disservice to your user.

‘Flat UI’ is what we get when the Marketing department dictates to the Engineering department. Bad idea. Bad UI.  Function should be the driving force behind user interfaces.  Users' needs must come before the whim of marketing managers with art degrees.  Microsoft's recent logo change and very poor UI choices in 'Metro', Visual Studio 2012, MS Office 2013, and Google's similar failure in the UI design for Android 4.x are prime examples of usability giving way to marketing and useless gimmicks.  Hopefully, reason (and lost revenue) will prevail, and focus will turn more toward the actual needs of the user as the industry learns lessons from this insipid trend that actually reduces usability in user interfaces.

In over 50 years of computing with keyboard and  character displays (or teletype terminals), very few things have actually changed in the way that humans and computers exchange information:

1. Xerox/PA Labs pioneered the 'pointing device' in a graphical UI.
2. Photographic and video imaging combined with text became ubiquitous with increase in processing technology.
3. Advent of multi-point tracking input (e.g. pinch/zoom) on touch panels.

Aside from these 3 changes, which really don't fundamentally change things much at all, we are still sending and receiving WRITTEN TEXT in order to move actual data between human and machine.  This is done with character displays and keyboards.  Everything else is simply a way to support or detract from this basic process.

The next time you design a UI for your users, ask yourself if you are supporting their work, or detracting from it.  If you're writing a 'flat' UI, you're likely supporting the Marketing team at your users' expense.

Answer 90

That would be the same geniuses from the Marketing department who changed the logo.  These savants seem to have decided that emulating the effects of color blindness and low vision is what will sell more software.  I'm guessing that the Engineering department had little or now say in this, or perhaps they did and no one is left who actually knows how to write a decent UI - or cares.

Answer 91

Think of reasons and be patient.

First, they (Microsoft) are changing technology VS based on. It takes time. Painting buttons for VS is least in priorities. It does not look as good as VS10, but I am sure it will come later and better then before.

Second, after working for a day or two I had forgotten how does it look and see just code.

People at Microsoft are not dumb (I know a few) and they have reasons for what is done. If we cannot see it right away, we need to stop and think for a while.

Actually, the ones apparently calling the shots (aka Marketing Dept) are beyond just plain 'dumb' when it comes to UI design, and they are actually going against guidelines that Microsoft had written based on actual research (not marketing research, but HMI and visual perception research).

On your second point, it may actually by a lot truer for folks who haven't worked with previous versions and/or for color blind people (though I'm not color blind, so I don't know).

Finally, keeping with the LIFO theme here, they already HAVE buttons (and icons, etc).  Take a look at VSIP and the image resources that are one-to-one between VS2010 and VS2012 (why VSIP works).  It's purely marketing.  "Everything must be the Metro Flat UI look.  Branding is everything.  Screw the customers, users, and anyone who tries to tell us otherwise.  Screw usability and everything those silly engineers have preached in the past.  We are the Marketing department, and all others shall do our bidding!  Even though many (all?) of us are art majors who have never written a line of code and think that putting the same crap in a different box and painting the word 'new' on it is a good way to increase sales."

The emperor(s) who think this is a wise thing, have another think coming.  Marketing dictating to Engineering and 'bottom line thinking' is going get them exactly the long term results they don't want.  Oh.. wait, they don't care about the long term, as long as it's not THEIR term.  Sigh.  Is it just me, or am I really a jaded cynic?

Answer 92

You don't know anything about design also? What would  you do? Keep all the shiny chrome crap. Old-school. What grade are you in? College? Fifth Grade?

Answer 93

Then stay out of the design and technology world.

Answer 94

Stay out of the design and technology world. You can't seem to move forward.

Answer 95

My main gripe with the UI is that, as others have said, it feels like I'm driving through fog. What used to be clear and distinct, bordered and focused turns into like a bland mush of things I have to squint at to discern. What used to be clear and sharp now becomes murky. I can tolerate these types of designs for, say, video games where maybe the player has like 10 things he can do, not for an environment jam-packed with functionality that we use for actual work.

I've been using MSVS for about a decade and a half and previously considered it one of the greatest IDEs ever made. It was visually very functional, not beautiful but solid, and with an integrated debugger that even the Apple developers working with XCode could only dream about.

I think a lot of this greatness came from emphasizing functionality over form which, to me, generalizes the appeal of Windows over OSX. OSX may have its bouncy, animated dock bar, but the Windows start menu, task bar, and system tray has always been a lot more flexible and powerful. I'd say the same about Microsoft ClearType vs. OSX's font antialiasing. The latter is prettier but the former is actually sharper and easier to read -- more functional. And in my book, functional beats pretty unless I'm interested in turning my computer into a work of art rather than a solid work machine. Now it seems like the trend is shifting more towards aesthetics over functionality, except the aesthetics are actually even worse than before!

I mean, two purple plus signs for a C++ source file?  Is that supposed to visually communicate the idea of a source file better than the former icon which looked like an actual document? Whenever a new user is going to see a "+" sign in an icon, that has traditionally meant either something than can expand (hierarchical element) or something that is going to add something new. Does no one even consider things like this from a functional point of view? Is it all about fashion nowadays?

Previously I considered MSVS to be one of the most solid development tools ever made. It still serves the role and the features are certainly noteworthy, but it is now one of the most unpleasant work environments I've ever seen. Many of us base our livelihood on this product and I hope very much that MS can take note of these complaints and start reversing the trend back to the functional, solid kind of UI design they had before.

Answer 96

The face of Visual Studio 2012 is too ugly to see.

Did the designing team mean to have a joke with us? 

Or, did the designing team mean to make it to be the "2012" of Visual Studio?

I suggest the face of Visual Studio 2008 to be the Standard face of Visual Studio.

Visual Studio 2012 looks like a symbol of the sinking of the fat Microsoft.

It is not only UGLY, it is nearly unusable, because you do NOT see where the borders of the menues and Frames are!! It is an imposition to work with!

Answer 97

Great

How do I make it look like 2010?

Instead of a flat piece of garbage with the wrong icons and two colors with a findd that I cannot move?

Answer 98

I realize that this thread is almost entirely a rant, but there is a blog post that talks about the design.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2013/06/27/designing-the-visual-studio-2013-user-experience.aspx

There are also some extensions that let you modify the VS 2012 theme: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/zainnab/archive/2013/01/31/visual-studio-2012-color-theme-choices.aspx

Answer 99

I realize that this thread is almost entirely a rant, but there is a blog post that talks about the design.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2013/06/27/designing-the-visual-studio-2013-user-experience.aspx

There are also some extensions that let you modify the VS 2012 theme: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/zainnab/archive/2013/01/31/visual-studio-2012-color-theme-choices.aspx

I realize (or at last I think) that your posts do not reflect the official Microsoft position (you can correct me if I'm mistaken) so I say the following with that in mind.

First, what those who have posted here have asked is a usable and enjoyable experience out of the box.  To have to use a tool to fix the UI - only the extent that themes can fix it - and have to have a million developers go through the process costs the world's development community 2 to 4 million hours of productivity but Microsoft could have left well-enough alone or even give a new default style for a few hundred hours of effort one time.  That's a huge benefit to the developer community.  Themes-after-the-fact are just not the best choice.

If this thread was, as you say, just a rant thread, or if Microsoft believed it was just a rant, then we really are losing the battle and it's a shame. This is not a rant thread; it's a thread where Microsoft customers have expressed their concerns and frustrations with a Microsoft tool for which they pay dearly and upon which they depend heavily all day, every day. This is a big issue to your customers.  We didn't come here to rant or blow off steam; we came to ask and plead with Microsoft for change.  It isn't like we can easily vote with our pocketbooks and choose another tool. That would mean quitting our jobs and making big career changes. We, as .Net developers, are completely tied to Microsoft for our livelihiods; we're a captive audience.

I'll gladly concede that Visual Studio, even 2012 - as bad as the UI is, is much better than the competition, any competition, in developer IDEs. Even so, we're here in the hopes of influencing Microsoft to provide a tool that is easy to use, low stress to use, and enables us to be more productive rather than simply fits in a marketing mold.

Maybe I'm mistaken since I don't know your role at Microsoft but it appears to me that you're mistaken about this being a rant thread and Microsoft has at least heard what we have to say.  They've put up the uservoice site with discussion of Visual Studio 2012 UI at http://visualstudio.uservoice.com/forums/121579-visual-studio/category/46982-user-interface.  Many of the issues in Visual Studio 2012 are being addressed in Visual Studio 2013.  With 1742 the top UI suggestion sits at #12 in votes - it would be higher if all the other threads related to the same thing were joined together.

Answer 100

It is interesting to see a response from Microsoft come at such a late date, Sept, 7 2013, just prior to the release of VS 2013.

The "Content before Chrome" meme is not working, and it is certain that Ballmer realizes this as he prepares for his early retirement, most likely joining Steven Sinofsky in the real of academic mouthpieces..

Honestly, how can Microsoft honestly market this Dog food after we have feasted on Steak and Lobster for the past 2 decades?  Don't think that the power of Marketing can disavow 40 years of design and visual cues --  It can't.

Your redesign of the UI in VS 2012 and Win 8 are the best means I have seen to drive developers from the Windows platform.

After comparing Eclipse and VS 2012, I prefer Eclipse...

It is very clear that Microsoft cannot and will not admit the error of downgrading the Windows environment to Neanderthal levels on the UI side, so I wish you luck competing with Android, which does much more with much less.  Android does not have the legacy of Windows, yet for some reason we develop in Eclipse... Go Figure.

My advice is simple.  Don't take away my choices or discard User Interface guidelines that were published by Microsoft on a whim.  Maybe you should look up Alan Cooper and see what he thinks about your ridiculous "metro/Modern" UI.  As far as I am concerned, It's all Ice Cream and Hot Dog's, but nothing substantial.

I think the Elephant in the room that nobody mentions is why the font on Win 8 Start buttons is so small, the Icon is mostly monochrome, and 75% of the area is unused.  Ugly, and wasteful.

Answer 101

Here's the Visual Studio 2012 "upgrade" from a wood cutter's perspective:

Wood cutting axe 2010

Wood cutting axe 2012

There is a point to this: Visual Studio is the tool we use all day long.  If it's not easy to use or efficient then work is much harder.

But I see that Visual Studio 2013 RC is out... Let's see if the axe was sharpened.

Answer 102

I realize that this thread is almost entirely a rant, but there is a blog post that talks about the design.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2013/06/27/designing-the-visual-studio-2013-user-experience.aspx

There are also some extensions that let you modify the VS 2012 theme: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/zainnab/archive/2013/01/31/visual-studio-2012-color-theme-choices.aspx

Rant?  What part of, "Please apologize (profusely) and change it back" did you misinterpret?

Answer 103

Here's the Visual Studio 2012 "upgrade" from a wood cutter's perspective:

Wood cutting axe 2010

Wood cutting axe 2012

There is a point to this: Visual Studio is the tool we use all day long.  If it's not easy to use or efficient then work is much harder.

But I see that Visual Studio 2013 RC is out... Let's see if the axe was sharpened.

Uhh.. have you seen VS2013? 

Happy wood cutting!

Answer 104

I'm still hoping Borland will rise from the ashes and give us one of these:

Answer 105

ugliest interface ever!

seems like visual studio 2012 designers got  their brains connected to the ass hole

Answer 106

I don't mean to be direspectful Microsoft but I have to agree, VS 2012 interface is a catastrophe.

I have been using Visual Studio since version 6.0 and this is the first "set back" imo.

Not only the interface is less intuitive but the designer itself is unefficient:
- can't make a printscreen of the whole package because comments don't appear in full and there's no scrollbar!
- the cut/paste behavior has been changed
- the controls redimension themselves whenever the label is altered
- align left/right/... and resizing don't work with control selection order precedence anymore (for example, only can resize controls to the largest control width)

Please test your products amongst developpers instead of listening to "let's do like Apple" marketers.

Thanks for listening :)

Answer 107

Please Microsoft, PLEASE keep changing the UI with every release. And please keep giving me your little iconic graphics that 'help' me understand a button's function (when a simple verbal name is clearer), and REPLACE those icons with new ones after I remember them. And please keep saying things like 'no problem, you can configure it to your liking', because THAT'S what I have time to do with my life. But above all, please keep changing everything!

Answer 108

Personally, I quite like both VS2012 and VS2013, especially messing with some of the styles available on https://studiostyl.es/

My biggest issue isn't in the look, it's in the engine...

Why was the switch from GDI to GFX over WPF/DirectX necessary?

I spend 99% of my time developing in a VM on Oracle Virtual Box, I don't get crap from Graphics Acceleration so all it does it make everything slower.

I want to go back to the days of firing up an IDE and be editing my code 4 seconds later, not waiting for 3 minutes for the IDE to load and load my projects like I do now.

Also the

"Visual Studio is busy, please wait" message is crap.  All generic message/error messages are crap.  I don't care if stuff is doing stuff, but I want to know why.  If there is an error, tell me what, if it's busy tell me why.

---

My Blog: http://www.thesug.org/Blogs/ryan_mann1/default.aspx Website: Under Construction

Answer 109

I would quite happily have a Windows 95 GUI over Windows 8.  Most of the true configurability in the Windows shell can trace its roots back to 95 - back when you UI colours rather than tints (AKA themes).

What's missing in new UIs is configurability; we're just expected to like something because it's new now - not because it suits our individual needs.  I don't care whether my GUI tastes are 'dated' or not - they're my preferences and neither today's date nor a company pushing the latest and worst designs upon me are going to change those tastes!

Microsoft should follow Firefox's example when they plan on messing up one of their UIs - at least allow the option of a plug in to change back the to previous UI.  The Theme Editor does not suffice for 2013 like it did in 2010 - there's no way to specify all the UI colours anymore!

Answer 110

I would quite happily have a Windows 95 GUI over Windows 8.  Most of the true configurability in the Windows shell can trace its roots back to 95 - back when you UI colours rather than tints (AKA themes).

What's missing in new UIs is configurability; we're just expected to like something because it's new now - not because it suits our individual needs.  I don't care whether my GUI tastes are 'dated' or not - they're my preferences and neither today's date nor a company pushing the latest and worst designs upon me are going to change those tastes!

Microsoft should follow Firefox's example when they plan on messing up one of their UIs - at least allow the option of a plug in to change back the to previous UI.  The Theme Editor does not suffice for 2013 like it did in 2010 - there's no way to specify all the UI colours anymore!

I know this thread is about Visual Studio but I'm happy to detour to talk about Windows 95 for a post. Windows 95 was the single best desktop operating system I have ever used. At the time, I was supporting a team of graphics folks with Macs that didn't multi task so, at the time, it was the single-best desktop operating system in the world. I ran it with 4MB RAM to start before finally getting to 8MB and a 20MB hard drive and it did everything I needed from an OS that Windows 7 does.

And, as you say, configurability was King in those days. Of course we all have the option now to create our own theme. Instead of Microsoft having a designer spend a few weeks (120 hours) creating a couple good themes that meet the requests of their customers, Microsoft seems to feel that it is better for a million customers spend a few weeks creating their own themes.  Obviously 120 million hours spent creating themes is better than 120 hours spent creating themes.

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How in the world does a very frequently used parameter with few choices like the search scope in the Find box end up in a drop down combo box, rather than a radio button group? You have to do two clicks instead of one. Ridiculous.

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being able to SEE something is part of its look

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Of course we all have the option now to create our own theme.

In Visual Studio 2013??  Please tell me how!  Even when the theme extension for Visual Studio I've only been able to select existing themes - there doesn't appear to be any option to "Customize" as there was in the 2010 theme extension.

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The real problem is not the look but the usability of the interface.

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Can I use this theme for visual studio 2015 version? and please reply how to install it. I't a student.

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