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  3. Visual Studio 2012 is damned ugly

Visual Studio 2012 is damned ugly

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  • M Marc Clifton

    mark merrens wrote:

    Keep them cleaned and polished and they'll do the job.

    You can't polish mud. And that's what the VS 2012 UI looks like to me. Marc

    Unit Testing Succinctly

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    R Giskard Reventlov
    wrote on last edited by
    #13

    You're focusing on the wrong thing. Think of it like this: you have a 2010 hammer and a 2012 hammer. They both do the same job but one has an older handle that, right now, feels more comfortable in your hand. Well, it only go that way because you gave it a chance over the 2008 hammer. Well, in any case, for me it's just a tool I use as part of my job. I don't really care if it isn't shiny as long as it does that job (which it does).

    "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

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    • C Clifford Nelson

      Just got 2012 and it is just plain blah. Sort of like going back to black and white movies. Even the basic icons have gone downhill. Thought the old icon to comment was very obvious, the new one not so much. The UI depresses me, sort of like a very overcast day.

      M Offline
      M Offline
      Matt S Smith
      wrote on last edited by
      #14

      I didn't like the UI colour scheme at first, which is why I turned to google and found this[^].

      "Theory is when you know something, but it doesn't work. Practice is when something works, but you don't know why. Programmers combine theory and practice: Nothing works and they don't know why."

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      • M Marc Clifton

        mark merrens wrote:

        Keep them cleaned and polished and they'll do the job.

        You can't polish mud. And that's what the VS 2012 UI looks like to me. Marc

        Unit Testing Succinctly

        S Offline
        S Offline
        Septimus Hedgehog
        wrote on last edited by
        #15

        Marc Clifton meant to write:

        You can't polish mud turds. And that's what the VS 2012 UI looks like to me.

        If there is one thing more dangerous than getting between a bear and her cubs it's getting between my wife and her chocolate.

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        • A AspDotNetDev

          Make sure to get the latest updates... they are now on update 3. I believe that update includes some changes in color/icons/layout (though I don't think I've installed it myself yet).

          Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

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          Clifford Nelson
          wrote on last edited by
          #16

          Yes I have the update. I guess it was really bad before.

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          • R R Giskard Reventlov

            I use 2010 and 2012 nearly every day and can't say I even notice that stuff anymore. You just get used to it. They're just tools and I treat them as such. Keep them cleaned and polished and they'll do the job. :)

            "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

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            Clifford Nelson
            wrote on last edited by
            #17

            Guess a new paint job is out of the question. Like the color of my car, and I guess that is boring. It is a pearl white, which minimizes heat buildup and is easy for other cars to see, so may have saved me an accident.

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            • G Gregory Gadow

              Marc Clifton wrote:

              You can't polish mud.

              You can, however, polish a tu... uh, something else[^].

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              Clifford Nelson
              wrote on last edited by
              #18

              Actually the show starts up with polishing mud. Even when polished, mud still has an ugly color.

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              • R R Giskard Reventlov

                You're focusing on the wrong thing. Think of it like this: you have a 2010 hammer and a 2012 hammer. They both do the same job but one has an older handle that, right now, feels more comfortable in your hand. Well, it only go that way because you gave it a chance over the 2008 hammer. Well, in any case, for me it's just a tool I use as part of my job. I don't really care if it isn't shiny as long as it does that job (which it does).

                "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

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                Clifford Nelson
                wrote on last edited by
                #19

                Still it does not help if the UI is depressing. Much better to be out running on a nice sunny day than on a overcast day.

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                • N Nemanja Trifunovic

                  Clifford Nelson wrote:

                  Sort of like going back to black and white movies.

                  Some of the best movies are black and white.

                  utf8-cpp

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                  Clifford Nelson
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #20

                  There are many great b&w movies, and there are movies that would not be the same in color. Still a lot of the old classics have been colorized, and I think it did make the movies better. Many do not approve, however.

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                  • L Lost User

                    My main gripe with VS2012 is the fact that MS removed the option to create install projects (that output MSI files.) I personally like the new visual styles, particularly the dark UI option. It just works better (easier on the eyes) when your eyesight deteriorates to the point where you start wearing reading glasses. I also believe that the visual style is more in line with MS's own guidelines for productivity apps. Another consideration: VS2010 does not allow projects that depend on newer .net frameworks like 4.5. However, it may be possible to import the 4.5 capability into VS2010, but I never had any reason to check this out.

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                    Clifford Nelson
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #21

                    The lack of use of color is bad since color is a great discriminator. Of course if you change themes, then color can be a problem since some icons will sort of disappear. I know that the old VS icon would be difficult to see in the start menu on one of my computers. Oh yes, I use the white theme, and UI tests indicate that it is better. My company actually had a study the came back and told them to use white theme. They resisted, but white keeps creaping back.

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                    • L Lost User

                      My main gripe with VS2012 is the fact that MS removed the option to create install projects (that output MSI files.) I personally like the new visual styles, particularly the dark UI option. It just works better (easier on the eyes) when your eyesight deteriorates to the point where you start wearing reading glasses. I also believe that the visual style is more in line with MS's own guidelines for productivity apps. Another consideration: VS2010 does not allow projects that depend on newer .net frameworks like 4.5. However, it may be possible to import the 4.5 capability into VS2010, but I never had any reason to check this out.

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                      Kevin McFarlane
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #22

                      Cornelius Henning wrote:

                      I personally like the new visual styles, particularly the dark UI option. It just works better (easier on the eyes)

                      It's the opposite for me, but many like it, which is why it's there.

                      Kevin

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                      • M Matt S Smith

                        I didn't like the UI colour scheme at first, which is why I turned to google and found this[^].

                        "Theory is when you know something, but it doesn't work. Practice is when something works, but you don't know why. Programmers combine theory and practice: Nothing works and they don't know why."

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                        Kevin McFarlane
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #23

                        Yes, this was released pretty much simultaneously with VS 2012.

                        Kevin

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                        • M Marc Clifton

                          mark merrens wrote:

                          Keep them cleaned and polished and they'll do the job.

                          You can't polish mud. And that's what the VS 2012 UI looks like to me. Marc

                          Unit Testing Succinctly

                          R Offline
                          R Offline
                          Ravi Bhavnani
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #24

                          Marc Clifton wrote:

                          You can't polish mud. And that's what the VS 2012 UI looks like to me.

                          :thumbsup: I'm going to post your comment in my cubicle for all the world (at least my world) to see. /ravi

                          My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

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                          • C Clifford Nelson

                            Just got 2012 and it is just plain blah. Sort of like going back to black and white movies. Even the basic icons have gone downhill. Thought the old icon to comment was very obvious, the new one not so much. The UI depresses me, sort of like a very overcast day.

                            L Offline
                            L Offline
                            Lost User
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #25

                            Clifford Nelson wrote:

                            Just got 2012 and it is just plain blah. [..] Even the basic icons have gone downhill.

                            Useability > the color of the wallpaper

                            Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

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                            • K Kevin McFarlane

                              Cornelius Henning wrote:

                              I personally like the new visual styles, particularly the dark UI option. It just works better (easier on the eyes)

                              It's the opposite for me, but many like it, which is why it's there.

                              Kevin

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                              Lost User
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #26

                              Yeah! To each his own. :-D

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                              • R R Giskard Reventlov

                                You're focusing on the wrong thing. Think of it like this: you have a 2010 hammer and a 2012 hammer. They both do the same job but one has an older handle that, right now, feels more comfortable in your hand. Well, it only go that way because you gave it a chance over the 2008 hammer. Well, in any case, for me it's just a tool I use as part of my job. I don't really care if it isn't shiny as long as it does that job (which it does).

                                "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me me, in pictures

                                M Offline
                                M Offline
                                Marc Clifton
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #27

                                mark merrens wrote:

                                They both do the same job but one has an older handle that, right now, feels more comfortable in your hand.

                                I disagree - while the job they do is the same, VS2012's handle is poorly formed. I find that the color of the icons, for example in the solution explorer, is much more informative to me than the shape - I find it harder to quickly identify the specific tree item I'm looking for because the colors are either non-existent or highly muted. Otherwise, yes, I couldn't care less because I'm looking at code, not extraneous stuff (for example, I kill all the toolbars because I have my own keyboard shortcuts to the things I do). But when I do need to look at the solution explorer, then it slows me down. Another annoyance with VS2012 specifically is that in previous versions, I could set the bookmark to highlight the entire line. I despise gutters and have them disabled. Now, a bookmark only highlights up to the length of the text, which of course means that if I try to bookmark a blank line, nothing appears. I should not have to re-enable gutters simply to conform to how the tool wants me to use it - especially since the behavior of the tool was just fine before. Marc

                                Unit Testing Succinctly

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                                • L Lost User

                                  Clifford Nelson wrote:

                                  Just got 2012 and it is just plain blah. [..] Even the basic icons have gone downhill.

                                  Useability > the color of the wallpaper

                                  Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

                                  C Offline
                                  C Offline
                                  Clifford Nelson
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #28

                                  Color is a discrimiator. Makes it easy to distiguish different icons. Otherwise, why use color at all. A stop sign that is the same color as a yield sign would not be as obvious. Why do you think they make Fire Engines red (actually red is not a good color because eye does not see red well in periferal vision, which is why fire trucks are often yellow, and a color of yellow that easily distiguishs them from other vehicals). In otherwords, not using color decreases useability.

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                                  • M Matt S Smith

                                    I didn't like the UI colour scheme at first, which is why I turned to google and found this[^].

                                    "Theory is when you know something, but it doesn't work. Practice is when something works, but you don't know why. Programmers combine theory and practice: Nothing works and they don't know why."

                                    C Offline
                                    C Offline
                                    Clifford Nelson
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #29

                                    It is a bit better. Still...just a bandaid

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                                    • K Kevin McFarlane

                                      This was furiously discussed during beta over a year ago. It was brightened up a bit from the first version. Update 3 includes a VS 2010 colour theme which radically improves matters as far as I'm concerned. There is also a theme extension you can try. No official cure for the icons but there are one or two icon "patching" extensions around. May introduce stability problems though.

                                      Kevin

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                                      Clifford Nelson
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #30

                                      Good thing I waited then.

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