Is there a way to keep using the old UI?

[juak]

Hello, i'm juak, i've been using paint.net for 3 years already.

After the last update, the UI got updated, and i wonder if there is any plugin or anything to keep using the old UI . 

 

 

[BoltBait]

There is not.

 

But, give it a few day and you won't even remember what the old icons look like.

[r543]

Saw this Thread a while ago and wanted to comment on it.

Tbh I'm not entirely happy with the redesign as well.

In my view there's no need to really follow that "Modern Hype", just because something's hip and new doesn't mean it needs to be done by everyone.

 

I understand that the reason for this change was High DPI, but I find such high dpi screens a gimmick in the first place.

More about this here:

Spoiler

The switch from 1024x768 to 1920x1090 made sense and brought certain advantages.

With 2k and 4k you aren't really having much more of the screen as you'll be most likely running it in 200% as well, so all you get is more pixels on the surface and smoother display of things.
Guess people really want everything to be super smooth and consider anything pixely bad.

(and pixel art to be outdated, seen such cases)

The issue that I see with it is that it's not really something that's required and adds more trouble:

Spoiler

If you've been working with Notebook & Docks and had to deal with different screen resolutions (such as 4k with 200% scaling on the Notebook, but 1080p screens on the external monitors) then you've probably seen the issues with it.

 

Undock, use the Laptop, redock and you'll face scaling issues and blurry icons, and that's not something that just affects other Programs, Windows itself suffers from it such as the Icons in the Notification Bar and certain popups as well.

I assume that the old icons were made with 16x16 and 32x32 in mind, so they aren't available as larger versions that could be used for higher DPI?

Can understand how "Modern UI" Icons are easier to make, especially for .svgs

 

The issues that I have with it though are following:

 

Icons are harder to find/tell apart
Due to having the same color now, many icons and look similar at first glance, like Open/Paste.
Before, each icon stood out more due to mostly having a different color, the higher detail probably also helped at well.
As for the Toolbox, it feels harder for me to really find what I'm looking for, although if I'd say that comes from the icons being mostly larger now.
 

Plugins

Plugins don't change with this of course.
So it's up to each Plugin creator to update their own icons as well, good luck having that done on Plugins that haven't been updated in years.
There was no need to really cause a clash of styles with new icons as the Win 7 ones still looked fine, but I guess it all has to be Modern UI like?

 

As far as I know, Paint.Net doesn't really have ways to Customize the Program regarding the UI, so we're pretty much just left with and forced to use the new set of UI Icons.

Having a option to have the old Icons would be nice, but I doubt that it would happen or be something that Rick would want to keep supporting with addition of new icons.

 

Sorry if this post is negative, but honestly not happy with the responses of the Administrators that I've been seeing.
Instead of saying why this was a neccessary change and whatnot, all people seem to get is a "Get used to it, you don't remember the old ones anyways"

Edited April 7, 2019 by r543

[Ego Eram Reputo]

The old icons are bitmapped, so they were fixed in size. The new ones are SVG so they can be scaled. 

 

6 hours ago, r543 said:

Having a option to have the old Icons would be nice, but I doubt that it would happen or be something that Rick would want to keep supporting with addition of new icons.

 

I can't see any chance of Rick reproducing the old icon set in SVG format so they too will scale.

 

6 hours ago, r543 said:

it's up to each Plugin creator to update their own icons as well, good luck having that done on Plugins that haven't been updated in years.

 

Legacy plugins will continue to use their original icon. No changes there.

 

6 hours ago, r543 said:

Paint.Net doesn't really have ways to Customize the Program regarding the UI, so we're pretty much just left with and forced to use the new set of UI Icons.

 

Correct.

 

I saw how much work Rick put into these icons. I've said elsewhere I think they are beautiful. Give it time, you'll get used to them.

 

 

[Marilynx]

My sole objection to the new icons is that I just finished a 50+ page How To Use PDN To Make Barn Hunt Maps -- with literally hundreds of illustrations, and now I will have to re-do all those illustrations because I know the intended audience, and most of them won't be able figure out that THIS icon in my illustrations is THAT icon in the current program.

 

For me, personally, yeah, I'll get used to it. 

 

But the weeks and weeks of work to redo the How Tos is not something I am looking forward to.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

I understand. I redid the PDN documentation website and added all the new icons in. Of course the screenshots had to be updated too. I actually rather enjoyed it.

 

If you want help updating the project feel free to PM me.

[Rick Brewster]

I'm sure your readers can figure things out from your screenshots with the old icons. Update if someone expresses frustration. Until then, have faith in your readers' abilities. Maybe include a note saying the icons were updated in March 2019 and you're still updating the screenshots. I'm not going to hold back because of a book/tutorial, especially one that nobody told me about. There is no contract that says the icons will remain static. Software changes, y'all should know that by now.

 

Anyway this topic is done. It's been answered. Any further posts on this will be closed.