Photoshop CC 2015.1: New user interface lacks contrast and many usability cues, lots of other problems

It's exactly as what Von Glitschka complains about Illustrator. It seems that Adobe developers add half baked features nobody wants instead of fixing bugs and that generally they don't use what they develop. Otherwise how would you explain releasing a software with such a huge bug as the Liquify one? Let alone the crappy interface...

howly cow, I didn't just see that now, that's massive. Unusable. I expect a fix asap.

exactly...!

That is a well known MacOS bug, and the OS open dialog and it's size are controlled by the OS and not the application.

Thanks for the quick reply, I am confident you guys will fix the bug pretty soon.
Is there a timeframe already?
Also are there any plans to bring back a more visible layer marking back. I do find it hard to see when a layer is in quickmaskmode. That hardly different from the normal mode. I do think it was way easier with a blue color scheme in layers and it should be all about being easy versus being stylish.
Andi

No, we do not have a timeframe for Apple's OS bug fixes.

Thanks, I did not mean the OS bug obviously, what I meant is, how long will it take to fix the liquify bug and how long will it take to bring the UI back to a workable design.
Andi

I'm using CC 2015.0.0 and NO WAY I'm upgrading this to find that Slow UI again.

Hi Bob and all. Yes, I for one am listening carefully. I am not directly responsible for the design of the UI update, but I am a developer working on Photoshop UI and I'm very concerned with the app's usability. I hear that most posters on this thread are unhappy with the reduced contrast and removal of some control boundary outlines. Those complaints make sense to me and I will reflect them to the Experience Design team. Some other changes were made to make the UI more touch friendly. There were also many behind the scenes changes to make the UI maintainable and to accommodate different density displays.

It may seem as though the changes were made casually and arbitrarily, but the UI refresh has actually been a major amount of work. There has been much design work, engineering planning, and user testing. Although we worked hard to improve the product, obviously for some users the changes are not positive.

The ideas about optionally providing the old or other alternative UIs are attractive, but not practical on our codebase. For one example, there are literally thousands of icons and other elements that would need to be generated and maintained for each version of the UI.

I'm sorry the app is more difficult for you to use and I really don't like that you want to roll back to earlier versions. I hope that we can create a UI that makes you happy while also allowing us to keep it moving forward. I'm very glad to have your thoughtful feedback. Your passion for the product is inspiring

David

David Tristram
Photoshop UI Engineering

Thanks for your comment, David. I think there is a widespread dissatisfaction with Adobe's insistence on creating a non-standard interface for each platform. Mac software should look like Mac software, and Windows software should look like Windows software. Adobe is delivering a weird Adobe-specific interface, which is frankly a pain in the butt for everybody on both platforms.

I'll echo those thanks too David, but how on Earth did this abomination ever get out into the wild? I've rolled-back to 16.0.1 via Time Machine and I've never had to do anything like that before with any software programme in 20 years of pro use.

If this issue hasn't yet caught the gaze of people who have the influence to improve things at Adobe, could you please make sure they do.
Many thanks again for taking the time.
Bob

I also thank you for your input, David. But I must agree with Robert entirely. I'm sure that you as a team didn't come with this for the fun of it. However, the absolute need to blend into the operating system as much as possible should be one of your major goals. None of us are doing this kind of thing for fun. We're working, and for that we're ready to pay month after month for good software.

I can understand that you want to accommodate users that work with touch friendly devices. But I, for one, a working with two 30 in monitors that absolutely nobody has any right to touch. Nobody. Precise work is done with a Wacom tablet. This is the kind of setup many pro photoshop users will use. Your product is for professionals, don't forget it.

I have already gone back to 16.0.1 which is OK. If I'm OK for a year or two with this one, and as long as it goes well with my workflow. I will not update, I cannot take the chance, I've lot enough time over this already.

Thanks for your comment David. You talk about much design work and planning, and I'm ok with that, but what about user testing? Considering that, from what I've been reading over the internet and from my own experience with the software, I'd say that the 90% of the user base is unsatisfied with the latest update. Who are those users that tested it?

Moreover, "Some other changes were made to make the UI more touch friendly". Who asked for it? Is the touch-based user base so important? More than the pro-user base?

The UI that makes us happy is the UI we are used to. Period. This is not a joke and I think this is the first time that a UI change has got such a huge dissatisfaction.

Thank you.

I reinstalled PS 2014 after a day or so of frustration and annoyance with the new interface. The capper was how the frame and image sizing (CTRL-0, CTRL-minus key) work differently--I do a lot of cropping, so the 2015 way of doing things was really, really annoying. Also, it now appears I can't drag images from another application (e.g., Explorer), and drop them into PS. WHY? This does not improve my workflow, it hinders it.

I've been using PS since 1998, and can't understand why Adobe had to fix something that wasn't broken--particularly with something so critical to their users--the interface and the way it functions.