Search Unity

UI Changes in v13

Discussion in 'Visual Effect Graph' started by andybak, Dec 28, 2021.

  1. andybak

    andybak

    Joined:
    Jan 14, 2017
    Posts:
    569
    Can I ask why the decision was made to switch from text buttons to unlabelled icons in the toolbar?

    There are very specific situations where icons provide a better UX than text (or text+icons) and I don't think they really apply here.

    Most UI design has shifted away from "icon-only" design in the last decade. Unity seems to be moving in the opposite direction and I wondered if this was properly thought through - or a kind of reactive process with no real UX specialists in the loop.
     
    Last edited: Dec 30, 2021
    andybak, Dec 28, 2021
    #1

  2. VladVNeykov

    VladVNeykov

    Unity Technologies

    Joined:
    Sep 16, 2016
    Posts:
    550
    Hey Andy,

    Not sure if I can provide a satisfactory answer as UX can be quite subjective.

    I think our interface was getting heavily cluttered by long text buttons (similar to how ShaderGraph is in the gif below), which lead to buttons disappearing when you resize the window:


    We had a different solution which extended the top bar to accommodate multiple lines of buttons, but that's saving up horizontal space at the expense of vertical space.

    I imagine we'll move in a direction where all the individual graph-based tools will have a more unified approach, but in the meantime this is a step in the direction of cleaning things up for our team.

    On a personal note (keeping in mind I'm not a UX designer), most software I use (3ds Max, Photoshop, Substance Painter, etc.) is heavily relying on icons for their UX, and the only example I can think of a text-based UX from the tools I use is ZBrush (which, while I love to pieces, is rarely quoted as a benchmark for intuitive / beginner-friendly interface.)

    If you have ideas or examples of comparable UX, I can definitely forward it to the team and add it to our backlog to explore the feasibility of next time we do an update to the toolbar. In the meantime, I hope the tooltips to the new icons help onboard people to it and it stops feeling new/different not long after using it.
     

    Attached Files:

    VladVNeykov, Jan 5, 2022
    #2
    Julien-A likes this.