DASH 1.8 UI Interface one of the most non-intuitive UIs that I have come across
WARNING: Rant below...
PART 1
I use DASH only occasionally but every update seems to involves\ a UI change which, in turn, results in a YouTube search for the answer because the DASH doc'n is lacking/has not caught up. V1.8 is the straw that...
(It reminds me of the chaos using Wordpress with assorted plugins: bolted-on new ideas but no overall commonsense or logic about it at all. Wordpress has an excuse because it is open source, committee driven... and old)
I appreciate that Unreal has undergone a lot of change with respect to assets with the introduction of FAB but how about an "X" to click in order to close DASH rather than having to do a search in the doc'n to find that the "solution" is:
"Close Dash: Simple action to close the Dash bar. You can also hit Escape twice in the Dash bar for the same effect."
It doesn't say what the "simple action" is...
(Hitting the ESC key multiple times is usually a sign of extreme frustration with the knowledge that the keyboard is old and needs replacing anyway)
DASH's AI got stuck on the prompt: "How do I close the DASH toolbar?" Maybe the question is too stupid?
(continued in next post)
6 Replies
RANT PART 2
Or, how about grabbing the toolbar and moving it where you want it instead of "Move Left"/Move Center"/"Move Right". Where is the "Move where I want it" menu item?
I will not clinically critique the (lack of) logic of the main functionality UI but there is a reason why most computer apps have an essentially common rationale in the UI: To help the user use it efficiently. The way this is achieved is to use common, rational & intuitive menus. If you use multiple apps then this is essential as the brain relies on patterns and a logical flow of ideas that build upon each other: File/bla bla. Edit/ bla bla. Window/ bla bla. Tools/bla bla. Help/bla bla. Horizontal main items with submenus items that clearly relate. As more options are needed then a flyout sub-sub menu. Universal logic which is essential for workflow efficiency.
DASH's UI is a non-intuitive outlier and I am fast approaching the time where I simply go back to the pre-DASH days of doing things directly in Unreal. Unreal has a logic that is certainly lacking in DASH and ultimately the old ways are more efficient for me for this reason.
And this is a problem for an app whose raison d'etre is to create efficiency through simplification of complex tasks.
I hope that you can/will fix these fundamental issues.
Thank you for reading this far.
</end rant>
I'll start by saying I'm just a normal user, not afiliated with Dash in any way.
Tbh, I don't understand this rant. It almost feels like you're forced to use Dash. This is a tool designed to simplify otherwise complex tasks in UE and imo it does it well. If you feel Dash is not fulfilling its mission, just don't use it. Why rant about about something that is entirely optional?
Could Dash have a better UI? Yeah, sure, everything can and if you ask 10 people their preference you'll get 12 different opinions. Instead of a rant, it'd be much more productive to give objective proposals. A rant is not very effective for that because any good suggestion in it is buried in negativity and annoying to read.
Thank you for the feedback @RickD 😅
Dash's UI definitely changes a lot, and that's a decision I make in order to steer it in the right direction. User feedback on the UI/UX has never been so positive, which tells me we've got the fundamentals right, and now need to focus on the details, like the ones you've pointed out.
Our quest for minimalism does create some weird situations. The "double escape to close" vs a simple "X" in the dash bar is indeed one of them. I appreciate you talking about these details, as I think there needs to be more compromise on some of my minimalism choices.
There's lots of these small annoyances that we have our eyes on, and moving forward we're planning to speed up our release cadence to 2 per month, and cut down on all those small details as we go, while also updating the documentation to reflect that.
The broad strokes won't change, and videos are good at capturing those broad strokes when showing how to create an environment.
Thanks Adnan. I appreciate the fast response and apologies for all the negativity that Arthis rightly pointed out. He is also right about the +ves of DASH and I appreciate that as well.
Hello again Adnan.
Having spent a little more time in using Dash more extensively and hence understanding the logic if the UI, I have to say that - in my humble opinion 🙃 - you have indeed got the fundamentals right.
Thank you for your work and patience.
Thanks 😅 and again, appreciate the feedback! Worked on a couple of small improvements during the weekend, one of which is your correct observation of how confusing closing the dash bar can be 🙂
Thank you Adnan😀